OMG! I just realised, there will be a baby at the end of this!!!!

[MrsHuxtable]

How stupid am I?????? I'm almost 36 weeks and it has only just sunk in. I'm having a baby! Don't get me wrong, we have the nursery furniture, the clothes, the pram etc. We know it's a girl and we have settled on a name. This is a planned and much wanted pregnancy.

BUT, I'm having a baby! To take home from the hospital! She will live in our flat! And stay! For a very long time! I've only held a baby once in the last 17 years and that was for a few minutes! I've never changed a nappy!

I think I'm having a panic attack or something!

I'm 33 weeks with #3 and people keep asking me things like "have you got everything you need?" and I look blank for a minute before realising they're looking pointedly at my belly, and I have to admit that, um, no not really, um... do 3rd babies really need stuff? I mean really? I am just sort of assuming that there's probably some babygros and muslins floating around somewhere left over from the last one...

Bucket Fanny, how very dare you

I'll have you know my nether regions are as tight as a scots purse

However, me and baby have an arrangement where by he/she will simply slide out with grace and decorum leaving no mess

I had stitches both times . No bucket fanny here.

"tight as a scots purse" I like that one!

Yes you will know what to do :)

My mum asked me how to hold DS (a couple of days old) which was weird on two levels - firstly she'd had years of experience with 2 DCs, and I'd had only 2 days experience!

But the weirder thing was, I was actually able to advise her! She'd forgotten in the years since we'd grown, and I instinctively felt comfortable holding my baby (despite not knowing what to do with a friend's only a couple of months before, which worried me at the time!)

And she will like you, in fact she'll love you, you're her mum

I burst into tears when I went into the delivery room and saw the cot. For, like, a REAL LIVE BABY to go into.

Bless you all! I remember that feeling SO well! it will be fine! Honest!. It is the same with number 2, except that instead of "will I know what to do", you think "how will I have enough love for 2?" I am SOOO broody at the moment, I'd give a limb to be pregnant and having those feelings right now!

Couple of years ago, one of our friends told me that they had already put a moses basket in their living room a couple of days before the birth, so he (dad) was used to seeing the empty mb. DD was born on a Friday and he said that all through the first week, he was startled every time he passed the mb and saw "something" lying in there, then realising it was his PFBD. :)

I remember that moment too.

Went to pick up DW from the hospital the day after DS1 was born. Driving home through central London in a taxi with DS1 in a carry cot on the floor of the taxi. Then suddenly it hit me.

OMG! What are the hospital thinking? Letting us come home with an actual baby!

DS1 and DS2 once asked if we had any training before they let us take them home. They were amazed that we didnt and you just get to take a baby home with you.

I had a freaky-deaky moment when my bump started to appear and I realised 'there's a HUMAN PERSON growing inside MY STOMACH!'...it is just too strange for words!

I for one am looking forward to the moment when we get to take the baby home and keep it all for ourselves...but am sure there will be a few panicky moments too.

A friend of mine who had stayed in hospital for about 5 nights after her DD was born said to me 'I got so used to pressing the buzzer to fetch a nurse for help, when I got home I kept wanting to press the buzzer but nobody came!'

I keep getting this feeling and this is my second! I think it's because it's a whole new person with no one like them in the entire world. It's big stuff.

As for changing nappies, even if you've done it recently it doesn't mean you'll have a clue with your own. I had a lot of experience doing nappies before DS but it still took both DH and I to do his first couple!

Doh! Hit post too soon. For me though I used to changing girls nappies (big age gap between me and DSis) so was at a bit of a loss with boys bits.

It will be fine. I'd never changed a nappy until I had DD when I was 34! Made a few mistakes along the way but nothing too serious , she's 12.5 now and lovely

I had that last week when i was 36 weeks too! samething have all the stuff painted the nursery put away all the clothes but it suddenly just hit me!

omg i've just realised this too. I mean I am going to have to stay in hospital for a bit without my mum or sister or husband to help....hit the panick button. Am in my 7 month and have very little for this baby...what in the worlds name am I going to do!!!

We got DS1 home from the hospital, and he was asleep in the car seat. We put it on the floor in the lounge and just looked at each other. I remember thinking 'don't wake up and need me to do something'. We watched an episode of ER as if in some kind of denial. Then he woke up.

I often feel wow there is a little person growing in me and then I get freaked out and wonder what type of mummy will I be. with 16 weeks to go it hits me more with each passing week. xx

Im 36 weeks tomorrow, having a girl, have a name, was planned pregnancy and i feel exactly the same!!

MrsHuxtable I want to thank you for this thread as I've been panicking thinking about this a lot lately. I'm 34+5 with my first baby and although the birth itself doesn't freak me out (blessed be my ignorance, I guess) the baby right at the end of it does! I'm constantly in between a feeling of extreme happiness and dread
Just the thought of that tiny, utterly dependable baby makes me feel overwhelmed and joyful!!
I've tried to explain this to DP but, he laughs and tells me that I'm going to be a great mum which makes me feel like slapping him. Men can be so blaze about this things!

was the same with my first pregnancy. could NOT imagine myself holding a baby. never changed a nappy. completely clueless. dc are now 11mths and 2.6. nappy changing becomes very fast indeed!

it's lovely. almost entirely. :)

The thing is that I have an idea of what I'm expecting, as I am the eldest of 5 and much older than all my siblings. I still remember how exhausted and overwhelmed my mum looked especially when my brother was born 23 months after my sister.

A mum friend of mine said when I was pregnant.

"Raising children is really profound and important. But when you're actually doing it, you're not thinking about how profound it all is.
You're thinking "Where's the blasted other shoe?! - I'm sure she had two shoes!!". "

You are NOT alone! I was admitted to hospital at 36 weeks with pre-eclampsia and a student doctor presented my case to the consultant (a truly marvellous woman). The doctor walked the student through presenting my case and examining me and instructed the student to ask me if I had any questions at the end of the presentation. I promptly burst into tears saying that I wasn't ready to be a mum, that I'd had no time to prepare and that I was really frightened. The poor student doctor looked horrified at my emotional onslaught . The wonderful consultant explained that I would be fine and the fact that I was so concerned indicated to her that I would be a wonderful mum. It was just what I needed to hear.

You will be fine!!