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Navigating Motherhood

avigating early motherhood.

I had my son 5 months ago. And as the old saying goes if I knew then what I know now…I had a pretty interesting ride. I can say that now because I am seeing the glimmer of sanity at the end of my postpartum tunnel.

I had an amazing pregnancy for which I am eternally thankful after losing my first pregnancy at 5 months. I really didn't suffer with the common symptoms (Funny how we call them symptoms. Like pregnancy is some disease you suffer from.) Anyhow, I enjoyed my pregnancy and in a weird way kind of mourned it when it ended.

My birth was the birth I dreamed of when I read every birth book I could get my hands on. I wanted a natural birth and hoped for a water birth. I got both. My water broke at 630 am. Contractions at 100 pm and baby at 513 pm. I had Ben in the water after 20 minutes of pushing. Not bad for a first timer.

I tried to get as much help as I could with breastfeeding in those early days. It was so important to me that Ben be exclusively breastfed that I was determined to master this surprisingly difficult skill. I am luck to have some very wise women in my family who were willing to help me but despite this I had quite a challenging time. I will never understand why nature made us perfectly able to keep another human being alive by feeding them a liquid produced for no other purpose but to keep another human alive and at the same time, made it so exquisitely painful that it makes you cringe to hear your little one's hunger cries. Unfair to say the least.

Ben was very eager to nurse but I was in a lot of pain. Eventually things got easier…I'd say around 6 weeks. It was right about that time that I decided to change doctors. My first visit with his new doctor and we discovered Ben had a r high fever. We spent the next 4 days on the pediatric unit. Thankfully everything was ok but a hospital admission, Ivs, and lumbar punctures are not something any new parent should have to watch their child endure. Madness, but we lived to tell the tale.

My husband and I got the bright idea to start a business while I was on maternity leave. We collaborated and came up this an idea for a web site. We created www.gagagear.com. We combined His talent for creating websites with my newly discovered passion for baby wearing and natural family living. It started slow but we are having a great time with it. What else was I going to do on my maternity leave?! I spent many hours with Ben asleep on my lap and picking one handed at the laptop applying for retail contracts with companies.

We discovered the hard way that Ben has a n intolerance to dairy and soy. No, we haven't actually given him those things but if I dare to put creamer in my coffee or soy milk in my cereal Ben pays for it with gas pains for days. You learn these thing the hard way as a new parent.

I went back to work when Ben was 14 weeks old. My in-laws were in town for the first 2 weeks which made the transition a lot easier-for me that is. Then he stayed with my sister for a month before our spot at daycare opened up and he has been their since. I am yet to figure out if daycare is really "good" for kids. I want him to have social skills and be able to stay with other people with out anxiety but I also feel like he is so little he should just be with his mommy. Part of me thinks it's harder for me than it is for him.

We'll see where this all goes. Having a child is the greatest experience I've ever had. I wouldn't trade my baby for the world. I just wish I would have had some sort of warning that the first few months would be the hardest, most challenging of my life. It all makes sense now, but in the moment I felt like the only clueless mother in all of history. Until you successfully navigate the first 6 months chaos and confusion are part of parenting.
Navigating early motherhood.

I had my son 5 months ago. And as the old saying goes if I knew then what I know now…I had a pretty interesting ride. I can say that now because I am seeing the glimmer of sanity at the end of my postpartum tunnel.

I had an amazing pregnancy for which I am eternally thankful after losing my first pregnancy at 5 months. I really didn't suffer with the common symptoms (Funny how we call them symptoms. Like pregnancy is some disease you suffer from.) Anyhow, I enjoyed my pregnancy and in a weird way kind of mourned it when it ended.

My birth was the birth I dreamed of when I read every birth book I could get my hands on. I wanted a natural birth and hoped for a water birth. I got both. My water broke at 630 am. Contractions at 100 pm and baby at 513 pm. I had Ben in the water after 20 minutes of pushing. Not bad for a first timer.

I tried to get as much help as I could with breastfeeding in those early days. It was so important to me that Ben be exclusively breastfed that I was determined to master this surprisingly difficult skill. I am luck to have some very wise women in my family who were willing to help me but despite this I had quite a challenging time. I will never understand why nature made us perfectly able to keep another human being alive by feeding them a liquid produced for no other purpose but to keep another human alive and at the same time, made it so exquisitely painful that it makes you cringe to hear your little one's hunger cries. Unfair to say the least.

Ben was very eager to nurse but I was in a lot of pain. Eventually things got easier…I'd say around 6 weeks. It was right about that time that I decided to change doctors. My first visit with his new doctor and we discovered Ben had a r high fever. We spent the next 4 days on the pediatric unit. Thankfully everything was ok but a hospital admission, Ivs, and lumbar punctures are not something any new parent should have to watch their child endure. Madness, but we lived to tell the tale.

My husband and I got the bright idea to start a business while I was on maternity leave. We collaborated and came up this an idea for a web site. We created www.gagagear.com. We combined His talent for creating websites with my newly discovered passion for baby wearing and natural family living. It started slow but we are having a great time with it. What else was I going to do on my maternity leave?! I spent many hours with Ben asleep on my lap and picking one handed at the laptop applying for retail contracts with companies.

We discovered the hard way that Ben has an intolerance to dairy and soy. No, we haven't actually given him those things but if I dare to put creamer in my coffee or soy milk in my cereal Ben pays for it with gas pains for days. You learn these thing the hard way as a new parent.

I went back to work when Ben was 14 weeks old. My in-laws were in town for the first 2 weeks which made the transition a lot easier-for me that is. Then he stayed with my sister for a month before our spot at daycare opened up and he has been their since. I am yet to figure out if daycare is really "good" for kids. I want him to have social skills and be able to stay with other people with out anxiety but I also feel like he is so little he should just be with his mommy. Part of me thinks it's harder for me than it is for him.

We'll see where this all goes. Having a child is the greatest experience I've ever had. I wouldn't trade my baby for the world. I just wish I would have had some sort of warning that the first few months would be the hardest, most challenging of my life. It all makes sense now, but in the moment I felt like the only clueless mother in all of history. Until you successfully navigate the first 6 months, chaos and confusion are part of parenting. If only parenthood came with GPS!