Oh, me? I'm doing fine.

It has been 10 weeks (And one day), 71 days, 1,704 hours, 102,240 minutes, 6,134,400 seconds since the day I met my little love.  Translation?  It has been a little over two months since I've become a momma.  It has been the best two months of my life.  The best, most challenging, exhausting, frustrating, thrilling, amazing 71 days of my 28 years of life.  And, even though just today I was squirted with poop as I was changing a stinky diaper, I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Now, life with a newborn is similar to that of a chicken running around with its head cut off. A chicken that gets pooped on, puked on, and sleeps, actually scratch that, DOESN'T sleep.  Life.is.rough.  If you are one of the lucky ones you may sleep.  Just don't tell the rest of the new momma population.  Unless of course you want to get the stank eye of the century.  True story.  

 Let me get to the point.  When I was pregnant I read countless blogs on what the postpartum life would look like.  Even though I may not have followed all of the suggestions (Trust me, you eventually find what works for YOU) it was nice to have an overview.  Which is what I am going to gift to you.  A guideline of sorts as to how to maneuver the messy world of life after baby.  Well, at least in the newborn stage, because quite frankly I have no idea what the next stage entails.  Like I said, I'm no expert, I've only been doing this thing for 71 days.  

Here it goes, folks.

Take showers.  No, seriously, take a shower, take a bath, and make it a daily occurrence. Blog after blog, after blog I kept reading how being a new mom kept you from bathing.  The idea of not being able to take a bath gave me anxiety.  There was no way, no how that I could go a day without showering. Nope, nope, and nope.  Sure, there are people that can go without bathing.  I am not one of those people.  If we are being honest, I am more of a two shower a day kind of girl.  Cutting down to one shower was difficult enough.  Not showering?  It just wasn't going to happen.  Even if you are in there for only five minutes it will make a world of difference (I promise you).  I am a whole new woman after a shower.  Plus, spit-up is spit-up.  Even though it comes from a baby it still smells.  If you don't want to smell rancid, I suggest you take a shower.  Like I said, five minutes can do wonders.

Sleep when you can.  Sleep.  Everyone will tell you, sleep when the baby sleeps.  I'm here to tell you that sleeping when the baby sleeps is challenging. You see, there is absolutely nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby.  In hindsight I should probably not have spent all that time staring at my sleeping baby.  I should have slept.  My husband is a small business owner and was unable to take time off when Olivia was born.  Other than the few days after we came home from the hospital, off to work he went.  I was home alone with a newborn.  A newborn who had her nights and days completely confused.  However, instead of sleeping during the day when she actually would sleep, I would stay up and stare at her pretty face.  Ludicrous, I know.  You really have no idea how much sleep is important until you aren't sleeping.  After about a week of zero sleep I became delirious.  Zombie-mom?  That was me.  And as quick as that came it went.  To ensure that I would get at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep my husband and I came up with a plan.  After Olivia's nine o'clock feeding I would hand her over to her daddy, run upstairs, take a shower (You know how important that is to me), and go to bed.  At midnight my husband would bring her upstairs and our nightly routine would begin once again.  I am happy to say that we are sleeping much, much better.  Thank you, Jesus.

The cami with a built-in-bra.  Breastfeeding is not for the faint of heart.  It can be quite difficult.  Even if the breastfeeding Gods are on your side, it is still a challenge.  Nursing bras, nursing pads, nipple cream, nipple gel, breastfeeding pump, it can all become overwhelming.  If I could do one thing, one-single-thing, it would be to burn my nursing bras.  I truly disliked everything about the nursing bra.  Everything.  So, I went and bought myself a ton of cami's with the built-in-bra.  For me this worked perfectly.  I wear them underneath all of my clothes and when I have to nurse I just pull up my shirt, pull down the cami and ta-da, done.  Plus, it keeps my belly covered, which is a major win in my book.  I'm perfectly okay with nursing in public, having my belly exposed, not just yet.  We are getting there.  Also, the cami with the built-in-bra doesn't have these little snaps and clips.  Snaps and clips drive a woman bonkers when her baby is screaming because the boob is there but she just can't have it. 

Subscribe to Netflix.  This may seem completely irrelevant.  However, in the beginning you will be feeding your sweet little bundle of joy constantly, regardless of which way you choose to do so.  If you choose to breastfeed you may have a little nugget that wants to nurse all-the-time.  Those first few weeks were all about nursing on demand and those sessions could last quite some time.  Having Netflix kept me entertained and awake (My biggest fear was falling asleep while nursing).  Friday Night Lights kept me up during those hours where sweet little Olivia wanted to nurse every hour on the hour for twenty plus minutes at a time.  You can't really do much while you are nursing, so, why not binge watch your favorite television show.  My current favorite?  Parenthood, which is so, so appropriate.

Go out.  Believe me, there will come a time where you will WANT to get out of the house.  It may not be during the first week, or the second week, maybe not even the third week. Give it some time and then make your way off the couch and into the sunshine.  I was terribly afraid of taking out Olivia on my own.  Then one morning I really wanted Starbucks and there was not a single person who could bring my latte to me.  My inner voice just told me to do it.  I got up, took a shower, got dressed, nursed Olivia (I wanted to prevent any hysterics) and off we went.  It was only through the drive-thru but it made me realize that it was okay to venture out into public.  Her first real outing was to Target.  However, my husband was with me so that doesn't count.  Seriously though, go out.  If you want to keep your sanity take a walk on the wild side and go for a spin.  Just don't over do it.  If you are exhausted, take a nap, that adventure can wait for another time.

Patience.  There were nights where I thought I may lose my sweet mind.  Sleep deprivation can do that to you.  A part of me felt like I would never sleep again (I cried).  Yet, as the days went by we fell into a routine.  She started sleeping for longer intervals and slowly my mind and body began to feel more like the old me.  It didn't happen over night.  Be patient and remember, this too shall pass.

Mostly, just enjoy this time with your little one.  The life with a newborn is a chaotic but beautiful one.  I would relive all those first days with my little over and over again (This may be the lack of sleep speaking).  You will be frustrated.  You will question your ability as a mother.  You will feel like screaming.  Then your sweet one will fall asleep on a full belly, you'll get into bed, and wake up five hours later to the realization that your child ALMOST slept through the night.  You'll do a happy dance and get back into bed hoping she sleeps just a little-bit-longer.  She wakes up five minutes later, but it's okay, you are making progress.  It is all about that one-day-at-a-time thing people keep telling you about.

xo