Lessons for early parenthood

Courtesy of babycenter.com

The day my son, Mason, was born, my husband did his first-ever diaper change. He was so proud. But when he picked Mason up, our son urinated on him. The little cut-out in the front of the diaper for the belly button stump was too far down, and Mason's little pee-pee was sticking out. My husband was so embarrassed."— Brandi, Arizona

"When my son was 5 days old, I decided to take him to the store. I was really nervous because it was my first time taking him out by myself. After spending about an hour getting ready, we left the house. I locked the front door of my house and put my key chain in my pocket. Minutes later, I buckled my son into his car seat and closed the car door. I went around to the driver's side door, and the door was locked. I went back around to the passenger side, and it was locked too. I sat on the hood of my car crying for about an hour (while my baby slept in his car seat), thinking about what a terrible mother I would be. Then I remembered that the keys were in my pocket! I unlocked the car door and took the baby back into the house. When my husband came home and I told him about it — still crying — he laughed and thought it was cute."— Jennifer, Georgia

"When my son was about 6 weeks old, he began teething (I know — it's early). I wanted to give him some Infants' Tylenol because he had a bit of a fever. I was going on about two hours of sleep over a period of two days, and I couldn't find the dropper that went to his medicine anywhere, so I had the bright idea that I would just cover the top of the bottle with my finger and let it drip out that way. When I tried it, I was horrified to see half the bottle disappear into his mouth! I screamed and frantically tried to scoop some out with my finger, but to no avail. I started bawling my head off and called poison control, telling the guy over the phone that I was a bad mom. He told me not to give him any more for a while, and that I shouldn't worry, because for my son's weight, he would have had to drink three whole bottles to get sick from it! I'm so ashamed about that. I'll never do it again, that's for sure."— Lori, Washington

"I was nervous about driving alone with the baby, so I put her in the front seat on the passenger side so I could comfort her if she started to cry. I passed the seat belt through the car seat (which doubled as a carrier), but I forgot that the seat belt was automatic. When I closed the door, the seatbelt picked up the carrier and left it dangling sideways in the air, with my baby inside. She was okay because she was strapped in the carrier, but still!"— Gloria, New York

"I had only been home from the hospital for a couple of days and was just finishing a shower when my husband screamed for me to come to the family room. I ran in and saw our daughter, Abigail, innocently lying on a towel on the floor. My husband jumped up and ran to the bathroom, and I heard him throwing up like he had a horrible flu. He walked out a few minutes later, went into our bedroom, and came out with a gas mask on. He said he had never seen anything like that — Abby's first poop after the meconium. After that he changed her diaper with his gas mask on."— Melissa, Ohio