Baby no. 2 due this week and having a panic about EVERYTHING - Please help to calm me down

[Whitetara]

My baby is due on Wednesday this coming week and I've spent the past hour or so on MN reading up/revising new baby stuff such as sleep and feeding. I'm now all of a panic about what could go wrong and reading about all the problems and difficulties other mothers are having.

DD1 is 22 months and was a dream baby and still is very good. She has always been a good sleeper, very good natured and very easy to care for.

I'm now having a panic about feeding the new one, how I will cope; not to mention all kinds of sleep problems I could encounter now and in the future. I know all babies are different etc, but I really cannot function very well at all on very little sleep and am not sure how I am going to cope if this one is trickier than my first.

I'd like some reassurance, but at the same time I just need to get this off my chest, even though objectively I'm probably overreacting and this is what having a baby is all about. I'm starting to wonder what I've let myself in for.

I remember having a complete wobble days before DS was born - I stood in DD's room looking down at her sleeping, sobbing my heart out and seriously wondering if I was just about to ruin her life. I spent most of the rest of the night thinking of all the things I really didn't think I could cope with including lack of sleep, crying baby, bfing, how I was going to manage 2, etc, etc, etc.

Truth is you do cope, mainly because you have no choice and once the baby is here you just get on with it!

If it helps DS was easier than DD (and we had thought she was easy) BUT he didn't sleep through for 14 mths and I survived (though I also don't do well on too little sleep)

Good luck with the birth and adjusting to two - its hard at times but I'm still here 3.9 years later and my two are currently asleep together in DD's bed, possibly with both kittens in there too

Whitetara, I'm expecting my third in just over a week. I, too am panicking about what I've let myself in for, but less so than I was second time round. Giving your dd a sibling is one of the best things you can do for her - my DD and DS1 (aged 4 and 2 and a half) are so close and entertain each other; I actually found having 2 in some ways easier than one. I felt guilty at first about spending less time with DD but I just made sure I set some time aside to spend just with her. As feetheart says, you will cope because you have to - the body and mind are remarkable things and the sleep deprivation won't last forever. Remember alot of this is fear of the unknown - I'm sure things will turn out better than you imagine. I enjoyed my second so much more than my first because I had that little bit more experience and knew what to expect. And, like me, your fears are probably exaggerated by pregnancy hormones and lack of sleep from being uncomfortable in these final stages of pregnancy. Best of luck with it all and try not to worry!

I totally agree with Kellsmc - I now have an 18 mo and a 3.5 month old and was dreading it but it has been fine - my DH has helped a lot but I can cope on my own all day and he sometimes has trips away for 3-4 days and I can still cope with no family or support nearby. You cope because you have to and things are never as bad as you think they will be.

Good luck!