First time Mommy

When you are pregnant, you don't want to think beyond the little bundled joy that you will hold in your arms, hopefully by your due date. As your due date approaches and you fob off irritating 'you-haven't-delivered-yet!' and 'get-yourself-induced'  all you want is to somehow get the thing called labour and delivery out of the way and just fast forward time to holding your baby. What happens AFTER you scream your innards out and experience the most painful episode of your life is something that not even the best parenting book describes/ prepares you for. You learn to gingerly swaddle your baby, give her a bath with trembling hands, burp her as tenderly as a doll and cradle her head with a grip as soft as a cotton ball. Since you are a first timer, advice flows in freely and thick, and sometimes you have no choice but to accept it, even though it sounds and feels ridiculous. As the months progress, you gain more confidence and are able to gauge your baby better than any well- meaning relative.  The best gauge is, of course, when the doctor gives you an 'excellent weight gain' report after months of struggling with top feed, bottle- acceptance and the stress of unwarranted advice. The thrill of knowing what your baby wants, and being proven correct is better than being treated like a one-sided warm pot of soil those nine months!