First-Time Mommy

By Shruti Haldia

Becoming a mother for the first time can be so overwhelming. You’re experiencing a whole new set of emotions while constantly caring for a newborn. This new responsibility can often leave you feeling lost and confused. To add on to the confusion, comes unsolicited advice from everyone around you, judging you and telling you to do things differently.

You’ll look for answers on the internet only to find a lot of misinformation and negative stories that will aggravate your anxiety. First Time Mommy – A Millennial Mom’s Guide to Surviving Motherhood attempts to demystify motherhood - from the curious case of feeding to the mysterious affair of teething. We’ll take a trip to the guilt valley and discuss the tragedy in the bedroom. This book has everything you need to know for surviving the first two years of your motherhood journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Srishti Publishers
• Release date: Sep 1, 2020

Book preview

By

Shruti Haldia Negi

Srishti Publishers & Distributors

A unit of AJR Publishing LLP

212A, Peacock Lane

Shahpur Jat, New Delhi – 110 049

[e-mail]

First digitally published by

Srishti Publishers & Distributors in 2020

Copyright © Shruti Haldiya Negi, 2020

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

The Strange case of Pregnancy

Where's the coffee?

A year of baby dancing.

Two lines on the pregnancy test.

I rushed to the gynaecologist as sunshine flooded my soul. Little did I know what was in store for me.

What’s the first thing you have to do when you find out that you’re pregnant? Give up your favourite drink- be it coffee, tea or wine.

Wait, that’s not it.

You have to do something you’ve been running away from, your entire life- eating healthy!

Sorry? Did someone just say exercise? I thought I could sit around all day and eat double portions of my favourite food sans guilt!

Oh, the joys of pregnancy! *eye roll*

Yes, pregnancy can be very frustrating at times. Of course, it’s magical and what not but more often than not, you find yourself cribbing about things you can no longer do, tying your own shoe laces, for instance. And then there’s the hormonal imbalance making you crave the weirdest things at the oddest hours.

What is important is how you deal with these frustrations. Your emotions are not just impacting you but the people around you as well, especially your husband. You are going through a lot of emotional and physiological changes and it is okay to expect others to be understanding of your situation. But sometimes it is important for you to let them know what you expect from them.

Now, let's go back in time a little. Why did you decide to get pregnant in the first place?

The decision

When I joined back work after my maternity leave, my female colleagues had a lot of questions for me.

Q- How does it feel to be a mother?

A- Its the feeling of sleepiness like you’ve never experienced before.

Q- How terrifying was the delivery?

A-I'm just glad I came out of it alive.

But there were some questions that I really did feel the need to answer seriously.

Q- How did you know you were ready to have a baby?

A- We thought baby dancing would be fun, ahem, if you know what I mean.

Okay jokes apart, I was nearing 30 and I couldn't hear the end of it from my relatives. Have a baby before its too late, The older you are, the more complications there will be, 4 years of marriage and no kid?!

Don't get me wrong. I did not have a baby because my relatives wanted me to have a baby. But these questions did prompt me and my husband to take out time from corporate slavery and discuss about the possibility of starting a family. Both of us agreed that we wanted a kid at some point in life. But how did we know when was the right time?

Here are the things we considered before coming to final decision.

ü  We were both emotionally ready to take full responsibility for another human being.

ü  We both had stable

Reviews for First-Time Mommy

[Nwamaka Onyekachi · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Loved the simple truths the book portrays. Nice one, really.