Learning to Be a Mama

We are 3 weeks in and all smiles over here at the O'Brien household! It's been a whirlwind, but we are loving every second. Chris and I are learning how to be parents, and Caroline is learning how to be a human. She is very good at it, so far. She's such a great baby! She eats very well--already up a pound from her birth weight! She sleeps in 4-5 hour stretches at night (which feels like an eternity in new mamahood land), and she's starting to stay awake more during the day.

I've learned quite a bit in these last 3 weeks.

• First things first: my nose did return to its normal size. I know you guys were worried, as was I. Pregnancy rhinitis is no joke.

• Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing, but NOT EASY. I have no judgment for mamas who are not breastfeeding, but I am so thrilled that I've been able to exclusively breastfeed up to this point. Top three reasons I love it: a) it's FREE, b) I hate washing bottles, and c) nutritional value. A lot of people get wrapped around the axle about the nutritional value of breastfeeding (which is a good thing), but I think we need to celebrate how FREE and dish-less it is. Frugal mama, for the win. I hear once you get past the pain, it's actually enjoyable too. We're halfway there, literally.

• A lot of strange things happen to your body after you have a baby. People kind of talk about them, but no one can prepare you for the extent to which they occur. I'd be happy to discuss them with you if you are interested, but I'll be a lady on the blog. I'll just say....whoa.

• Not wearing makeup for 3 weeks saves you a lot of money on makeup and does wonders for your skin!

• When I was pregnant, everyone said, "Sleep while you can!" Well, I have to say I get MORE SLEEP now than I did when I was pregnant. Pregnant sleep= 8 pillows and still uncomfortable, waking every 2 hours to pee, sleep apnea due to the rhinitis, and the room feeling like 115 degrees despite the arctic blast. Now, even though I wake up every few hours to feed Caroline and rock her back to sleep, at least the sleep I get is sound and good. So for all you pregnant ladies who are barely sleeping, please know that it can get better. (Or possibly, my baby is an angel.)

Other things to note:

Chris is the best husband and daddy I could have ever hoped for. He stayed home with us the first 2 weeks. When I could barely get out of bed or walk, Chris got up every 2 hours to change diapers and bring Caroline to me. Then he waited the hour it took her to eat and put her back in bed. He leaves work to come to her pediatrician appointments. He goes grocery shopping at 7 am on Saturday to get everything on my list. And most importantly, he loves on this little baby every second he gets.

My mom has also been a life saver. When Chris went back to work, she came over almost every day to help me. Sometimes she made dinner. Sometimes she held the baby while I took a shower. Sometimes she just kept me company on Chris' 12 hour days. Caroline and I are so grateful for Mama KK!

We have also had so many great friends bring us meals over the past few weeks. Y'all don't know how wonderful it is to not worry about dinner. On days when Caroline has needed 24/7 cuddles, I haven't showered or eaten, and Chris is at work, the meals have been a lifesaver. Thank you.

A few of my favorite pictures...because I think my kid is pretty cute:

And Chris' favorite picture: Caroline's first selfie!

A final note:
The mommy wars are real. And it makes me sad. I think all the mamas and babies out there would be much happier if everyone stepped off their soapbox about diapering/feeding/sleeping/toe nail polish and encouraged each other to do what's best for their baby. I was a formula baby who slept on my stomach from day 1. Not only am I still alive, but I have a master's degree from a top-notch university. I'M FINE. My baby is breastfed and sleeps swaddled on her back... because that's what she likes. If she didn't like that, we would do something different. Please mamas, stop making other mamas who make different choices than you feel bad. Sad mamas make sad babies. Nothing else.

Unless you choose not to vaccinate. Your baby cannot play with my baby. Because formula won't kill my baby, but the measles will.

Meet Caroline!

Warning: birth story ahead. If you do not like reading birth stories, enjoy the pictures!

She's here!!!

Our beautiful little girl was born on March 4, 2014 at 4:53 pm. She came in at a whopping 7 lb, 14 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Or perfect, you might say.

Because of my lingering pre-eclampsia (and increasing level of uncomfortable), we went in to be induced very early in the morning on March 4.

This is the last belly picture before we left for the hospital. I remember thinking, "Oh that's a good picture!" Ha. I'm liking the poster child for pre-eclampsia. Or 4:30 am.

When we got to the hospital, they checked me in....and then forgot about me. There were 9 other women in active labor. With only 10 beds on the L&D floor, my induction could wait. But no worries! Caroline took charge from there. While we waited for someone to come start the pitocin, I began having regular contractions every 2-4 minutes! My doctor arrived at 8:30 am, decided I was already in labor, and broke my water. No pitocin needed! I was excited because I've heard that pitocin can do weird things to you, so major fist bump, Caroline. She knew why we were there.

Okay, so I found out that you lose 15 lbs when your water breaks. Sweet--only 15 to go and baby is still in there! But the pain really kicked up a notch. As in, 3 cm to 7 cm in a very short span of time. Epidural lady came to save the day. She did her thing and decided that the "test dose" would be good enough for me since I'm a small lady. And it was for a while. There was a small hiccup when my blood pressure dropped to 60/30. It's bad when that happens. You lose consciousness. People come running. And after that, epidural lady is scared to give you more of the magic. At some point between 7cm-9cm, the epidural wore off on my right side (very weird sensation). Epidural lady gave me a tiny bit more. It helped for a while, but by 10 cm, it was gone AND baby had flipped the wrong way. Not breech, but "sunny side up" as they call it. Babies need to be looking at the ground to come out right. If they're looking at the sky, you get a ton of back pain (back labor) and a high chance of needing a c-section. No bueno. I had a fabulous nurse who helped me do some creative dancing/yoga (really weird things happen in L&D), and Caroline flipped the right way! Epidural lady came back and gave me just enough magic to get through pushing. Whew.

After about an hour of pushing, Caroline Rose was here!

Babies are smooooshed when they first come out.

Our lives have been a whirlwind since then. Chris' family stayed for several days and helped tremendously with cleaning, cooking, and grocery shopping. So many friends have stopped by to visit little C, and it means so much to us!

Caroline is a GREAT baby. She cries when she's hungry or wet, but who can blame her? She sleeps well most nights. Some nights, we party. But I just love being with her, so it's okay. She takes adorable pictures.

All these pictures courtesy of Cogknitive Images.

We haven't yet decided if she's a ginger or not. But she definitely has her daddy's skin tone....my ghost hand on the left, Chris' hand on the right. She won the genetic lottery there.

We have decided that I was huge and much more swollen than I thought. Pre-pregnancy pants 5 days postpartem!

This baby has captured our hearts. I have so many pictures I could share, but I know that we are probably much more enthralled with them than you are. Chris is a great daddy. He brings her to me in the middle of the night. He changes more diapers than I do. He physical therapizes her to make her strong. He's helped me do things I never thought I would have to ask another human being to do. Caroline and I are lucky girls.

Happy 9 days old, Caroline!

Bed Rest to Baby

Today, I am 39 weeks pregnant. That is a long time.

First, thank you to everyone who prayed for us over the weekend. Chris was able to spend the entire weekend in Knoxville with Mark for his wedding. It was tough for Chris to be gone with his daughter due any day, so we're really happy that Caroline stayed put through the weekend. If you know Chris and Mark, you know this is a big deal. Since they can't legally marry each other, they got the next best thing. They are each the signed witness on each other's marriage licenses. Maybe continue to pray for Amanda and me as we share our husbands for the rest of our lives.

Back to baby.

I'm really glad to be almost done with pregnancy. Don't get me wrong--I have really enjoyed being pregnant. I have loved every kick and hiccup and the anticipation of what she'll look like. But it has been a tough road. I've been on nausea medicine for 9 months. I've had swollen sinuses for months. I got costochondritis in my ribs. And a couple of weeks ago, I found out I had pre-eclampsia. Fortunately, it has been very mild and manageable with bed rest. My feet and ankles, which used to resemble elephant feet, are completely back to normal since I've been on bed rest. More importantly, my blood pressure is back to normal. I'm very glad I've been able to stay home for the past week, mostly thanks to my incredible coworkers. It's so nice to know that my kids at school are in great hands even when I'm not there.

The wait for Caroline is almost over. To prevent any possible complications from the pre-eclampsia, we will be inducing this week. I'm a huge ball of nerves and excitement. I can't wait to snuggle my baby! I spent this morning making little headbands for her. These were some old shirts (from high school....) that I'm pretty sure I won't fit in again, so I cut them, hot glued them, and tied them to make these soft little headbands. If they actually work, I might make some more!

I must say...I noticed this phenomenon when Chris and I were engaged. Everyone (including strangers) felt the need to tell us all the horror stories of things that happened at their weddings. I'm not sure what purpose it served, except to stress us out. And sure, Chris was in a car accident the day before our wedding, which totaled the best man's (see Mark above) car. I get it that things go wrong, everything turned out okay anyway, and you might think that's encouraging to a couple about to host their wedding. But it's not. This same phenomenon has reared its head again since I've been pregnant. Everyone wants to share their horror stories from labor or tell me how I'll never sleep again. NOT ENCOURAGING. So here's what I need as we prepare to welcome our baby girl this week:

• What were the special moments you remember from labor and delivery?
• How did having a baby change your life in a good way?
• What pleasantly surprised you?

Okay, GO! The next time you hear from me, we will be introducing you to our daughter Lion King style. This is how I will be greeting all of you for the next few weeks: