I came across this paragraph in a novel I just read. I quite identified with the feelings this character had in these first few minutes and hours with a new baby!
At this point the baby began to cry, steadily, angrily; and Clare taking her in her arms for the first time, made two extraordinary discoveries. The first was that on contact with her mother the baby instantly stopped crying and the second was that she was indeed utterly, perfectly beautiful. With a flash of insight, Clare suddenly wished that they could all stay here forever, the baby safely cradled in her arms, protected by the hospital staff.
For with this new love came also a new and terrible vulnerability, from which there would never be an escape. How shall I endure chicken pox, and tree climbing and reading about children dying in fires? she thought. Life stretched away in an infinity of dangers and she felt afraid.
I read once, "you never know the love of a parent until you become one."