Tell me what's lovely about having a baby

[plantsitter]

I'm 29 weeks and have just been diagnosed with gestational diabetes so I am monitoring my blood sugar levels and not eating anything of niceness and all that. I was hoping for a home birth but doesn't look like that'll happen now. My hormones are all over the place, I'm not sleeping properly, I have to go to work in London every day on the train where nobody gives you a seat. I am knackered. People keep telling me I don't know the meaning of the word knackered until the baby's born. I'm sure it's true but it's not helpful. I'm starting to dread not only the labour but the baby coming. What if I can't cope? I've almost forgotten why I wanted a baby in the first place...

What are the lovely and amazing things about having a tiny baby? I think I need to hear nice things and I know there are lots.. just having trouble thinking what they might be!

The snuffly sounds and nuzzling into the bit between your shoulder and your neck whilst you smell their head

I was exactly the same as you pretty much this time last year. I didn't have GD but had suspected GD right at the end. The best piece of advice is, I had a nightmarish first few weeks and seriously doubted what the hell I'd done but really, the horrible stuff only lasts for a few weeks and that does go very quickly. Once they start to smile it begins to feel worth it IYSWIM. DD is 10 months now and it's the best stage. She's funny, adventurous, affectionate and a totally gorgeous little person.

Personally, I think the best thing about a tiny baby is having them snuggled into your chest and being able to sniff their heads. It doesn't sound like much but having this little mouse cuddled up to you, knowing that they don't want to be anywhere else and knowing that you made him/her is amazing.

Good luck

Oh, just look at this. What's not to love?

plantsitter, the first time its just you and them, and you look at their little face, and you know that this is you beautiful child, and look how clever I am for making such a perfect person. You realise what love is, true absolute endless selfless love, like you have never felt before. and then nothing else matters, you are complete, its absolute bliss.

Congratulations, ccx

Their fingers, their toes, their little nose, the dimples on their bums, the way they twitch their hands and feet when they sleep. The speed at which they develop and start showing you they need you.

Just being able to look at them and marvel that they are here with us

awww plantsitter....can I start out by saying, that your emotions are really normal No matter how much you look forward to having a Baby, therecomes a point when you just get scared and worried and fed up and all of that.

Anyway....having a Baby is amazing, tiring, but amazing....to hold your own Baby and look at something that has grown within you and is just such perfect little miniture human being, is just amazing!
Cuddling your Baby is also just amazing....

sorry using amazing so muhc, but there just isn't really a word for the emotions you can feel!

okay - the first weeks are hard (can't lie about that!) but just when sleep deprivation drives you despair you get the most amazing gummy grin and your heart melts!

Then there is the snuggling into your shoulder, the smell of their skin, the way they look at you while they are feeding as though they have known you forever...

dd2 is 7wks old so am talking from recent experience

When they're really tiny and they're asleep in their moses basket and they stretch just like a real human.

Oh and that sleeping thing with their arms up over their heads...

SoupDragon - that pic !!

Just a quick one. Don't listen to all the people who say 'well if you feel bad now blah blah'

I felt significantly worse when preg than just after birth. In fact I hate being pregnant. For me it is a time fraught with worry and stress and I feel tired and like the size of a house (28 weeks here).

You could feel more tired after birth, but you might not and you will have a lovely little baby to look at and and feel proud of. Oh and they smell good too.

Hi Plantsitter - sorry you are having a tough time.

You will cope - you'll do more than cope - you'll enjoy!

It is pretty normal to feel so tired at your stage and the diabetes won't be helping either (I'm sure the hospital will sign you off for a few days if you'd like to get a little rest) - the good news is that although your sleep will be all over the place once your little one has arrived you'll also be boosted by nature's happy drugs and most likely be in a sleepy happy haze of loved up joy. It's the best knackered I've ever experienced!

There are so many things wonderful about having a baby - deep blue eyes that look in wonder at you and the world, unconditional love, tiny toes, teeny bottoms, hic-ups, cute sneezes, snuzzly cuddles, funny facial expressions ..... and on and on.

Al the best hun

Chocxx

So many, many things.

Their smell. Mmmm - warm, milky.

Their smiles and laughs. Especially the smile they give you when they see your face in the morning.

Their gorgeous silky, kissable skin.

Their expressive faces.

Their fascination with everything.

The indescribably amazing feeling of their tiny little hands. Smooth, warm, soft, yet firm. Holding on to your finger, or resting on your breast as you feed them. I'm cosleeping with my DD (nearly 25 weeks), and I often stroke her hand, or place my finger in it while she sleeps. I'm completely addicted to the feeling. I'm trying desperately to find the right words to describe it, so that years from now I can read them and remember how it felt.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.

Everyone labours differently - maybe it won't be as bad as you think. But at least it can't last forever!

And who knows - maybe you'll have a good sleeper. And even if you don't, you'll suddenly find that you have all these reserves of energy and love that you never imagined you could draw on. I'm always amazed that, even when I think I can't go on, I find something deep inside to keep rocking my DD to sleep, or whatever.

A techinique for you when you don't have a seat on a train - go up to the nearest respectable bunch of men and say excuse me but would one of you be kind enough to give up your seat for me as I am 6 months pregnant and will faint if I can't sit down. Then thank profusely. It has never failed me. People will ignore you if they can but I have never had anyone refuse a direct request.

You don't have to give up all hope of a home birth with GDD - have you ever looked at the home birth group on Yahoo? There are women there who have/are having home births with GDD and even if you decide not to, at least you will be properly informed.

The best bit of having a new baby is sometimes just not being pregnant any more I am 36 weeks and struggling and I can't wait for the birth even though I know I will be exhausted etc...it is exhausted in a different way. You don't feel ill, you just feel tired. And you have something to focus on - your lovely baby, rather than your piles or whatever!

I used to hate it when people said 'ooooh, you won't know what tiredness is until you have the baby". Total rubbish. My pregnancy insomnia was a good preparation for the sleepless nights actually. WHat's great about having a baby? Being so ridiculously proud of every silly thing he can do... (E.g. look mum! He can point at things! As baby vaguely moves his hand in direction of anything)The first smile, the first time they out their arns out for you..It'll be great much much better than being pregnant.

i agree with other comments it is lovely having them nuzzle like mice into your skin
there skin smells yummy they have such cute bums.
they look so cute in any clothing
they look even cuter when they are sleeping used to love holding my dd when she was sleeping and watching her for ever
first 4-6 weeks are hard work adjusting to the routine it is ll worth it in the end.

I hated hated hated being pregnant 1st time - especially the last few weeks. But loved being a Mum. Yes you'll be tired and the first few weeks and months are hard and you're life will never be the same again and all that jazz but you'll have a lovely little person in your life who will make you appreciate not only everything you do with them but everything that's gone before them too. There really is nothing to compare to being a parent, the pride and love you will soon have for your baby will melt you again and again and again.

In addition to what everyone else has said I absolutely love my little fella's feet - while the rest of them immediately starts growing and changing and they fill out and yell at you for food etc their little feet aren't used for very much at first and his reminded me somehow of him when he was still inside me and how new and helpless he was. And their little teeny pink toes - oh so gorgeous

Yes, the first six weeks are hard work but then you get rewarded with the smiles You will be tired but you won't be pregnant - its a fair swap in my book!

btw - I hate being pregnant and had GD also -but as soon as he was born it was if that tedious, miserable, worrisome, long nine months had never happened. It just seems a blur now, ten weeks later.

I'm trying to get DD to sleep in her cot after 4 months of refusing to go near it. When I do get her in there, for about 2 hours a night, I really really miss her. Even though she barges me out of the way so I'm kipping on a six inch square bit of mattress out of a super king size bed, I miss her holding my hand, or half waking up and crawling her way back over to me to fall asleep in the crook of my arm. There's nothing like it.

getting to know them, seeing them 'wake up' into themselves - at first their crying is just a reflex, a noise, but after a few weeks you realise that they're looking at you, seeing you, and their cries mean different things and you can understand their attempts at communication (most of the time)...my DS is 11 weeks and every time i realise i know something about him it feels like such a triumph. and there is so much more of this to come

also, having a baby sleep on you is the most peaceful feeling. DS is asleep in my arms right now, mouth open, breathing his warm milky breath all over me.

Ignore all that crap about not knowing the meaning of tired etc. Yes, having a baby is exhausting but at least you CAN sleep, when you get the chance - when you're pregnant there's planty time for sleeping but it's bloody uncomfortable.

And don't get yourself stressed if you don't have the "rush of love" people go on about - it's sometimes a slow burn. I didn't so much have a rush of love as a rush of psychopathic hormonal madness.

What's lovely? One thing trumps everything else in my mind and it has to be the vanilla breath, all warm and sweet [melts]

But it's ALL wonderful, every last someone-else's-shit-on-your-hand incident, every last embarrassing leak, vomit stain and Waynetta Slob outfit. Then they grow a bit and one day the little pink lifechanging blob is beaming up at you with yoghurt in their hair and all over your chequebook and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat

their skin is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO soft
I mean just SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO very very soft

Well it's partly because of this thread that we are now trying for DC3. Especially the "perfect hackton".

The smell of their head

Their gurning little faces

When they yawn it's just adorable

When they snuggle up on your shoulder and nuzzle your neck

Their soft fuzzy hair

How you notice every tiny little change in them and think it's amazing

When they stare at you intently during feeding

There's no better look than a baby in a sleepsuit...perfect

ooh yes, i love a perfect hackton still get one of those most days, ahhhhh.

This is helping - thank you