Birth - Starting to get a little scared.

[robin48]

The day my oldest daughter was born was the first time I believed in love at first sight.

[SirFartsAlot]

Yes, do not look down. There is nothing beautiful about the birth process--horribly nasty. Remember, your kid will always stop crying and you will eventually get more sleep...the tough part is waiting for those things to happen.

[retired]

Jeff, let me put it some perspective. It is scary enough when it is your wife, but it is much scarier when it is your daughter. I won't go into details otherwise I will really put the scare in you, but I'm sure you, your wife and the baby will all be fine.

As I told my daughter's fiance, tho you don't know what I am talking about now, when you see your child for the first time, a feeling of total love will come over you in that moment that you will have never felt before.

After my granddaughter was born, he looked at me and said I now know what you meant.

You will be fine. And you will know of what I am referring to. To prove it, I'd like you to come back here and post about it after the birth of your child (no, not right away silly).

[mhillsing23]

My wife is only 16 weeks and it has been a wild ride already. I am so excited, and yes a bit nervous for the time to come. Stay strong for her!...

[justgotback]

Well my wife is 37 weeks as well!! This will be our third. It really is a beautiful thing. Don't worry, your wife's body was created to do what it will do when the baby comes. It really is a miracle...

[mongoose33]

Originally Posted by JeffXD

My wife is pregnant. She is at 37 weeks. Last Thursday during one of her many normal visits to the OB her blood pressure was really high so they sent her to the hospital to be monitored. She was there overnight, and the BP came back to normal, and she is on bed rest now. I am not worried about her or the baby, I think that will be all fine. But that night in the hospital made me realize this is real and its coming SOON. I have raised kittens and puppies from birth, but a person is totally different. It's just getting close and I'm getting a little scared. That being said, I am excited and know she will be the most important thing in the world, but the unknown is a bit scary.

I watched both my children being born. One thing that I remember clearly is that everything--and I mean *everything*--seemed strange. Any time something would happen my first reaction would be "is that ok?" or "what's that?"

Naturally, that was because I had no experience in those events at all. Since I had no base of experience with which to compare what was happening, I was uncertain that anything was right.

By contrast--and in retrospect I find this funny--the nurses and the doctors are acting like they're getting ready to do an oil change. In other words, to do something they've done a thousand times before. Everything looked scary and weird to me; for them, they've seen it all before.

In fact, with our second child, there was a bit of a problem. He was face up during delivery, which is wrong. When the doctor informed us of this, I must have had a stricken look on my face because the doctor said "Don't worry, I haven't left one in there yet." In other words, it was something they'd faced many times before. It was just that I'd never faced it.

And it all turned out fine.

Your being nervous is normal and healthy. It's the people who think they know it all already who scare me.

Read as much as you can about raising a child. That helps a lot. One thing that made a difference for me was finding out that children really do go through stages, and just knowing that made it far easier to deal with them. In other words, it's not something wrong, it's just a kid doing what kids do.

The periods of pregnancy and birth of my two children were two of the most magical times in my life. I'm sure you'll find the magic in it as well. Enjoy the experience, and trust the doctor and nurses.

Mongoose

[buzz_gum]

Get as much sleep as you can now...because you'll never sleep as well as you did before that kid was born.

[JeffXD]

Thanks for all the encouragment. I am not sure if I am so much worried about the actual birth as I am about what happens when we get home. It really sucks when you need something like your diaper changed or you are hungry and you are unable to vocalize it because you were just born. I guess I am worried about screwing up something or not know what to do at all. We have all sorts of family around to help, but still...

[XDConvert9mm]

Originally Posted by JeffXD

Thanks for all the encouragment. I am not sure if I am so much worried about the actual birth as I am about what happens when we get home. It really sucks when you need something like your diaper changed or you are hungry and you are unable to vocalize it because you were just born. I guess I am worried about screwing up something or not know what to do at all. We have all sorts of family around to help, but still...

You'll learn pretty quickly that even babies can communicate by how they cry. There are usually different cries for the ordinary stuff (hungry, diaper, need a burping, etc.) than there are for the more serious matters. Our daughter went with us to a neighborhood party and had been fussing in a room off of the kitchen, the usual stuff, nothing special. All the other parents there took no notice at all, as it should have been. When she managed to squirm out of my wife's hands and roll herself a off the couch and on to the carpeted floor the cry that she put out had ALL parents in the house running into the room.

Just an example that you will learn, as all parents do, basic communication with the baby. Also, in the first couple of weeks while you figure this out the little person spends the vast majority of the time sleeping. After that it's time to watch out for the erratic hours! Again, you'll figure it out. Sleep when they do, never wake a sleeping baby, etc.

Last item, the best advice we ever got was to keep the baby in a room where there was background noise. We had them in the Den in a crib with the TV on, phone ringing, conversations going on, etc. If you keep the house deadly quiet you'll find that the slightest whisper of a noise wakes them up once they're conditioned to silence while sleeping.

[k-dog]

I second the noise thing. We let a police & fire scanner run all day and night and the baby slept fine. We didn't have to worry about people coming in and being quiet as the baby was used to noise.

My wife seemed to know exactly what the baby wanted, whether it was changed, burped, food, etc. It was like a 6th sense.

My kids surprise me everyday with something new and they are 11, 5 & 2.