No instructions required?
When I was pregnant, Q and I took several baby preparation classes. They were fairly helpful – especially for me, who had little experience with children – and I was pretty intent on using all the information once Zoe arrived. In fact, one day during my maternity leave (geek alert!) I actually typed up all my notes – with the intention of referring to them when the baby was here. The truth is that I haven’t referred to those notes once, and I have found the whole taking-care-of-baby thing pretty instinct-based. People warned me this would happen, and they were correct: you just sort of learn as you go along. It quickly becomes clear what is “normal” and what is not (it becomes unnecessary, for example, to count dirty diapers or track the amount of sleep your baby gets), and you quickly learn your baby’s likes and dislikes. I suppose parenthood is this way for a reason – after all, I doubt baby preparation classes were available hundreds or thousands of years ago – but I’m still amazed (and pleased) by how it’s all played out for us.
-M