Apr 7, 2006

Things someone should’ve said before hand:

  1. The first two years of marriage are the worst. It’s when you have all the arguments about how to squeeze the toothpaste, should one leave a note when leaving the house and weather the cups go right side up or down in the cupboard. Some arguments are stupid, some matter but all get worked out in the first two years.
  2. The same thing happens again when you have a baby.
  3. Never start keeping score in your marriage - you are on the same team.
  4. When you’re in labor you don’t give a crap who walks into the delivery room and peeks at your business, you just want someone to help you.
  5. After you have a baby you have your period for what can last up to 6 weeks.
  6. Nursing is uncomfortable and weird at first but nursing mothers don’t get their period back until they start to reduce the nursing schedule.
  7. A newborn causes such sleep deprivation that you will be happy to go back to sleep with “just a little baby puke” on your PJs and it won’t even bother you.
  8. Someday you will beg your toddler to just eat one marshmallow or a Cheeto and then she can get down from the dinner table.
  9. Even though you know what pushes the buttons of your family members, you shouldn’t.

That’s all I have so far. I’m putting it out there because these things I discovered while they were happening to me. So, maybe someone will find something of value here and if you didn’t then perhaps you have information that “someone should’ve told you” to leave.

9 comments:

Emily said...

I'm in the middle of the first year of marriage, and it's good to know that it's not just difficult for us.

Anonymous said...

There's all kinds of useful information I wish someone would have told me. In fact I've been thinking about creating a group project "mommy mentor"ish blog to help new or soon-to-be mommies with such info, with several contributors writing articles. I'll have to keep you in mind if I decide to as a co-conspirator - er I mean as a contributing author ;)

Jenny said...

oh yeah, after the first two years, marriage gets really good.

I think the website would be a wonderfull idea.

Dawn said...

Yeah. May I add - don't get pregnant right away and have a baby during the first year of your marriage, cause even IF you lived together for 4 years prior to marriage, it IS different.

I wish someone had told me about the mesh underwear they give you. And that I would adore perineal cold packs. And the 6 week bleed out afterwards.

Oh and your cramps do NOT get better after you've had a baby. I'd like to punch the person who started that little myth.

And you will be nervous during your first attempt at post baby coitus. Cause this is what got you into this mess. And something has come out of that specific area. It was kind of like being a virgin again.

Jenny said...

The perineal cold packs were the best thing EVER.

Anonymous said...

I was all about the Soothies for breast feeding. Those things were the only things that could make me stop crying. When Parker started coming away from my breast with blood around his mouth I knew it was time to throw in the towel. No amount of "coaching" was ever going to get him to latch on right.

Lou, my older son, was a breeze to breastfeed though. The ONLY "problem" I had with him, which really wasn't a problem at all, was that he typically nursed so hard milk would come out his nose. I knew I wouldn't be nursing him much past teeth. I breastfed him until he was 8 months old but didn't stop because of teeth but because I was only nursing him once a day anyway with my work schedule and the fact that "breast pumps" back then looked more like a tire pump. Electric? What? No such thing. Besides, I SO missed coffee and diet coke.

Oddly enough Lou's first tooth poked through the surface that very day hehe.

BoomBoom said...

Poop story time?

Jenny said...

yes, please share.

Anonymous said...

Another thing I had no clue about was that I would have the bleeding even after a c-section. What's that all about? The hormones, apparently. Oh yes, and that's another big secret: the hormones that have you laughing and smiling at your beautiful baby one moment and sobbing in complete despair the next. People talk about "post-partum depression" but seldom in concrete terms that new moms can recognize when it happens.

K, off soapbox. ;-)