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Pregnancy

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Original poster

Will I find my own newborn gross or is it just other people's?

33 replies

abeandhalo · 01/12/2016 08:49

I am almost 6 months pregnant with my first baby and v much looking forward to becoming a parent. I am expecting to find the first couple of months quite difficult, I'm much better with babies when they can sit up and smile!

I thought once I was pregnant I wouldn't be so squeamish about pregnancy / birth / newborns but I really am. As much as I laugh when the baby kicks me, I am also grimacing because it feels like Alien!

I saw some photos on Facebook of a friend of a friend and their new arrival yesterday, and I involuntarily just though 'yuck!' at his tiny fragile body, umbilical cord, etc!

I already adore my baby so 'm not worried as even if I do find my baby a bit gross when he's first born, but I'm just curious as to whether any other mums have felt this way pre/post birth or whether I'm just weird?

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TheDowagerCuntess · 01/12/2016 09:11

They are a bit gross when they first arrive, but somehow, it just doesn't matter. You're overwhelmed by love for them, because they've been inside you for so long - they're not some ransom's kid on FB, they're your child, and they're perfect!

Don't worry. Honestly.

Lweji · 01/12/2016 09:13

Not grossed out, but I did think ds looked like ET. :)
He was still lovely.

mateysmum · 01/12/2016 09:15

Your baby will be the most perfect baby ever born except mine and you will find all its grossness so cute, snuggly and squishy you won't be able to stop looking at them and cuddling them.

MrsDustyBusty · 01/12/2016 09:18

A friend with children older than mine told me (before I got pregnant) that when you have a kid, nothing grosses you out any more. And it's true, you get used to being covered in any substance you can think of.

So it goes with your newborn. I worried that I might find mine unattractive and be slightly repelled by their appearance but even when one developed a fluid lump on her head (side effect of ventouse), I barely noticed it, even though I could see other people looking at it in horror at the supermarket.

In the end, everyone thinks their own is lovely, just as it should be.

smEGGnogg · 01/12/2016 09:19

I wasn't grossed out exactly. But when my first dd was born, I looked down at her and thought what an ugly bloody thing she was!

They do some seriously gross stuff though. And it's normal to be a bit 'wtf did you do?!' and 'dear lord where did that come from?!' but it just doesn't matter to you. You love them despite all the shit and vomit and you always will.

I'm on number 6, so they're not that bad. Honest.

Mybugslife · 01/12/2016 09:22

Before my first I was totally grossed out! In my notes I'd even written I wanted her wiped down before being placed on me as I was so worried about the ''mess''
When it came to it I honestly didn't care, I just wanted to hold my baby!

MissBattleaxe · 01/12/2016 09:22

When DS was born, he was purple and grey and slimy with white vernix under his arms. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

Mybugslife · 01/12/2016 09:23

Ps. She looked like a sparrow!! She grew into her face haha

fruityb · 01/12/2016 09:23

I thought he was the most beautiful thing in the world! Even when they held him over to me (had a CS) and he was right red and covered in bits. He was squeaky clean when they brought him over after. He had bits of blood in his hair but OH picked that out lol.

frikadela01 · 01/12/2016 09:25

I thought he'd feel slimy when he first came out so was a bit grossed out by that, he was more sticky than slimy but I didn't care by that point.
As for everything else... I work in care, I have a cast iron stomach for all things gross.

DoloresAbernathy · 01/12/2016 09:27

Love at first sight... it's only now looking back at photos I think he's a lot more squashed/red than I had remembered.. rose tinted glasses!

middlings · 01/12/2016 09:32

6!!!

I remember when DD1 was about a week old and she did the stinkiest fart. DH and I looked at each other in accusatory horror and then both said "It wasn't me!!" and just looked and her. How on earth did something so small produce something so foul!?

She's still called Stinky and we love her.

(also, if you're breastfeeding, don't eat French Onion Quiche. It repeats horribly on the baby)

middlings · 01/12/2016 09:33

*looked AT her

OrianaBanana · 01/12/2016 09:36

DS was delivered with forceps and had marks on his head and it was a funny shape. I remember my DM saying 'Don't worry they'll soon fade and his head will go back to normal' and I honestly didn't know what she was talking about. It's only now when I look at those photos (which I happily forwarded to everyone I knew ) that I can see how strange he looked! I thought he was perfect.

Losgunna · 01/12/2016 09:36

I was like you OP I thought most kids, especially babies, were pretty much universally gross and planned on not having any.

DS was a surprise.

When he was born he was badly bruised, covered in blood and poo and was the single most beautiful thing I had ever laid eyes on.

He did lots of gross things and most of it didn't matter.

Except the projectile vomit down my top and diarrhoea into my hands. That was still incredibly gross. Still that's only twice in three years and even I still he was adorable.

JustGettingStarted · 01/12/2016 09:43

Someone told me that your own baby's poo won't stink and I found it impossible to believe. But it's true! I mean, you can smell it but it won't disgust you or make you gag. Other babies' poo still will, but not your own.

ComeLuckyApril · 01/12/2016 09:51

I think the thing is they are part of you. I didn't feel grossed out by things like her bogies because it was like picking my own nose, wiping my own bum etc. Not pleasant of course but totally fine. It took me a while to bond at first after a hard birth, not love at first sight, but just felt like she was a very fragile part of me on the outside.

TheBruteSquad · 01/12/2016 09:56

Not minding the poo smell is true until they are weaned! I actually liked the smell of DS's poo until he started solids. He's 8 months old now and does 3 poos a day, I gag at everyone.

Same goes for his sick. He was FF and the smell of BF baby sick makes me gag now. (This isn't a BF v FF comment by the way, I'm sure it's the other way round for those who BF; it's just you don't mind the smell of your own).

frikadela01 · 01/12/2016 09:57

Ds poo smells like piccalilli. We call it doing a pickle

PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon · 01/12/2016 10:37

When I saw DDs umbilical cord I was nearly sick. They are far more gross in real life especially before they have dried out. Looks like a weird slimy slug.

I always think newborns look gross when they come out but when it's your own you just want to cuddle them. Poo, pee and blood got nothing on a woman who has just gone through labour

Honeybee79 · 01/12/2016 10:47

Not grossed out but took me a while to bond, following which most of the gross stuff was just not an issue and I hardly thought of it . . . Until DS puked in my mouth and that was the limit for me!

Bauble16 · 01/12/2016 10:47

I thought mine were perfect in every way. Then I looked back at the photos and both looked like squishy swollen aliens. I think we are deluded by hormones till they actually become cute!

Lovelyskin · 01/12/2016 10:51

I didn't have love at first sight, in fact I found it quite hard to believe DD1 had been inside me. She wasn't the most beautiful baby, had been squashed in the birth canal for a long time so was bruised and swollen, and had awful cradle cap for the first few weeks. I didn't really enjoy looking at the umbilical cord and was glad when it fell off.

It might be like a Disney movie, but my experience wasn't! But it didn't stop me falling in love with my lovely girl after a few months and it certainly hasn't affected anything since then. I am quite squeamish and tbh, I did struggle with the yuk factor at times, but I still always wanted to care for her, make her clean and hold her, even if I wasn't utterly besotted from those first moments. Second time around, I did have that first sight besotted thing, neither is right, and it doesn't determine what happens after that.

StorminaBcup · 01/12/2016 11:00

It doesn't matter how beautiful you think your baby is, the umbilical cord stump is gross. Thankfully it dropped off pretty quickly with both of mine but no amount of cooing and cuddles will make that any less foul.

One of my friends has kept her children's. I did take a second to reevaluate our friendship !

Tootsiepops · 01/12/2016 11:01

I thought my baby was beautiful when she was born. I still think that despite photographic evidence to the contrary

HOWEVER - I am still pretty grossed out by poo, snot and sick (12 months later). Everyone said 'it's different when it's your own'.

It's bloody not. You're still covered in someone else's vomit.

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