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May 2011 Moms
kerrbear72
member
What's your biggest newborn fear?
kerrbear72
member
Me? I am so afraid that because I am such a sound sleeper, I'll never hear the baby crying in the middle of the night.
What is your biggest fear about bringing a newborn a home?
This discussion has been closed.
Re: What's your biggest newborn fear?
aCg 3.1.07 | hCr 5.5.11
I'm terrified of going through that level of sleep deprivation again. It f*cks with your head. Combine that with the postpartum hormones and it's crazytown for a few weeks.
Kerr, you will definitely wake up. Mommy brains are hardwired to wake up when their baby cries. I read a study once that found moms' brains actually respond differently to the sound of a baby crying than dads' brains.
The no sleep part. I am afraid that will make all the rest of it harder. I already have no idea what to do with a newborn, then add no sleep and grumpy on top of that, I don't want to make any mistakes!!
DS1 Born Apr 29 2011
DS2 Born Nov 5 2013
Pregnant with #3 Dec 24 2014, MMC found at 10w, D&C Feb 10th 2015
Cautious BFP May 25th 2015 EDD Feb 6 2016
I have the sleep fear as well.
I also have an irrational fear of falling with the baby. I've had a few nightmares where I was walking down my stairs with the baby and slipped and we both went tumbling down the stairs - it was so real I woke up in the middle of the night to "test" how slippery the hardwood is with different types of things on my feet (barefoot, shoes, socks) at 3:00 am.
natural miscarriage 4/11/10 @ 9 weeks 4 days
our miracle, Cecilia Mae, born 5/22/11
Don't worry, you will hear it. I will never forget when we were in the hospital we sent DD to the nursery for a few hours b/c we had been up all night and we were beyond tired, and I asked them to bring her back if she cried. I seriously woke up out of a dead sleep and yelled at DH "That's ours. That's our baby." They were wheeling her down the hallway. No kidding. She hadn't even been around for 8 hours, and I knew her cry from the hallway.
I am afraid of the sleep deprivation for sure, b/c other than DD's naptime there will be no time to sleep once DH goes back to work. DD and I would crash on the couch from 7-9am every day...that's not going to happen this time around.
I'm scared of everything! Neither of us have a lot of experience with babies, and newborns scare me LOL so I'm afraid we will be totally lost and it will take us forever to figure out a schedule that works and to know what to do. And I'm scared of no sleep, and how this is all going to work if I'm working nights.
My MARRIED Bio
You will hear your baby, no doubt! I can be dead asleep and DD will barely moan or cough in her sleep and I wake up. She's in her room with the door closed as are we. DH on the other hand, doesn't hear her at all, even when she's saying "Daddy!" (while he's asleep).
aCg 3.1.07 | hCr 5.5.11
I am petrified that I just won't have a clue what to do- with anything! This is my first baby, my first niece or nephew is due in March, I've babysat kids, but almost never babies (and that was years ago). I'm petrified I won't know what to dress it in, won't be able to figure out how to breastfeed, won't be able to figure out how to make it stop crying, petrified people will watch me and think "why on earth did she have kids".
Not weird at all. Breastfeeding is natural but that doesn't mean it's easy. The first month is challenging, but you can do it. I think a book on BFing is a good thing to have around. I used to read mine at 3 am while I nursed my baby to remind me why I was doing it LOL.
This was me too. I knew his cry from the minute he was born. It made me cry to recognize it!
I don't consciously have any fears right now. However, I had a dream that 1) I lost my baby in a public place, 2) I went an entire day and completely forgot to feed the baby, and then 3) put the baby down for a nap and was going to bathe the baby when she woke up, so I went to the store to get baby body wash and forgot that I left the baby napping at home. All of this happened in the same dream.
I have 2 fears...
I am scared to death of the sleep deprivation. I had a bad bout of insomnia about a year and a half ago where I was averaging 3-4 hours of sleep a night for a little over a month. By the end of it I was to the point where I couldn't function. DH had to drive me places because I was falling asleep behind the wheel.
Plus I turned into a person who hated everyone and everything around me because I was so exhausted. I didn't like the person I became because I yelled at dh and the dog for little things and really got angry easy. This concerns me. But hopefully it won't be as bad because I can attempt to sleep when the baby sleeps during the day. Whereas with the insomnia I still had to go to work each day and had no opportunity to attempt to nap.
I think I can handdle everything previously mentioned. I can handdle not sleeping (after all, that is what happened in college). I can handle not being able to breastfeed, the hormones or falling with the baby. I say, bring it on.
My worry is based on previous complications. At my fisrst u/s my baby had a cystic hygroma, which is associated with genetice disorders and heart problems. So far all of our test results have come back normal (praise God). We still have some more test, but aren't expecting any bad results becuase of the first results being normal (a big shock for the doctors). I fear that all the test will turn out normal and we will be asuming that our baby is going to be healthy, but when it comes out it has major problems. I don't think I could handdle that. I would be completely devastated. I would not be prepared to take care of a baby with disabilities or make decisions on surgeries or procedures. I have this fear everyday! I can't wait to meet my LO so all my worries will go away!
Oh and my other big fear is giving a newborn a bath. I have worked with young babies a whole lot and am very comfortable with them as I worked with the infants in the daycare and babysit. But you don't have to give infants baths at daycare.
I did the little boy I babysit a few baths when he was little, but he had pretty good head control by then. I already told dh he has to help me through this at least at first.
Right now I feel ok with the sleep deprivation (I've had off-and-on insomnia since I was about 8 and can function with little sleep), and even constant baby crying, trying to get a set schedule. Fears start to creep in when I think about trying to get a good job and spend as much time as I can with baby and finish grad school and pay NYC rent and save for LO's college, right on down the rabbit hole...
My biggest fear is SIDS. Honestly. The very thought of walking in to the nursery in the morning and LO is gone is just, I can't even go there. There is zero instance of this in my family, and I know I have no reason to think, statiscally, it will happen to me, but I don't know if I can get around these feelings. I am easily paranoid, but will probably get an Angel Care sleep monitor, or something of the sort. And talk with my OB about my fears.
My overwhelming sympathy to anyone on this board who has dealt with this in any form.
I'm really good with kids and have many in my family. I've given many of them their first baths at home. I am not afraid of much really...
Other than preterm labor and having babies in the NICU. We don't have a NICU at the hospital my doctor is affiliated with an we're running a risk that if I go into labor early, I'll be sent to another hospital further away so that I will not be seperated from my boys. I am so, so scared I will not make it until term.