7 Things that surprised me about being a mom

I’ll be the first to admit that I was absolutely not prepared to have a child. Despite being completely shocked when my one and only pregnancy test turned positive at almost the first drop of urine, I was terrified whether or not I could raise a tiny human. I had a running list of fears for every aspect of pregnancy, birth and being a mom. But these are 7 things that surprised me about being a mom. 

I became a mild hypochondriac 

Every new rash, bump, sneeze and runny nose made me anxious. I immediately assumed it was going to be life-threatening for my poor little baby. And as much as I thought it would improve as time went on, it just seemed to get worse. Now, after 2.5 years I’m slowly getting to the point where I can convince myself that it’s just a bug bite or new diaper rash. 

Babies don’t just sleep when they’re tired

This is the funniest and most ignorant thing I used to think before I became a mom. I truly thought babies just slept when they were tired. Boy, was I wrong. I had never heard of a baby being overtired until I became a mother. And once I heard about it, I still didn’t understand how it would even happen. It seems so natural to just sleep when we’re tired, but that’s not the way babies think. Overtired babies are not fun babies

I actually miss the newborn stage

I never thought I would miss this stage in my son’s life. My toddler is now running all over the place who won’t allow me 10 minutes of free time no matter how many toys I give him. Despite running on very few hours of sleep during the newborn stage, I really do miss it. I always dreaded the newborn stage, but now that it’s long gone, I realized it wasn’t all that bad. I never thought I would be missing the newborn stage. 

Life will change

I assumed my life would change slightly, however I never realized how much. Having a baby right before a pandemic and going through the first year of his life in a pandemic obviously played a big role in our plans changing. But life really will change after you have children. As much as we will try to keep our life the same as it was pre-baby, it’s probably not going to play out like that. 

Every baby is different

I assumed when I became a mom that for the most part all babies had similar routines. They have milestones that they reach around the same time, babies start sleeping through the night at a certain age. I assumed that babies enjoyed being messy, and that all babies/toddlers were able to keep themselves busy with toys. Again, I was very wrong. Babies and toddlers will hit their milestones at their own pace. They don’t all start sleeping through the night at 3 months old. Not all babies enjoy different textures such as sand and playdoh. And not all babies enjoy playing with toys non-stop. Every single baby on this earth is different, and as a mom you should never compare your child and their progress to anyone else’s.

It’s harder than I thought to leave my baby

I anticipated the first time leaving my baby to go back to work being difficult, and it definitely was. However I assumed that it would get easier. The first weekend trip my husband and I took together I couldn’t wait to get back to my son almost immediately after we left. And despite me wanting it and expecting it to get easier, it’s not. I’m still super emotional when leaving my son for longer than a few hours at a time. It’s harder than I thought, but that’s okay. 

Becoming a new first-time mom came with a huge list of changes I had to make. All my expectations of what was going to happen quickly went out the window. Of course you can never plan how motherhood is going go. I think sometimes it’s just easier to fly by the seat of our pants. But these are the 7 Things That Surprised Me About Being A Mom.

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