So many times you hear things like “ain’t no hood like parenthood” or “parenthood, a walk in the park. Jurassic Park.” Sayings like this give you the feeling that having kids is rough. That life will never be “easy” again. First of all life, in general, isn’t “easy”. Secondly, not everyone has a rough life once they welcome children into their families.
Now that’s not to say that parenthood is easy. It comes with its own set of challenges just like every phase in life. The point of this article is to let anyone thinking about having children or anyone expecting a child know that it’s all going to be okay. There will be tough times but there will also be amazing times that bring you more joy than you can imagine.
I don’t count myself as an expert by any means, but I have learned a lot these past 9 months with my little guy. All that being said, there are a few things you can do to help set yourself up for success.
Research
First of all, if you are expecting a child, or planning on having one soon, do your research! That is one of the things that has helped me the most. Research everything you can think of. Ask other new, and seasoned, parents. I knew I wanted to breastfeed, so I researched tips on breastfeeding, I asked other mothers about their experience with it. I looked up information and gathered it until I was dreaming about it.
Research doesn’t have to be going to the library and taking a million classes on the subject. I got online, mostly Pinterest, and started looking up the topics I wanted to learn about. I researched natural births, medicated births, breastfeeding, formula feeding, items that I’d need for postpartum recovery, items that I needed to take to the hospital, etc.
My doctor even told me that I didn’t necessarily need to take any birthing classes due to the wealth of information online. So no matter how you decide to do your research, just do it. The more you research, the better prepared you’ll be for what is to come.
Be Willing To Adapt
Don’t get too caught up in everything that you researched though and think that is for sure going to be how everything goes. Know that you will have to change and adapt to you and your child’s exact needs.
Don’t focus so much on trying to have a natural birth that you risk your life or your child’s. Or focus on trying to breastfeed so much that you get frustrated and angry and forget to enjoy your newborn. Just know that no matter how you bring your child into this world, or how they’re fed, the important thing is that they get here with you and are fed.
Not everything will go according to your plan. Just know that it is okay to deviate from your plan. Your plan for birth, feedings, and even raising your child, will most likely have to change and adapt to your life. And that is perfectly okay.
Thank you for reading
Thank you so much for reading! I plan to have more detailed articles about parenthood coming out over the next few weeks, so be on the look out for those.
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