When we had our first child, my husband and I were quite overwhelmed. We thought that we had it all together, but it was a lot harder than either one of us imagined that it was going to be.

Our family and friends were extremely helpful and got us so many nice gifts for baby. The problem was that we didn’t know what half of it was used for.

I had always babysat when I was younger and I did not think that being a mom would be much harder than that. I was completely wrong. The great thing about babysitting was that, at the end of the day, I got to go home and leave the kids behind.

I think the thing that hit me the hardest as a mother was the overwhelming responsibility that I had to meet every single need of this little person. I just hoped that I was going to be able to do right by her.

In the end, I think everything turned out alright. We even had a second baby and the responsibility of that one did not seem quite so daunting.