What You Don't Know...

i read this in a magazine somewhere...it saved me on some days and i love it. i pass it on to you...

1. once you've been up for 49 nights in a row, labor and delivery seem as taxing as a pedicure. don't waste time worrying about the circles etched under your eyes; instead, relish midnight snacks and the occasional catnap.

2. just because your baby is a natural-born nurser doesn't mean your breasts are up for the job. if you can stick it out, your nipples will eventually toughen up, and then the whole thing becomes matter-of-fact. in the meantime, it might help to remember that the world's greatest guitarists started out with more than a few calluses.

3. maternity leave is really, really short. and those first precious months are a time to recuperate. feeding, changing, clothing, and loving a newborn are shockingly all-consuming tasks. so do them proudly, and do little else.

4. i love my babies so much that it scares me.

5. breasts are remarkably expandable things.

6. your body will eventually bounce back. and your mind will finally measure its worth by something other than a dress size.

7. the first few months can be a blur of nostalgia, memories, and sentimentality. ive heard from other mothers that we pull from this deep well forever, just with a smaller bucket.

8. the world cracks open into a vast universe of mothers and fathers, dying to share their excitement over my new joy, and the joy their children bring to them.

9. i am not my mother. or my father. and my instincts to mother my daughter and my son in my own way are, thankfully, just that - instinctive.

10. you'll be just fine, too.