It all feels surreal still...

[scheelimama]

Anyone else feel that way? I know that I will have another baby in a few days, a week at the most probably. I've been getting ready for this baby for months. My belly is huge and I'm so uncomfortable. But I have no burning desire to go into labor and meet this baby soon. I'm very comfortable with going a week or so past my due date, closer to Thanksgiving. It just feels so surreal to me still that I'm actually going to have another child soon. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it. Anyone else feel like this? Did any of our new mamas feel this way before giving birth? Did it all change in an instant when you met your new dc? I don't remember feeling this way with my other two. I was incredibly excited to meet them and for labor to begin. It's not that I'm not excited, I just feel kind of neutral and like it will never really happen and I'll be a mommy to just 2 little girls a month from now (not in a prophetic way though, just that it's all surreal.) So, tell me I'm not alone.

[chrysalis]

alisha, you are NOT alone. i was lying in bed last night thinking exactly the same thing...how 'surreal' this is and how i wanted to post to the DDC. it had slipped my mind until you posted this...

i feel the same way mama...this is so weird to me...that i'm going to have another child and also that its a boy and from yet another father...oh yes, lots of very surreal feelings about this...

hugs.

[Da WIC Lady]

Originally Posted by scheelimama

Anyone else feel that way? I know that I will have another baby in a few days, a week at the most probably. I've been getting ready for this baby for months. My belly is huge and I'm so uncomfortable. But I have no burning desire to go into labor and meet this baby soon. I'm very comfortable with going a week or so past my due date, closer to Thanksgiving. It just feels so surreal to me still that I'm actually going to have another child soon. I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it. Anyone else feel like this? Did any of our new mamas feel this way before giving birth? Did it all change in an instant when you met your new dc? I don't remember feeling this way with my other two. I was incredibly excited to meet them and for labor to begin. It's not that I'm not excited, I just feel kind of neutral and like it will never really happen and I'll be a mommy to just 2 little girls a month from now (not in a prophetic way though, just that it's all surreal.) So, tell me I'm not alone.

Don't feel alone. This baby still doesn't seem real even though I've seen it's adorable little chubby cheeks and cute little nose on the u/s screen. People are in shock and awe at my size and that I'm out and about past my due date. Everything is ready here for the baby though except my enthusiasm. It's been this way pretty much all pregnancy.

Anna

[scheelimama]

Interesting observation here...

All of us who have posted about this either don't have a partner, or our partner has not been around for so much of our pregnancies and may or may not be there for the birth. Wonder if that adds to the surreal feelings?

[brooklyn_warbler]

Originally Posted by scheelimama

Interesting observation here...

All of us who have posted about this either don't have a partner, or our partner has not been around for so much of our pregnancies and may or may not be there for the birth. Wonder if that adds to the surreal feelings?

well, it feels TOTALLY surreal to me and my partner is not only here, but here all the time (we're phd students so we both work 90% from home). but this is my first, so i think that's the deal with me.

i almost feel like the baby was more real when labor wasn't impending. all of a sudden i'm like "wait, what? a baby??"

[GinaRae]

Very surreal! And it was not very comforting but now I am feeling better about it. I do think you have a point about the partner for some of us.. especially those with previous kids. Now that hubby isn't being a jackass, I am starting to find my center again. Still surreal, but a little more grounded. Hmm.. there could be a link!

[wwisdomskr]

Well, dh is now home for the duration...and it still feels surreal to me. I barely connect the reality of a new human being INSIDE of my body... I can hardly imagine holding him and looking into his eyes. I can't comprehend being the mother of three children...

I don't want this pregnancy to be over. I'm **just now** feeling good... I know postpartum adjustment will be hard. And...then...this will be ALL over and it will be just...on with the new "normal."

It's all really mind-boggling...

[Valerieg]

I go back and forth. DH is here but not too involved. I don't think he'll realize we're having a baby until the head pops out! For me, it is the fact that I'm having a second child. It is hard to imagine that I'll be the mom of two since I'm so into my DD.

I'm excited to meet my baby but at the same time I'm not in a big hurry. Completely content, just as you described.

[tiffanymm]

Not sure if what I am feeling is surreal or not, but I am in no hurry to end this pregnancy. The thought that every day that they baby is still inside means that it will be a bigger baby coming out is the only reason that I want to go into labor. DS was 10lbs and came just before his due date.

I honestly would have no problem being pregnant for another month. Not really sure why I am feeling this way. I know it will be the last time I will be pregnant so that could be it. DS is also 5 years old and so easy to take care of that the idea of starting all over is becoming a reality. I don't know. I am just not in a hurry at all.

[oskie]

Oh, totally surreal. They're letting me take home a human being that I'm supposed to be totally responsible for! I'm going to be somebody's mother. I can't be a mom - moms know things. I'm an idiot! I can barely care for myself and a dog with some help towards DH and they think I can handle a completely defenseless baby.

And don't even get me started on where this baby is coming out of. I still think that is some sort of sick joke. I've seen the size of an average baby and I've seen what "down there" looks like. The two images do NOT go together.

This was a much better idea back in February.

[Kontessa]

Baby feels more real to me now but getting from here to holding baby holds more emotions then I care to think about.

I getting out of the house a lot today. I need to. Laying down I am all crampy and I want to DO something. My DD filled our deep freezer a while ago with pine cones. I think I am going to get some nice ribbon, glue, and glitter and the kids and I can go to town making pine cone garland for our tree next month, and I will have room in my freezer again for actual food. I have a need to do something with my hands, badly. It needs to sparkle too. Not to mention the house needs food badly and other things.

Maybe I need less time to think and more time to DO.

[chrysalis]

:this is all so weird for me...i'm glad we feel similar feelings re. this being pg again stuff... w/ megh i was stressed but elated cuz i wanted to be a mama for a few years and despite i broke up w/ meghs bio father early pg, we got back together when i was about 5 or 6 mos. pg and he turned out to be a j*rk too much of the time and we split when she was 9 mos. old. : i wonder if i'd feel this way if we'd done ok and stayed together and had another together... now here i am pg w/ another guy's donation so to speak and i felt that maybe cuz this is a boy that is part of my apathy most of this pg towards it all......now i see this is just very normal part of having more than one child and in some cases, even if its a first child...its just all so surreal...it really is. any life being responsible for is just plain trippy. i must say though doing it alone is even trippier. i think i'll be just fine. its just such a different feeling than i had w/ being pg w/ meghan... i'm scared i'll love this baby less. its just not as intense for me this time around. yet i feel so much love for sheamas. this is weird, this motherhood emotional stuff for our kids, isn't it.

(on a sidenote: tom was served his restraining order this morning i just found out...wooooop! woooooop!) i just hope tom stays out of the picture. he disgusts me. oh yeah i can play hardball buddy........he best not try my patience even more cuz he'll get hit w/ a bang. bada bing! : what also feels surreal is that i've now been away from the moron for about a month. here i am living a totally different life back by my mom in OR again and i'm very adaptive but sometimes i think shouldn't i be feeling more...i'm sure i am in my body thru stress or whatever...i was w/ tom for almost 2 years...oh but i do love it here. the people who are so like i am in their parenting and such, and the beauty of the ponderosa pines............... but its still surreal, being here as well...and not being w/ tom i'm sure is playing a part on my numbness.... anyway...enough of HIM. puke.

ugh i still feel like crap today...its worse today actually and i've been on antibiotics since yesterday early afternoon. my mom too, has strep throat also and she had a nasty fever last night. megh is very energetic and well. : thankfully my mom feels better today so i can rest. but the weird thing i can't seem to sleep. not last night and not today trying to nap......wonder if amoxicillan has insomnia producing qualities for some people??? hmmm.::

[Da WIC Lady]

As to the earlier comment about those of us commenting not having a partner either present or involved, I've felt this way pretty much the entire pregnancy. DH only just left a little over a month ago, so I'm not sure how I fit into that catergory. Interesting observation, though.

Anna

[isosmom]

You are so not alone. I'm due in 5 days! 5 days! Like, anyday, really, anytime. I can't get that at all right now.
I guess it's one of those things, that although you've been through it before, it doesn't really exist until it happens. Does that make any sense? So to me, there's no use trying to imagine what it'll be like, because there's just no way of knowing.

[Curlita]

Alisha, I am just barely starting to move out of the surreal mindset into the "okay, anytime" mindset. I have been wondering for the past couple weeks if there is something wrong with my because I'm not totally gung ho to go into labor and deliver. My husband is around, too.

I never got to the point where I felt "ready" with my first pregnancy, so I hope this one lasts long enough that my head is really in the labor-and-birthing place. Right now I am still nervous about the idea of labor... it might be easier if I had no idea what to expect.

[maisiedotes]

It is clear to me that I am feeling surreal... since I have 2 1/2 weeks TOPS before the baby is born (as I mentioned they are not letting me go past due). So, wouldn't you think I would start some nesting or something? Nooooo. Not interested in cleaning the house or even making the beds. *sigh*

DH's parents and sister are coming tomorrow and this house... we have baby shower stuff EVERYWHERE. You can't even walk into the nursery because there are so many boxes of things and bassinettes and pack-and-plays and swings and seats and stuff. Yikes. Gotta do something about those.... SIL will be sleeping in there tomorrow night. If she can find the bed.

Sorry- that really went off track.

[scheelimama]

Okay, so clearly, it has nothing to do with how involved your spouse is. For me, I think that's a big part of it, but it looks like it's different for everyone. Just glad I'm not alone. I have a feeling that once baby is here, it will all be very real and okay.