You’ve Got This

From the moment you find out you are pregnant, and for some families it starts when the decision to start trying to become pregnant happens, you are overloaded with choices and decisions. What prenatal vitamin do you take? What car seat is the safest? Do you use a pacifier? Breastfeeding or bottle feeding? Do you believe in sleep training? And what about birth? Who is the best provider? Home or hospital? To use a doula or not? What books should you read? The decisions are endless. And at times, overwhelming.

As the years go by, things get even more cloudy. How much screen time should your child get? Are they getting enough nutrition? You know the drill. And while there are a lot of well meaning people out there offering advice, and a lot of that advice is good, it still leaves parents searching for answers outside of themselves. In books, and wise words, and the words of experts.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe in all of those things, but I believe in something else even more. I believe in the inner voice of you. I believe that the wisdom to parent your baby lies in the place where that very baby was formed and grew and became. I believe that when the questions are big and overwhelming, the answer lies in becoming still and listening to that voice inside of you. I believe you know the answer that is right for your child and your family. Sometimes the loudness of the voices that surround you can cause your voice to become silenced. The answers that lie at the very core of where your baby grew is exactly where the wisdom you need to parent them can be found.

So while you navigate each moment, while you read the experts advice and research all the options out there, don’t forget to go back to the voice that lives inside you. Become still. Think of your little one growing and thriving in the secret place of your womb. Stay in that space as you see where your little one became, and from the place of trust and intuition and deep knowing, your answer will be waiting.

As parents, we will learn and grow and become ourselves, but in the volume of the external voices, don’t forget to trust yourself. Everything you need to care for and parent this baby is already inside of you.