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Get Ready for a Roller Coaster Ride
When you first find out you’re pregnant, that’s likely going to be a joyous moment. However, as the baby grows in you, you’ll deal with things like morning sickness. When the child is born, the actual delivery will be painful, followed by one of the most joyous moments of your life as the new child is handed to you.
This is parenthood in a nutshell: a roller coaster ride. There will be extreme highs, extreme lows, unexpected loops, and you might just lose your lunch once or twice; but when the ride is through, you’ll be glad you had the opportunity to experience it.
Following we’ll explore a few things you can do to make this ride less jarring and more enjoyable; as much as is possible, anyway.
- Have Pros Available in Advance to Help With Health Issues
It doesn’t matter how mentally prepared you are, your body and your baby may not play ball when it comes to nursing. This can be rather stressful for the new mom. A good way to overcome such issues is to anticipate their likelihood, and find medical professionals in lactation who specialize in managing common breastfeeding problems.
You’ll likely want to have other healthcare pros readily available as well. You’ll want an OB/GYN prior, during, and after pregnancy. You’ll want a pediatrician as well, likely an optometrist, an audiologist, an otolaryngologist (ENT), and an orthopedic specialist. Kids have broken bones and earaches with regularity, and they may have eye or ear issues.
While a pediatrician can be generally helpful, they’ll send you to a specialist if something crops up that’s outside their scope. If you’ve got additional resources available, you can “bypass the middle man”, as it were.
- Support Networks
Your family will give you endless advice and can act as practical solutions for daycare needs. The same is true of many friends you have. But what do you do when they’re not available? In that scenario, you want to work with a parental support group for new moms. This is very important, and something you can explore well before the baby comes.
- Daycare and Resources
You’ll need daycare at intervals. Friends and family are better in many cases, but they’re not always available. Also, you’re going to need money. The good news is, if you just tighten your belt from the start, and get used to living beneath your means, you shouldn’t have too much trouble. The bad news is, this requires discipline.
Drive less. Cook more. Look into supplemental income. Sell junk, have garage sales, explore renting out a room to supplement income, look into means of gaining funds through “gig economy” jobs; there are many options.
Enjoying the Ride
Parenthood has its ups and downs. When you have daycare, financial resources, parental support groups, and healthcare options readily available before you need them, you’ll find the ride is much less jarring.
