You’re never prepared to be a parent. I have a bajillion books (bought a couple more the other day) all about parenting; parenting a daughter, newborns, a guide to the first few years…I don’t care how many books you buy (and actually read) you’ll still spend the better part of the night waking up, staring at your newborn just to see her breath, just to know that she’s ok.
I’ve done that. Actually…I still do.
Over the past few weeks I’ve been taking a combination of all of the info I tried absorb between classes and info from Dr’s at the hospital and quite frankly…’winging it’. I think my husband and I have our own mental list of what’s wrong with her at any given time and it’s really nothing at all.
Never, ever in a million years did I imagine I’d be texting my husband in the middle of the day while he’s at work excited about poop. Yes, you read that right. Without being too graphic, we were worried about digestion and if everything was ok with her. I googled. I researched and even called her pediatrician (who was cool as a cucumber) and then I’m standing in my living room cheering, my newborn looking up at me like I’m some kind of idiot and I’m texting my husband ‘she pooped!’.
Google is a beautiful thing by the way.
For the last few appointments/outings have been fairly easy; the weather has been nice, not too windy, temps have been steady. That makes for an easy time choosing clothes for her, onesie, fleece pajamas, hat, etc. Today on the other hand it was chilly. Chilly enough that I wasn’t overly thrilled to walk out the door. But how do you bundle a newborn for weather like that and put them in a car seat yet make sure she’s protected without adding bulk behind the seat belts?
Google. Google said you should bundle a newborn up the same way you would to keep the cold air out then add a layer. That’s a good rule of thumb. That would have saved me 20 minutes to wondering, grabbing enough clothes from her closet to run a mini-fashion show and confusion.
My husband and I are constantly second guessing ourselves and learning everyday, something new. What’s the noise she’s making? She suddenly ate 4 oz in one sitting, is that ok! Its she supposed to sleep longer than 3 hours? What if she does? Is that normal? We should google that.
There’s a ton of questions you’ll have as a parent. No matter what the question it’s never a dumb question. You’re learning, winging it, googling poop at 1am on a Thursday.
The one major question we’ll all have is at some point or another; “Am I a good parent?” The answer is yes…yes you are!
If you know a new Mom or Dad…tell them they’re good parents and doing awesome. Chances are, they need to hear it.