12 Things You Discover When You Have a Baby

One of my most loyal readers is currently lying in a hospital bed, asking me to post my blog already.  She just had a beautiful baby yesterday.  This one is for you, Dawn, you sweet, funny girl!  Congratulations!  I hope you savor every moment with Pacey.

1. Life is a miracle, love is not describable, and God must exist. How miraculous is it that we can first conceive, then carry it for 9 months the way we do?  I mean, it's really amazing.  So many things go into the development of a child. 
2. There is nothing cuter than a baby's tiny toenail and pinky finger. There just isn't.  Especially when it's YOUR baby.
3. You've loved that tiny stranger from the time he was conceived, you just hadn't met yet.  It's really amazing to realize this.  The anxiety about being a mother melts when you realize that you are already bonded.  Then when you realize that your baby knows you too....I can't even talk about it.  It's so sweet.
4. There was a space in your heart that you didn't know existed.  No one has ever been to this place in your heart and no one ever will.  Parents always say they can't describe it because you really can't.  Everything that seemed important shifts and you have a totally different purpose in your life.  You can't imagine ever failing or hurting your child because you know you will try your damnedest not to. 
5. Your boobs really do get huge.  They weren't kidding about this. Holy crap. You feel like you're trapped in another body.  And what disappointed me, especially trying to nurse twins, is that they aren't filled with milk.  They are just HUGE for absolutely no reason, so it seemed to me. 
6. Nursing hurts like hell and don't let anyone tell you different.  I remember practically scraping the paint off the walls when they latched on.  I kept waiting for it not to hurt, but it always hurt me.  Everyone was wrong.  Nursing twins hurts like hell.  Getting through 4 years of school with a job and two other kids was easier than nursing twins.  Hardest thing I ever did.  Period. I get that it doesn't hurt some people, but don't go into it thinking you'll be one of these people with iron clad nips.  You may not be.  You may be a little whiny bitch like me.
7. You cry and cry and cry because you're so happy and you love this little being so much. Half of this is because you're happy, half is because your hormones are absolutely off the Richter scale. I remember staring at my babies crying and thinking "Why am I crying right now? They're so cuuuuute!"
8. You can be more tired then any time you've claimed to be tired in your entire life.  In fact, when you are in the hospital, you are shocked that you haven't died yet, you're that tired.
9. After a C-Section, every little noise sounds like a nuclear bomb.  I had two scheduled c-sections and I just remember everything being SO loud.  I have never understood this. Maybe it was just me.
10. You attach to your nurses and don't want to leave. You bond with them.  It's weird.  Your time in the hospital is really precious.  No one told me it would be that way. 
11. Motherhood really is 90% instinct.You realize that you worried for no reason. 
12. Babies make strangers smile. They are infectious.  They are little rays of sunshine and they don't even know it.