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My Wish for New Moms? Second Kid Confidence

You’re doing a good job.

Lara Henneman
The Motherload
3 min readJun 17, 2021

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Photo by Lubomirkin on Unsplash

There was a moment when I was pregnant with my first kid when I knew I had gone a bit off the rails in terms of anxious preparation. I had asked my OB-GYN if it would be ok to put multiple sheets and bed covers on the crib mattress. This kind, careworn professional just looked at me for a minute.

“Because then, you know, if the baby has an accident, I can just take off the top sheet and cover and not have to change the whole bed in the middle of the night. But then, does that count as safe sleep? Does that count as having things in the crib with him?”

She sighed and asked me to explain my query again as I waited, white-knuckled.

“That would be fine,” she said. “How are you sleeping?”

Not well, the answer would have been. In addition to the considerable aches and pains of pregnancy, my anxiety was keeping me up at night. My husband and I are both good students, historically. The front of the class note-taker type. So we had taken a class on how to diaper, bathe and swaddle an infant.

But how to keep one safe? How to care for one so small and vulnerable while still ensuring that they can experience the world? How did mothers handle this seemingly overwhelming responsibility? Before my babies came into my…

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The Motherload
The Motherload

Published in The Motherload

From dreaming of children to empty nesting, this is a place for mothers to share the load. Here you will find content that is valuable for mothers of all ages and experience levels. We are setting out to be the motherload of motherhood information.

Lara Henneman
Lara Henneman

Written by Lara Henneman

Telling stories 🖋️ Writing🖍️ Parenting 🖊️ Darkness

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