I can’t remember much from Week 31. Life is all a bit of a blur right now. So much to do, so little time! Best TV show ever.
But a few baby-specific things that dominated my week…
“Nesting!” That’s how I spent most of the week. I never really understood this concept, but it hit me hard this week. I couldn’t focus on anything except the baby’s room and getting things organized immediately and basically just lighting money on fire with every click of my computer mouse. (I don’t have a mouse. I have a laptop. Every click of my…touchpad?) At this point, I can probably name every item (and categorize it, and tell you how much it costs and when it’s expected to ship) on the Pottery Barn Kids website. I also spent a good amount of time Googling things like “smart ways to organize baby dresser” and “how to fold bassinet sheets.” And then remembered I need to buy bassinet sheets.
On Saturday, Brian and I hung the wallpaper in the baby’s room, which makes me so happy every time I walk by. (“Brian and I” is a term I should use loosely, I guess. I helped for like 10 minutes and then gave up and went out with my friends. When I came home, it was done. I LOVE YOU, BRIAN. THANK YOU.)
MANUAL LABOR BY @BOLDCEO.And I toured another daycare! And it’s the one I want to go with! We need to figure out logistics and what will make the most sense for our family once we venture into the world of childcare, but everyone at this place — the kids, the staff, the guinea pigs — seemed really, genuinely happy, and there was lots of music playing in the classrooms.
And then, we took maternity photos on Sunday, which was so fun! I basically wanted to have good photos of Ellie, and if Brian and I were in them, too, then cool. Shout-out to Courtney, our photographer, who was also one of our wedding photographers and is just the greatest. I’ve known her since my Dance Spirit days, and we just had a fun afternoon giggling and smiling and realizing that my stomach is suddenly massive.
Ellie, you’re perfect.BABY IS THE SIZE OF…
a coconut or a bunch of asparagus, and is apparently, according to the fruit-loving apps, “heading into a growth spurt.” I am confident the spurt has begun. My stomach grew in a major way this week. It’s a totally different shape now, and it’s not a cute lil’ pointy bump anymore — it’s a basketball glued to my stomach. (Or a volleyball. WILSON!!!) I’m feeling large and not totally in charge, and I have a feeling this is only the beginning!
No. Baby feels much bigger than this…HOW I’M FEELING
This was a much better week for me emotionally. Hooray! But I am so, so, so sick of the Crohnsing. This flare has gotten to the point where it’s holding me back quite a bit. I get panicky whenever I leave the apartment, and I hate being in transit or anywhere that I’m not comfortable with the bathroom situation. It’s a bummer that Crohn’s has come out to play during this time, but I would so much rather be flaring during pregnancy than with a newborn, infant, toddler, whatever. So hopefully we can get this under control ASAP, dang it!
31 weeks! Cruising right along! (This was pre-growth spurt. Just wait.)WHAT I’M EATING
I can’t even tell you what I had for breakfast this morning. I don’t know. I don’t remember. Clearly not a food-focused week.
GLUTEN-FREE DAIRY-FREE PIZZA! (No. It was not.)ON THE WORKOUT FRONT
I was all over the place with my workouts this week. I made it to Orangetheory daily, and some workouts were a total wash while others were awesome. On Tuesday, I spent the majority of the entire treadmill block (half the class) going back and forth to the bathroom and cursing Crohn’s disease. Then, on Wednesday, with high hopes and low expectations, I felt amazing. No bathroom stops. Nothing makes sense, and I’m just doing my best to roll with it.
And while I’m so super grateful for my OTF crew — the people, the place, the plethora of available bathrooms — I found myself really missing outdoor running this week. It’s been two months since my last outdoor run. I stopped because my Crohn’s-induced bathroom stops were constant and frustrating, and it wasn’t fun. But I definitely miss early-morning runs and getting that time outside. Hopefully soon! Slightly swollen fingers crossed!
WHAT I’M WEARING
This yellow dress! I texted my BFF Michael last week saying, “We are taking maternity photos this week. Please help.” She responded with a link to this dress, and I was like, “Eh, I don’t know, it’s not really my style…” But I ordered it anyway, and naturally it was my favorite thing I wore that day. I felt like Belle from Beauty and the Beast, but without all the books or the beast or the talking teacups.
Turns out, the drapey part was supposed to go OVER my arms, so I guess I’m wearing it wrong, but whatever.WHAT I’M READING
I’m still working my way through Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn. We’ve also been having story time in the baby’s room — I read to Brian, Ellie, and, should she choose to tune in, the baby — and it makes me so happy.
Always finding her in the baby’s room…Also this story, for Runner’s World, by Caitlin Giddings. It’s lovely.
HOW I’M SLEEPING
Whenever and wherever I can. On Saturday, I took an 8:15 AM Orangetheory class. Ellie wasn’t feeling well that morning, so I came home and crawled back into bed with her, expecting to just cuddle a bit. But turns out, I passed out hard, and for a while. “See? You obviously needed that,” Brian told me. He says I need to “learn to relax.”
Saturday, 11 AM.WHAT I’M WONDERING
No time for wondering right now — I’m on a to-do list tear, and am just powering through things as best I can. We’re still not fully unpacked or settled at our new apartment, but I am so excited to be heading out of town this weekend! Brian planned a last-minute escape for us, which we all desperately need. (A LABOR Day babymoon, we’ll call it. But hopefully minus any actual laboring. Too soon!)
QUESTION FOR YOU: What was the single best thing you bought, owned, or did during the first three months of your first baby’s life? I love hearing about this stuff. I know everyone — adult humans and baby ones — are so different, and like hearing what worked and made a big positive difference for different people!
More Baby on the Run:
23 Responses
Life saving – Exercise ball for bouncing, netflix and a wrap style carrier, to hold the baby in while you bounce and watch netflix to get the baby to sleep… I also highly recommend introducing a bottle as soon as recommended. We did, but then we slacked and rarely used a bottle til it was time to start daycare. Big mistake. Introduce the bottle early and use it often, and as much as possible, have your husband do the bottle feeds. It’s good for him and the baby to bond. We both agree, next time, he’ll be doing the bedtime feed and at least one overnight feed.
Lifesaving things for the first 3 months: boba wrap, halo sleepsack swaddles, mamaroo swing, the book “happiest baby on the block” with the 5 s’s, taking Cara babies newborn sleep guide, having my doula do a lot of postpartum visits and having family and close friends help (people who could watch the baby while I napped). Also thankfully my insurance allowed for lactation consultant visits to my home which was incredibly helpful with the difficult time I had breastfeeding comfortably. The best thing I did overall was accept help and honestly really not expect to get anything done around the house. Sometimes I did once I felt better after a few weeks. But most of the time I was in baby mode. I feel fortunate I was able to be purely in that mode and not have a lot of things I had to juggle otherwise. Would definitely be different with baby #2!
My son was an extreme pooper, as in 5-6 blowouts a day! Lots of outfit changes and baths and laundry! My sister came to the rescue when she told me to get the reusable diaper covers to put on over his disposable diapers. I bought the Flips brand. They worked great and saved me so much time!
Hopefully your baby does not have constant poop explosions, but if they do, I highly recommend the extra coverage!
Considering you love the ride-on giraffe, you may want to track down this custom-made highchair. http://www.coolestkidsfurniture.com/blog/coolest-high-chair-ever.html
My favorite tangible things for both of my kiddos were a good carrier (Boba for one, ended up using the Bjorn for both) and a breastfeeding pillow at the beginning. I used the My Breast Friend pillow- still can’t figure out if the name makes me giggle or cringe… no, the answer is definitely cringe. The swing or bouncy seat were lifesavers with my first, but my second wouldn’t let me leave her in either for more than a few minutes. Otherwise, my best piece of advice is to just be kind to yourself. Yeah, this parenting thing is really amazing- but it’s also really hard! Accept help from others even when you feel like you can do it all on your own. Getting out of the house really helped me, too. Bundle that little one up in the stroller and head out for a walk or coffee. And obviously cuddle your dog as much possible. <3
If you plan to breast feed, My Brest Friend (please excuse the horrible name) breast feeding pillow. It made nursing SO MUCH EASIER when my 6 pounder was at her tiniest.
Hmmm considering #3 just turned 3 months this should be easier to answer! I would say the best thing I did was ignore the clock. You may hear things like “babies eat every two hours” or “she should be sleeping X hours at Y age”. Babies don’t watch the clock or read the books. I’m happiest and most relaxed when I just follow the baby’s cues, feed her when she’s hungry, try to maximize my own sleep vs worry about hers, etc.
The yellow dress looks beautiful on you!
white noise machine and a nursing support pillow. the most surprising thing to me was that the labor wasn’t the hard part, the learning to breastfeed was (we had some particular challenges in this area anyways but i did not do a good job educating myself before baby was here on breastfeeding)
Bought: Fisher Price Rock’n’Play. Used this constantly around 6-8 weeks for evening fussies, and again after the 4-month sleep regression. Also, the Baby Bjorn bouncer is a great chair for an awake baby to sit while you eat or hang out for the first 9-12 months.
Did: NOTHING. Make as much time as you can to do nothing but sit and stare at the baby. Breastfeed a lot if you can. Watch her sleep. Hold her and stare at her. Watch TV and snuggle together. She will only be this small for a little while.
Also, if you can afford to hire a postpartum doula for even a few hours this can be super helpful. Friends and family are great, but sometimes you need someone you can really unload on – about the birth, breastfeeding, your fear that you are doing it wrong, how your husband annoys you with his breathing – without worrying about saying something embarrassing or offensive. They are also knowledgeable in postnatal self-care, breastfeeding, and baby care.
My daughter was a great night sleeper right away (yay!), but did not nap unless I held her during day. Best thing I did, ordered groceries and dinner online, let the bathroom be dirty for 2 months when people visited, ate a lot of granola and took a lot of naps together while holding her. They grow so fast. Enjoy it.
Oh, and take a zillion pictures. When in doubt. Take more.
Bought/owned: My Breast Friend nursing pillow (nursing is hard but so worth it! Just didn’t realize there would be such a learning curve for baby and me!) & a Rock & Play (didn’t even use the rocking feature until 4 mo, but he slept in that thing when he wouldn’t sleep anywhere else. So helpful!)
Did: Snuggled the baby. My delivery was fairly easy and I felt really good really quickly, but I still spent a solid two+ weeks camped out on the couch ignoring the rest of life letting my body recover & establishing a bond with my baby. We spent a lot of that time skin to skin (a.k.a. topless), which was great for bonding and my milk supply.
Also eat all the food and feel all the feels ?
I’m only three weeks in, but here are my current biggest hits during this longest shortest time.
Kimono style onesies. Enough with the over the head stuff.
Snap PJs. Many people prefer zip ones, but I like the snaps because you don’t have to undo the entire thing for diaper changes at 2 AM (why do they zip from top to bottom and not bottom to top?!)
If you nurse/pump: nursing tanks (I just got a Medela one from Target and love it as much as you can love something of this nature) and a good pumping bra. ALSO, like Kayse said above, a good lactation consultant. I met with three before I found one who really helped. Breastfeeding is hard, so you need someone who is both non-judgmental and a good teacher.
For sleep: a Rohm travel white noise machine, velcro swaddles, AND: the Taking Cara Babies online newborn sleep course, which was the best $70 we’ve spent BY FAR.
We’re also a fan of the Keekaroo Peanut changer, since you can just wipe it down when your child inevitably messes it up. Less laundry!
I’ve had 3 different lactation consultants tell me “if the latch is correct, it won’t hurt”- but after consulting a bunch of breastfeeding friends, that is a lie! For the first 6 weeks it was toe-curling painful and I cried thinking about the next feeding. These helped get me through those rough few weeks: https://www.target.com/p/lansinoh-therapearl-3-in-1-breast-therapy/-/A-14386190
Also, they tell you to keep a newborn away from tons of people. Honestly, all 3 of my kids went to Target with me at 5 days old, 2 days old, and 3 days old. They stayed in their infant car seat and of course I wouldn’t let anybody touch them. If I stayed in the house for weeks on end I would go crazy and feel nervous anticipating our first outing with a newborn. It was like ripping off a bandaid to just take my babies wherever I went from the very beginning. But most importantly, you’re the mom and will just KNOW what is right for you and your baby.
Swing – the best baby invention ever – assuming your kid likes them – I hear there are some who don’t …
A carrier -we liked Tula, a breast friend, and a great lactation consultant. Breastfeeding can be tough in the beginning but with good help it is worth the pain.
I second the ErgoBaby 360 carrier (and don’t forget the infant insert). I’m not a mom but I give this to all new moms and they have all loved it!! I have a personal question for you and I’m always wondering about this: If you’re in a Crohn’s flare when you are pregnant, is it suggested that you have a C-section or is a natural birth still okay? I wonder about how much pain you could be in. Or is it a play-it-by-ear during labor/delivery? Thanks for sharing all that you are experiencing! You are an incredible person to share this and be so honest about it. Love and hugs!
Vaginal delivery should be fine!
A pumping bra and a halo newborn sleep swaddle!
Still in the first three months over here (10 weeks) but so far my top baby buys have been all the muslin blankets, a back pack diaper bag, bopee lounger, and a K’tan carrier. Also, the best thing we did was wall paper the wall behind her crib. Baby Girl loves to stare at it. Hopefully, yours will be the same!
Favorites for baby: Love to Dream Swaddle, VAVA nightlight, GUVA phone app for white noise, Fisher Price Piano mat (he’s obsessed)
Favorites for me: baby carrier (I have Ergo360 and Boba), ALL the Target/Gillian O’Malley maternity/nursing pajamas (so so comfy), pelvic floor PT!
ONE MORE THING (if you plan to nurse/pump): sunflower or soy lecithin! I wish someone had mentioned it to me sooner and once I searched it, seemed like EVERYONE knew and I didn’t. Talk to your midwife of course, but it can help prevent and/or manage clogs when your milk comes in! Mastitis is horrible.
I cannot come up with a single best thing I owned for my daughter’s first 3 months….because I seemed to need something new each week. But the one best thing we did was tell people NO. Our daughter was born right before Christmas and our family expected us to bring her to every family thing and we said no. She was born early and was small. And frankly traveling with a newborn is a lot of work and we were sleep deprived. We let people know they were welcome to come visit but we were not shuttling her around the entire state. Babies grow up fast so enjoy your time and don’t feel bad telling people no.