It is not easy being a new mother, but it is also not easy to be a newborn baby. There is much more to learn about newborn babies than is typically discussed in doctors’ offices or hospitals. Even books about newborns often don’t provide enough information about some of the complexities of newborn care, such as colic and acid reflux, even though these are quite common problems.

When a little girl grows up, no one prepares her for how many times her identity may change.  There's the obvious one: becoming someone's wife.  I call it “obvious” because of the name change possibility.  Most people correlate changing your name with changing your identity.  Some women think they can maintain their identity by maintaining their maiden name but that's not the case.  Whether you decide to take your spouse's name or not, your identity still changes.  If your identity changes when you get married, then it also changes if you get divorced. I believe the biggest identity change a woman goes through is the one when they become a Mother because from that day forward, their life is forever changed.

When you announced you were pregnant, what did your parent friends tell you about what you can expect when you become a parent?

Did they say "Oh man, being a parent is going to change your whole life." or "You better catch up on your sleep, man, 'cause you're not going to get any after the baby comes." And did you take their advice seriously? Or did you just shrug it off and think to yourself "Ah, that's okay. How hard can it be? I mean, it's temporary, right? A couple of weeks after the baby is born everything will go back to normal and I'll have my old life back, plus a cute little baby." Um. Not so fast.

This was what my fortune cookie read the other night while out to dinner with my family. The only problem is, whose mom’s advice are they talking about?