moosh in indy.

April 25, 2011

I would now like to present a list of things that I panicked about with Addie that turned out to be nothing worth panicking about.

everything.
all things.
every little thing.
the works.
and everything else.

There was actually a time I worried that I would have to learn how to swaddle a three year old. Cody worried that she’d never have any manual dexterity because I kept scratch mitts on her for the first two weeks. I was pretty sure she’d take a bottle to preschool, diapers to Kindergarten and still have a binky in middle school on top of the fact that she’d never sleep in a real bed ever.

The kid learned to sleep unswaddled after a couple of nights.

She has the manual dexterity of a surgeon. (you know, more or less.)

The switch from bottle to sippy was seamless and complete in one day.

She was fully potty trained by within a couple of weeks. (albeit LONG weeks.)

She not only sleeps in a real bed without falling out, she can sleep in a bunk bed without falling out.

And while the binky was by far the most traumatic of all the aforementioned events? She still loves me, can walk in a straight line and form complete sentences.

To those of you who have yet to become moms, freaking out is fun! It’s a part of this whole process! I’d be ridiculous to tell you not to freak out because you’re going to freak out no matter what because if you break this kid? IT’S YOUR FAULT. Or at least that’s what society wants you to believe. You’re not going to break your kid. Or maybe you will once, and you’ll feel horrible but really, it’s okay, they’re resilient little critters.

If you already are a mom (or dad), do tell, what did you freak out over that ended up being nothing at all? I’d like some comforting reassurance that my inevitable panic episodes with this next baby are totally justifiable. I know my mom worried my handwriting would never EVER be legible. Not only is my handwriting legible, IT’S FONT WORTHY. HA!

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This post is part of Tiny Prints Mother’s Day Campaign All Tiny Prints Mother’s day cards (and Father’s day cards) are completely customizable and can be sent straight to your mama or papa. Cards can even be scheduled ahead of time, you know, in case you’re forgetful like me. Which reminds me, I was compensated for my participation in this campaign, all opinions and statements are my own.

Comments off.

Love this post! I was worried about EVERYSINGLETHING! It lessens with each child…by the 4th..meh..NOBIGGIE!

I had nightmares that I wouldn’t know whether to change Aidan BEFORE or AFTER feeding him, and that I’d do it wrong and he’d never sleep and it would all be full of fail and woe.

It turns out, it all worked out just fine. There’s very little fail and almost no woe, he sleeps just fine, and all is well!

I worried for the entire 8 weeks of my maternity leave that my son would love my mother-in-law more than me since she was going to watch him during the day when I returned to work. I cried about it, threw fits about it, even contemplated leaving my husband and moving myself into my childhood bedroom at my parents house as to avoid leaving him. Hormones, maybe? In any case, turns out he didn’t love her more than me at all. He saved that special title for his daddy instead.

Zoe was born with hip dysplasia. The extremely specialized pediatric orthopedic specialist came into my maternity room before Zoe was even 24 hours old and gave me all of these details about dislocated and not fully formed hips. He put Zoe in this strappy velcro contraption. I was panicked/anxiety stricken/a nervous wreck/ CONVINCED Zoe would never walk.

Um… Zoe won’t sit still from dancing/bouncing/climbing/wiggling/running/jumping/just all around driving me bonkers for 10 seconds all day.

I freak out about literally everything. Right now I am freaking out about #1 going to kindergarten in the fall! YIKES!

I wanna see your font! I ? fonts!

You do have cute handwriting.
I”m freaking over potty-training right now. In fact, after admitting up there in the post that you had Addie done in 2 weeks…well, you’d better be glad you’re thisclose to delivering Mozzi, or else you might be getting a package with holes in it containing an unpottytrained Dean!

I remember freaking out about all the milestones and whether my first kid reached them on time or not. Also…about giving him solid food at just the right time…not too early or late to avoid any kind of oral hypersensitivities. Sheesh! My second kid…I never really even thought about that. Haha! It is funny to look back on!

When my son was born I constantly worried about him. He never slept, cried for hours on end and was generally unhappy. The doctors assured me that this was only colic and nothing to worry about. I was certain that there was something far more insidious going on…!

At six, he is a healthy, happy little guy. I however still bear the emotional scars of his babydom and have moved on to fretting about kindergarten schoolwork, making friends and a bevy of other age appropriate worries!

Will it ever end?
I doubt it…

I worried if Mac and Cheese could be considered a meal. Seriously, Why??? I also worried about throwing B-day parties. How would I entertain kids, what games would I play. Turned out just fine. Every year I manage to come up with unique party themes and cakes. I am sure I could go on. I also should say these worries were with my first daughter. My second daughter, only wants turtle b-day parties. And I giver her a banana with peanut butter drizzled lightly in chocolate syrup, and well it is a meal )

I was TERRIFIED that I would hurt his little boy bits. I worried about if he was clean enough, if there was such a thing as TOO clean, and OHMYGOSH the first time he got, um, cold…I woke my husband up at 4 in the morning terrified that his testicles had reverted to being inside his body at all times and that he would never have a normal package.

Phew.

He has a normal package now, for the record.

At 36 weeks pregnant with my first, I am currently freaking out about other people. Which is probably more ridiculous than freaking out about the baby. I worry that people will hate me because I don’t want visitors for the first 2 days. I worry about getting one more stupid stuffed animal, and, as I sit here sweating in April – one more blanket for my late May baby. I worry about what I will do with the hideous clothes I received when they ask to see her in it. I worry that people will comment because my child is always on my boob. Anxiety, at its finest.

My freak out came the evening she was born. After almost 2 hours of pushing,she finally came out but with a cone head. I was sure she would have it for life and that it was my fault.

I had twins, what isn’t there to freak out about? What if they are crying at the same time, both poopy at the same time and when it comes to feeding it is psychologically health for a baby to be fed by a propt up bottle held by a teddy bear? How do you love two little babies as much as they deserve when they both need you at the exact same time? Well I soon learned that cuddle time on the floor was the best and those late nights wern’t so bad cuddled up in the arms chair with a baby in both arms. Not to mention I became aware of an amazing husband who had two arms just like me and loved his little girls just as much as I did!

Oh gosh I worried (still worry) about lots of stuff. What if she develops an allergy and I am unaware of it and I feed her peanut butter, or shellfish, or God help me what if she is stung by a bee while eating shrimp with peanut sauce.

I worried about getting them on a “schedule”. What the hell is a schedule anyway? It’s not like the kid knows they’re on a schedule. And, once you get them on a schedule (like sleeping through the night) they have to go and get teeth and throw the whole thing off again.

With my second, I have tried really hard to not get all OCD about everything. As a result, I don’t know what times my kid naps. I just know that when she’s tired, she goes to sleep.

The thing I keep reminding myself of is that I don’t know what I’m doing and it’s okay. Just manage to feed them and change their diapers and it’s a win in my book!

I worried that my son would feel unloved if I didn’t spend every nanosecond by his side. Silly right?!

I got all freaked out and anal about how I was going to give birth. I was proud when I was able to CUT DOWN my natural birth plan “rules” to only a single page (12 point font, single spaced).

The ONLY thing that “came true” was that I didn’t have a c-section… but it was really, REALLY darn close. And I freaked out about it when I had to tell my Bradley childbirth instructor. I could hear her smirking about some of my choices (which directly led to some of the “interventions” I’d been trying to avoid). And then suddenly I realized, I had a baby, and he was healthy, and so who gave a care how it happened? That feeling of peace after letting go of worry and guilt – (although it’s impossible to force yourself to let go, you just have to be ready) – that peace is sublime.

The other thing was trying to obey everyone “official”‘s feeding instructions. I ended up feeding my son every two hours around the clock (3 hrs at night) for the first two weeks. Once, I fell asleep during the night and missed a feeding – he didn’t wake me up (because he obviously didn’t need it) – and had crazy angst about making a poor newborn go 6 hours without food [not recommended, but seriously my level of anxiety over it was wayy over the top]. I was actually surprised when I admitted this to my husband and he enthused about how great it was – I hadn’t even thought about how little sleep I was getting, and thought he would think badly of me. Instead, he was relieved for me. I actually cried to realize that.

I didn’t think my oldest would ever learn to crawl…and therefore never learn to walk. I took him to his nine month appt. not knowing how to crawl and me in a panic. I think the dr. thought I was crazy. He started crawling like a week later… He started walking about a month after that… I may have over reacted just a little…. In the meantime, he’s almost four and can’t?/won’t? color or draw…I’m trying not to freak! : D

I worried way too much about quality and quantity of real food. My son eats a very balanced diet now. He loves fruit, veggies, and even eats meat now. His appetite ebbs and flows with growth spurts, as it should. If I had just listened to the dang doctor I would have saved a lot of worry lines.

When I was getting ready to have my second, I worried about which one you go to first if they are both crying at night. Mine are 16 months apart and my husband works night so im alone. I am happy to report that I get it done just fine. Some nights are harder than others but I think I have a pretty good grip these days (my kids are 2 yrs and 9 mo)

I worried terribly that my daughter would forget to get off the bus her first day of kindergarten. I was a working mom then and my mother watched her an her younger brother. I was right! She DID miss the bus and the driver didn’t find her until the end of the route! Luckily, she had gone to pre-school and knew her address (and it was printed on her backpack on the inside). My mother was having a heart attack. She never even called me at work! I had some fine words with the bus driver the next day! My mom told me I did the same exact thing to her. So it must be in the genes. LOL

My baby girl is due in 8 weeks and my first freak out ( among the many already) was when we were registering at BRU. I got completely overwhelmed, told my Hubby “I’m finished with this” basically threw the scanner thingy at the sales lady and high tailed it out of there. THEN we get in the car and I start bawling hysterically saying that if I couldnt even pick out the right pacifer, how was I ever going to get things right for her in her life!!!…. my poor hubby just sat there, not quite sure what to do! I laugh about that one now, but there are SO many more freak outs in my pregnancy brain, I could write a bigger paragraph than this one

When my oldest was born, a nurse yelled “He’s got palsy!” which simply isn’t true. However for years, the slightest twitch made those words echo in my head. Thanks a lot, lady.

I panicked about:
HOw do I properly lay her to sleep without causing her harm in any way?
How often do I need to change her diapers?
Will I know when she’s hungry?
Will I know when something is physically bothering her?
My worst panic, will she vomit in her crib and I’ll not know and something really bad will then happen to her?
Lots more that I can’t remember but it all turned out just fine.

At the child care class, they freaked me out talking about the umbilical cord stump and how long it would take to fall off. Said a week to a month. The hospital in Kansas (we adopted our perfect child) totally messed up the whole thing and it looked terrible and seemed like it would never fall off. I was convinced she was going to be the freaky child with that gross stump stuck forever to her belly. Jobs she wouldn’t be able to have included swimsuit model and Hooters waitress (which, over my dead body, but still wanted her to have options). It fell off the night before I went back to work and I nearly cried when I found it in her jammies. Spent a lot of time worrying about that stump.

With my second pregnancy I was worried I could in no way love a second kid as much as my first. Yeah. That took about 2.3 seconds to overcome. Silly me I thought it the third time too. ha. I’m possibly a slow learner.

I know I worried about a ton of other stuff…but am so tired right now, I can’t think of any.

I freaked out about making sure I had *everything* we needed before the baby came, but in truth, all we needed were diapers, a few blankets, onesies, and my breasts. Wish I wouldn’t have been such a Crazy Lady back then.

Hmmmm. I don’t remember the handwriting worry. I DO remember being a *bit* concerned that you would ever have any hair. Nothing but peach fuzz for a very long time….. It all worked out. xoxoxo

I was worried Eddie would never stop crying or ever grow hair.

He only cries when he is whiney, tired, hungry, or has a boo boo now.

And he has hair. Lots and lots of curly hair.

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