By Jeana Lee Tahnk
The moments leading up to the delivery of my first baby, nine years
ago, are still so fresh in my mind. Going through that experience for
the very first time is probably what cemented it into my memory bank for
eternity. Preparing during that first pregnancy meant reading all the
baby books (there were no apps back then!) and learning about all about
things I should expect in the first year after the baby is born.
After he was born, I studied those nurses in the first couple days
in the hospital wondering how long it would take me to have such ease
with a baby that small. I read the books when I brought him home about
bathing, feeding, naps and anything else I needed to know about newborn
care.
I kept diaper logs of dirty and wet diapers to ensure he was
getting enough to eat during the day. I kept track of naps to make sure
he was sleeping enough. I timed my nursing sessions to see if he was
indeed feeding every 2-3 hours. Those first few months of being a brand
new parent to a brand new baby were certainly a learning curve.
As the months progressed and I became more adept at this whole
parenting thing, I started trusting my instincts more and reading those
books less. I eased into the flow of life with a baby and realized that a
lot of what I questioned before he was born was because I didn't know
what to expect. Now that he was here, we could navigate the world of
parenting together.
Of course I had questions about things I really didn't know, like
what that weird rash was or why he went through a phase of eating six
bananas a day. But what I learned in that first year is that parenting
isn't something you get from reading books. Parenting happens when you
are in the trenches with the thousands of diaper changes, the
all-nighters, the neverending hugs and cuddles, the good, the
not-so-good, the everything that comes along with having a baby.
I learned to have confidence in myself as a mom because I knew that
no matter what my baby needed, I would do everything in my power to
figure it out and tend to his needs. That's the ultimate test of
parenting and it's one that I could only learn by doing. And I'm still
learning nine years later.
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