Did you love your DC from the moment they were born?

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You often hear of mothers saying they had a rush of love the moment their baby was born. Just talking to DH about it and admitted to him I didn't with DD.
I obviously love her more the anything it just seems to develop over time.
Just wondered if others didn't get this rush of love?

I loved them before they were born but it was like loving the unknown. There was no overwhelming rush once they were born. More of a curiosity as to who this little alien is going to be. I love them fiercely now, I could squish them and in the quiet moments I do get that rush but they're 2.5 and 5 months now and everyday becoming more themselves and it's so beautiful to witness.

Nope. Took the best part of a year.

I loved him or was certainly fiercely protective of my son ( can only see this in retrospect at the time it didn’t feel that way ) but no rush of love the intensity of my love has grown over time ...

I remember a family member visiting us and saying isn’t it strange how you love them more than anyone else ... and I hadn’t a clue what they meant at the time ... but now I totally get it

@PrincessHoneysuckle - don't feel guilty! We are so ransomed by our hormones, throughout life, but especially at or around birth and you can't govern at all what they do (the bastards!) I had it all planned; natural birth, no drugs, classical music etc. Then sodding hormones decreed that my cervix would only go to 4cm! Caesarian it was then!

So no guilt! Be disappointed instead, that eases over time.

My ds1 I was quite matter of fact during pregnancy I'd been bleeding/constantly sick and being pregnant in the first place was a shock. I delivered following a car crash at 26 weeks, had a emergency c section and was in ICU so I didn't even see him in NICU for a while. I was so scared I wouldn't recognise my baby, let alone bond with him. But the second I saw him I was literally hit with a wave of love like nothing I'd ever experienced. I touched his finger, he touched mine and that was it. I was gone and I morphed into some sort of maternal monster who started snapping and snarling at the drs about exactly what they were doing and questioning exactly how they were going to save my baby. I tried to apologise later but a NICU nurse said no need, I was doing exactly what I was supposed to do, protecting my baby.
Ds2 was different I knew he would be prem but was less afraid I wouldn't love him. I saw him finally when he was about 2 weeks old and the wave was there just gentler, I think because I was expecting it and knew better what I was doing.

Yes with all of them and loved being pregnant. But to put it in context; it took 8 years to conceive my first and had to go through an ICSI cycle each time so it felt like a miracle to have them in the first place.

No, I didn't and I felt really guilty. DP had a really rough labour and I felt very numb towards DD for about 24 hours, then she was ill and had to have a spinal tap, and suddenly I felt hugely protective and it all went from there.

I don't think it's anything to worry about - all sorts of things affect how you will feel, and I doubt it has much to do with the sort of mum you are.

DS1, long labour, EMCS, whisked off to NICU for observations for a few hours before I met him. I had some protective urge as I wanted DH to accompany him and leave me as I was stitched up and taken to recovery. It seemed wrong for him to be left alone, and I couldn't go as I ended up in HDU.

DS2 was very freshly placed in my arms and it was such a euphoria that he'd come out of the main exit and was well (despite the forceps bruising, and due to spinal block I was blissfully unaware of my injuries) Lying in recovery and being able to feed him while he had the energy was such a relief after the worry of DS1's first, exhausted days.

I loved them both before, they were satisfyingly wriggly bumps. The love changes though, I love them as individual people, not just a primal protective love and that develops over time.

I had an EMCS under general anaesthetic with DS, so when I first saw him I was groggy and in lots of pain. However, by the end of the first 12 hours the rush of love arrived, it was overwhelming! Ah, I can't wait to do it again

DC1: I was so in shock/pain/traumatised from the birth, I literally just held her to feed her for the first week. Then I felt a bit more “normal” and the love hit me.
DC2: I got the fabled “rush of love”
DC3: same as DC2

With dd1 I felt like I loved her when I was pregnant. When I heard her cry for the first time I welled up.
However, I then ended up with really bad pnd aand honestly didn't feel like I loved her until she was about 13m. I feel awful for that, and I love her more than anything now but i didn't at the start. And thinking about it now, the starting to love her coincided with me getting counselling for a traumatic birth, so that could've been related.
I definitely felt protective, but I wouldn't really call it love.

Seems like it's reasonably common though reading other replies. And possibly linked to birth experience?!

Took a week or two for the shell shock to settle down with DC1. With DC2 it was instant.

The second she was born it was the biggest high I've ever known. Those hormones released at birth are unbelievable. So yes a total rush of love for me. Wish it could be bottled!

I had a rush of something but to be honest it was more like an addiction than actual love. A fierce hormonal reaction that made me want to stare at them and hold them and sniff them. I genuinely think it was a physiological reaction rather than an emotional one. Perhaps real love comes with time and knowing your child.

I didn't, and it was scary because everyone talks about this sudden rush of love and I thought I must be wrong or have PND because I didn't feel it.

I didn't have PND, and whilst I automatically felt protective over my DD, the love developed over time. But I felt guilty about that, not having 'the rush of love' when she was born, and in retrospect it's yet another pressure placed on new parents which I wish I hadn't paid attention to and let my emotions and feelings figure their own way in their own time.

And I don’t feel at all guilty about the time-lag. Truthfully, I think that many people confuse ‘love’ with the effects of hormones, relief that birth is safely over, and a strong feeling of ‘should’.

Yip... And this should be explained to expectant mothers during antenatal apps.

Nope, because I didn't understand what love was. Although with ds2 I do love him to bits, he taught me how to love.
I grew up with parents who were as loving as a brick.

I had the most horrific labour but the moment he was born and placed on me I fell head over heels for him.

No, neither time. With dc1, I had a very quick birth so had a second degree tear and was passing out and being sick. I was in a state of shock as they actual birth was so rapid. It took me hours before I felt steady enough to hold him properly. When he got transferred to a different hospital later that evening as he needed a short spell in SCBU, I remember him being on the stretcher at 12hrs old when he was being transferred to the ambulance and it suddenly hit me like a tonne of bricks and my maternal streak emerged. He's 2.5 now and I'm besotted with him.

With my youngest, I was induced. I found the labour very intense (my uterus was going into overdrive) so when she shot out, I was just utterly relieved it was over and I never had to give birth again. I never felt a rush of love for her, it was definitely more of a gradual thing. She's nearly 6 months old now and she's completed our family. :)

For me it was instant. I was heartbroken throughout my m pregnancy and she fixed my broken heart instantly. She saved my life.

First child, yes
Second child, took about 6 months, probably dampened by me not being very well for several weeks after she was born.

I love both my kids but I can't say I had a rush of love after they were born. It was like 'Wow, this is so weird and amazing' rather than 'OMG I'D DIE FOR YOU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH' and I think that's absolutely fine!

@JessicaRarebit - that's lovely. I'm sorry your heart was broken but so glad it was so happily fixed.

Yes, he is 10 months now and i love him more every day