Sarah is a freelance writer and one of Australia's best known parenting bloggers: http://www.ahth...
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Baby Care Blog
Sarah
3
Jul
Newborns make me blind. Let me explain.
I saw an old friend recently and she was holding her 2 week old baby. Apart from my heart melting into a puddle onto the floor (I love, love, love newborn babies) it bought back a flood of memories for me.
You see, with my children I suffered from what can only be described as newborn blindness. This is condition where I looked at my baby and thought they were without doubt the most incredible creature ever created.
Let me explain.
About a week after our eldest child was born we met up with our childbirth class as we were one of the last ones to have our baby. We drove over and proudly placed our baby alongside all the other car seats the babies were lying in. I remember walking past all the other bubs and giving them the once over. I glanced across at my husband and knew he was thinking exactly the same thing.
A couple of hours later we drove home and my husband said thoughtfully: “I feel so bad for all those parents.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because let’s face it. Our baby was definitely the best looking baby there.”
“I know. Poor things” I said pityingly.
We carried on in our deluded state for months. It was only when my son was about two and I was leafing through the photos of my son as a newborn that I’d put together in a scrapbook, that I finally saw the truth.
I had labored with my eldest for nearly five days off and on. I had really difficulty establishing labour and ended up with an emergency c-section where it transpired my son had suffered lack of oxygen sporadically as well.
As a consequence he was not only bruised black and blue but he was also a very mottled colour. The kind of appearance that only a mother and father could love. And we did. We were so utterly besotted we saw past all his bruises, his black eyes and adored him.
I later discovered that every parent from the birthing class had said EXACTLY the same thing about their baby on the way home as well which gave us all a huge chuckle.
Love truly is blind.
Did you suffer newborn blindness?
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14 Member comments Post a reply
I think every parent does that. We have two boys and we still think that our children are the most beautiful creatures to ever have graced the earth. Occasionally we question whether we are just biased and if other people are pitying us for the unfortunate looks of our children, but we very quickly laugh it off and return to thinking that all our friends must be jealous of how ridiculously good looking our little family is.
Posted 19 April 2012 - 10:38 AM
when my son was born i thought he looked beautiful but when i looked at his photos now (hes 2 now) i thought he looked a bit like an alien. Same as our daughter now 5 months old but everyone around us say they r beautiful children.
Posted 11 February 2012 - 12:10 PM
haha love this conversation!!! we always said " i hope we dont think our baby is cute when everyone else is thinking eww geez!" lol everyone at church wants to hold her so im thinking she may just be as cute as we believe!
Posted 02 January 2012 - 06:55 PM
My daughter, 8 days over due, decided to enter the world in a 3.5 hour active labour. I was told her head would probably be like that of a vacuum delivered baby because of her rapid decent, but it wasn't. Everyone at the hospital, midwives and even the doctor who did my stitches were surprised that her head was perfectly rounded and every limb, finger and toe was perfect. She peeled for about 3 days but lots of baby oil and lotion took care of that.
I didn't sleep for 24 of the 36 hours I was at the hospital. I couldn't take my eyes off her. She was (and still is...) the most amazing thing I had ever seen.
3 months down the track I look at the photos my mum took of her when she was merely minutes old on the scales being weighed and her first cuddle with me. She looks like a wrinkled little old man! Hahaha. She is a head turner now though, I can tell you that much! Everywhere we go people want to cuddle her, talk to her, smile at her, I get so many compliments on how good looking she is it's ridiculous. I've had a couple of friends ask my partner and I to give them our next child because we make good looking babies. LOL. As you can see, I'm still blind.
Posted 19 August 2011 - 02:13 PM
Ofcourse we did! But when EVERYONE around you seems to be as blinded, it's hard not to think so... It's a great feeling though, knowing you will always find them the most beautiful .
Posted 16 August 2011 - 11:25 PM
I was so inlove with the most handsome boy I had ever seen in my life, my son. I couldn't believe how amazing he looked, and how much better looking he was than all the other kids.. Now that I look back at the photos, he was kinda funny looking (still adorable though) and I was blinded. He's nearly 1.5yo and to me, still the most handsome man.
We're pregnant again and DP says "What if this next kid isn't as good looking. I don't want an ugly kid." I said "You'll never even know if it's ugly, it's the beauty of being a parent. DS might not be great looking and we'd have no idea" but he doesn't believe me and says he'll know. I said that even if the kid has an extra arm, we'll think its the cutest extra arm ever. It's our way, we're it's parents.
Posted 12 July 2011 - 03:46 PM
yeah i was the same but i still do it know when their 2 and 3 my kids are the best looking kids and always will be.
Posted 12 July 2011 - 03:40 PM
Both my husband and I do the same thing, she is the most beautiful girl I have seen, but all babies are cute in their own little way and as a parent you love your child no matter how they look, we wouldn't be parents otherwise!
Posted 11 July 2011 - 01:54 PM
All newborns are beautiful I think its only natural that as mums and dads we all think our own is the most beautiful - but as the saying goes 'love is blind' lol
Posted 07 July 2011 - 09:41 PM
I always say 'ugly babies make good looking adults' lol
Posted 07 July 2011 - 09:32 PM
Not me! lol
Posted 06 July 2011 - 09:29 AM
lol we did the same.. I wonder if next 5 years would I think my baby is the cutest baby in the world! lol
Posted 05 July 2011 - 08:44 PM
lol we did the same.. I wonder if next 5 years would I think my baby is the cutest baby in the world! lol
Posted 05 July 2011 - 08:44 PM
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