Faith Mwaura : 6 Reasons you know you’re a New Mum

As a new parent, you always try and prepare yourself for the baby, some things you hear over and over again, but no matter how many times you hear them, you are never prepared enough to experience them.

1. First poop

I remember being told that the first poop is deep green, black actually called meconium, I knew it, I read it, in fact I had even googled baby poop. The day after he was born, I just had this feeling that he needed a diaper change and so I thought to self, you have changed diapers before, you know the drill, so I lifted my post CS body from the bed and removed his clothes ready to change the diaper, I opened it and there it was, black, gluey, greenish maybe. I thought he would need a bath not a diaper change, covered him back and pressed the red button, oh the red button! a nurse came and I told him, I think he needs a diaper change, he took my baby, changed his diaper and brought him back, clean and fresh and for the rest of my hospital stay, I never attempted to change his diaper again.

Read more: How to monitor your baby’s nourishment

2. Jabs

Those things are nasty, seriously, I remember looking at my son and thinking that the injection will go right through to his bone, I felt like he did not have enough ‘meat’ to get a jab. I remember the dad had to hold him, I could not watch, not the first one and not even the one we had to give a blood sample last week because he was unwell. He is brave now, he doesn’t cry but I can’t stand the sight of injections.

3. Falling sick

Oh! My house help always tells me ‘Hivo ndio kukua, anagonjeka mwili inajifunza kujikinga, atapona tu’ I know immunity is built and all but the suffering and the helplessness that comes with it just doesn’t amount to what it does to the body. Nothing will prepare you for the first cold or the last, the first bacterial infection or the last, the runny stomach, the first vomiting, nothing, the first rash or the last. You will want to take it on yourself just so they don’t have to suffer it.

4. Falling

This is a part of growth, they will fall as the learn how to walk, they will bump into tables, trip over their own legs, miss a step and hit the floor, but you will feel all of them. Worse still if it swells or he gets a cut. I remember our son for the longest time used to say ‘I have a nundu’ as he touched the back of his head because he had fallen and had a swelling for a couple of week. When they fall, rub the place where they have been hit immediately, applying pressure reduces the swelling.

5. The cry

Especially when you know it’s not a whine, it starts with his face, feeling the pain, then he lets it out, you will want to take back the clock and avoid whatever caused the cry. This doesn’t have to be caused by physical pain, it could be you saying bye and you see the look on their face and they feel lost, you feel broken as you see them cry.

Read more: To Tell or To Keep Mum

6. The First Day at school

Yes! For this, you probably will be the one to cry as they walk away to class, happy to be in a new space. You will realise that they have grown, you will finally see how much hard work you put in to prepare them to join society without your hawk eyes preying their every move, you will wonder if they will eat, sleep, play, be happy, poop.

Hope this give you an idea of what to look forward to.

Read more about motherhood from Faith Mwaura.