Thanks.

Infant.imprintinf is one of those concepts that is widely hyped and has become relatively meaningless. My daughter recognized me by my vlice not due to imprinting, but because she recognized my voice from me talking to her during pregnancy. Since I was the only one who did, mine was the only voice she recognized. She also engaged with the nurses significantly and notably; we did most of our 54 hrs labor without drugs so she was more awake and aware than most babies. I also elected to go into labor naturally rather than be induced for convenience; she was born on what would have started the 43rd week of gestation. We were actually scheduled for mandatory inducement the day after she was born, I think.

As far as your upcoming children are concerned, if you want my advice about it, it would be to not get too attached to any theory about children, or childcare. There's not a one of them that's 100% right across the board. Your aim is peace in the home, plenty of rest for everyone, consistency, and sharing the workload.

Don't sweat the small stuff. You'll be fine.

One of the things they don't warn you about is vaccinations. If you have a relatively content and settled baby, then the first time you're going to hear them really (wail) cry is going to be vaccinations. There's no real way to prepare yourself for this. The horror of that sound will haunt your nightmares for quite some time. Good chance you'll flip out and completely embarass yourself. Tears and heart clutching are a given. Honestly! Who knew they could make noise like that? Nobody warns you. All that expertise everybody insists on sharing whether you want it or not and they all leave out this particular challenge. It's a conspiracy. It has to be. I'm convinced most of those nurses have an ongoing betting pool.