Wandom Wednesday: Recovery

This Sunday, my little snugaboo will be one month old. WHOA Nelly Furtado! I am torn between wishing time would stand still so I can have this little newborn forever, and wishing time would fast forward to the point where he can wipe his own butt. I'm sure one day I'll miss wiping his butt... one day.
GAH! Just the other day his little belly button cord fell off. I was both excited and disgusted, then I cried because he's growing up so fast. This was a big moment for the whole family.

I have to be honest and say that these past few weeks, although filled with magical moments, has been an emotional roller coaster for me. Baby blues hit me like a freggin' hurricane and I sobbed uncontrollably EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I heard crying sounds coming from my own mouth that I've never heard before. Even Baby Joaquin was like "What the hell, Mom! Why are YOU crying?" When I am in these deep holes of emotion, I often wonder if I'm cut out for this "mom gig." Hubby really had to dig me out of some really dark moments and there were even times I pulled him right down there with me. I felt so alone even though I was surrounded by everything a woman could ever want out of life. Dammit Hormones! I really had a difficult time with breastfeeding, getting up every 2 hours, going out in public, and even interacting with friends and family. I just wanted to curl up in bed and sleep for a redonkulous amount of days.


Then I remembered I AM a mom now and this little guy is counting on me. I remembered that newborns can pick up on mommy's stress and I couldn't deal with the thought of ruining my kid's life already. There will be times for that...like showing the video of his first bath at his 18th birthday party in front of all his friends and his stupid girlfriend, who I'm sure I'll hate. So in true obsessive compulsive and teacher lady form, I started a plan of action.....an IEP (for all you teacher friends out there)for myself to fight the blues.

1. Organize....in a cute organizer.

Ummm, I'm TOTALLY obsessed with my new planner. If you're into the good ol' paper organizers, check out ErinCondren.com. Her planners are so cute and functional. I am in organize heaven! I made it a point to plan out family walks, visits from friends, and simple trips to the market so I can feel productive. Those were the things that made me feel "normal."

I also love my Baby Daze tracker. Totally unnecessary but helps the OCD monster in me to keep track of every poop and pee that lil' man makes. That info will make for beautiful keepsake moments, no?


 2. Don't be a Vampire Slug

People say to sleep when baby sleeps but when I did that, I felt like a vampire slug living in a dark house with the curtains always drawn shut. I needed to get some fresh air everyday. My little family and I went on our first walk around the block days after Joaquin's birth. We all loved it, especially Sonic. This helped with my sanity and my c-section recovery.



3. Take a damn shower

Since my c-section, my incision site open once. Lovely. I had to take a trip to the ER, they drained it, and told me to sponge bath myself for a few days. Sponge baths are hard if you don't have a nurse on hand to wipe you down the correct way. Sure I have a husband, but it is too early in my life for him to wipe my butt. When I got the green light to take a full shower, I danced...carefully, with joy. Showers are your friend and you should take one...even if it lasts a whole 2 minutes.

.via.






 4. Do what's right for YOU

-cracked and bleeding nipples
-nipple shields
-Lanolin cream
-Thrush
-Plugged Ducts

If you plan on breastfeeding, make sure you do your research on these things. I really thought that breastfeeding would be as easy as slapping the baby on your teet and letting him go at it, create a magical bond, blah blah blah..... no. Nobody told me that breastfeeding can be so hard!

I am a firm believer in "Happy Wife, Happy Life." Same goes for being a mom, too. If mommy isn't happy, then all hell will break loose in the house and everyone will be miserable. One struggle I had, and continue to have on occasion is breastfeeding. I want to write a full post about my battle with this, but in short, I had to do what was right for me. It seems like right now, the push is for breastfeeding and anything else is poison apparently. I felt the pressure hardcore and had to find ways to come to terms with what works for me and what wont drive me up the wall. In a nutshell, I hate breastfeeding...yes I said it...I hate it. I decided that the best thing for me right now is to exclusively pump and supplement if I need to.



 5. Cookies

Remember when I said I'd post the recipe for the pumpkin white chocolate chip cookies...yeah well, I had a baby and I totally forgot. Mommy brain? Better late than never.
FYI- I subbed the pumpkin spice and puree for a lazy can of pumpkin pie puree and I nixed the frosting and dusted it with powdered sugar.
Yummy recipe here!

I also did a my first TIM TAM SLAM! Oh, it's a thing. Google it. It's going to be big like Gangnam style. Mark my chocolate faced words.


For all you new mommies out there.... hang in there. It does get better. Atleast that's what everyone keeps telling me.

7 comments:

  1. I always have the highest respect for women and men...especially new mommies who post the raw and honest truth. Thank you for sharing these bits of you with us. And here's to a wonderful day!

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  2. I know there are so many other important things in this post but OMG TimTams. BEST.COOKIE.EVER. I ate them all the time in Australia...and now I miss them so much.

    Ok, now like everyone else, it will get better. There are the worst of times, and the best of times. There will be more good than bad! I'm sure of it!

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  3. Such a beautiful and honest post. You are amazing and doing a GREAT job! Don't be too hard on yourself. These first couple weeks (all 12 of them really) are HARD. Like way harder than I ever ever ever imagined. It does get better, but it's OK to cry and it's OK to ask for help and it's OK to do what's best for you. You're right, if YOU are happy, that's the best thing you can do for your baby. Better than breastfeeding, better than reading to him, better than anything. You need to take care of yourself and everything else will fall into place. I spent two weeks trying over and over and over to breastfeed and it didn't work for us. It was like torture. Pain, screaming, crying (from the baby and from me) until I finally gave up and just pumped. It's not worth being that miserable. Trust yourself and do what's best for you.

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    Replies
    1. wowww such great insight and wisdom Sara! Thank you for sharing, and it's a great reminder that being healthy and joyful inside will exude out of our hearts that it'll be good for those around us, especially the baby! :D

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  4. Hey Joanna! I am really encouraged and I feel like I learned a lot through this post! Even though I feel all your emotions both happy and overwhelmed, it seems as though we all go/will go through those tough times as mommies and the difficulties will never really end~but with the Lord's help and with everything in the right perspective, we can dooooo this! Thank you for your honesty and teaching us so much! I have looootttts to learn and every bit helps~:) Hang in there and God bless this part of your journey. <3

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  5. I too hate breastfeeding! yikes, it was the hardest thing for me! I ended up pumping for a few months and now we're on formula, it was just too hard. NO one tells you that. I have confidence that if I have another little one, I'll know so much more and maybe we can make it work. It was tough though

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