Pleasantly Surprised

Pregnancy. Some women love it. Some women hate it. I was one of the ones that loved it. I know it's not all 100% awesome. Sleep is hard and
cankles are not sexy. But I miss feeling those kicks and hiccups and I miss that big belly. It is just such a cool experience. But one of the coolest things that has happened since becoming pregnant and having Lilly is that my migraines are completely gone.

I was diagnosed with migraines in the 3rd grade after loads of test and doctor visits. I took medicine twice a day to treat them. I would still get migraines though, especially when the weather changed . That's what triggered mine. The last time I took my medicine was the day before I found out I was pregnant. August 4, 2011.

Doctors think that migraines are linked to estrogen so that is why a lot of pregnant women have migraine issues. And there are very few safe medicines to take while pregnant. But pregnancy can also have the opposite effect. I was so scared. After being so dependent on my migraine medicine, the same medicine I had been taking for 17 years, I just new I would have terrible headaches. But I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't have any migraine issues and I am still living migraine free 9 months after Lilly's birth without having to take any medicine.

Just another awesome surprise my sweet Lilly Bug has given me. Some women make it look easy. Others are miserable. But I think we can all agree that pregnancy is amazing.

Nothing But The Truth

People say "Having a baby is the hardest but most rewarding job" but they never go into detail about what makes it hard. These are the things that nobody tells you. And let's be honest. Who wants to tell a fat, overemotional pregnant women the "truth"? You might just sit back and smirk at her pregnancy glow because you know what's coming! Here are some scary truths and myths about babies.

Anybody ever tell you this... "oh all of those middle of the night pee breaks are just preparing you for the lack of sleep you will get when the baby is here." WRONG!!! Nothing, and I mean NOTHING can prepare you for that. It was the biggest and hardest shock of all. You don't sleep.. You take short cat naps. And it is scary to feel that tired. You will cry. Big fat alligator tears. And just as your body is starting to adjust to the cat naps your baby will punch you in the face with their first growth spurt.

Cutting your babies fingernails for the first time is scarier than all of the Halloween movies combined.

You will be obsessed with your babies poop. "Why are they pooping so much!?" "Why are they not pooping enough!?" "Honey come here! Does this look normal to you?" And watch out! Baby poop can come out faster than a bullet. Oh oh, and this is my favorite... You just changed their diaper only to hear the loudest and scariest sound ever 2 seconds later.

The saying "sleep like a baby" is a bunch of malarky. Babies are the loudest sleepers on the planet. They will make all kinds of crazy noises. So even when they are asleep, your cat nap will be interrupted with their dolphin noises. And when you don't hear the dolphin noises you are jumping up to make sure they are still breathing.

Giving your baby a bath for the first time is scarier than forgetting your pin number at the grocery store with a long line of customers behind you. Is the water to warm? Did soap get in her eyes? Did her belly button thing get wet? Did she pee in the water?

You will all of a sudden have no issues yelling and beeping your horn at idiot drivers. "Don't you know I have a precious baby in this car!!!?" And if somebody gets to close to your car you will have visions of running them off the road. Or a cliff. A very steep cliff.

Taking your babies temperature for the first time is scarier than dreaming you went to work with no clothes on. PLEASE DEAR LORD DO NOT MOVE!

Every sneeze and cough will scare you. "I just KNOW she is allergic to the dog". "Does this sound like whooping cough to you?"

The good news is that you will look back on all of these "scary" things and laugh. You will make it through each scary obstacle. And you will learn SO much! And none of these scary things will make you love being a mom any less. Embrace it and go with the flow! :-)

Keep On Keeping On

Guess who's getting her first tooth!? Yep... It's happening, like for real this time, and Lilly has been pretty miserable. Lots of love and TLC and teething tablets and nursing. I actually celebrated the new year nursing Lilly at midnight. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 9 months of breastfeeding for us. I would like to share my mothers first breastfeeding experience with my oldest brother. It gives me motivation!

When my brother was born in the mid 70's nursing wasn't very popular. My mom still wanted to breastfeed even though she didn't have much support besides my father. Her lamaze coach was very pro-breastfeeding and gave her lots of advice while she was pregnant. She even warned her of all the negative things people might say. She felt very prepared to breastfeed. Well, the time came to have my brother. Back then the husbands were not allowed in the delivery room and you were not allowed to leave the hospital until your milk came in. I'm pretty sure I would not have survived this! After Greg was born my mom was trying to breastfeed him. The nurses gave her zero support and told her she should be supplementing and that the baby was hungry. They didn't understand anything about colostrum or feeding on demand. And get this... The fathers had to LEAVE THE ROOM when it was time to nurse! So not only was she getting fussed at by the nurses, but her own husband couldn't even be in the room to help her. And to top it off, the nurses were only bringing my brother to her every 4 hours and they were giving him WATER in between feedings. My mom started to feel like she was doing something wrong.

Let's compare... The first time I nursed Lilly I had Mike, my parents, and my cousin in the room. The nurses were telling me how great I was doing. I was on cloud 9.

Ok, I promise this story has a happy ending but is your blood boiling like mine is right now!?

It was day 4 in the hospital and my moms milk still had not come in. She spent a lot of time crying. She was about to give up and give in. Then this one doctor came in and asked her if she was the mom that was nursing. He told her how she was doing such a wonderful job and how proud he was of her. Her milk came in that night. And she was able to breastfeed my brother for a year.

My mom said she only new a handful of other mothers that were nursing. They decided to form a club. They would get together and support each other. Come to find out they all had the same horrible experiences at the hospital. One mom even said that a nurse shook her finger in front of her face for choosing to nurse. So they decided to put together a presentation for the director of the hospital and inform them of things that other hospitals were doing and how to be more supportive of breastfeeding moms. The director loved it. The nurses hated it. But a lot of the rules changed after that. They even started allowing fathers to be in the delivery room.

Amazing.

So here's to 2013 and all of the milestones and nursing to come! It's going to be a great year!