5 lessons I've learned about Postpartum

Before I had Eleanor, I did a TON of research about having a baby and postpartum. I confess, I watched a few birth videos too. I felt that I was ready for when I had E. I knew what to do in labor, I knew what to expect directly postpartum, like in the hospital. However, there were a few things that I did not expect about postpartum that took me by surprise.

1. You cry a lot. Like a lot, a lot. 

Before I got pregnant, I'd like to say that I did not have feelings at all. People used to call me the ice queen, no joke. During my pregnancy, my hormones weren't too bad. I didn't have any crazy cravings, I didn't cry at the drop of a hat, and I stayed very active. My hormones were a little off, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. But after I had E, they went straight to the crapper. About two weeks after I had E, Hubby was on duty and was gone all night long. I was watching TV and a diaper commercial came on. It was one of those commercials that shows mommy and baby happy that the baby didn't pee through its diaper. There was some sweet music on and suddenly, I began to cry. When it was over, I thought to myself, OMG. Why did I just cry over this commercial? Then I began to think. I have been very emotional lately. I cry every time I see someone with a baby. I tear up when I see a cute puppy picture on Pinterest. 

I suppose that since my pregnancy hormones were pretty controllable, that postpartum would be controllable too. Guess not! 

2. Your body still isn't quite your own.
I suppose if you are formula feeding, then you get your body back faster, but if you breastfeed or pump, then your body still is not quite your own. You still have to carefully monitor everything that you eat. If you eat something that the baby doesn't agree with, the baby will get gas. If you indulge in some Taco Bell (which I have been too chicken to try post baby, because I am worried it will hurt her tummy), you have to weigh the good and bad. Will it be worth it to eat Taco Bell now, and possibly have a fussy, gassy baby tonight?
And you still have to drink, like half of your body weight every day. I drink anywhere between 120-150 oz of water a day. I really don't mind drinking water, since its all I drink, but its not as easy for others.
Some say that with breastfeeding and/or pumping, that mom will loose the baby weight faster. That might be the case for some women, but not all. I've read that in many cases that women stay the same, even gain some weight from breastfeeding. But Dieting while BFing is hard too. You have to take in enough water and calories to produce enough milk for baby to grow. If you don't take in enough, your baby won't have enough food for baby, and if you take it too much, you don't loose weight, you gain it. Catch 22, isn't it? Ugh, the struggle.

3. You go bald (or at least you feel like it)
I had no idea that I would lose so much hair, post baby. I never really noticed a big change in the thickness of my hair during pregnancy. I only noticed that it grew faster. But about a week after I had E, I started noticing that I was loosing quite a bit of hair in the shower. But nothing was different. I was still using the same shampoo, I was still fixing my hair the same way, but I felt like I was going bald! But no worries. I still have TONS of hair, it just seemed more dramatic because I have three feet of hair, rather than the normal amount the average mom has. Apparently its completely normal to lose hair postpartum, thanks to my hormones. Those crazy hormones just keep popping up, don't they!

4. You smell 
Okay, this one is a little gross. It also goes back to those lovely hormones, once again. Since your body is still adjusting to not having a bun in the oven anymore, your chemistry gets a little screwed up. For me, it meant that things like deodorant did not work as well. Neither did those cutesy smelling perfumes. I ended up having to switch to a different deodorant that was a bit stronger. However, I now carry a travel size stick of deodorant, just in case I have any more stinky incidents.

5. You can function without sleep
Its amazing the things you can accomplish with such little amounts of sleep. The first two or three weeks were really hard for me to get up with Eleanor in the middle of the night to feed her. Then the day time was even worse. I couldn't do anything productive other than feed myself, Eleanor and change diapers. However, after the two or three week mark, things got a ton better. I went from taking naps every day when E napped, to only taking naps when I only REALLY need them. I have learned to manage my time so much more efficiently than before. When she sleeps now, I clean the kitchen, clean the living room, do laundry and sometimes even do something for myself, like sew. I still get up with E about twice a night (at about 3 and 6 AM) but I don't feel like such a zombie anymore. It gets better, I promise!

Not all things about Postpartum are bad. I do love seeing my smiling girls face everyday. I love the look she gives me while shes eating, and looks up at me with love and admiration. I love when she plays on her play mat and laughs when she sees herself in the mirror. I love how truly peaceful she looks when she is asleep. I love her more than I could ever possibly express in words.

Thankful for the Weekend

This past week, my husband has been out of town for some training for work. This was my first time alone with Eleanor for the whole week. I had been staying alone with E on John's Duty nights since she was two weeks old, but a whole week home with her was a completely different story. On Sunday, Johns mom, Cindy came over to stay the night. She helped me a little Sunday and Monday with E, but she went home Monday afternoon. I really do appreciate all she did to help. But I'm sure she just looked at it as snuggle time with E.
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty good days with the baby. Thursday everything fell to the crapper. I suddenly felt like I pulled a muscle in my back, which made it hard to do ANYTHING for Eleanor. It hurt to put her down, pick her up, change her diaper, and even hold her in some positions. I could have really used Hubby Thursday evening. When bedtime finally came, I was so relieved that she would be finally going to bed. Apparently not. Little girl decided to party until 11. Then woke up at 2 to eat. This might seem normal to yall, but she usually is passed out by 10 and does not wake up until at least 3 to eat. Thursday night, I literally felt like I was trapped in the song that never ends.
Well the morning finally came. It was Friday. The day that John was coming home. I think Eleanor knew today was the day that he was coming home too. She was so fussy, I didn't know what to do with her. On more than one occasion, I considered having a nervous breakdown, but apparently I am the one who thinks about a nervous breakdown before I have one. I figured it wouldn't do me any good to scream and cry while she screamed and cried, so I decided against it.
But I did learn something new about Eleanor. She likes to sleep on her tummy. Laying her on her tummy, on her play mat, was the only way I could get her to nap today. I know, I know, its not good to lay a baby on their tummy, but I needed a break and I watched her the whole time. Don't judge me.

John Finally made it home about 4:30 on Friday. Thank the lord almighty. I was so glad for my family to be back together. We had a nice dinner out with the Hubby and Little Lady at a place called Firebrew. It was so nice, being out in public, having an adult conversation. It was also nice having a reason to get dressed and decent, other than a doctors appt.

Saturday, E woke up earlier than usual. John was such a sweetie and got up with her. They apparently went downstairs to play. An hour later, I woke up to the sounds of my hubby opening the bedroom door. My love made waffles and eggs and brought me breakfast in bed. He even brought it on a tray! Granted it was the tray to the Baby Bumbo, which was the funniest thing ever, but it was so sweet. My little heart just melted. =)
After breakfast, we went shopping! Washer/dryer shopping to be exact. We picked out our washer and dryer at a local appliance store and got a pretty good deal, I think. We saved $178 on our appliances that were already on sale! And to top things off, we had them delivered the next day.

Here they are! Aren't they beautiful!?

And look at my grumpy girl. Shes just precious! She was NOT happy about taking her weekly Sunday picture.

Happy Columbus Day!
AND, Happy Birthday to the U.S. Navy. Celebrating 239 years today! Boy, they are old. Hooyah!

5 Things that helped me survive having a newborn

Having a newborn in the house is no joke. Being a mommy is no joke either. But here are some things that I have saved my bacon on more than one occasion.

1. The Bible. And its App.
Having a newborn is mentally, physically and emotionally exhausting. Being able to read the Word is what I need to hear the most, on some days. The scriptures are uplifting and always seem to give me the boost I need. I look forward to reading The Bible every night before bed. However, having a hungry baby that needs to nurse can sometimes hinder that, especially on the nights that hubby has duty and I am all alone. Having the Bible app is such a life saver. If we are having a bad night, we can set the app up, press play and the nice man with a British accent, reads us the Bible. His name is Max, by the way.
This app is especially helpful because back in January, both John and I decided to read the whole bible in a year. This app has plans that breaks down the Bible into little bits, that make it really easy to read the Bible in a year. It keeps track of the percentage of how much of the Bible you have read so far and helps you get back on track if you miss a day.
I have my app downloaded to both my iPhone, and iPad. It's pretty much the best.

2. Angel Care Monitor
I cant quite take credit for this one. My sister found this monitor years ago with her first baby, and I knew I wanted the same kind when I got around to having little ones.
The Angelcare sound and movement monitor that we have, can be found here. We got the standard sound and movement, but they also have a video option that is a little more expensive and it can be found here.
 This monitor is not quite like any other baby monitor. This monitor detects sounds as well as movement. This means that it makes sure that the baby is breathing when it is laying down in the crib or bassinet. If the baby doesn't make any movements for 15 seconds, the monitor will let off one loud beep. If the baby hasn't started breathing in 5 more seconds, the alarm will constantly sound until there is movement detected again.
The peace of mind that this gives new parents is un-parallel. There have been many nights when I know other moms would lie awake, listening for their babies breaths and I would be soundly sleeping.
And I know this sucker works. My sweet Eleanor has had a few scares with her breathing the last few nights. Take last night for example. Both John and I were snoozing away when we got a wake-up call by the warning beep. We thought it was a fluke so we didn't move. But when the real alarm sounded, I bolted up and woke Eleanor up. Right away, I heard her take a big breath in and start breathing again. This happened twice last night. I am praying that this was only a one night thing, but if its not, It does make me feel better that if she does have breathing problems, that monitor will be there for us, to alert us when our sweet baby has problems breathing.

3. Carters Swaddle Blankets
These suckers are gold. From day one with E, I have swaddled her and she has not minded it at all. I like the big ones, that stretch. The more they stretch, the tighter the baby can be swaddled. Someone gave me most of my blankets so I am not 100% sure where they came from, but they are available on amazon, here.

4. Fisher Price Swing
Since I worked in day care, I know the ins and outs of baby gear. Mom's used to come in all the time and tell me their kid didn't like the swing. I knew better. All kids like the swing, they just don't know it yet. I got my swing from a virtual yard sale site, used. Best way to save money, mind you. I snagged a model almost just like this, for the low price of $75. I heart saving money!
Any-who, for the first two weeks, E would not even touch her co-sleeper. All she would do is sleep in her swing. I don't know how I would have gotten through the first few weeks without this life-saver.

5. Electric Baby Scale
After having Eleanor, we had a rough start to get our breastfeeding routine going. Because my milk didn't come in soon enough, Eleanor started to loose weight. Which is normal, right? Well, yes, but to an extent. Little lady ended up loosing about 12% of her weight, and anything above 10% is cause for concern, apparently. We ended up having to supplement with formula for a few weeks, which broke my heart. I felt like such a failure as a mother that I could not provide the most basic need for my child. After having a few sad conversations with my Mom about the situation, my mom got on her lappy (her laptop) and bought me this amazing baby scale from amazon. She said that it would be much  easier to monitor her weight if I had one. It would also give me peace of mind knowing that she is gaining weight appropriately. This little beaut has an infant tray for when they are small, and when they can stand, you can take the tray off and it becomes a toddler scale. Pretty cool, huh?
Since we have had trouble with her weight, this product has given me peace of mine in another sense. I put E on the scale at least twice a week to make sure she is gaining the weight that she needs. AND, thanks to this handy-dandy infant growth chart calculator, I can monitor what percentile she is in.

Here's my little nugget! She holds her head up so good now =)

So there it is folks, my top 5 things that helped me survive a newborn. My little nugget is almost two months old now and I am happy to report she is gaining weight like a champ. She is still on the low side of the growth chart, but she has made so much progress! She goes back to the doctor next week, so I guess Ill share her progress on her height and head circumference then. Ta-ta for now!

Eleanor's Birth Story

Today I want to share with you the story of the birth of my beautiful daughter Eleanor Reece on August 7, 2014. The past few weeks of being a mother have been a whirlwind of new experiences and emotions but I would not change any of this for the world. I must warn you of two things. One, this story will be long. Two, this story is the story of me giving birth, so if you can't handle it, just go ahead and stop reading. You can wait until the next post, which will be less awkward. Okay, Are you ready?? Here we go! 

To start the story of her birth, I must start with the day before she was born which was August 6th. Hubby and I went for my 38 week check up. As we were on the way, we discussed the hopes that progress had been made in the last week, because I had been doing a substantial amount of walking and "other activities" wink wink. We talked about how excited we were to have our little girl here with us. We got to the doctors office and did the business as usual. Then the midwife came in she told me she was going to "check me". While she was checking out my lady bits (which by the way I was 4cm already. WOWSA!), she decided to do some other things. These "things" she did said that they would make me go into labor within 1-3 days. The excitement that I had at that moment was like no other. I was so ready to have my baby here with me and not be pregnant anymore. 

We left the doctor's office and immediately called our family to update them  on my progress. My parents were in Florida, so I told them to start making plans to come to VA. My parents said they would start packing (ppsshh, my mom was already packed for weeks by that time), and get a rental car to head our way soon. We then went about our business, doing some yard work for my MIL. It was more like my hubby did yard work and I sat on the porch with lemonade and watched. My MIL brought us some Chick-Fil-A for dinner. It was Delish! It also happened to be my last meal before baby came. 

That night we went home and decided that we should make sure we had everything we needed for the hospital. I unpacked my hospital bag, laid everything on the bed and repacked it, just to make sure everything was in order. We brought everything downstairs and by the door so that we could load up at a moments notice. Then, finally, we went to bed. I only slept for about an hour before I woke up with contractions. I made sure I was having regular contractions before I woke John up. He did the right thing and started to time them. After about 45 minutes of them being 4-5 minutes apart, I called the doctor and told her I was coming in, which was about 12:45AM or so. 

Let me stop right there and share with everyone that going into labor does not happen like it does in the movies or commercials. It also takes a lot longer to get dressed and ready when you are in labor. I thought that it would take me about 15 minutes to get dressed and ready. Wrong. Having to stop for a contraction every few minutes really adds up. So instead of being ready to go in about 15 minutes, it took me about 45 minutes to get everything ready and out the door. 

Our ride to the hospital was uneventful, with the exception of Charlie being with us. Poor charlie knew something was up, and looked at me VERY concerned the whole way there. Since we knew this was "it", we took our dog with us and my MIL would meet us at the hospital to take him to her house. 

We got to the hospital about 2:15, but by the time we actually got to the womens center it was about 2:30 because I INSISTED on walking in myself. I did not want to be carted around the hospital in a wheelchair because, you know, pride. I have no idea why I did this. 

Finally, we arrived at the women's center and got all of our paperwork in order, only to find out there were no rooms! I felt like the Virgin Mary on Christmas night. No room in the Inn. We spent a little over an hour in a waiting room, waiting. All the while my contractions are becoming more intense and closer together. It seemed like every 3 minutes I was asking John to go see if they were ready yet. 

I wasn't until about 3:45, when the nice nurse came for me, saying that they were ready for me. We got to the room and I finally got to put on that ever so attractive hospital gown. I looked smashing. 

The nurse asked if we wanted to take bets on how many centimeters dilated I was. I wasn't amused so I didn't guess. Hubby guessed 6, I believe. Before she could even check me, another contraction hit, and lo and behold, my water broke. Boy, was that awkward. When she finally checked me, she said I was 9cm and ready to go! Honestly, I couldnt believe that I progressed this far without any drugs. 

My nurse said that the doctor was on the way, and asked me if I wanted the epidural. In the middle of my thought, my first contraction post "water breaking" hit. WOW. It was about 5342 times more intense than what it was before. I succumbed and said "yes". "give me the juice." She nodded and said she just needed to wait on the labs to come back. Apparently, the people running labs that morning were too wrapped up in a Netflix marathon to run my labs because they never came back. 

With each passing contraction I was losing hope in the fact that I would get the juice. I looked at John and asked him to pray for me. we shared a quick prayer and finally, I made peace that I would never be able to get an epidural because I knew she was coming too fast. However my doctor wasn't. I felt, and fought, the urge to push for 45 minutes before the doctor showed up. 

Then, to my relief, the doctor decides to make her appearance. I didn't even pay attention to the directions she was giving me on how to push. I just put my legs up and went for it. I only had to give about 5 good pushes, or about 10 minutes worth of pushing before my sweet girl was finally here. At 5:32 AM. It was the most rewarding feeling, knowing I did it. I delivered a baby into this world. I could hear my husband saying "Shes here, baby! She's here! You did it baby! You did so good!" My first words were thanking God that I my delivery was over and thanking God that she was here safe and sound.  

I have to say, out of all of my accomplishments in life, tending to multiple infants at a time at the daycare, graduating college, getting a licence to teach, teach students with disabilities, I knew this was my greatest accomplishment. Bringing another life into the world with-out the help of any drugs what so ever, was the greatest thing that I have ever done, and it will be the greatest thing that I ever do in my lifetime. Anyways, back to the story. 

The nurses immediately took her, made sure her lungs were in proper working order, weighed her and gave her straight to me. Holding Eleanor in my hands for the first time was so crazy. I waited 9 months to see the face of the baby that I created. I had no idea what she would look like. But she was BEAUTIFUL. She IS beautiful. I immediately Thanked God that she was in my arms and healthy. From that moment, we went from being John and Melissa, party of two, to John, Melissa and Eleanor, party of three. 

Here is our beautiful little family =)

Photo by: Alicia Austin

I leave you with this verse. We used this verse to announce our pregnancy with Eleanor. 

I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. I Samuel 1:27