Birth Story of Baby Amelia Part Two
Read part one here. Just before 4 am the Hubs and I said farewell to my mom and our sleeping babies and loaded up into the car. We texted my doula and called my doctor and let them know we were on our way to the hospital. For all you mamas that have labored in the car, you can attest to the fact that IT. BLOWS! The 25ish minutes it took to get the hospital were excruciating! Sitting was not comfortable and my contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes. We didn’t have time to remove Ellery’s rear-facing car seat and couldn’t lay the seat back. We arrived at the hospital…
A Letter To My Breastfeeding Toddler
To my sweet, nearly 3 year old, breastfeeding toddler: Would you have believed, almost 3 years ago, that you’d still be breastfeeding today? Probably! In fact, you probably never imaged NOT breastfeeding. You might not realize it, but our journey in nursing started off a bit non-traditional due to your short NICU stay. But even after a tumultuous birth you came out ready for milk. I was so worried nursing would be difficult due to your birth but you latched, fed, burped and fell fast asleep. After that first session, there was no turning back. In no time, you and I were a cohesive milkin’ team. As a baby, you…
10 Tips to Ease C-Section Recovery
April is C-Section Awareness month and if you read about the birth of our little miracle Ellery, you know her birth ended up being a c-section. In honor of the procedure that saved my baby’s life, I wanted to share my 10 tips for easing c-section recovery. Unexpected C-Section Birth A c-section was not in my plans or even on my radar as far as birth goes, so I was in no way prepared for the recovery and after-math of such a big procedure. Here I am going to share my brutally honest experience, tips and advice for post c-section recovery. Now to give a bit of background, my son…
Post-Partum Gift Basket to Help Mom Heal and Recover
Pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are really, truly very beautiful things! BUT they can also be messy and no part is messier than the first few weeks post-partum (am I right veteran moms?!) When a close friend was expecting her first little one I wanted to get her a post-partum gift that would be useful for HER. So often the blessing of gifts are poured over the baby and not so much mom and I wanted this to be something for her to use and enjoy. I put together a post-partum gift of a small basket of goodies I found useful in the days after my kiddos were born. The Post-Partum…
Big Brother Meeting Baby Sister
From the moment I found out I was pregnant I began imaging what it would be like for Asher meeting his baby sister. How would Asher react? Would he be jealous? Would he like his new sibling? I was full of anticipation and excitement. Helping Big Brother Adjust to the Idea of Baby Sister It was important for us, from the beginning, that Asher know about his baby sister. We made sure to talk about her often. Throughout my pregnancy, Jacob and I spoke often about “baby sister” and “baby Ellery” and gestured toward my belly. On the ride into daycare each day I would tell Asher that “Baby sister…
Ellery’s Birth Story: Part 3
Read Ellery’s Birth Story Parts one and Part two Once we were back in our room Ellery and I had our first nursing session. It was beautiful and she took to it like a champ. She nursed, unlatched, and fell right to sleep. While I was enjoying these first moments with my little lady, the nurse informed us that the doctor found signs of an unexplained uterine infection when she was completing the c-section. This infection, we later came to learn, is known as Chorioamnionitis, and is one of the leading causes of stillborn babies. Because of Ellery’s exposure to this infection, she would need to undergo a prophylactic antibiotic…
Welcome, Ellery! Birth Story Part 2
If you haven’t had a chance please read part one here. Caution: The following includes details of my daughter’s unexpectedly scary entrance into this world which includes mention of infant loss. We loaded the car up with our bags and headed off to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital a bit before six and we were taken back to labor and delivery triage and hooked up to monitors. We were the only ones there and overall the night seemed pretty quiet. The atmosphere was light and the nurse was super friendly and I tried to focus on the thoughts that everything would be okay and that we would be hearing a heartbeat soon and…
Welcome Ellery! Birth Story Part One
I know I am a bit late on getting this posted but it is crazy around here and finding time to blog has been nearly impossible. The adventure of getting our little lady in our arms was nearly a 180 from what we had expected and it has taken some time to process. So without anymore waiting here is the story of how we got our little Ellery Charlotte Friday the 13th The day started like any other typical Friday, we were up early, dressed and fed the tot, and it was off to daycare before I returned home to start my own work day. On my way to the daycare,…
Motherhood Lessons and What I’ve Learned Along the Way
I can’t believe in just a few short months I will be a mama to two littles. With the upcoming change (and perhaps a touch of pregnancy hormones making me emotional) I have been reflecting on what the motherhood lessons I have learned over the last two years. Two years seems so recent and yet when I look back on the new-to-motherhood woman I was, it seems like a lifetime ago. The biggest, and probably the toughest motherhood lesson I have learned over the last two years is that being a mom is hard. There is no easy way to say it. It is simultaneously the most amazing, wonderful thing…
Asher’s Birth Story Part Two
If you haven’t read part one you can do so here. We arrived at the hospital and were quickly admitted and settled into our room. [p.s: laboring in a car, even for the short distance I had to, has to be one of the most awful and hilarious things I have ever experienced.] The start was a little rocky when I had to have my hep-lock placed. We arrived right at shift change and we were settled into our room by one nurse who started everything but a different nurse arrived twenty minutes later to actually place the line. She apparently wasn’t keen on the site the first nurse chose…
