As the 9 Month journey of pregnancy has come to a close and the adventure of parenthood begins, here are the few things I learned and no one told me or could prepare me for!

1. No matter how hard you try, you will cry the first time you see your baby in an ultrasound and the first time you hear their tiny little heart beating.

2. The list of things you cant do or eat is long and tedious and while you try hard not to eat that chocolate or drink that coffee you will, because its those things you cant have that you crave the most. This doesn’t make you a bad person or a horrible mother, it makes you human.

3. You will obsess that everything you do could effect the baby no matter how irrational it may sound.

4. Your hormones play mean little tricks on you making you angry at inanimate objects at one moment and literally crying over spilled milk the next.

5. No matter how many post-its you use or how well kept that expensive day planner may be, you will forget anything and everything you do. What once was a steal trap becomes mush and before you know it you will find your car keys in the fridge and sit down and completely forget that you were cooking dinner.

6. Swelling is normal, your back will hurt and that your bladder becomes a trampoline that the baby helps to empty on an hourly basis.

7. Even if you like your OBGYN a lot, towards the end of pregnancy you will soon begin to tire of seeing their face each and every week.

8. Movies lie! Your water doesnt just break and you rush off to the hospital, labor is not that easy and no one looks good after natural birth or a C-Section.

9. No one can prepare you for the moment your baby takes their first breath and cries for the first time letting you know they are here and healthy. Its the most unbelieveable and breathtaking moment you will ever experience.

10. The pain of childbirth and the discomfort of pregnancy really does fade away once you hold your little one for the first time and their tiny little hand wraps around your finger.

11. Cherish each and every day you have with them. Time slips by so quickly and they grow and change each and every day. Dont forget to take lots of pictures!