The 18 Emotional Stages of Having Your Last Baby
:upscale()/2018/11/16/867/n/24155406/78b9c8105bef1f238dfcf3.65855883_.jpg)
If you think having a baby is an emotional roller coaster, strap on your seat belt for the wild ride that is having your last baby. One minute you're rejoicing over the "freedom" your future holds, and the next you're sobbing about changing the size on your Amazon diaper subscription. The only way to survive is to spend equal amounts of time in denial and in bed cuddling the baby. Get ready to go through all the sad, confusing, exciting stages of the first year with your final child ahead.
You get home from the hospital and it hits you.
You are actually holding your LAST BABY EVER.
They grow out of their newborn clothes a few weeks later.
And you sob while packing them up.
Every moment feels more precious than the next.
The baby sounds, the soft skin. Everything makes you want to cry a little.
But it's still really hard.
OMG, please someone let me sleep.
You feel bad for wanting to get past it.
Don't grow one single inch! But grow up enough to sleep through the night! But seriously, please don't get older!
So you start to question if it really is your last.
How can you be 100 percent sure?
Then you remember those first few months.
There's no way you're starting all over again. Nope.
You start daydreaming about the future.
Diapers are a thing of the past, all your children can get themselves dressed in the morning, and you don't have to pay thousands of dollars for preschool. Take me to this magical place.
You get rid of baby things the minute they stop using them.
See ya later, Bumbo! Buh-bye, jumparoo! Sayonara, rock'n'play!
But then you see a stranger's tiny newborn.
You feel the magnetic pull. You wonder how weird it would be to ask to hold it.
And someone brings up your baby's first birthday.
Nope. Not even going to think about it.
They take their first steps.
MY BABY IS BASICALLY A TEENAGER NOW.
You start prepping for their party.
It's time to put your game face on. You can do this.
You get through it without crying.
Pretty impressed with myself.
And realize you made it through the first year.
What's that? I never have to go through that again?!
Because you can't wait to start the rest of your life.
The baby isn't attached to your hip and you're feeling like your normal self again. You can even plan that vacation next year knowing exactly how old your children will be.
Now when someone asks if you're done having kids.
Um, yes. Are you crazy?
But you still look back so fondly on your last baby's first year.
And, somehow, you miss it.