Donut worry, it gets better.
My #1 best piece of advice I have learned along the way is…I bet you can guess..
1. Do not worry, it does get better/easier.
If there was one thing I wish I believed when we brought Liam home from the hospital, it would be this season will eventually end and it will get so much better.
Liam headed home from the hospital.
Okay so this image literally is making me cry.
The day before this started like any other, went to school, was suppose to go into work but I did not feel good so I called in. I had a doctors appointment that evening that I went to and on the way home I started having really bad contractions. I was texting back and forth with my doctor when she told me to pack my bags and head to the E.R room. I will never forget, like always I was not packed nor ready for the hospital of course, so while I was packing with my mom, my water broke. That next morning, God blessed me with a healthy little 6lb boy, what I did not know was how drastically my life had changed forever.
It’s funny because while I was pregnant with Liam I could only think about how amazing it will be when me and Adam are laying down to watch a movie with Liam in between us, or the feeling of having another baby at the dinner table with us. HAHA right, movie nights do not really exist with a baby, or at least our baby. Everything you presume mom life to be before you have kids, is 110% the exact opposite of having kids. Love it just the same, but I laugh now at what I thought raising a child would be.
Back to my first piece of advice, when we brought Liam home not only was it the first night with him, but it was also the first night in our new home. Talk about a night of firsts, and a season of hardship. So here we were, new baby, new home, new atmosphere, first time either of us had ever actually lived with another significant other. To say the least it was a hard season for us, and just like any new family, it is just plain hard to raise a tiny human. Postpartum depression is a real thing for some women, I did not have it to a certain degree like some moms, but I tell you what it is hard going from being able to leave the house when you want and go to the store when you want, go to the gym when you want, honestly just getting in the car and leaving was not an option anymore. So yeah, it is hard. I remember thinking, if I could just go to the gym whenever that would make me happy, because for me that was a way to relieve stress and to get out of the house for a little bit.
Everyone around me was always saying, “don’t worry it gets better”, but in the season I was in it honestly felt like I would never get a full night of rest, let alone 3 hours of continuous sleep back then. The baby would never quit crying, he would never quit eating, and so on. As soon as I would sit down to rest, I was getting up again. I think all new moms feel this way, so my first piece of advice, even when you do not think it will, it does get so much freaking better.
2. Just wing it.
If there was one more thing I could announce to the world about new mom life, is seriously, just freaking wing the whole dang thing. It’s honestly all a trial and error game.
I remember reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting and another book about how to raise and parent a newborn. I honestly thought I was going to be a pro, that these books set me up for success and that this new reality was going to be a piece of cake.
HAHA
There isn’t any book in the world that can prepare a new mom for mom life. There is not a single perfect mom.
I remember not only calling my doctor and mom about what to do, but actually having one of Liam’s nurses come to our house to help us figure out what was wrong with him. He cried honestly 80% of the time, 15% he was sleeping, and 5% he was content. Seriously, newborn life was so rough. From formula, sleeping schedules, reflux, crying, just wing it. When they are crying, figure it out. With Liam we quickly learned that he needed bounced, rocked, movement, sounds, music, heat to fall asleep. Literally winged everything until we figured out what he wanted. The rock and play had to be propped for reflux, we had to heat a hand towel in the dryer before we laid him in his rock and play to sleep on top of. We had to heat a wash cloth in the dryer and put it inside his sleeper on his tummy for him to sleep longer. The rocker had to be on, the music had to be playing. I mean honestly ladies, trial and error until you figure it out. If you can tell by reading what Liam needed to sleep the longest, he had a lot of tummy and reflux issues that bothered him.
Now he’s such a little ham, his little smirk and his little laugh just melt my heart. From winging everything, Liam has turned out just alright. I mean we’re still winging life, like how many puffs can you eat while I try to cook supper.
Slow down mamas, and take it all in, the bad and the good times, because it all goes so very fast.
Remember: Donut worry, it does get better & just freaking wing it.
xoxo,
Kylie