I'm a pretty optimistic, easy to get along with person. And I have a GREAT ability to laugh at myself and situations that usually anger people and/or freak/stress them out. Plus, I have years on top of years of experience with newborns... from my sister's birth when I was 11, taking care of her a TON in infancy, babysitting friends and neighbor's infants throughout high school, and taking care of my friend's kids here in LA for the past 5 years (the little girl since 14 months of age, little boy since birth... and we're talking multiple overnights/weekends - parents travel a TON). Of course, it's never been 24-7 yet (sister was as close as that got - we shared a room from the time of her birth through the time I moved away to college), but I am confident that I will get through it with grace and not too much yelling or guilt-tripping
I also think that how well a woman deals with new motherhood has a lot to do with how much support you have OUTSIDE the house, not only within it. I have about 10 friends who are currently pregnant as well, 4 of them who live here in LA, so I'll have a lot of great support, and my kid will have a lot of built-in playmates. It also helps that I trust Travis and have been training him how to deal with babies and kids for the past year, through babysitting my aforementioned friend's kids
So, I will have no problem leaving the baby with him and taking a couple hours for myself. I think what a lot of people don't realize with the first baby in the first year is that babies are not glass, you don't have to treat them with kid gloves, silence the entire house when they are sleeping, or pick them up as soon as they even mutter a tiny cry - they are tough little buggers!
Obviously, I've never been a MOM, but I like to think that I'm pretty good at sitting back and analyzing a situation without getting TOO emotional about it. The 1 time I've gotten overly emotional these past 4 months (it was about changing the kitty litter, of all things
), I started laughing halfway through because I totally realized as it was happening that I was being ridiculous. Hopefully that will continue, because I can't imagine a life where I take myself too seriously - that would be HORRIBLE
(As an aside, here's a tip for everyone - when you start feeling too serious about yourself, recognize it, take a deep breath, and watch an episode of the Colbert Report
)
We are all individuals, and we will all handle life-changing situations in our own unique ways. The only thing we can control is our own actions - so here's hoping
I'm not some kind of new-age freak or anything, but I think positive thinking has a TON to do with the outcome.
Also, that's awesome about your wife and only 2 pushes - my mom was like that with my delivery - total of 17 minutes of hard labor, baby! And I hope she doesn't brag to other mothers about that, because they HATE that... especially if said mothers went through 22 hours of labor themselves. They hate it almost as much as they hate when one of their friend's kids starts sleeping through the night at 2 weeks, when their's is still waking up every 3 hours at 8 months
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