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

[abeandhalo]

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?

My dd was the most beautiful thing I had ever saw. And her photos still show that.

My ds.....well he grew into his looks. He was tiny. 5lb 3oz so looked really small and scrawny. When I saw a photo of him, I realised he was the spitting image of my MIL!!!! I was not impressed. Luckily he outgrew it and is now absolutely gorgeous

I actually liked the smell of DS's poo until he started solids.

Thank you. My Dh looked like I was mad when I said I loved the smell of my own babies poo. Until they weaned of course

And it's been proven that mothers can smell their own babies poo and correctly identify it compared to other babies.

To you your baby will be the most precious ,beautiful being you have ever seen the joy and love of a newborn isn't the same if it's not your own .

You'll be fine! DS was passed to us cleaned, swaddled & in a hat as that's the norm in outer hospital. However had he been yucky I wouldn't have cared as I was so overwhelmed to meet him!

I had never changed a nappy before and hated the smell of poo/farts/vomit having a weak stomach for all those things but it's different when it's your baby. Your job is to protect & care for the so it doesn't bother you at all. People said that to me and I didn't believe them but it's true .

DC does massive farts, it's unbelievable duh noises can come out of a tiny human but it's cute and I find it funny despite usually being very prudish about such things. He's 12 weeks and has peed, vomited, burped and been sick of me more times than I can count! He even managed to poo on my hand once during a nappy change... bizarrely it's not freaked me out just meant unneeded time for a wash!

Motherhood is the most amazing thing. If you think you love your baby now just wait until you get to meet them it's life changing! Good luck

If you mean immediately when born, by all means ask for the baby to be cleaned and wrapped before being handed to you. There is a whole lot of nonsense on natural childbirth websites that will suggest this means your baby will fail to recognise you and instead instantly and forevermore bond with the towel that she now thinks is her mother, etc, but this somehow disregards the fact that we are humans, not newly hatched ducklings. It is a perfectly legitimate preference to ask for.

If you mean more in general, I do get slightly shocked when I look back at newborn photos and think my gorgeous boy looks a little squashed or weird - two years later, I still have sufficiently rose-tinted glasses to believe that the camera is at fault! For me, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, the instant I saw him. But that is just how it happened for me on that day, there is no right or wrong way to feel.

You are probably wise to be aware that life isn't always like the soft-focus movies and so whatever you feel will be the right feeling for you. While I was smitten from day one, it truly was getting to know his little personality as it emerged over the early months that made me completely fall in love.

Thanks everyone has really made me feel so much better than even if he comes out looking like a blood & shit covered potato I will still think he is so cute, & that I am not a bad mum if every time I look at his umbilical cord I want to throw up.

My 2nd ds was 10 days over, he had dried out hands and feet, little wrinkles round his eyes, he was all puffy looking, purple he was strange looking but I loved him. He's a handsome little chap now. Babies look odd when first born but everything settles down.

When my dd was first born I remember saying to DH that I was shocked at how perfect she was. I was expecting a squished up, slightly bruised baby and she just radiated like an angel. The next day though, people kept asking me for pictures of her but her nose was HUGE. She was swollen and I felt really weird about it because I didnt want people to make fun of her and didnt want to send them pictures incase they did. I went into protective overdrive which was crazy because within a day or two the swelling went down. At every point she was still beautiful to me and dh though. The gross stuff really does stop being gross, you just do not think about it. My husband kissed dd on the head about 90 seconds after she had been born. Infact, he even said 'I know this is gross but I dont care' and I was the one who went 'ew!'. You just love them. I cant even begin to decribe it. You will be mesmerised.