Ugly Baby Bonanza

Whoever said all babies are cute must not have seen the literature we saw last night in our Infant Care Basics class. Shudder. From "stork bites" to cradle cap to infant acne and sucking blisters, our baby could be one coneheaded, blue-faced, puffy disaster for a while after birth. I'd like to say I was overcome with love for these vulnerable looking alien babies, but I'd be lying. I would describe my feelings more as a cross between revulsion and horror. Okay, so yeah. All I want is a healthy baby and I know the little appearance issues fade quickly, but here's my question: do I really have to send out birth announcements if my baby looks like the Swamp Thing? More importantly: Will I be able to love this little blob of ugly? I know she will become cute--and I hope she will be cute to me even if she experiences all the attractive side effects of birth we saw last night. But I would be remiss if I did not say I am not pleased by the idea of giving birth to the elephant baby.

The class itself was very helpful. I now know how to bathe, diaper and swaddle my baby as do my Dad, E and R all who attended the class as well. It was a family affair. I would highly recommend this way of taking classes as we all learned the new notions about parenting infants together and besides, it was fun to have my dad and E learn with us. Afterwards we went to Indian and had a late night dinner. I noticed no one discussed cradle cap. Maybe we were all equally horrified.

I am feeling slightly better than yesterday, but now I am getting more into panic. We have about 5.5 weeks (unless she comes early) and I feel like there is more to do than I can even fathom. We need a new closet for our bedroom, a changing table, new cell phones that work, our car seat installed, decorations for the nursery, to get the layette ready and assemble the millions of baby things parts currently crowding the nursery. It may not sound like much, but it is. And I am feeling slightly overwhelmed. I just keep reminding myself that we are as prepared as we can be for this stage and that we have the essentials: diapers, boobs and a place to sleep.