Academic

Advice to Myself as a New Parent

By Gordon Smith, Christine, Hurt, Vic Fleischer, Fred Tung, Lisa Fairfax, David Zaring

As Gordon mentioned in his introduction, since I last blogged I've been up to a bunch of things, but by far the biggest is having a baby. I know there are blogs devoted to motherhood, and blogs about academic mothers, and I'm pretty sure everything I might have to say has already been covered there. But maybe novelty is overrated. I know a few people close to embarking on this particular voyage, and this one?s for them.

A year after giving birth, here's what I'd tell my pregnant and worried former self:

1. Don't worry, you'll still be you.

2. Labor and delivery isn't the hard part; it's the first 2 weeks and then 2 or 3 months afterwards.

3. Your world will become increments of minutes, hours, days, weeks: She slept 2 hours 40 minutes. She's 11 days old. We have our 2 week appointment tomorrow. The days will rush by, though some minutes will seem endless.

4. Singing to your child will bring rushing back memories of songs your mother sang to you, and remind you of how important and magical those songs were when you were small.

5. You won't be in control. Get used to it.

6. Professors can devote every waking hour to work, and still have more to do (more to read, write, think, more to prepare for class). Cara marvels at the shadow her small hand makes on the wall, and then I stop and see it too.

6. You'll still be you. It will take time, but you'll put your life back together, and there will be space for you. I promise.

Full post as published by Conglomerate on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).