Michelle1 suggests being emotionally ready for the changes that come with being a parent.

Transcript

The other thing that I would say is understand that having a baby, although it’s wonderful bringing a new life and having a new love, it also is a loss of your former self. You can never stop being a mother. You will always be a mother whether you have that baby or not. And you can never go back. it’s like one of the only decisions that you can make that you can’t change. So you can get divorced, you can cheat on your taxes, you can’t cheap death but you can never stop being a mother and you can never be your old self. So, realize that whatever you were before you became a mother, a professional working woman, an employed person, I don’t know, whatever you were before you were a mother, that changes and having a baby changes everything. My son was wanted, he was loved before he was born. We were financially ready – we were just weren’t emotionally ready.

I’d also suggest if you have someone that has a newborn, go there, take care of that newborn for a day, two days and just see what it actually is like ’cause it was such a shock fundamentally for me. The days were very, very long and I didn’t expect them to be so long. And I had a support system, I just didn’t use it. So, when I went into the hospital I had to use it so my mother got to hold her grandson, my mother-in-law was responsible for his care. I had – my husband had suggested a night nanny but I kept on saying no. I said the only people that can take care of this baby are me and you. And that was the wrong approach, you can’t do it alone.

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