I think that most good parents at some point along the way ask themselves if they’re ready to have a baby.
My first instance of this came about a week after the shock of finding out I was pregnant for the first time wore off. I was walking hurriedly down some stairs and my chest throbbed with each step – the constant reminder that my life was about to change.
That evening, my sore chest and I cozied up on the sofa for my routine bedtime read and I found that I hadn’t opened my book, but was lost in thought about the months and years to come. In a few short minutes too much to type was thought. “I can’t believe I’m pregnant. I’m not ready for a kid. I never planned to have kids. I’ve never even changed a diaper. I have no experience with children. I don’t make enough money. I’m so excited. There’s no one else in the world I’d want to do this with other than my husband.”
And that was the first instance of this question, “Am I ready?”
There’s so many things to prepare for to make sure your little one has all the opportunity in life. And suddenly it’s important to take care of yourself to make sure you can take care of your baby. We were looking at college savings, health insurance, life insurance, organic food, vitamins, green cleaning products, going back to school ourselves and getting degrees, even a piggy bank!
Then there were all the baby essentials to get too!
Do I need a parenting class? A birth class? How do I breastfeed? How do I hold a baby? What if I drop it!?
I tell you, it REALLY sunk in when I was being wheelchaired out of the maternity ward nine months later with a 7lb 1oz swaddled boy in my arms. I felt the need to ask the nurse if they were really going to let me, of all people, just leave with another human being!
But I didn’t. I just smiled. And I realized that I probably wasn’t any more ready than I could be, but that I would do my best for that little guy, because that’s what parents do.
A friend of mine was recently thinking of starting the adoption process and said she wasn’t sure if she was ready yet. I said, no one is ever really ready, you just prepare the best you can and throw yourself into it. You learn along the way and love ‘em with all your heart.
Tags: parenthood, parenting, parenting help, pregnancy, raising a family