Hello Simple Kids readers! I’m taking a break from blogging while my family prepares to welcome our new baby. (The photo above is my daughter Lucy, taken in 2008, just so there isn’t any confusion). Before I “unplugged” from the computer, I worked on this series about Ages and Stages. Today is the first installment, on newborns and the postpartum mom. I hope you enjoy it! Best Wishes – Kara
If someone were to ask me what I think the hardest transition in my life as a parent has been, without a doubt I would say that it was becoming a brand new mom.
Going from one child to two was a major change, of course, and every child changes our family, but becoming a mom for the first time was the most fundamentally life-changing transition for me.
As we prepare for our fourth child, I don’t know that I would necessarily say that I expect for life with a new baby to be less challenging the fourth time around, but I do find that I am able to face the postpartum period with more grace and less worry because I have been down this path before.
I know, to some extent, what I can expect.
People will tell you before you become a parent about the sleepless nights and the challenges. They will also share with you the joys, the wonder, and the emotions.
However, I found that until I had actually gone through it, it didn’t matter what people said or what I read in the books, I just didn’t totally get it until I had experienced it – the highs or the lows.
It was one of the hardest times of my life, but also one of the most wonderful (which I know is one of those sentences that makes no sense until you live it).
That said, a question I get quite a bit as the editor of Simple Kids, is usually some variation on inquiries pertaining to what I would recommend for new parents. So, because so many have asked, I’m sharing my thoughts today on newborns and parenting in those early days.
Of course, every family, and every baby, is different. As I am fond of saying, one family’s simple might well be another family’s complicated.
But, here are a few things that my personal experiences so far have taught me are valuable to keep in mind during the first weeks of parenthood.
