Mom Life

A Letter to Working Moms

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

From one working mom to another: you got this.

I don’t know how we do it. We spend nights caring for our sick babies and kids and then wake up early enough to get ourselves ready before we dive into our work email inboxes.

We take the time–during the workday–to sit on the floor with our little ones to play a game or complete a puzzle. We make sure that our kids eat their meals, often forgetting to feed ourselves until our stomachs growl so loudly. We make sure that our relationship with our partner or spouse is still strong, even though there are days when you just want to tear each other apart.

“You have the luxury of being at home with your little one while you work.” Yes, and us work-from-home moms love this, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Mom guilt comes into play: wanting to devote 100 to work and 100 to your kiddo is tough. To moms like me; I salute you.

To the moms who drop their little ones at daycare then head off to work and countdown the hours and minutes until you get to pick your little nugget up; I salute you. I don’t know how you do it.

To the moms who work a full eight-hour day, come home to their children, cook, clean and spend quality time with everyone, I salute you.

To the creative moms who can only find time to work on their projects while their little one’s asleep; I salute you.

To the first-time moms and new-again moms, I just want to remind you that you got this.

To the moms who just need a minute to cry it out, remember that you got this.

DockATot Grand: The Vacation Lifesaver

I have finally been able to take the time to sit down and write about our wonderful trip up north to South Lake Tahoe. Tahoe is so beautiful this time of year. You can spend time at the Lake, go check out the fabulous shops and have wonderful meals at Heavenly Village or just relax in your hotel room. I enjoyed all three. It was also exciting to take Jadyn on her first road trip (she is a champ in the car) and also share the Lake with her and dip her feet in for the first time.

The one thing I was worried about was the sleeping situation in the hotel. I’ve heard horror stories of vacations ruined because of a baby who couldn’t sleep or nap comfortably.

When I made the reservations, I made sure to get two queen beds because I figured I’d just co-sleep with Jadyn, but I needed a safe way to do that. Enter the DockATot Grand.

DockATot was kind enough to send me the Grand in the La Vie En Rose print (check out my Instagram highlights for the unboxing!), as well as the traveling case for it. I received the Grand a couple days before we left and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see how Jadyn would react to it; she never had the deluxe as a newborn. Safe to say, I was worried for nothing. She took her two naps in the DockATot Grand the day we got it (after washing the cover, of course) and slept so soundly.

Now, while Jadyn is only six-months-old, the DockATot Deluxe is actually too small for her; she’s off-the-charts tall (28″!!), so the Grand definitely fit her a lot better. She not only napped well after exciting days up in Tahoe, but she slept soundly, too. Hotel beds aren’t necessarily the best so I was glad Jadyn had something familiar and comfortable to sleep in for two nights. Jadyn and I did co-sleep in one of the queen beds, and as a new mom, I barely slept checking on her every hour or so to make sure she was comfortable. She was. Check out her interesting sleeping position below.

Here are a few reasons why I absolutely love the DockATot, whether a Deluxe or Grand:

DockATot is a multi-functional lounger, co-sleeper and playtime lounger. During downtime in our hotel room, Jadyn was able to play with her toys while relaxing in her Grand.
It comes in two sizes: Deluxe for 0-8 months and Grand for 9-36 months. I put Jadyn in the Grand even though she’s six months, because she’s so long (28″!!) and won’t fit in the Deluxe anymore.
It’s handmade in Europe; designed in Sweden.
The DockATot Deluxe and Grand are all natural, 100% cotton and OEKO-TEX certified.
It’s an ideal micro-climate for babies and tots. This rang true for us in Tahoe. No fuss whatsoever from Jadyn when it came to sleeping and dozing in her Grand.
For when Jadyn is in the toddler bed transition stage, the Grand will be a perfect helper.

I felt good about having Jadyn fall asleep and wake up in something so high quality and safe for her. Here’s Jadyn just lounging about in her Grand.

DockATot offers a variety of covers to choose from, as well. The La Vie En Rose is my favorite, but there’s a cover to suit your style and your baby’s.

Thanks again, DockATot, for sending me the Grand to make my vacation sleeping situation a little easier.

Do you have a DockATot Deluxe or Grand? Let me know what you love about it in the comments below!

Prime Book Box for Kids

There is absolutely nothing I love more than sitting down with Jadyn and reading her a book–or four. Reading calms Jadyn down, so nowadays I find myself reading to her more often since she’s teething (poor thing!); it’s a great distraction for her. However, reading the classics over and over again gets tiring for baby and mama, so when my boss at Red Tricycle shared a link to Prime Book Box for Kids, I had to sign up to hopefully be invited!

Fast forward a week or two and BAM! I’m invited to sign up. 🙂

Prime Book Box for Kids is a book subscription service (you can choose your delivery frequency) where Amazon editors curate top picks for different age groups. Jadyn is in the baby-2 age range, so she receives four board books every box, but 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12 receive two hardcover books. I love that I can go in and select the books, too. For example, with this first box, Amazon editors picked Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss for me, but we already have it so I was able to exchange for a different one. Did I mention that it’s 35% off retail? Even better. For roughly $25 per box, I get four books. Not too shabby. Here are the books we received in Jadyn’s first box:

Gossie and Gertie by Olivier Dunrea

The I LOVE YOU Book by Todd Parr

Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree by Eileen Christelow

Backyard Bugs by Jill McDonald

I have read all of these to Jadyn at this point and I think she truly enjoys them. The bright colors really stand out and her interest peaks when she sees things she doesn’t recognize.

If you haven’t checked out Prime Book Box for Kids, I highly recommend you do and sign up for an invitation (only Prime members are eligible).

Did you sign up and receive your Prime Book Box for Kids? I’d love to know what you got in yours! Leave a comment below.

Five Pieces of Advice I Should Have Taken

Now that I’ve got this whole parenting thing kind of down–five months in–I can reflect on advice I received pre-baby and how right everyone was. Here are five pieces of advice I should have taken (accompanied by gifs!).

1. They grow really fast. You won’t even use your newborn-sized clothes for long. This rang true for us. Jadyn outgrew her newborn clothes in about two weeks.

via GIPHY

2. Sleep when your baby sleeps. It’s a lot harder to do than you think.

via GIPHY

3. Gone are the days of makeup and dressing nicely. This is partially true. Now that Jadyn is five months old, I’ve again started taking care of myself while devoting every waking moment to my child. Let me tell you–it feels GOOD to wear makeup again.

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4. Shedding those last five pounds is the hardest. SO true. I’m 20 pounds down since having Jadyn, however, these last few pounds are taking forever to lose. And then I want to keep losing, so it’s a lose-lose situation for me right now (no pun intended).

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5. Take it all in sans technology. As hard as it is to do, it’s worth trying. Now that we can record videos on our iPhones (remember the days of camcorders?!), recording every moment is just habit. Taking it all in and witnessing it through your own eyes rather than through a lens is special. Don’t forget it as your little one will change and grow way too fast.

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What pieces of advice did you hear over and over again but never took? I’d love to know so leave a comment below!

Starting Solids

I can’t believe I have a five month old. Jadyn is not only talking up a storm and can almost roll from back-to-tummy, but she’s now on solids a few times a day.

At her four month well-check, Jadyn’s pediatrician said we could start introducing solids. I always thought I had to wait till 6 months, but by the time Jadyn is 6 months, two of her meals during the day should just be solids. At four months, I thought she was still a little young to truly start, so if I was eating a banana or watermelon or cantaloupe, I’d let her try some. But once Jadyn hit four and a half months, I really thought about it and started thinking of different things to purée. Here are my go to combinations right now:

Sweet potato + apple
Sweet potato + carrot
Mashed bananas
Zucchini + apple (completely tastes like apple sauce)
Broccoli + apple

What I plan on trying next:

Peas
Pears + spinach + kale
Spinach + apple + sweet potato
Apple + spinach
Chicken + sweet potato
Cantaloupe
Watermelon (she already loves sucking the juices from melon!!)

With fruits, you don’t need to steam them (obviously)–puréeing is just fine. However, in order to keep the nutrients in the veggies, steaming is better than boiling. And one of the best gifts I received from my baby shower was the Béaba Babycook. It’s a one-stop-shop to steam and purée vegetables for your little one. I use it three times a week to make Jadyn’s concoctions. You can find the Babycook on Amazon. And for more recipe inspiration, I’ve been browsing ThinkBaby.org’s recipes page. They have some great combinations I need to try and also some tips and tricks for when Jadyn is in the toddler years.

courtesy of Amazon.com

Obviously starting solids was a slight learning curve for Jadyn since she didn’t really know what to do with a spoon, but since I have the Béaba silicone spoons, I let her play with them for a few days and every day when we eat, she’s learning that a spoon helps get food in her mouth. It’s so cute!

I also have to give a shout out to Inspired Start. They sent me a couple samples of their apples and wheat pouches to try out. What I love about Inspired Start is that each pouch contains a couple teaspoons of a common allergen like wheat, tree nut, peanut, seafood or soy, and masks it in a sweeter fruit. We’ve used the apple and wheat pouch a few times and can easily say that Jadyn does not have a wheat allergy! You can find Inspired Start only on Amazon.

I’m so excited to learn what Jadyn is going to enjoy next! It’s always an adventure with her.

What food combinations did you try with your little one when you introduced solids? Leave a comment below!

What Happens Post-Baby? Here’s What They Don’t Tell You

Having a baby is truly magical, but no one really tells you what happens after your little bundle actually arrives. For me, the worst has been my postpartum hair loss. Here are some postpartum truths I’ve discovered.

1. You’ll lose your hair. Lots of it.

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2. Sleep deprivation is real. Like really real.

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3. Food? What’s that? You’ll forget to feed yourself because all you care about is feeding your child.

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4. Breastfeeding is hard. It’s okay to say “I’ve had enough” after you’ve given it your best shot.

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5. You’ll have a whole new appreciation for coffee.

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6. Gone are the days of social drinking.

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What were your truths? I’d love to know! I may even add them to this list! Leave a comment blow.

What I’ve Learned About “Mom Guilt”

Photo by Jordan Whitt on Unsplash

Mom guilt. They’re two words one may hear while pregnant, but in reality won’t ever experience until your little one arrives. Sure, you prepare your home, family, your body for your baby’s arrival. You make sure you’re nourishing yourself properly to grow that little seed into a majestic human being. You give up caffeine (or if you’re like me, switch to decaf), walk for 30-minutes every day, take your vitamins and listen to your doctor’s advice and guidance to ensure your baby is growing as they should.

But what happens when your little nugget arrives? Well, you’ll lose sleep, forget to feed yourself since you’re so consumed in your baby, basic hygiene may go out the door for a week or two (granted, at some point you have to shower), make sure your animals that shed are kept in a separate area, if you have a winter or summer baby rack up that heat/air condition bill and you figure out your rhythm when it comes to nourishing your child.

Let me be clear. Mom guilt can happen to any mom for any specific reason. Your hormones are through the roof the first two weeks postpartum (you thought pregnancy hormones were bad, guess again…) that even a Pepsi commercial can make you cry.

What I personally have learned about mom guilt is that it’s 100% in my head. I am playing the mom guilt card in many different situations, and for me, it’s been mainly associated to figuring out the best way to feed my baby.

Since birth, my little girl has had a hard time latching. Every time we’d try, she’d get frustrated that she couldn’t latch onto my boob. She has a very small mouth, which can be part of the issue, but I blame my nipples. They aren’t the most ideal for breastfeeding. At the hospital, my body had to heal itself a bit before it could really think about nourishing my child, so I was self-expressing colostrum and finger-feeding it to her. Once we arrived home, I was pumping and trying to get her to latch. I was pumping every hour and a half when I got home that I had cracked and bleeding nipples and have since discovered a bruise on my right breast from the intense suction (a hospital-grade pump will do that to you).

I try and get my little one to latch every time, but in all honesty, we’ve had to supplement her with formula. The formula I’m using is from Happy Family Brands and is the Stage 1 Happy Baby Organic Formula. The reason I love this formula so much is that it’s modeled after breast milk and doesn’t wreak havoc on my little one’s digestive system. She handles this formula really well and I feel good when I feed it to her. At this point in our breastfeeding journey, it looks like my supply is dwindling down no matter how much I pump or how much Fenugreek I take.

Enter my main “mom guilt.” I keep beating myself up that I can’t provide more of my breast milk to my child. At this point, she is a formula baby.

While I know that the first month of life is the most crucial for my little one so she receives the antibodies in my milk to help build a strong immune system, potentially having to stop because my supply is getting smaller was never part of my plan.

Society puts a lot of pressure on moms to breastfeed their child. “Breast is best” they say. True, it is, but what about those moms whose supply isn’t there, or moms who just don’t have any milk at all? They give them formula. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, I envy those moms because they never had to even go through a bout of mom guilt related to breastfeeding.

When taking my breastfeeding class prior to giving birth, the instructor mentioned that it doesn’t matter what type of nipple you have (inverted, flat or pointy), you can breastfeed. What they fail to mention every time is that it’s not easy. There are so many situations that may come up that prevent successful breastfeeding:

Your baby has a hard time latching due to a small mouth, lips, etc.
Your nipples just aren’t erect enough for them to hit the roof of your baby’s mouth in order to stimulate suction (this is my problem).
You have little to no milk supply (granted, you won’t know this till the time your milk is supposed to come in). This is also my problem.
It’s a frustrating experience trying to get your baby to latch. You get stressed out and they get stressed out, resulting in nothing.

All in all, it doesn’t matter how you feed your child––whether it’s breastfeeding, pumping and bottle feeding, or straight up formula––the only thing that matters is that your child is fed, growing and healthy.

If you’re happy and not stressed, your baby will be, too.

Did you have any issues in the breastfeeding department? I’d love to know which route you took for your child. Let me know in the comments!

My Labor & Delivery Story: Part 2

If you read part 1 of my labor and delivery story, you’ll learn how things progressed for me during the early stages of labor.

Once I hit active labor at the hospital, everything changed. At 5.5 cm I plateaued and needed Pitocin to keep things progressing nicely. Before I had them start the drug, I asked for the epidural. The procedure to get the epidural is scarier to think about then actually experience. Since the anesthesiologist has to come in and do the procedure, you’re only allowed one other person with you, so I had Max stay with me. He had to wear a scrub cap and everything (as did I) in order for the room to be sterile enough.

I was lucky with my anesthesiologist in the sense that he was quick with the epidural procedure. We were watching (and I was feeling) my contractions on the monitor and he was able to do the procedure in between contractions, which was nice, so I didn’t have to hold too still during those times. Once the epidural catheter was in my back (yes, it’s a procedure that goes into your spine to numb the nerves from the waist down), I thought the medicine would kick in almost immediately.

This is where things took a turn for the intense in my labor. The epidural medication kicked in a first, but lasted maybe 20 minutes. I had a button I could push for more medicine every 15 minutes, but suddenly the pump administering the epidural medication started beeping with an error code. The anesthesiologist came back over and I heard him say “hmm, error code ‘air in pump'” and my eyes got wide. I asked if they were pumping air into my spine and I was reassured numerous times by the anesthesiologist and my fabulous nurse Lisa that it wasn’t the case. Still, when you’re immobile with a tube in your spine and you think air is getting pumped in there, your brain takes a turn for the worst. You don’t want to come out of a childbirth experience paralyzed!

So, they replaced the pump administering the medication. Then the other pump malfunctioned: same error.

To make a really long story short, my epidural didn’t work. It was a faulty epidural and pump (and, apparently, we can blame our President for the problem since Kaiser gets its epidural meds from Puerto Rico and they were low on supply with a lot of New Years births happening…).

I. Felt. Everything.

It got so bad that my nurse literally had to administer drugs right into my IV port so I could get some rest before having to push. That’s the whole point of having an epidural is to get ample rest before putting your body through one of the most stressful, yet magical, things ever. Having to deal with excruciating pain was not part of my birth plan once I received the epidural.

I was in so much pain that I was literally screaming every time a contraction happened. Thanks Pitocin. At around 11:45 p.m. on January 1, 2018, the doctor checked me and as she was checking me, I had a contraction at the same time, and my water broke. That was a surreal experience actually feeling my water break. Once that happened, my labor progressed a lot faster.

January 2, 2018

At around 1 a.m. the doctor came in to check me again and told me that I was 100% effaced, 10 cm dilated and 0% station, and ready to start pushing. At that point, my night nurse, Kat, started helping me with the pushing process. Eliana and Max were each at one leg holding it and she was helping me count to push. I was so exhausted and felt like I wasn’t pushing to the best of my ability through each contraction. After pushing for a little over 2 hours, the OBGYN attending (yes, residents primarily deliver you at Kaiser San Francisco, unless they need assistance from higher ups) on call came in and asked if I could continue. I vividly remember saying that I can’t push anymore, that I was getting tired.

The doctor said “before you give up…” which my quick-witted response was “really, before I give up? I’ve been pushing for 3 hours and in labor for almost 36!..” the doctor wanted to use vacuum assistance to get my little girl out. I obliged after being threatened with an emergency c-section (that would not have been fun). Both doctors told me that if I couldn’t push Jadyn out with three pushes, it’d be necessary to have a c-section.

My first two pushes were mediocre and she would come down and then go back up. My last and final push, I gave it my all and pushed for way longer than 10 seconds and then…

Instant relief.

Jadyn Sky was born on January 2, 2018 at 3:17 a.m. She is the best New Years gift I could have ever received. After all the trauma my body went through, the end result is perfect. She’s my little angel nugget and we are so, so in love with her.

During my delivery of her I ended up getting a second degree tear and that was definitely not fun to feel the tugging of stitches down there. Also, according to my mom, husband and bestie, I lost a lot of blood. That would explain why I passed out twice about two hours after Jadyn was born when they tried to have me go pee after delivery. Thank goodness a nurse was watching the baby!

January 2-4, 2018

My hospital stay was to be expected. I ended up needing iron to help with the blood loss and nurses kept checking in on me every few hours. We attempted breastfeeding, but Jadyn is having a hard time latching, so I’ve been pumping and bottle feeding her (please no judgement. She’s getting my breast milk and it shouldn’t matter how). After a couple days of nurses and doctors checking in on me – and pressing on my uterus to expel any blood – we were able to go home. Jadyn checked out with a clean bill of health and I checked out with Motrin, Tylenol, a stool softener and iron supplements to last me a lifetime.

Let’s just say I haven’t received a solid night’s sleep since December 30, 2017. But in the end, it’s all worth it as we have the most beautiful little nugget in the entire world.

My Labor & Delivery Story: Part 1

It has been 15 days since our little one arrived and I now feel semi-human enough to share my Labor & Delivery story with you. Since it’s a pretty intense story, I’ve decided to break it up into two parts.

Disclaimer: if you’ve spent time watching beautiful YouTube videos of labor & delivery vlogs like I did before actually going into labor, let me warn you that it definitely isn’t necessarily all like that.

Sunday, December 31, 2017

You’d think that with New Years Eve, Max and I would be with our friends at a party like we were when we rang in 2017. Nope. I was either laying on the couch trying to sleep or on my birthing ball. I was able to make it to midnight to ring in 2018 while having sporadic contractions that were about 20-30 minutes apart. The contractions didn’t hurt that bad – like my regular period cramps – but I was still uncomfortable.

Monday, January 1, 2018

Courtesy of the BabyCenter app

From about 1 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. my contractions were about 4-7 minutes apart lasting 30-45 seconds, but the pain was surely picking up. It got so bad that I was literally moaning and crying in pain, waking up Max every few minutes. I was contracting the whole night that at around 4 a.m. I went into my mom’s in-law/studio unit (she lives with us) and continued my early labor there. I called Labor & Delivery at Kaiser (my healthcare provider) a few times during the night and the last time I called them, the nurses told me to come in when my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. Fast forward around 5 hours later and we’re heading to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at around 9 a.m. on New Years Day and immediately went up to Labor & Delivery. I checked in via security and the red phone and then immediately went to the triage room (of course, right after peeing in a cup). My entourage was my mom, Max and my best friend Eliana. She drove to the hospital the moment we told her we were on our way there. In the triage room, they immediately did what they had done at all my prenatal appointments: check my temperature, blood pressure and pulse. My blood pressure was elevated (I mean, can you blame me? I was in serious pain down there!!) so they gave me some medication to bring it down.

Next, the triage nurse put my IV port in. Unfortunately, she pierced right through one of my veins so I’ve had a gnarly bruise on my arm since then. It is almost gone, thank goodness. Once she got a good vein, everything in that department was fine. The doctor on-call came in to check me and do an ultrasound of Jadyn’s head positioning. She had been head down since 36 weeks, so I would have been surprised if she changed positions.

When the doctor checked me I was already 4 cm dilated and 90% effaced… In all honesty I can’t believe I did all that on my own at home. I had a horrific feeling that I was 2 cm and they were going to send me home. When they told me I was going to stay, I was so relieved. I was able to walk myself to my room, which actually had a very nice view of San Francisco and was incredibly spacious. There, I continued to labor on my own until I hit around 5.5 cm, yes, while listening to my playlist. Then I plateaued. I needed Oxytocin (commonly known as Pitocin).

I finally asked for the epidural before they started me on Pitocin, and then things dramatically changed.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my Labor & Delivery story to see how intense things got.

She Has Arrived!

I am so happy to announce to you all that our little bundle is finally here!

Jadyn Sky made her debut at 3:17 a.m. on January 2, 2018.

Labor and delivery story to come at a later date.

xoxo,

Leigh