No more horror stories! What was the best part of pregnancy/newborn life for you?

[dollymixturelulus]

I need some positivity!

Baby's first laugh, all 3 of them. There's nothing in life to rival that magic for me, the most beautiful laugh ever. DC3 laughed like sid James which made it even more wonderful 😂

I had a c section and as soon as my baby was placed on my chest, he just calmed completely. It was magical.

l love picking up my newborn and his legs are all tucked up and he stretches his little arms.

Breastfeeding is just so peaceful and pure.

Early in the morning when it’s just you and them and you get those first smiles. Magical

The whole birth experience and then you have an amazing tiny lovable human to squeeze and adore! Magical time.

Dreaded pregnancy my whole life, just had such a huge fear of it. Would rather have died than attempt to give birth, had basically decided I just wasn’t having kids because I couldn’t cope with any of it.

Turned out I was very wrong. It was fine, totally fine! The only bad bit was at the start when I felt sick but even then it was only once a day. Towards the end I thought it must be awful but it really wasn’t, I wasn’t even that uncomfortable or anything and didn’t ever have any back pain. I had a section due to my fear and it was the best day of my life.

Turns out not everyone has a horrendous experience of the newborn days either. My baby just slept. For the first 6 weeks I had to wake during the night to feed him but from 10 weeks on he just slept 12 hours a night and still does now.

It was so good I’m doing it all again! 😬

Oh god, so much.
Feeling them move inside your stomach and watching the ripples from the outside.
Hearing their first cry.
The way they smell.
The way they fit on your chest so perfectly.
The tiny fingers and toes.
The scrunch they do when you pick them up.
The stretch when you open the swaddle in a morning.
The first (and every tbh) smile and giggle and babble.
Contact naps when they just cuddle into you.
If you breastfeed, them just staring at you while feeding.

Yeah it's hard but there are so so many wonderful things to come 🥰

I just loved the closeness, feeling her movements, reactions to what I ate. I also got big lips in late pregnancy 💋

This was a fab thread to read 🥰 currently 29 weeks pregnant with 2nd baby however my first baby is a teenager 😂 I just remember coming home from the hospital and being in such a lovely little bubble, getting to know our baby and letting him get to know us and creating routines xx

Cuddles. Once you realise you genuinely don't have to be up and doing, that cuddling them is an acceptable use of a day, the cuddles are truly wonderful. I miss it. They're just exactly the right size to hold and kiss.

Walking out of the hospital and being excited it was their first time feeling outside air and sunshine 🤣 but also the feeling of them asleep cuddled into your neck.

Hearing baby
Smelling baby
Holding baby
Breastfeeding
Cuddling
Being the one to welcome, protect and comfort a new person in the world. Feeling as though I could fight a tiger if necessary to protect this helpless little, magnificent creature
Becoming a better person
Being a link in a chain of women stretching back through history to this tiny new bit of the future
All the massive, grand, wonderful, powerful, heroic things, mixed in with the frail, uncomfortable, real, stinky, leaky things

Once I got over some initial difficulty I loved breastfeeding.

Also cosleeping. Did loads of research on how to do it safely and I just loved being snuggled up with my baby (metaphorically as was religious about keeping bedding clear etc). I slept so well with baby next to me and never had to get out of bed for a night feed. Bliss! I will always treasure the memories of all the nighttime cuddles and lying awake listening to him sleeping.

Feeling/watching my belly move. Once breastfeeding was established (found it tricky at first) it was lovely. There's something about having them snuggled so close to you and knowing that you are nourishing them and knowing they feel warm calm and loved, and then they fall asleep on you its so sweet. As they get a bit older the smiles and reaching for you, and if they cry when a cuddle from you calms them is so so lovely. I'd love to re-visit that time for a bit!

Being wheeled back from theatre with my tiny perfect little baby on my chest and KNOWING that every single person who saw us thought he was the most beautiful baby they'd ever seen ... (!)
(I was also on a lot of drugs but I thought he was incredible and to be fair I still do).
When are you due OP?

My 3 week old baby is currently asleep on me and it's just the best feeling in the world. Meeting her for the first time was a strange mix of familiarity but also taking her in as she didn't look like what I expected her to. I also thought she was going to be a boy so took me a minute to get over that. But I'm lucky that she took to breastfeeding really quickly and we've spent the last 21 days just feeding and snuggling constantly. Also her smell is just 😍

The newborn snuffly sounds are the best.

Being forced to slow down, days spent on the sofa with a sleepy newborn, reading books and bingeing Netflix.

The first few sleeps where you can lie on your stomach again, total bliss!

Loved my huge bump, having baby straight on my chest after birth, skin to skin, breastfeeding, contact naps, cuddles all day long and chilling watching Netflix. Won’t be the same as this with my second 😂

I had two pregnancies that were really very easy, you can be pregnant and feel pretty OK the whole time.

Newborns, I just love watching them sleeping and waking up - contrary to popular belief you're not always woken by crying, a lot of the time it's just cute little noises.

Breastfeeding, watching the coverage of Prince George's birth, whilst eating a magnum.

Looking at their little rosebud lips when the sleep - with their arms above their head

Just cuddling them and staring at them in amazement is the best feeling ever! Getting to know every inch of their little body. How they settle as soon as you pick them up as if they're thinking "ah, it's mum" ❤️

I loved pregnancy too, feeling them roll and kick and the anticipation of meeting this new little human is so exciting.

I saw this quote online and thought how true! Congratulations 🥰

@alark I saw that post too and whilst I love the sentiment I really don't think you know what tiredness is until you have a newborn 🤣. Ditto you can't imagine the emotional/hormonal impact plus the general feeling of your body having been hit by a train 😂.

Joking aside though it's wonderful OP. Best thing I've ever done by a very long stretch. So good I think I'm going to do it all over again 🥰

Oh so much!

1. Relaxing on the sofa with a baby sleeping on me, knowing they have exactly what they need right there (skin to skin with their mother) and I am 100% fulfilling their needs at the same time I can just watch watch crap on TV and eat snacks that DH is instructed to repeatedly fetch.
2. Breastfeeding when it stops feeling so tricky and feels so right.
3. Leaving the house all flustered with a baby in the carrier and feeling at once very stressed and also perfectly content that everything I care about is with me and I couldn’t care less about anything else.

It won't! But you get to see your baby siblings bonding which is even better.

The magic 20 minutes after DD was born, we were put in an empty bay to wait for my space on the postnatal ward so it was just the 3 of us. Summer evening so sunshine streaming in the windows, I had my tea and toast and I remember watching DH dress and cuddle her and just thinking that moment was the most precious of my life.

The proud moment when you walk them out of hospital in their car seat, thinking ‘I did it!!’ But also slightly nervous about settling in at home

DD’s first smiles. My Nan said they would ‘bring sunshine into my heart’ and they did! Also her first laughs.

So many 😊