Truer Words
This is from ME2's post below:

What my mom never told me about motherhood was how paranoid I would be for the rest of my life. From the moment my children were born, checking on them every time they went to sleep, worrying when they crossed the street, first day at school, the teenage years, driving, etc. As a parent you never stop worrying about your children no matter what the age. Seems the only peace you get is when they are in your arms, hugging you.

I can heartily second that. Before my daughter was born, my Brother, has two small children of his own and another on the way, told me, "You don't know what worry is yet." I find myself worrying about the craziest things. "What if she doesn't fasten her seatbelt? What if someone breaks her heart? What if..."

And there's this:

When you first come home from the hospital with your baby, it's very scary that something so little came with no owner's manual and is now totally dependent on you.

I think my thought was something like, "You can't seriously be thinking of sending this perfect, tiny, little person home with me?? You don't know me. I do. You just can't be serious." I've learned since then that this is an almost universal feeling as there is absolutely nothing in life that prepares you (no matter how many times you watched other people's kids) for how wonderfully vulnerable you feel when you realize that you are in charge of this small life.

But there is absolutely nothing so beautiful in this world as watching the sunrise creep softly across your sleeping newborn's face.