Lessons Learned

Every so often I think of something I would do slightly differently if I could have. So in order to remember these "constructive criticisms" for myself, I'm noting them in this blog post. Maybe they'll help some of the new moms out there at the same time!

(Note: We plan to have another baby some day, but not right now, hence why I need to write this stuff down, it might be a WHILE! I want to give my body a bare minimum of 18 months to recooperate)

- Be better prepared for labor. My labor progressed VERY fast before I could even get to the hospital. I had no idea what to do since I was just counting on my epidural to get me through. I did not think about what to do before epidural, but next time, I will be prepared.

- Have someone take pictures of YOU with your baby. We had many visitors come to the Hopsital and they all of course wanted pictures with Keira, but we only got a couple of us with her. Put yourselves first, parents!

- Make visits short. In the first two weeks, especially at the hospital, visits need to be less than 45 minutes. Baby needs to eat, mom needs to eat, and mom need to go to the bathroom. Peeing is a HUGE production that we don't want visitors around for.

- Ask for more help. Put out an APB: "Bring this family food, please!". Mom is exhausted and dad is working his butt off. I let my pride get in the way of just asking more people to bring us food. Luckily I really like oatmeal and raisins.

- Wear maternity clothes as long as possible. They are the MOST comfortable clothes on the planet. Yes, you will get out of them soon enough. You will lose the weight. Just relax and enjoy them for now.

- Stock my milk stash up more. I hated pumping and was just lazy about it. I've got about 24oz on hand typically now, which isn't bad, but it keeps ke nervous. If I lost a day of milk I would be really pushing it. I would have had 60oz saved up before I went back to work.

- Give dad more freedom to be a dad. I rarely left the house without Keira for about 9 months. Anytime I let the two of them get some quality time, they ended up more bonded at the end of it. 

- Buy that cute baby outfit. Your baby is only small and tiny once, if you see something you just can't live without, don't live without it! Every holiday is a big occasion.

- Everything doesn't have to be new. We received lots of hand me downs, and honestly I was a little skeptical at first, but now I have totally embraced the recycled baby goods. They only use the stuff for a few months and it's so much cheaper! I shop consignment stores, mommy groups and Craigslist.

- Just Smile. :-)