Advice from Tina Fallon

Wow - April 17th! That's soon! Prepare to be swept away on a tidal wave of love and tenderness.

My advice is pretty simple: your job for the first six months or so is simply to survive. You will be stressed, sleepless, confused, irritable, convinced you'll never be able to work again, hungry, unshaven, etc.. Don't sweat it! It's normal, all of it, even the freakiest shit is normal. Jaundice? Normal! Colic? Normal! Convinced your sleeping child has stopped breathing? Normal! Feel like you're going to die? Normal! considering divorce? Normal! Your production training will come in handy, as will your experience with The 24 Hour Plays. And flying to Australia in coach. All of that. Try to take care of yourselves, not just the baby - because that will help the baby, too. Nobody likes a grump.

But it's just incredible, every day something miraculous and new. And it's just a nanosecond - you may feel like you haven't ______(showered, written in your blog, seen your friends) in a million years, but when you pop out of the rabbit hole barely a month will have passed. Everything will be right where you left it. So feel free to disappear for a while. We won't take it personally. And once infancy is gone, it's really gone. Which is a good thing, really, but you don't want to miss it.

Don't answer the phone unless it's really convenient. They'll call back if it's urgent. Do order takeout food without feeling guilty. Accept help when offered, especially offers of food, clean laundry, money. Do steal a stack of receiving blankets from the hospital. They're really handy, and you can go through up to five a day. Don't feel obligated to entertain people when they stop by to meet the baby. Drink as much booze as you like/require. Ditto other drugs, chocolate. Take pictures, try to write, but don't beat yourself up if you skip a week. Watch TV, or get caught up on your netflix queue. It won't hurt the baby. If the baby sleeps peacefully in a stroller/seat/sling, the first couple of months you can go out to dinner with baby in tow.

Jeez. It looks grim, right? It's not, it's the best thing ever, and it gets better and better. I'm so excited for you!

xx
Tina