Most amazing moments with a newborn?

[Lemonsqueasy]

Currently 36 weeks pregnant with first. Obviously wary about the bomb about to be dropped on my life but also v excited.. I reckon a lot of the time you must just stare at your newborn baby in disbelief.. is this true? Tell me about more beautiful moments pls!

The cuddles! I didn't want to put my lo down. I'm glad I got so many in because when they get on the move they hardly sit still! I also loved how in the middle of the night I'd drag myself out of bed to feed lo and be exhausted and then get up to change him and he'd smile and coo at me and it was like being our own little world. All the tiredness was worth it for little moments like that. And yes, there was lots of staring but that did get taken over by me trying to sleep at any given opportunity!

The pizza we ordered after DD2s super quick & easy birth

But really that feeling of OMG YOURE HERE!

The first feed. I was so hopeful and nervous of breastfeeding. My little one somehow wriggled his way to my nipple, latched on, and ate, in the hospital, in recovery, as if it was the most natural thing ever (which of course it was!) I was expecting my milk to take at least a few days.

The fact my body somehow grew a person, and now makes milk to feed him... and he knew that before I did. Mental.

IVF and I protected my self so well for failure that after an extremely easy birth I felt nothing.Just'Oh, I'm a mum'.I really wanted that gush of hormones.

I was also disappointed that her head didn't smell of anything.In retrospect she smelled of me,that changed after a bath.
It took a few weeks,I didn't worry too much ,faked it to her incase she didn't feel loved but we got there in the end.
I had no problem breast feeding so that probably helped.

Ah NewAccount there’s nothing that can’t be flipped on its head, however well meaning, when you’re fragile and hormonal!

I’m in SamosaSues boat-the first 3/4 months were such incredible bliss-it was that big heatwave last summer and every morning, when I took my baby outside before it got hot, I felt like I was stepping into the garden of Eden. I actually had to avoid other new mums because I was so ecstatic.

HOWEVER: while the above was very much the dominant feeling, I also had the usual ups and downs-Velcro baby, seismic shifts in my other relationships, bumpy physical recovery, tears. The thing about a newborn is that they happen SUDDENLY and all at once, as might your feelings-so ‘fuck my piles are awful’ just sits alongside ‘this baby is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen’ and they don’t cancel each other out you just have to experience both at the same time:

Another who didn’t really get that rush of love, in fact I found newborn very difficult... BUT I found out for sure that I chose wisely in my partner. He was amazing those first insane weeks of life. He kept me in good and drink, took baby so I could nap, generally all of that. I have a photo of him asleep with our son asleep on him (he doesn’t like it as unsafe, I was watching them both and they were fine!) and I love it for what it represents.

My first solo walk of any distance, three weeks post c section in a biting January was pretty magic too!

My son is 7 and I still love looking at him and think he’s bloody amazing. I remember when he was first born his head smelt all lemony fresh and then as he got bigger he smelled like caramel.
And the pp who said only 6 hours spent staring at your newborn?! 😂 I agree, I’m sure it was much more.
I couldn’t believe the amount of noise he made at night, a cross between a farmyard full of animals and a dinosaur.
I loved it when he sneezed or yawned too.

Don't worry if you don't get the instant, euphoric rush of love. I didn't and was very matter of fact about it all. Like "oh ok he's here, that's cool" I was about as excited as I get when the courier guy arrives with an Amazon order and not smiling in any of the first few pictures.

Got settled in the ward and slept for a few hours. When I woke and saw him next to me, the rush of love and tears of joy came and then just kept on coming.18 months down the line I still often burst into tears, still can't believe he's here and he's mine. He makes my heart want to burst!

Best of luck! I hope you have a magical time when your baby arrives!

Puppies are so very much cuter.

They are.

No rush of love here either - sounds odd but she didn't look how I expected her to. It was clear by about day 10 that that was because she was (and remains) a carbon copy of her dad.

But I loved her falling asleep on me - I never really felt the tiredness, I'd just have her on my shoulder snuffling and breathing where I knew she was safe, and I'd hear the night bus going past outside our window. And the little gestures/stretches when she finished a feed were the funniest thing.

She's now two and demands bananas non-stop, can spot Peppa Pig at ten paces and comes out with new words in two languages every day. Yesterday she and a friend went up to each other for a hug before saying goodbye. Some days are tough as anything but she blows me away.

When my eldest was born and they literally flung him up onto my chest for skin to skin and I had that immediate, immense rush of love and I just felt like we had been waiting for each other. Then the next morning after a night of struggling to latch, in a busy and noisy ward, we were on the bed next to the window and I sat and watched the sunrise with him asleep on my chest. So peaceful and I just felt the happiest I have ever been.
When my youngest was born that was a completely different story, stressful and difficult, but I had the same rush of love, and they are both the loves of my life. Very different wee characters 😂 but amazing in their own ways.

After my section my DS was whipped away for 5 minutes to be cleaned (he was covered in poo). He screamed the whole time. Really heart wrenching crying.

Then he was brought over to me and laid on my chest. I said 'hello' and he stopped crying straight away and his eyes met mine and it was the most perfect moment of my life. I just knew how much he loved me and I him in that tiny second.

Mine are adults now and I still sometimes look at them and think "you came out of my body ! How lucky I am ! "

I got the rush of love straight away with both of them - they both looked straight into my eyes as they were born, and it was like they'd known me forever. And when I looked at them, it was like I'd been searching for someone in a crowd, and suddenly there they were and I felt that connection ....so wonderful. There's nothing like it.

I struggled. I did everything I was meant to but I felt like I was just going through the motions and I was just babysitting. I couldn’t believe that they let me leave hospital with him.

One night when he was about 6 weeks old, Dh was away for the night with work and ds woke up for his feed. He was on my knees and gave me the most beautiful smile I have ever seen and in that moment I knew I loved him more than anything in the world. He’s nearly 18 now but I can picture it like it just happened 😭

I'm so envious of all these lovely stories. I don't begrudge you all your wonderful experiences at all - motherhood is tough and I'm happy when any mum is happy! - but I just can't comprehend having such joyful, intense feelings in those early days. I did quite enjoy night feeds - looking out the window while I patted my baby back to sleep on my shoulder and feeling like the only other people awake were other mums and babies - but severe PND, very little family support (besides my amazing husband), a traumatic c-section complete with haemmorage that left me feeling ill for almost a year combined with a very angry, refluxy CMPA baby didn't leave a lot of room for joy and wonder. What hurts the most is that I spent my whole life believing that motherhood was what I was made for and anticipating that magical experience. Feel like I failed from the start.

I remember it was amazing when someone else would hold her for an hour while I slept! Also being amazed at how cone-shaped dd1's head was when she was born.

Being serious, I remember how it felt to have her in a stretchy wrap sling, like a little kangaroo, which is a happy memory.

It was a tough slog with zero magic. Like a scattering of pps, I say this not to rain on your parade, but to say that it will still be ok if you don’t feel euphoric or wildly in love. Mine is now the best of seven year olds, and an utter joy, but I’d say it took a year or more before I enjoyed motherhood.

My DD was scary looking when she was born! And had a great big cry on her. I thought I'd be able to settle her easily because she'll know I'm her mum but no, it was my mum who got her to calm down!
After she had a good sleep she was much cuter looking and had such rosey cheeks. The main thing I remember of the first few weeks is how she would sleep on me. She'd lie on my chest facing me with her hands under her chin, and her eyebrows in a half-frown. So cute.
I also used to hold her in front of me and get this weird amazement of how much she looked like me as a baby. I felt like I was my mum holding me and had a feeling that everything is cyclical... was probably the sleep deprivation and I don't do that now she looks more like her dad.

No big rush here. I was on my knees after a five day failed induction, pain relief failure and then c-section. I remember being teary and happy but so exhausted. I held her in recovery and felt a little wave of happiness when she latched on but I think everything else clouded it at that point. I got lots of small waves over the next couple of weeks and I still do. I think my awful labour experience really clouded it and it'll be a long time until I'm truly over that. I felt very robbed and, at the time, it really hurt when looking at my NCT class announcements as they came in and seeing THAT happy moment of mum holding baby after birth and looking euphoric. It clouded the first few weeks for me.

Such amazing and heartbreaking stories here, really important to get some perspective of the huge difference in experience people can have

I'm another one who was awestruck by the baby commando crawling up my stomach and latching on.

Even now I look at my (just about adult DC) and think, oh my God, I produced you.