10 Things You Don’t Know Until You Have a Baby

Yeah, yeah: Practically everyone and their mama tells you to enjoy sleeptime now when you're pregnant, but you never truly understand the complete and utter exhaustion that motherhood is until you're in the thick of it. Sleeping in? A thing of the past. Sleeping six hours straight? A cause for celebration. And napping when the baby naps? Forget about it!

You know those moments you have pre-baby, when you're sitting on the couch and feeling—dare we say—bored? Well, that'll never happen again. Ever. The luxury of even just zoning out for 10 minutes is a thing of the past when you have kids. And by the time your baby finally goes to bed, you're too drained to do anything but just collapse in a heap on your bed.

I swear, no one eats as fast as a new mother. Or any mother. Here's a little-known secret I'm about to share with you: All babies seem to have a sixth sense for the exact second that Mom is about to put food to her mouth. And—news flash—Baby doesn't want Mama to eat, so cue the cries. As a result, moms quickly learn to shovel meals into their mouths as if they were on some twisted episode of "Survivor: Motherhood Edition." If you've never made and downed a sandwich in two minutes flat before, you will now.

If you were OCD pre-baby, prepare yourself. Once your little bundle of joy is mobile, the true definition of clutter reveals itself in Legos, stuffed animals, bibs and all sorts of other unknown pokey pieces that cause you to go "ouch" in the night. Our unsolicited advice? Just let it go.

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If you can survive the first few months of parenthood, you can survive anything. From sleepless nights to bouts of unexplained crying to never having a moment to yourself, being a mom to a newborn feels relentless. Just know it does get easier, and everything is just a phase. Everything.

If someone would've told you that you could survive on four hours of broken-up sleep every night for months on end, you would've laughed in disbelief. But somehow, somewhere, moms have some inner superpower that propels them to push through whatever obstacle falls in their way to take care of their little ones and shower them with love. There's nothing like the love for a child to strengthen and resolve a person. A little coffee never hurt, either.

Yes. We said it: poop. What your mom friends may not have told you is that when you first bring Baby home, all awash in blissful post-birth haze, their poop will go through a rainbow spectrum of colors. So don't freak out—it's all normal.

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All that baby gear, baby socks, baby everything you got from your shower? Totally unnecessary. Somewhat helpful and cute, yes, but you'll quickly find out that all you really need is a way to feed them (boobs or bottles) and a safe place to put them down. The rest is just icing on the baby cake (or clutter).

Working mom, stay-at-home mom or single mom, it's true what they say: It really takes a whole freakin' village. Help in any form, from grandparents to friends to trusted sitters, quickly proves invaluable. Whether they're washing dishes or holding your baby so you can shower or watching your precious child while you're providing for your family, a pair or three of extra hands will be a dream come true.

And here's another tip: Just say yes.

You know that warm, glowy love you feel when the baby is growing inside of you? Multiply that by a hundred once they're actually in your arms. And if you think you couldn't possibly love a second child the same, you'd be surprised at how quickly the heart expands.