When you're pregnant everyone is constantly preparing you for each step along the way. Week by week you know exactly what to expect and make the adjustments as needed. Then comes labor which you are ultimately prepared for, a little terrified of, and by all means excited to finally have your little one in your arms and your body no longer possessed by dreadful hormones and more extra weight than you possibly could have ever wanted. Then comes baby...now what? Sure your family and friends and numerous websites, books, and blogs along the way gave you tons of information to help you along this new journey in life. They gave you tips and even supplies to arm you for changing diapers, feeding your new precious angel, and even told you exactly how to give baths and burp the baby. Seriously, who are these people trying to fool? It does NOT work like that. This is a live breathing, crying, kicking, squirming abrasive "little angel". No one REALLY can prepare you for the feat that truly lies ahead!
The day we were able to leave the hospital after my 23.5 hours of labor and complete lack of sleep, my husband and I stood above our precious baby girl, just barely weighing over 6 lbs., trying desperately to figure out a game plan for putting clothes on her. It seems pretty simple, right? I'd even go as far to say it's self-explanatory but, let's be honest, I have purses that weigh more than my ever so delicate perfect little being and we were scared to death of hurting her. We looked at each other, then at Anna (our precious baby girl), then back at each other, kind of nodding our heads like, "we've got this"! We're professionals, for crying out loud, why can't we conquer this seemingly simple task? My husband made the first move. He scrunched the onesie up, just like women do when putting on stockings, and he just went for it. It took about six attempts. I held her, sort of up at an angle, and he maneuvered that onesie like he was parallel parking a car. Perfect! We got it! Whew...what a relief! That was the single most traumatizing moment of our lives and it had only just begun.
