In part 1 I dispensed my greatest piece of advice about baby sleep. I truly believe that relaxing about baby sleep is the key to a less stressed out Mama and Papa, especially in the early days when you are just trying to survive. Anyways, next up I wanted to talk a little bit about the issue of an overtired newborn/infant. I'm not sure the time cap on this little bit of "advice", since things are so new, we're only 4 months in after all!!
When we started trying to get Madeline to go to sleep earlier, we started also battling a little with her actually going to sleep. My instinct told me she was overtired, which is a vicious cycle because instead of falling asleep from exhaustion, babies seem to just scream and scream and be unable to actually do the thing they need the most when they are overtired. Sleep. So I decided to implement a sleep "regime". I became obsessed. I read that little babies should not be awake more than 1-2 hours at a time before going to sleep.
My plan was to do whatever it took to get her to sleep after she had been awake no more than 2 hours. In the early days she always fell asleep in the stroller, and in the car. So, every two hours, if I couldn't get her to nap by nursing or by putting her in her swing, I suited up and got out of the house with her. I know it's hard to believe, but on day one this made putting her to bed a million times easier. She was no longer overtired! Yay! I did this for weeks, it was a little exhausting because I was still in that place where I wanted to sleep when she slept, and if I was out pushing the stroller, or driving the car, I couldn't do that. Mama sacrifices though, right?
Eventually, around 8 weeks, Madeline no longer needed the movement to go to sleep, so I could nurse her and put her down in her crib at the 2 hour mark, which was such a HUGE milestone to me. I could finally get some stuff done around the house, and nap!!! Oh sweet naps. We have been blessed with a good sleeper though, I am not sure if she really falls in the realm of normal for her age. I am so so so grateful. However, I do think that creating a good nap plan can really help every baby. I hope that this might help someone that's reading.
I gotta say though, people don't like unsolicited advice (I certainly don't either!), so writing about this here is kind of therapeutic for me. I can advise, advise, advise, and not worry that people are annoyed :)
Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label babies. Show all posts
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Madeline's Birth Story
Madeline turned 4 months old on August 21st, and I am only getting around to writing about her birth now. Oops. Luckily, it's still pretty fresh in my mind, and it was a pretty simple, uncomplicated birth, so there wasn't too much to remember anyways.
If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that I ended up going 12 days overdue. During those 12 days I had two ultrasounds to look at fluid levels and placenta activity, just to make sure there was nothing going on that would require an induction. I also had two very unpleasant membrane sweeps. If you don't know what that is, and you really want to, google it. Not pleasant at all. On Saturday April 20th, at 11 days overdue, I met with my secondary midwife (my primary had gone on vacation when I was 10 days overdue!!!) and she did the second membrane sweep, around 2:30 in the afternoon. She seemed optimistic that I wouldn't need the induction, but we planned one for Monday anyways.
Meanwhile, my parents were making the drive from Halifax. They had planned their trip thinking there was no way I would go 2 weeks late!! After I met with the midwife we went home and went for a walk to try to get things moving. Not much really happened, until, BAM, my water broke around 6:30pm. Fifteen minutes later my parents pulled in our driveway, haha! Perfect timing! Around then my midwife called to see how I was doing. I told her I thought my water had broken but I wasn't feeling any contractions yet. She told me to hold tight, get some rest, and call her when contractions were coming 4 minutes apart, or if I couldn't talk through them. Anyways, my water kind of broke in 3 stages. The first time, at 6:30, I was pretty sure it was my water breaking but not 100% confident, about 15 minutes later the same thing happened again, and then maybe 15 minutes after that I had the huge gush you see on TV. Seriously. It was a lot of fluid. And that is when my contractions started, almost immediately.
We figured I had quite a while to wait, since we'd heard so much about early labor and how long it can go one for, so my husband went to pick up some pizza. He decided to stop in and get some beer for him and my dad with supper too. Meanwhile, back at home I was having pretty strong contractions that were about 2.5 minutes apart. I could still talk through them but they were really uncomfortable. My husband arrived back home and I tried to eat a little but really didn't feel like it. I think I managed to eat a half a slice of pizza. It was looking like all of the stuff we had learned about the different stages of labour would be completely useless to me. My labour came on fast and strong, none of this contractions every 20 minutes crap.
When my midwife (henceforth known as Sandra :) ) called back around 8pm I was having contractions every 1.5-2.5 minutes and they were pretty strong, but I could still talk through them. She made the decision to come to our house to check me, since things were so close together. At this point my parents decided to check into a hotel, and they took Leroy over to my in-laws house where he would stay for a few days.
Sandra arrived around 8:30pm, when she checked me she figured I was only 2-3 centimeters. Usually she would have gone home at this point and waited a little while, but since everything was coming so close together, she decided to stay at our house. I don't remember how often, but between 8:30pm and 11pm I was probably checked about 3 or 4 times. At 11pm and about 5 cm dilated, Sandra suggested we head to the hospital before the drive was excruciatingly painful for me. I quickly agreed. The drive was awful. It was very difficult to just sit in the seat during contractions. They were very very intense at this point. We got to the hospital and all checked in around 11:30pm.
I tried so many different things to ease the pain. I got in the jetted tub. I laboured in different positions. I walked around. Nothing helped at all. Strangely, the most comfortable position for my was in the bed curled up in the fetal position. After a while I tried the tub again, no luck. I was so disappointed because I had heard such good things about labouring in water!! It did nothing for me at all. Back to the bed I went! Sometime around 12:30, Sandra talked to me about trying a shot of morphine. I had really really wanted an unmedicated birth, but she encouraged me to try this intervention because I was so tired at this point and things had been so hard and painful right from the start, she was worried I wouldn't have any energy to push the baby out. I hesitated but eventually agreed to try it. She told me it wouldn't make the pain go away, but that I'd feel kind of drunk and would be able to get a little rest. Yeah. No. It did absolutely nothing for me!!! I didn't feel drunk or any relief at all, and certainly didn't sleep.
After it was clear that morphine wasn't going to work for me, around 3am Sandra suggested I try nitrous oxide. I was in transition at this point (at about 7 cm) and contractions were one on top of the other, no break at all. I was desperate for some kind of relief, so again I agreed. This did help a little, I think it was mostly that it forced me to focus on my breathing and it calmed me down a bit. It made me feel light headed and loopy, but didn't take the pain away at all. I liked the noise of the machine though, I found it pretty soothing. I used it until I was ready to push.
I reached 10 cm and was ready to start pushing at 4:15am. A second midwife arrived to help with the delivery. I was so excited to get to this stage, it meant I had made it without an epidural! Yay! There were so many thoughts running through my head at this point. I could feel when I needed to push, but I couldn't tell if anything was actually happening when I did. It felt like it was taking FOREVER. I looked up at the clock and it was 4:45 am. I remember asking how much longer they thought until Madeline arrived, Sandra told me it was probably going to be about 30 minutes. That made me feel SO much better. I really do well with an end point in sight. When Sandra told me she could see her head, I asked her if she had any hair!! She said "not much!" and I remember being excited that she had any at all since both my husband and I were bald as babies. This gave me the strength I needed to finish the job :)
I only had to push for an hour, which is apparently pretty fast for a first time mom! And Sandra was bang-on with her estimate of 30 minutes. Madeline Rose was born at 5:15am on Sunday April 21st. She was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long. She latched on almost immediately and was so alert right away! I can hardly believe she's already 4 months old :)
If you've been following my blog for a while, you know that I ended up going 12 days overdue. During those 12 days I had two ultrasounds to look at fluid levels and placenta activity, just to make sure there was nothing going on that would require an induction. I also had two very unpleasant membrane sweeps. If you don't know what that is, and you really want to, google it. Not pleasant at all. On Saturday April 20th, at 11 days overdue, I met with my secondary midwife (my primary had gone on vacation when I was 10 days overdue!!!) and she did the second membrane sweep, around 2:30 in the afternoon. She seemed optimistic that I wouldn't need the induction, but we planned one for Monday anyways.
Meanwhile, my parents were making the drive from Halifax. They had planned their trip thinking there was no way I would go 2 weeks late!! After I met with the midwife we went home and went for a walk to try to get things moving. Not much really happened, until, BAM, my water broke around 6:30pm. Fifteen minutes later my parents pulled in our driveway, haha! Perfect timing! Around then my midwife called to see how I was doing. I told her I thought my water had broken but I wasn't feeling any contractions yet. She told me to hold tight, get some rest, and call her when contractions were coming 4 minutes apart, or if I couldn't talk through them. Anyways, my water kind of broke in 3 stages. The first time, at 6:30, I was pretty sure it was my water breaking but not 100% confident, about 15 minutes later the same thing happened again, and then maybe 15 minutes after that I had the huge gush you see on TV. Seriously. It was a lot of fluid. And that is when my contractions started, almost immediately.
We figured I had quite a while to wait, since we'd heard so much about early labor and how long it can go one for, so my husband went to pick up some pizza. He decided to stop in and get some beer for him and my dad with supper too. Meanwhile, back at home I was having pretty strong contractions that were about 2.5 minutes apart. I could still talk through them but they were really uncomfortable. My husband arrived back home and I tried to eat a little but really didn't feel like it. I think I managed to eat a half a slice of pizza. It was looking like all of the stuff we had learned about the different stages of labour would be completely useless to me. My labour came on fast and strong, none of this contractions every 20 minutes crap.
When my midwife (henceforth known as Sandra :) ) called back around 8pm I was having contractions every 1.5-2.5 minutes and they were pretty strong, but I could still talk through them. She made the decision to come to our house to check me, since things were so close together. At this point my parents decided to check into a hotel, and they took Leroy over to my in-laws house where he would stay for a few days.
Sandra arrived around 8:30pm, when she checked me she figured I was only 2-3 centimeters. Usually she would have gone home at this point and waited a little while, but since everything was coming so close together, she decided to stay at our house. I don't remember how often, but between 8:30pm and 11pm I was probably checked about 3 or 4 times. At 11pm and about 5 cm dilated, Sandra suggested we head to the hospital before the drive was excruciatingly painful for me. I quickly agreed. The drive was awful. It was very difficult to just sit in the seat during contractions. They were very very intense at this point. We got to the hospital and all checked in around 11:30pm.
I tried so many different things to ease the pain. I got in the jetted tub. I laboured in different positions. I walked around. Nothing helped at all. Strangely, the most comfortable position for my was in the bed curled up in the fetal position. After a while I tried the tub again, no luck. I was so disappointed because I had heard such good things about labouring in water!! It did nothing for me at all. Back to the bed I went! Sometime around 12:30, Sandra talked to me about trying a shot of morphine. I had really really wanted an unmedicated birth, but she encouraged me to try this intervention because I was so tired at this point and things had been so hard and painful right from the start, she was worried I wouldn't have any energy to push the baby out. I hesitated but eventually agreed to try it. She told me it wouldn't make the pain go away, but that I'd feel kind of drunk and would be able to get a little rest. Yeah. No. It did absolutely nothing for me!!! I didn't feel drunk or any relief at all, and certainly didn't sleep.
After it was clear that morphine wasn't going to work for me, around 3am Sandra suggested I try nitrous oxide. I was in transition at this point (at about 7 cm) and contractions were one on top of the other, no break at all. I was desperate for some kind of relief, so again I agreed. This did help a little, I think it was mostly that it forced me to focus on my breathing and it calmed me down a bit. It made me feel light headed and loopy, but didn't take the pain away at all. I liked the noise of the machine though, I found it pretty soothing. I used it until I was ready to push.
I reached 10 cm and was ready to start pushing at 4:15am. A second midwife arrived to help with the delivery. I was so excited to get to this stage, it meant I had made it without an epidural! Yay! There were so many thoughts running through my head at this point. I could feel when I needed to push, but I couldn't tell if anything was actually happening when I did. It felt like it was taking FOREVER. I looked up at the clock and it was 4:45 am. I remember asking how much longer they thought until Madeline arrived, Sandra told me it was probably going to be about 30 minutes. That made me feel SO much better. I really do well with an end point in sight. When Sandra told me she could see her head, I asked her if she had any hair!! She said "not much!" and I remember being excited that she had any at all since both my husband and I were bald as babies. This gave me the strength I needed to finish the job :)
I only had to push for an hour, which is apparently pretty fast for a first time mom! And Sandra was bang-on with her estimate of 30 minutes. Madeline Rose was born at 5:15am on Sunday April 21st. She was 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long. She latched on almost immediately and was so alert right away! I can hardly believe she's already 4 months old :)
Friday, July 26, 2013
Baby Sleep Part 1! Learning to go with the flow...
Having a new baby is hard. Very hard. There are the sleepless nights, the screams and cries you can't quite seem to calm, the constant nursing, the constant baby bouncing... Shall I go on? When you are deep in the trenches it's so hard to see the other side, but eventually the clouds do part and you come out the other side, relatively unscathed. One of my biggest pieces of advice to new mothers is that you need to let go of the idea that you are going to have any kind of control over the situation (i.e. your baby). This is hard for those type A's out there, like myself, but I swear, once you accept that you have very little control things will start to get so much better. This was particularly true for us with Madeline's sleep.
Sometime around 3 weeks old, we decided Madeline should be going to bed earlier than her normal 11pm bedtime. We were both exhausted, and we wanted some time to ourselves before going to bed. I read about lots of babies who were going to sleep for the night at 8pm, why wasn't our baby doing this?? We started trying to get her to sleep earlier, we tried to establish a bedtime routine of bath, reading, swaddle, nurse, bed. However, it went more like this: bath, reading over her screams, swaddle, nurse, scream, nurse, scream, scream scream, nurse, bounce, scream, nurse, bounce, bounce, unswaddle, watch some tv, nurse, bed at 11pm. It was so awful and stressful. My husband and I hardly ever fight and we were arguing non-stop. No matter what time we started this routine Madeline went to sleep for the night at 11pm. Finally we just said screw it. She will do what she wants, and the stress was just not worth it. We started doing the routine more like this: bath, reading (although she still screamed while we read, she just wasn't into sitting and not moving at this age), go downstairs and take turns bouncing her around, nursing her when she showed signs of hunger, and then, finally, around 10 or 10:30 we swaddled her and put her to bed.
This new routine has caused so much less stress. We are all much happier. My husband and I have both accepted that we have virtually no control over the sleep situation at this point. Over time Madeline's bed time has gotten earlier, at 3 months she's going to bed some time between 9:30-10, with the occasional night at 9:15, or the unfortunate occasional night at 10:30-10:45. I am convinced that she will slowly get down to that coveted 8pm bedtime, so for now we are just following her lead.
I am definitely not a baby sleep expert, and I am sure there are lots of people out there who think I am doing it wrong. Maybe they think my baby is spoiled because we let her decide our bedtime, whatever. I really don't care because it works for us. Anyway, this is all to say that I certainly would not want to give anyone advice about baby sleep. I don't know how to get a baby to sleep better, longer, earlier, whatever. I have no clue. We have been blessed with a relatively good sleeper. However, I regularly dispense the "go with the flow" advice, because I really do think that can work well for everyone. In my very limited experience, babies don't do what you want them to do, so why spend all of your time trying to make them?
Stay tuned for Part 2, dealing with an overtired baby!
Sometime around 3 weeks old, we decided Madeline should be going to bed earlier than her normal 11pm bedtime. We were both exhausted, and we wanted some time to ourselves before going to bed. I read about lots of babies who were going to sleep for the night at 8pm, why wasn't our baby doing this?? We started trying to get her to sleep earlier, we tried to establish a bedtime routine of bath, reading, swaddle, nurse, bed. However, it went more like this: bath, reading over her screams, swaddle, nurse, scream, nurse, scream, scream scream, nurse, bounce, scream, nurse, bounce, bounce, unswaddle, watch some tv, nurse, bed at 11pm. It was so awful and stressful. My husband and I hardly ever fight and we were arguing non-stop. No matter what time we started this routine Madeline went to sleep for the night at 11pm. Finally we just said screw it. She will do what she wants, and the stress was just not worth it. We started doing the routine more like this: bath, reading (although she still screamed while we read, she just wasn't into sitting and not moving at this age), go downstairs and take turns bouncing her around, nursing her when she showed signs of hunger, and then, finally, around 10 or 10:30 we swaddled her and put her to bed.
This new routine has caused so much less stress. We are all much happier. My husband and I have both accepted that we have virtually no control over the sleep situation at this point. Over time Madeline's bed time has gotten earlier, at 3 months she's going to bed some time between 9:30-10, with the occasional night at 9:15, or the unfortunate occasional night at 10:30-10:45. I am convinced that she will slowly get down to that coveted 8pm bedtime, so for now we are just following her lead.
I am definitely not a baby sleep expert, and I am sure there are lots of people out there who think I am doing it wrong. Maybe they think my baby is spoiled because we let her decide our bedtime, whatever. I really don't care because it works for us. Anyway, this is all to say that I certainly would not want to give anyone advice about baby sleep. I don't know how to get a baby to sleep better, longer, earlier, whatever. I have no clue. We have been blessed with a relatively good sleeper. However, I regularly dispense the "go with the flow" advice, because I really do think that can work well for everyone. In my very limited experience, babies don't do what you want them to do, so why spend all of your time trying to make them?
Stay tuned for Part 2, dealing with an overtired baby!
Monday, July 22, 2013
I'm back!
These last three months have been such a whirlwind of
emotions: happy, excited, frustrated, tired, confused, insecure, inadequate… I
could go on and on. I’m pretty sure I’ve felt almost every emotion or feeling
there is since Madeline has been born. I have missed the blogosphere so much
and am only feeling human enough to make my way back here now. So, hello friends J
Madeline is napping and I am spending way too much time
watching Gossip Girl while she does. It’s so bad but so addictive, isn’t it?? This
is the second series I am embarking on, I watched the entire series of Friday
Night Lights first. Some day my sweet baby girl won’t be napping this much so I
am trying to take advantage of the “me” time I am being given for now.
I have been pondering the level of online privacy I would
like for my family. In the past I have been pretty much an open book, but it’s
shocking how different I have felt since Madeline came along. I feel so
protective of her and that is why I have yet to share any photos. I’m scared of
putting her pretty little face out there, when the internet is so vast and I
have no idea who will be looking at my photos, or what they might be doing with
them. I never thought I would be this paranoid, but that’s where I’m at right
now. I hope you will all understand and continue to read my blog. I’m working
on some baby posts, some tips and tricks, and just general ideas I have about
parenting. For now, no photos L
If you do want to check out some pictures of Madeline, you
can add me to instagram (mcsarahanne)… it’s a private profile but I’ll add
anyone who doesn’t look like an internet creepo :P
Monday, March 25, 2013
Nursery Reveal!
Finally I took some pictures! This nursery was a labor of love. My mom and I bought the fabric for the roman shade a couple of days after I miscarried my first pregnancy, so it's got some memories there. The whole nursery came together around this fabric.We found the glider on kijiji for $60, then my mom redid the cushions and my dad painted it white. I was a dummy and didn't get a before picture! Annoying but oh well.
My mom made the quilt, the rug, the pictures above the glider, the crib skirt. My dad made the bookshelves, and my late grandfather made the peg shelf above the changing table/dresser.
The alphabet print is from an Etsy seller and I love it so much!! I think it looks great over the books. All of the stuff on the peg shelf is from my childhood, one of the little teacups belonged to my mom when she was a kid!
So that's basically it! I hope you guys love it as much as we do. I cannot wait for baby girl to be here to enjoy it :)
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
35 Weeks!
Time is officially standing still. Seriously. It’s mostly the work days that feel extremely long, because our evenings are pretty short these days (9:30 is about the latest I can stay up!!), and our weekends are busy. But the work days, they drag. I don’t have a ton to do, because no one really wants to give me anything that I won’t be able to finish before I leave! It’s making for a brutal last few weeks. Did I mention that I am done work in 3 weeks?!?! 3 weeks! I cannot wait. I desperately need some afternoon naps.
My mom was in town to see the bump in all its (her?) glory this weekend. We had a great time, and may have bought a few things for baby girl. The most exciting thing though, my mom got to accompany me to my ultrasound! Remember my low-lying placenta? Yep, well, it’s resolved!!! No scheduled c-section in my future J. We also were able to see sweet baby girl’s face, it was incredible. The picture is grainy, but isn’t she just SO pretty? And apparently quite chubby! Chubby cheeks, chubby belly!
We did get one last piece of furniture for the nursery, so I am finally ready to take some photos and do a big reveal. I’m hoping for some good lighting this weekend, and then a blog post next week. Oh, and I almost forgot, we had some maternity photos taken this past weekend as well! I cannot wait to see them and then to share!
That’s about it for the weekly update, I’ll leave you with my 35 week bump. Apparently that striped tank and brown sweater is my favourite outfit…
Friday, January 4, 2013
25 and 26 Weeks!
The last 2 weeks were a whirlwind, with Christmas holidays, and our first baby shower! Christmas was pretty hectic. My in-laws spent the holidays with us in our hometown, which was cool. Christmas day my parents cooked dinner for 17 people. What a zoo that was. The food was delicious!! My dad is really the holiday dinner chef and he always does an awesome job. His stuffing is to die for. Best out there.
On to the shower, we have never felt so loved!!! My mom and sister planned a really beautiful shower for baby and me. Now I am working on the thank you notes :) I still need to get the pictures from my mom, so for now I'll leave you with my last 2 bump pictures.
On to the shower, we have never felt so loved!!! My mom and sister planned a really beautiful shower for baby and me. Now I am working on the thank you notes :) I still need to get the pictures from my mom, so for now I'll leave you with my last 2 bump pictures.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Big nursery component has arrived!
Here's a sneak peek of what we are up to this evening. Can't wait to share more soon!!
Monday, November 26, 2012
About weight gain in pregnancy...
Guys, I am struggling. Before I got pregnant I had all of these ideas about what kind of pregnant lady I would be: a healthy eating exercising kind. I figured I could keep up my gym routine and hopefully keep my weight gain to 30 pounds. I was scared of gaining more than that. Well, I am learning now that you can make all of the plans you want, but your body is going to do what your body is going to do.
My dreams of healthy eating quickly went out the window when I was so sick from weeks 6-18 and couldn’t stand even the sight of a vegetable. My dreams of keeping up my gym routine went around the same time, when I was nauseous and falling asleep on the couch around 8pm every night. It was all I could do to make it through the work day and home to my new favourite spot on the couch. My husband had to cook all of my meals. I was barely functioning!
It’s been better lately, I have been getting out for walks with my husband and Leroy, but still haven’t made it to the gym. I’m back on vegetables, thank god, and have been having a big salad for lunch every day. I’m trying very hard to cut out all of the fatty, carby things I have been eating daily, but it’s hard! I have almost no self-control.
Anyhow, the point of all of this is that I have gained way more by 21 weeks than I was intending. When I went to buy some new clothes on Friday, I actually cried in the dressing room. I’ve never seen my body like this, and even though I know it’s ridiculous because it’s for such an awesome reason, I couldn’t help but feeling bad about myself. I just feel fat. Again, I realize this is insane, I am growing a baby after all! I think it’s just hard to adjust to the new you, even if it’s temporary. My mom and sister were super supportive when I called in tears over this, but were quick to tell me how silly I was being. I realized that pretty quickly. I’m just not entirely sure how to snap out of this funk…
My “cure” for these feelings? I’ve decided that I need to spend a little bit more time, money, and effort to make myself feel pretty. It’s really important that I feel good about myself, not just for the next four months, but beyond that too. On that shopping trip on Friday I bought myself two new shirts that look really pretty, and tonight I am going shopping for a dress to wear to a Christmas party next weekend. I’m also going to replenish my MAC makeup supply. I also got my hair cut on Saturday and plan to keep up the look because I like it so much! I’m hoping that these things will boost my self-confidence about my new body, the one that’s going to continue to change shape for oh I don’t know, the next 2 years?
Oh, and I am signing up for prenatal yoga and making an effort to get out for more walks, and hopefully a few trips to the gym in my near future, not so I can gain less weight, but so I can feel better about myself too.
I just have to have faith that my body is doing what it needs to do, and enjoy the ride…
My dreams of healthy eating quickly went out the window when I was so sick from weeks 6-18 and couldn’t stand even the sight of a vegetable. My dreams of keeping up my gym routine went around the same time, when I was nauseous and falling asleep on the couch around 8pm every night. It was all I could do to make it through the work day and home to my new favourite spot on the couch. My husband had to cook all of my meals. I was barely functioning!
It’s been better lately, I have been getting out for walks with my husband and Leroy, but still haven’t made it to the gym. I’m back on vegetables, thank god, and have been having a big salad for lunch every day. I’m trying very hard to cut out all of the fatty, carby things I have been eating daily, but it’s hard! I have almost no self-control.
Anyhow, the point of all of this is that I have gained way more by 21 weeks than I was intending. When I went to buy some new clothes on Friday, I actually cried in the dressing room. I’ve never seen my body like this, and even though I know it’s ridiculous because it’s for such an awesome reason, I couldn’t help but feeling bad about myself. I just feel fat. Again, I realize this is insane, I am growing a baby after all! I think it’s just hard to adjust to the new you, even if it’s temporary. My mom and sister were super supportive when I called in tears over this, but were quick to tell me how silly I was being. I realized that pretty quickly. I’m just not entirely sure how to snap out of this funk…
My “cure” for these feelings? I’ve decided that I need to spend a little bit more time, money, and effort to make myself feel pretty. It’s really important that I feel good about myself, not just for the next four months, but beyond that too. On that shopping trip on Friday I bought myself two new shirts that look really pretty, and tonight I am going shopping for a dress to wear to a Christmas party next weekend. I’m also going to replenish my MAC makeup supply. I also got my hair cut on Saturday and plan to keep up the look because I like it so much! I’m hoping that these things will boost my self-confidence about my new body, the one that’s going to continue to change shape for oh I don’t know, the next 2 years?
Oh, and I am signing up for prenatal yoga and making an effort to get out for more walks, and hopefully a few trips to the gym in my near future, not so I can gain less weight, but so I can feel better about myself too.
I just have to have faith that my body is doing what it needs to do, and enjoy the ride…
Sunday, November 25, 2012
One of my first baby purchases!
I told my husband that if we ended up having a girl, he was in for quite a shock. I feel like I will definitely shop WAY more for a girl than I would for a boy. Girl clothes are so fun! There are just so many options, dresses, headbands, polka dot tights, etc. So. much. fun.
Anyway, as soon as we found out we were having a girl I took right to Etsy! Here's what I picked up.
The green and gold one is for my husband, it's a Green Bay Packers baby hat! It's girled up a little with the appliqued flower. I absolutely love it and so does he! I ordered it in 6-12 months so she'll actually be able to wear it during football season next year.
The pink owl is hopefully going to be a prop for our newborn shoot, although it's 0-3 months so it could be a teeny bit too big depending on how big our baby is when she comes out :)
Anyway, as soon as we found out we were having a girl I took right to Etsy! Here's what I picked up.
The pink owl is hopefully going to be a prop for our newborn shoot, although it's 0-3 months so it could be a teeny bit too big depending on how big our baby is when she comes out :)
Monday, November 19, 2012
Whoah, we're half-way there!!!
We are half-way through this pregnancy! I couldn't be more excited about making it this far. I didn't write an update last week, I was too busy cooking this baby, and that pesky little thing called working. We started making some progress on the nursery. We cleared out the room of all the junk that was in there, and we bought a new dresser for our bedroom so we could put our old one in the baby's room. My sister gave us 2 huge containers of baby clothes, all of the gender neutral stuff she had since they were team green. We went through it all and put it away in the dresser :)
Ok, I have been holding out on you guys. This week we also found out...
It's a...
GIRL!!!!!
I couldn't be more excited. I would have been just as excited with a boy, but a girl it just so awesome. Bring on the frilly-ness, I'm ready. :)
Ok, I have been holding out on you guys. This week we also found out...
It's a...
GIRL!!!!!
I couldn't be more excited. I would have been just as excited with a boy, but a girl it just so awesome. Bring on the frilly-ness, I'm ready. :)
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
15 weeks!
This post was written on October 15th, 2012
------------------------------------------------
How far along?: 15 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: I didn't check this week, I know it's not good. I always eat way too much when I visit my parents!!
The Bump: It's definitely there, but I still don't think strangers can notice.
What I’m excited about/looking forward to: Still just looking forward to seeing our midwife again in 2 weeks.
Symptoms: Same as last week - Sadly I am still nauseous pretty much all. the. time. Everyone tells me it should be ending really soon and I really hope they're right. This is getting ridiculous!
Belly Button in or out?: Definitely in, but seems stretched out a bit.
Food Cravings/Aversions: Still no veggies, lots of junk food.
Milestones: Nothing to report this week really...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Monday, October 8, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving! (and some news)
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian readers! My husband and I have been in my hometown and it's been an awesome long weekend. Halifax is a wonderful place to visit, and the weather has just been amazing.
I know it's been a long time since I have been active on this here blog, but guys, I swear I have a good excuse. You see, this happened:
We're pregnant!!! Come April 2013 we're going to be first time parents :). We're over the moon with excitement, but my all day horrible sickness has prevented me from doing much blogging or even blog reading. I hope you can understand, and I am hoping to be back in full swing now!
I know it's been a long time since I have been active on this here blog, but guys, I swear I have a good excuse. You see, this happened:
We're pregnant!!! Come April 2013 we're going to be first time parents :). We're over the moon with excitement, but my all day horrible sickness has prevented me from doing much blogging or even blog reading. I hope you can understand, and I am hoping to be back in full swing now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
