First 2 weeks/Month of Motherhood;

I documented my first 2 weeks of motherhood, as best as i could, just for myself to see if there was any sort of sleep or feeding pattern i could find with my new baby, but i personally feel all that i have found is lack of sleep and frustration!

The First 24 Hours
The 1st 24 hours with a brand new baby here in Manitoba, Canada, they make you stay in the hospital for a minimum of 24 hours just to make sure everything is good with mom and baby. At first this seemed like a good idea, but after a few hours it became pretty uncomfortable for myself and probably more so my partner. In those 24 hours we met about 6 different nurses, as they were on their rotating work schedules, some were good, some weren’t helpful at all. As other new moms who want to breastfeed, it can be a pretty intimidating and scary new venture to go down, so the amount of help you want from nurses can be “annoying”. I think I called the nurses to our room multiple times JUST to make sure my baby was latched properly. I had a hard time with latching at the beginning, I mean, it’s obviously new to me and its new to my baby too, so a little bit of patience is definitely needed. (something I'm still learning) by the time we left the hospital, I felt confident with the latching, but then I also didn’t feel 100% leaving the hospital but that was mainly because of nerves, but like all new jobs in life, the 1st day is the hardest and then it gets better and better as you learn new things, people and ways to do your new “job”, being a mom is like having 2 full time jobs!

The First 3 days
My 1st day was good & bad, but not horrible. I continue to have issues with latching and it started to really get to me emotionally, All I want is what is best for my child, and for us breastfeeding is important. Even though my partner had to go back to work during the week, he was a big help in getting up when I needed him, or even slept on the couch in the living room while I dealt with baby’s needs. Day 2 was BAD! My partner’s mother came in the morning to obviously meet the baby, but also to attempt to give me some sleep time. At about 12 NOON, i started to become really scared because I hadn’t changed a diaper in 5,6,8,10 hours, all while with multiple feedings… maybe she wasn’t actually getting any of that delicious colostrum that is needed for newborn babies. I panicked and called my cousin, who has a 9 month old, and she was the most helpful EVER! She came over immediately and helped with tips and tricks, not only for baby but for me… making sure I am well hydrated and making sure I'm eating properly as i wasn’t doing either of those things. She called the health links nurse and we went over everything and all the issues I had and she assured me that she didn’t think anything drastic was wrong, and that if she hadn’t passed a bowel movement by the evening to give her a little bit of formula to help. well , needless to say, within an hour of that phone call, my new baby passed the biggest bowel movement I had see so far! So much poop and peed all over me! I was 100% okay with this and a lot of stress was then lifted off my shoulders.

Day 3 was definitely better than day 2. My mother came in the morning to let me sleep a little bit, my baby started feeding more frequently and shorter almost all day. This particular evening, me and my partner decided ….

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..unfortunately, life got in the way up there. Baby Heidi started crying and I had to tend to her, and I'm just coming back now, 2 weeks later! Let me tell you, when you have a baby, everything else in your life sometimes comes to a stand still and she becomes your top priority!

Today is March 29th, Heidi is now one month and 5 days old!! A LOT has happened in the past month and it has been very hard, although it’s a learning curve and I wouldn’t change any of it for the world… except maybe her colic! Yep! You heard that right, she is a colicky baby, and if any other mommas out there have dealt with this… ANY TIPS AND TRICKS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME IN THE COMMENT SECTION!!!!!! We have finally settled on supplementing with a little bit of formula and using a product called “Ovol” and those 2 combinations it seems to have settled her a bit, but not fully. It has been challenging but it has also been rewarding in the fact that she has grown to 9.5 pounds, and is a healthy darn baby!

I don’t really know who out there is actually interested in this, or reading this… for me starting this blog was a way for me to document my process of being a brand new momma with her brand new family, and hopefully reach out to other new mommas and share tips, tricks and different experiences for us to pass along to anyone out there in the world! The way that I see motherhood so far is the little things that make you feel accomplished, such as… seeing her smile and content for more than 10 minutes doing something new, like putting her by a window in the sun and loving being naked, or getting the entire house cleaned cause your partner helps out by watching her to get things done! You have to appreciate the little things in life now because the accommodate your little one!

There isn’t much else for me to say, here in Canada SPRING has sprung and all the snow is melting, i cannot wait till the summer time where i can update more on how Heidi is doing, my next update will be when she is 3 months old, if anyone is interested.. STAY TUNED!!

Thank you for listening<3
XOXO, MM