Column: Advice said we’d be changed forever

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, March 1, 2005

When my husband and I found out we were pregnant, we went through all the traditional emotions ranging from elation to total fear.

We had been hoping and planning for a baby for a long time, and now our wish had come true. As the months wore on, we anticipated our baby’s arrival with great excitement and excessive planning.

Yet, with all of our nursery preparations, baby care classes, baby showers and book reading, nothing could have prepared us for the total transformation of our lives with a new baby.

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Like many expectant parents, we were given loads of advice &045; bathing techniques, feeding schedules, diaper rash prevention methods, best burping positions, the absolute necessity of nursing and the absolute necessity of bottle feeding, to name a few.

Much was unwarranted and unwanted, many times just plain rude. All of it added to our anxiety that we, two college educated individuals with progressing careers, knew absolutely nothing about being parents.

During these nine months of &uot;advice,&uot; one common and yet seemingly simple thing we were continually told was this: our lives would forever change once our little one arrived. Let me tell you, they were right.

As we drove to the hospital that chilly winter night to have our baby, what people had been saying about change finally began to sink in.

I kept thinking how this new little person was finally arriving and would forever be in our lives.

Forever.

This baby would be our child forever and we would always be this baby’s parents, forever.

Life would never be the same. The baby was on its way and would be in our lives, forever.

Since our beautiful baby’s arrival, indeed, life has not been the same. Our baby girl came bouncing into our lives with an emotional force that cannot be fully described.

She has penetrated our souls and we are constantly amazed and eternally entertained by her.

Molly has brought a new kind of joy into our lives that we had never known and, at 13 months, is turning into a comedian that continually keeps us laughing.

Having a baby does change your life. It brings joy, confusion, anxiety, self-doubt, laughter, education and intense love. Since the arrival of Molly, my husband and I have changed, life has changed, and as everyone said, it will never be the same.

(K. Arnold writes about first-time parenting adventures bi-monthly in the Albert Lea Tribune. )