I became a mom in August of 2025. There was so much I have been prepared for but an entirely long list of things I wasn’t prepared for. I have had lots of friends with kids, nieces and nephews, and I’ve babysat all age groups so I thought I’d have a good idea of what being a mom was like. I. Was. Wrong.
The hardest part of the early stages was not having “their mom” to hand them back to. With everything I’ve been through, I’ve had the ability to give the child back to their mother. Yes, I have my sons father and even more family I could hand him to, but when he’s absolutely losing his mind screaming my fiance wasn’t much help.
The other thing I was not prepared for, and couldn’t have been prepared for even if I tried, was the panic and anxiety that came with my baby crying. If we couldn’t get him calmed down within a minute or so I was panicking. I broke down mant times because I couldn’t figure out why he was crying and I felt as though I was failing. At about 6 months it eased up a lot but I still have moments where I just freeze and can’t handle his crying mentally.
Finally, no one could have prepared me for how much my baby spits up! He’s got acid reflux issues and I’ve never met a baby with it. We had these cute little burp rags and not many clothes in each size.. that quickly changed. We never use the burp rags but we’re constantly using hand towels to clean him/us up and bath towels to sit/lay on. We also have plenty of clothes to change into daily. We eventually would just let it dry out if we weren’t absolutely soaked.
I’ve always appreciated moms and what it takes to be one, but now I appreciate moms so much more. 
