Things they didn't tell me (or I didn't believe) before you...

I would miss being pregnant - even the last few weeks of pregnancy seem like they were carefree and full of energy.

Trips to the bathroom every hour or two during pregnancy would stop...but would be replaced just as quickly by trips to your bassinet or crib just as often.

When trips to your bassinet or crib weren't necessary every hour or two, I would still be up just as often peering into your video monitor or tiptoeing into your room to watch your chest rise and fall.

How hard it would be to "push" when you couldn't feel a thing below your chest.

How surreal it is after having a baby when the doctors and nurses leave the room for the first time and you're left on your own with this tiny little creature that was inside of you less than an hour before.

How easy it is to wake up every hour and tend to your cries and still function the next day as if I had sleep.

How hearing your cries would make my heart feel like it was really breaking - especially when I couldn't do anything to comfort you.

How only you could make me laugh and talk and play at 5:00 in the morning.  Before you, the world knew not to talk to me before 9:00 am.

How true it really is that breastfeeding helps you shed the pregnancy pounds....all of my clothes (including jeans) fit again 3 months after gaining 30 pounds.

How weird and natural (at the same time) it would be for your husband to help with breastfeeding.  No longer is he grabbing your boobs for his own reasons - he's holding them up so a little mouth can reach, bringing cold gel pads after every nursing session and rubbing your back after every latch for the first few weeks because it hurt so badly.

Having a baby is definitely one of the hardest things you'll do as a married couple.  It brings you close and also puts great strain on even an excellent marriage.  You are forced to communicate better, love better, and be better than you thought you could be.

How even though I love my job and what I do, I could not care less about it the moment I leave my office.  My Blackberry's primary purpose now is to take pictures of you....not to check email when I'm away from work.

And most importantly....I always knew that I'd be in love with you from the moment I knew you were growing inside of me.  But nothing could prepare me for the crazy intense feelings I have for you every second of the day.  I think of you all the time.  I wonder what you're doing.  I think about how I can be a better mama to you.  I count down the hours first, then the minutes, until I can see you at the end of the day.  I stretch out our evenings just a little bit so I can have that much more time with you.  I hold you longer than I need to in the middle of the night because of love the way you feel in my arms.  You are the best gift I have ever received and I am thankful for all of the things I never knew before you.