Bringing Up Baby | Taming Anxiety

by , posted on January 8th, 2013 in Baby, Parenting



When I took a pregnancy test 8 months ago that read positive the only emotions I remember feeling at the time were excitement, joy, and blissfully happy. When my husband got home from work that day, our eyes teared as we sat on the floor in an empty room that we knew one day would be occupied by a little one. It was a moment in our marriage I’ll never forget. Nothing but me, him and the tiny little one growing in my womb mattered. We have had 8 months now to process how life is about to change- our priorities, responsibilities, daily routines, all of it will be shifted in ways we can’t yet comprehend and won’t until she’s actually here.

We’ve spent many, many nights in bed asking ourselves questions we’re scared and excited to encounter. How will we teach our child empathy and compassion? How do we protect her when we’re not physically with her? How do we teach her to appreciate and respect other cultures? How will we teach her the value of service? My husband and I always say we’d rather our children be bullied than be the bully. It’s an extremely difficult thing for us to imagine but at the end of the day, more than anything we want our children to have tender hearts. How do we achieve this?

As scared as I am about the actual delivery of our little girl, more than being anxious about my own physical pain, I worry about my ability to raise an empathetic, good hearted, kind, funny, loving, confident daughter. As much reading as we’ve done, there’s not a handbook on how to be a good parent (Darn!) Every parent and every child is unique and what’s been putting my mind at ease a bit lately is knowing that we are all in this journey together. My husband and I and our daughter. We’ll all be learning how to be a family of three which means we’ll have to navigate the choppy waters together as well and I’m finally starting to feel ready to tackle the feat.

How were some of your parenting anxieties eased as you entered parenthood?


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5 Responses to “Bringing Up Baby | Taming Anxiety”

  1. Kristen M. Says:

    January 8th, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    From labor pains to birth to sleeplessness to breastfeeding to balancing…alll of it…I just kept telling myself that women, for all time, have been doing this. That women, on this day, are doing this. Being part of the collective “mother” gave me such confidence, peace and forgiveness of myself. Motherhood is beautiful and incredibly humbling. It is a gift and you will love it and it will challenge you. Sending mother vibes your way…

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    Jennifer Cooper Reply:
    January 10th, 2013 at 2:32 pm

    collective “mother” – that is such a beautiful way to think about it.

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  2. Lindsay Says:

    January 9th, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    I love what you mean when you say the “collective mother.” so beautiful and so true. I needed these reminders :)Thank you.

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  3. Cassie Says:

    January 10th, 2013 at 11:04 am

    I agree with the above statement. Knowing women having been doing this for centuries, with many more children than just my one, was reassuring.

    Sleepless nights worrying will soon be replaced with sleepless nights feeding & cradling – your mind won’t have the energy to worry. And there’s always your pediatrician/nurse line – I called them all the time for reassurance I wasn’t going to break the baby – they’ve heard it all.

    But I feel ya – I worry in bed thinking about having a second baby.

    [Reply]

    Jennifer Cooper Reply:
    January 10th, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    I called the nurse line too! It’s nice to have someone who has experience with babies reassure you.

    [Reply]

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