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Hi everyone! it's been two and half months since I gave birth to my little one and I have to say it's been an awesome and very intense experience! From an all natural labor to exclusive breastfeeding, I have gone through a ton of first time mommy experiences with and without assistance and even though I don't consider myself an expert, I did want to give you a little bit of insight based on my experience.
Natural (no medication) and Water Birth:
Hi everyone! it's been two and half months since I gave birth to my little one and I have to say it's been an awesome and very intense experience! From an all natural labor to exclusive breastfeeding, I have gone through a ton of first time mommy experiences with and without assistance and even though I don't consider myself an expert, I did want to give you a little bit of insight based on my experience.
Natural (no medication) and Water Birth:
- Your baby can go over 40 weeks safely, you do not need an induction unless medically necessary. My baby was born at 42 weeks, and was a healthy and strong boy.
- Practice breathing slowly and meditation, if your labor goes long like mine (31 hours) it helps to keep calm and be aware of your body. I recommend reading the: "Hypnobirthing book" or taking their classes.
- You CAN do it!...But a really good support team will make it so much better. I had my very supportive husband, my midwife and doula all giving emotional and physical support. With a 31hr labor it was amazing to have them all there.
- Water will ease the pains of the contractions for sure but when it comes to the "ring of fire" that water didn't do a thing because I definitely felt that! hehehe Fire girls, it was intense!
- Once the baby is out it's better to grab him/her and place him in your chest skin to skin, it feels amazing and baby is going to have less trauma. In my case my baby was with me for 40 min after being born and even fed for 18 mins; baby needed energy after all the hard work he did.
Family and Friends:
You will get tons of unsolicited opinions, suggestions, and old grandma's tales. I learned to listen and only follow what me and my husband decided it's best for our little family.
Try to avoid lots of visitors for the first two weeks, be honest with friends and family and let them know that it's better if they visit after that time. I was so tired one day that I had family come visit me on the first week that I basically told everyone to leave my house asap..lol.. I was a cranky tired mama.
Breastfeeding:
- It's natural, it's instinctual and it's the best nutrition for the baby.
- I recommend taking a Lactation Class while pregnant, it really helps. I think I would have needed a lot of help if it wasn't for that class.
- It takes a lot of your time because babies feed very often (around every two hours) so you need lots of patience.
- You're always conscious whether your top is breastfeeding friendly. I wish someone would have told me this before I gave birth because I would have had the time to go shopping for looser tops, and ones that were easy to pull down.
- Pumping is inevitable!
Sleeping:
- The first two weeks are definitely the hardest with respect to sleep, but after a while your body gets used to it and the baby sleeps longer at night. Again patience is your best friend when you have a newborn.
- You can try to get the baby on a sleeping schedule but you must realize that everyday it will be different. In my case, around the three week mark I started doing a little night routine to prepare the baby to go to bed, so far it has worked well. I still do not have any day routine for naps, but I'm sure it will come in the near future.
Parenting Styles:
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This is something that you will learn along the way, I never thought too much about co-sleeping, baby wearing or attachment parenting before, but now these are all things we are doing as a family. We might change things as the baby grows older, but in general my philosophy is to raise him in a loving and creative home. We sing, dance, make lots of funny faces and give him lots and lots of love!
I told you I have learned a lot, and I could actually could go on and on with different things about these past two and half months but I will leave if for next time. Yes I said "next time" I pretty much decided to hybrid my blog into a beauty/mommy one. Hey why not? Hope you guys don't mind much. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments bellow.
