A Letter to My Past Pregnant Self

Dear Past, Pregnant Me,

Your life is about to change, in ways you’d find hard to believe. You spent so much time worrying about how this baby is going to actually appear that you’ve not really thought about what life will be like when you’re a mum, with a tiny little human completely dependent on you for everything! Here are some things you should know…

letter to my pregnant self

You won’t get more than six hours sleep for a very long time, in fact not until 2017 as your baby, then your pregnant bladder and then your second baby will all mean that for various reasons you’ll learn to run on empty. Its okay though, you do learn to adjust and the copious amounts of biscuits you’ll scoff with give you a bit of an energy boost

Talking of scoffing, your body will change shape and size quite a bit. Two babies in under two years means you never lost the ‘baby weight’ between pregnancies but you know what? You won’t even mind that much. Yes, there will be days that you’ll look at yourself in the mirror and wonder how your belly got that flabby, when your arms became that wobbly and see those stretch marks looking back at you. Then you’ll remember that actually your body made and nourished two babies, breastfeeding them both on demand for over a year. In fact your body hasn’t really been yours for four years, it’s housed bumps and made milk to give them all they needed.

You’ve read some ‘baby books’ but actually they’re more like manuals. Forget everything you’ve read, especially in the Gina Ford book. At the moment you think your baby will slot into a routine as easily as snapping your fingers. I’ll tell you now she won’t. The next one will break the mould even more, not fitting into any sort of routine it seems! Besides, Gina Ford has never had kids and seems to expect them to act like robots, rather than humans who need you to help them find their way in this world they have suddenly arrived in.

Finally, although this is advice it’s coming from future you so you can take it. Advice from anybody else? Take it with a pinch of salt. They’ll mean well but the best response is to just nod, thank them and do what YOU think is right. Your intuition won’t fail you. You will be a great mum.

Lots of love,

Your future self x

 

 

I was asked to reflect on what I wish I had know pre-children by Tesco Baby, they teamed up with Dr Carol Cooper to explore some new research which looks into how long parents spend worrying about their children and what the top ten worries can be from illness to the cost raising of baby. Their research has found that although preparing for a family is key, experience will always win, and I agree! Their latest Baby & Toddler Event is live from today for two weeks. Both online and in store, there are some amazing discounts and offers on all kids of essentials plus plenty of hints and helpful, practical advice for parents to be!

 

 

 

2 thoughts on “A Letter to My Past Pregnant Self

  1. Yes! Yes! The thing I learned is that Gina Ford is a fool and the quicker you stop trying to push any regiment on your baby the quicker you’ll be a happy mum. You don’t need that kind of pressure. And yes, listen to the advise but never ever doubt your way of doing stuff. It has to work for you, nobody else.

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