Suddenly terrified to be a mum at 39 weeks

[CobaltRose96]

Hi all.

I'm currently 39+3 with my first baby. This pregnancy was very much planned and wanted, and I was overjoyed to get pregnant (I suffered a traumatic miscarriage at 12 weeks back in April).

However, in the past couple of days I've started to become suddenly terrified of having a baby! I have thoughts like 'What on earth am I doing?!' and I worry about how drastically my life will change very soon.

Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to meet my baby, but the concept that a whole entire person will be completely reliant on me fills me with fear! I have no experience whatsoever with babies (never even held one before).

Did anyone else experience this?

Thanks

Don't worry, just keep tapping questions into the search box there a million times a day. Guaranteed some new mum will have been panicking about the exact same thing before.

I'd never held a baby either and MN was a lifesaver. I'd be sat on the sofa in my pyjamas tapping slightly hysterical questions in "how long are newborns supposed to sleep??!!" and about a hundred mums had asked it already.... And been answered.

I always say that the MN search box taught me how to parent, lol. I still use it for parenting questions quicker than I use Google.

The biggest tip is that a newborn can't be awake for more than about 40 minutes. They can't cope with it. And that means that after about half an hour of it being cute and peering around, you have to start rocking it back to sleep as it won't automatically doze off on its own. Which feels excessive but it makes for a contented baby. I found that if your newborn is either sleeping or eating, it's generally OK. If it's awake a lot, it's often crying out of sheer exhaustion.

Omg 100% this! I think it's totally normal! I'm 41 weeks tomorrow and still have freak out moments! I'm excited obviously, but terrified too! And I have 10 years nannying experience! I've just tried to make sure I have everything prepared and organised so I have less to worry about! Once your baby is here it will all come naturally I'm sure! And like the PP said, anything your unsure of, just google!!!

This is so normal! I have 5 dc & at some point, with all of them, usually at 3am while sat on the loo, I've thought "Oh my god, what am I doing"! It's the fear of unknown.

Good luck with your delivery & becoming a Mum