Hello Mommas,
Since I'm starting something new here, I have decided to start from the beginning. The beginning of my Momma adventures, the beginning of being responsible for another life, the introduction of diapers, spit-up, and wondering if sleep will ever happen again. (It will...eventually)
My husband and I dated for four years before getting married, and were so surprised when we found out we were pregnant two months after our wedding. This pregnancy was, unfortunately, not meant to be and a very dark postpartum depression took over our every day lives for sometime. We were not planning on having children again for a while. During that time, I don't think we even spoke about having another baby at all.
After a move, finally picking myself up to get back into the working world, and starting a job that I loved, I was smiling again. We were smiling again. Almost two years after losing a baby, we were pregnant again! It was a complete shock. As happy as we wanted to be, we were also apprehensive about how this pregnancy would go. Routine blood work was coming back abnormal, just like our first baby, and we feared the worst. During our specialist doctor visit, it was confirmed that this was indeed a viable pregnancy, and our rainbow baby was a boy!
After 39 weeks of pregnancy and one too many high blood pressure readings, our baby boy was born in 2009 following an induction and an emergency C-section.
Apparently, it just isn't our style to do anything the easy way and of course the same goes for our children. Our baby was the loudest cryer in the nursery. He cried the whole time we were in the hospital, the whole drive home, and what seemed like forever after that. He also had a projectile spit-up problem that would not be contained with those itty bitty burp cloths. This lead me to my first Momma Hack: what do you do with all those receiving blankets once your baby becomes unswaddable?? Use them as burp rags! From then on out, if I was holding my baby- I had a receiving blanket over the shoulder. I used this method with my other children as well and recommend it to all new mommas. The blankets are light weight so this makes them perfect for multiple uses.
A child born after the loss of a pregnancy is the rainbow after your storm, and ours healed our hearts in a way we didn't even know was possible. His smile and laugh lit up our world. The newborn stage is hard and you never know what to expect, but you make it through. They eventually sleep, outgrow spitting up, and the cuddles you get in between the times of crying are amazing.
We blinked and our son is now ten. TEN! Those newborn days with your first child will go by so fast, but will stay in your mind forever. You will never forget the nights you were up until all hours with your baby. In 2009, my late nights consisted of feeding, changing, burping, rocking, catching up on the new hit show, "16 and Pregnant", and discovering Lady Gaga music videos. That was the beginning of my momma journey. You will remember those types of nights as the start of your momma journey as well, and they will always have a special place in your heart.
S. Auchter
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