And now the best gift idea:

It's more likely that it means you have no close family and suffer from a mental condition such as a social anxiety disorder.

" . . . she worked as a servant and wet nurse to the family of Hendrik Cesars, a free black man, before moving in with a soldier: a drummer affiliated with the Cape Town troops. By all accounts they loved each other, and they had a child together. But the child died before turning two." This is confusingly written. If…

I don't know where people are getting this two week/six week figure. I couldn't find a single daycare that took kids before 3 months.

"If one more person tells me I need to find a babysitter for my 6 month old who WILL NOT take a bottle to make romantic time with my husband, when all we want to do is sleep, I will scream." Are you living my exact life? Wait -are you me?? Eerie. I have a list of friends/family members who I want to slap right now.

I kind of agree. Having kids is a trial by fire. You find out where all of your weaknesses as an adult are. It's an opportunity to make yourself better.

Yeah, I'm going to agree with pontificatrix - it WILL be fine, but there's plenty of stuff you don't know, so don't be shy about getting advice (taking it with a pinch of salt) from more experienced parents, and of course, the pediatrician. You'll pick it all up quickly though, not to worry : )

How about, "newborn infant?"

Then you completely mis-read what I said, which was based on a misunderstanding of what you meant. In any case, let us agree to not waste any more time on a pointless internet misunderstanding. I wish you well in your remaining time pregnant, and as easy and complication-free delivery as possible. It is not easy or…

Ok, fair point that I misunderstood what you were saying, but to be fair it wasn't terribly clear. Also, can you please explain why you are attempting to claim that I said: "potentially bad mother" ? Using quotation marks mean that you are quoting someone's actual words. I did not say that in any way. If you're…

Ok, dude, you have very high expectations for casual interaction. It's kind of like when people ask you how you're doing: they're not actually expecting or wanting a lengthy explanation about your complicated feelings about your life. Why? Because they've got they're own shit to deal with. It's like that with people…

Ok, dude, you have very high expectations for casual interaction. It's kind of like when people ask you how you're doing: they're not actually expecting or wanting a lengthy explanation about your complicated feelings about your life. Why? Because they've got they're own shit to deal with. It's like that with people…

That's all any of us can do!

I'm guessing that people aren't actually saying "you should be happy!" but if they are it's possible that they see that you're not thrilled about impending parenthood, and are worried that perhaps you are not up to the task of caring for an innocent newborn? That doesn't mean that their perception is correct, but I…

No, you're not excited every second about pregnancy, but it is reasonable that you are excited about the anticipation of being a parent, and that's what people are trying to be happy for you about.

The "village" is what is really, really, REALLY missing from modern parenthood. For eons, raising kids was a group effort. Now suddenly we've changed it, and discovering it's really hard. Well, yeah, we weren't meant to do it on our own.

Not at all. I'm just like you, emotional-bandwidth-wise, except I wasn't 100% about motherhood, and I love it. It's hard , though, and after the baby you need to make extra effort with your spouse that you didn't before. It's important to make time for the two of you, and to make an effort to reconnect every day.

It's actually not really societally acceptable for mentally and emotionally healthy adults who are financially solvent to give up their kids. People understand if you're a teenager, or have some difficult situation, but if you're just "oops! I changed my mind!" they will judge you as being an immature, irresponsible…

"as I've entered my twenties " You guys don't have to figure out the rest of your lives right now. You'll probably change how you feel about it several times before you hit 30.

And yet I assume you are not doing the non-selfish, responsible thing, which would be either adopting the lifestyle of a very poor Indian person, or killing yourself. Unfortunately for your first-world, internet loving lifestyle, we need to keep the population at at least a replacement level to keep our economy going.…