3 Months: What I Didn't Use

Do you know what's overwhelming? Being a first-time mom and trying to put together a registry.  There is So. Much. Stuff.  There is literally no way to know for sure what you'll use, what you won't use, what your baby will like for one week and then detest for the rest of their life.  When we went to register for our shower, we took a friend who was actually due a week after me - the difference being that she was due with her third and we were first timers with no idea what we were doing.  She was a big help.  Huge.  Couldn't have survived without her.  The point I'm getting at, is that even though we had such a great resource, there were so many things we got that I either used a couple times and hated or never used at all. I want to share my opinion on these items so that I can simply add to all of the research that you're doing to prepare for your baby.  Also, biggest tip is to save every box and receipt.  Every box.

The Fourth Trimester

There are so many things that you hear parents talk about like these dreaded urban legends.  Are they real?  Are they made up to discourage rational humans from reproducing?  What's the real deal?  We'll discuss many of these things over our journey - the first I'd like to address is the fourth trimester.

Project: Baby Room

So we're obviously going backward here for a minute.  I wanted to document the process of turning our spare room into the nursery.  We ended up finishing the baby's room well before she was evicted and I'm still obsessed with how it turned out.  Emptying a room full of crap and completely renovating it while 7 months pregnant is no joke.  I painted this m f-er over the course of a week between Christmas and New Years.  The worst part was convincing my husband that the paint fumes would not kill me or our unborn child and that I still had the mental capacity to stand on a step-stool 2 feet off the ground.  The second worst part was painting the stripes.  Now, this room had stripes on the wall previously....nice teal and mocha stripes...on a different wall.  I think that I had blocked out what a pain in the ass stripes are to paint on a wall because in my mind it was super easy and would take zero time to do.  I should note here that I refused to let anyone help me when it came to the stripes - I am a serious perfectionist and truly just didn't trust anyone around me to follow instructions to my liking.

adventures in pumping

When you're pregnant you can expect an onslaught of advice.  Do this, not that. Eat this, not that. No caffeine.  Exercise, but not too excessively.  No alcohol or drugs.  So many rules...

Here's a little surprise for after you give birth - the advice doesn't stop.  It never stops.  You will be getting advice until you are either dead or deaf, at which point you won't care because you can't hear the advice anymore.

Are we ever going to have a baby?

So I managed to keep this baby in my uterus for not only 9 months, but an extra week until my OB finished up galavanting around India for a personal vaca.  The day had come.  I was being induced.

Previously on: This Pregnancy

As I mentioned in my last post, life got ahold of me in the late fall. I blinked in November and all of a sudden it was February and I was approaching my last month of pregnancy.  Now, let me tell you...I preached throughout my entire pregnancy that I was pretty lucky.  I didn't have any morning sickness or any real food aversions; just a relatively easy time overall.  I heard people say that the last month of pregnancy feels like 4 years and I laughed at them because the first 8 months felt like it flew by!  Then I hit about the 35 week mark and shit went to hell.

Holy Hiatus, Batman!

You know when you have every good intention in the world, and then the world gets in the way? Yeah. That's the story of my life.  I had so many great blog posts lined up from registering and our baby shower, to decorating our nursery and final preparations.  Then life happened and all of that went out the window.  My husband is a basketball coach and from November - March he's at work from 8-4:30 and then at practice until 9-10 p.m. some nights, with games on Tuesdays and Fridays that I have to attend, no matter how far.  Add in a dog that needs heart medication two times a day, my own 9-5 with a half hour commute each way, and a pregnancy during the holidays...all of my great intentions fell to the wayside quite quickly.  Through being pregnant, having this baby, and keeping everyone around me alive for the last two months, I've learned to not put any extra pressure on myself.  I want to continue sharing my story, which has turned into our story.  I may not be able to get a post out every Monday, or every week.  I can barely shower more than once a week right now.  However, I'm going to vow to do my best and write when I can.  My days are filled with a two-month old who has reflux and a milk allergy, who will either take a 20-minute nap or a 3-hour one.  I still have a dog who needs medication twice a day and extra love now that his naps are interrupted by a crying baby.  I have a husband who's working, planning his summer basketball schedule, and enjoying a little golf when he can.  And I have a house that is never going to be clean again.

So I ask that you bear with me as I try to navigate this whole parenting thing one day at a time.  It will be entertaining, at the very least.