If I Could Have My First Baby All Over Again

Recently  we’ve had a chance to sit and look through our little badly filmed home videos.  And while they are filled with great memories and a lot of random things, and two things were very apparent.  There are some common threads for the videos of Kyla when she was a tiny baby –  1. There are a lot of videos and 2. I had too much time on my hands.

Kyla – just a couple of weeks old and already wondering what the heck is wrong with her Mother

Now that we have 3 kids, I often think back to those “hectic” times and laugh at myself.  Don’t get me wrong though, those early days really are flipping hectic.  It’s your first one, of course it’s going to be a huge change to your life and your world will be turned upside down – no matter how much you think you are ready for it.  It’s amazing how having 3 very different children has given me a little bit more perspective on what’s important and what’s not.  So if I could go back in time and do it over again there are so many things that I would do a little differently…

• I would only have read “baby” books when I felt like I was in a place to need extra input.  Most of the time your gut gives you quite a good indication of what to do and what not to do.  I spent so many hours walking around and around, getting irritated and upset that Kyla wouldn’t sleep as much as the books said she should.  All our lives would have been easier if I wasn’t such a chop.
• I’d cuddle her a little more and worry about the mess a little less.  (Not that I worried about it that much anyway).  She is already 4 and I don’t know where the time went.  All those messes were from a time that she was learning to do things, experience things and enjoy it, why be so quick to pack it all away.
• I wouldn’t expect so much of her all of the time.  I don’t know what it is with first children but there is just so much pressure to have them doing things so quickly.  I’d let her run her course and not worry about it as much.  Eventually she will walk, she will talk etc.
• I’d try more foods with her and really made an effort to make more of my own foods.  Although that being said, she is currently eating the best out of the lot of them even with having Purety and Woolies food more than she should.
• I would have made sure that I had access to a car or the ability to go out and socialise and meet with other Mom’s.  I’ve mentioned before how hard this time was for me and I really think that meeting with others in the same position would have been helpful.

But I would still have:

• Rocked her to sleep every night.  This was a special time for us of singing songs, having a few last giggles and cuddles at the end of a long working day.  Although I could have timed it to when she was actually tired and therefore made it an even better experience.
• Rushed her to the emergency room when she had a serious fever in the middle of the night.  If we didn’t do it, we wouldn’t know how to deal with it as effectively as we do now.  And also I would rather pay a little bit of money for a Doctors visit than have serious regrets if something really bad happened – all because I wanted to save a buck.

What would you do differently if you could do it all again?  Would you change anything?