31Jul 2014

Postpartum Essentials for Mama

by Nicole ⋅ 3 Comments

Don’t know about you, but I spent a tremendous amount of time planning for the baby. In fact, I received the best compliment from my husband a couple weeks after Jellybean was born. He said, “Great job planning, Babe. We haven’t had to go to the store once. You made sure we have everything we need for the baby.” While we have clearly had to buy more stuff for our little girl since then, we did make it a good amount of time without purchasing anything. But I digress.

I spent SO much time planning for baby I completely neglected myself! Baby might come first, however I should have made postpartum planning for myself a higher priority. Very little {okay, really zero} time and research went into what I might need. I didn’t even bother surveying my friends to determine what the essentials were.

Please, PLEASE don’t be like me. Do your research and ensure you have purchased stuff for YOU and of course for baby too! =) As a new mama my mind was strictly on my newborn and if I had planned ahead for myself it would have made the first day or two at home a little easier. Not to mention it would have saved my parents from running back and forth from Target to buy me stuff. Hehehehe.

My postpartum must haves and survival items for post delivery include the following …

GENERAL

Always Pads With Wings – Pretty standard item most women purchase pre-delivery. The only addition I have to this is get multiple sizes and bring a few of your own pads to the hospital in case, like me, you don’t really like the ones the hospital provides.

Canon PowerShot – I am all about my DSLR, however the ability to quickly capture moments remains key. It’s lightweight and doesn’t take the ‘effort’ of shooting in manual with my Nikon D90. Also easier to use for the non-shutterbugs, as well as increasing the odds you are present in future family photos. Added bonus for this camera is it shoots well in low light … super helpful when trying to limit or completely eliminate using a flash on a newborn.

Belly Bandit – Although I didn’t purchase this or use it, because I didn’t learn about it until it was too late (boo hoo!) I would totally would have purchased it. I heard good things from a coworker who had her baby shortly after me. Just wanted to make sure it was on your radar. :)

Netflix – Hello to the never-ending TV series! Just hearing the theme song to Mad Men immediately takes me and the hubby back to the first few days and weeks home with Jellybean. Having something to watch while nursing or while baby girl slept on me was so nice. No commercials and I could start watching in the living room, pause it, and finish watching an episode on the iPad in the nursery.

NURSING

Soothie Gel Pads – These literally saved me from giving up on nursing. The whole nipple cream as a necessity was 100% lost on me. These soothie gels on the other hand … go buy them (or order them online) NOW! Not trying to tell you what to do or how, but, yeah, buy them … =)

Nursing Bras – I had purchased some nighttime nursing bras and they were a complete fail. They provided no support and just didn’t cut it for me. My mother was kind enough to buy like 10 different kids for me to try on and these were absolutely, hands down, my favorite. Comfortable, supportive, reasonably priced and easy to unhook even when it was 2am and I was exhausted!

Nursing Tops – Love these tank tops. They were amazing for sleeping in and looked fine under just about anything I wore in the early days. I love sweatshirts and since I had a winter baby knowing about this sweatshirt would have come in SUPER handy.

Water Bottle – There was something about nursing that immediately made me THIRSTY! Baby would latch and I would be all “Hun where is my water?”. My poor husband was constantly fetching water. :) Not to mention nursing mom’s are suppose to drink plenty of water to keep their supply up.

CESAREAN

High Wasted Underwear – We are talking granny panties to the extreme! Just telling it to you straight. I am doing you a favor saying this out loud … I promise … no one told me. Regular underwear and my cesarean incision were NOT … let me repeat … NOT going to happen. The incision was just way too tender.

Gas-X & Stool Softener – It’s somewhat embarrassing to say, but both these items are a must. Sorry ladies … just keepin’ it real. My doctor suggested the gas-x, which was honestly a life saver. So yeah. ENOUGH. Said. On to the next item…

Ibuprofen – 100% helps take the edge off the pain. My doctor prescribed me with some high dose ibuprofen, but while we waited to have the prescription filled it was nice to have some in the house as back up.

Leggings and/or sweatpants – I seriously lived in sweatpants and leggings for the first few weeks (okay months) of Jellybean’s life. For the first few weeks it was SO important to wear comfortable pants that were NOT low rise. The incision was tender and limiting clothing rubbing on it, I think, really helped it feel better faster.

So moms, what postpartum must have items for Mama am I missing?

11Mar 2014

2 Months Old {Jellybean}

by Nicole ⋅ 3 Comments

I had so much fun during Jellybean’s 2 month photo shoot! She made some adorable faces so it was hard for me to only include two photos in this post, but I restrained myself from inundating you with pictures. Over the past month I have made no progress on the schedule front and though I have “nothing” to show for my days, they fly by. I love being at home with my daughter {why does it still feel weird to say/write daughter?!} and DREAD the thought of going back to work full time!!! As the weather is slowly starting to warm up I’m ever so hopeful JB and I will be able to go on more walks in my last few weeks at home with her. Jellybean’s little smiles make everything right in my world. I spend the majority of the time she is awake trying to make her smile – thank goodness no one is recording me, I’m sure I look pretty silly most of the time. :)

A few tidbits about the second month …

Headband is from Etsy

Sleeping

Jellybean is sleeping anywhere from 3 to 7 hours during the night (which I define as 9pm to 8am). We are ever so thankful for the long periods of sleep. I find when she sleeps over 4 hours I wake up abruptly and immediately lean over the bed to ensure Jellybean is OK. It’s a weird feeling to be thankful for the sleep and freaked out all at the same time!

Eating

This month we officially introduced bottles and we are very lucky it went smoothly. My little one doesn’t care if the bottle is hot or cold (winning!) nor does she have a preference of who feeds her the bottle. Jellybean just wants to eat! I haven’t had any issues with nipple confusion either (maybe I shouldn’t say this out-loud or it will become an issue). Breastfeeding coupled with bottles has truly made life easier. The husband can feed baby while I cook dinner, blog or heck take a shower.

While the transition from nursing to both bottles and nursing went well finding the right bottle was another story. We started off with Advent bottles and their natural nipples. JB was “shot gunning the bottles” as my husband so eloquently {LOL} told the doctor. She was eating way too fast, which resulted in her crying because she didn’t realize she was full after finishing the bottle as well as spitting up a lot. The doctor recommended we switch to Dr. Brown bottle and use a preemie nipple. The preemie nipple has the slowest nipple flow available. We saw an immediate and positive difference in Jellybean’s bottle feedings once we made the switch. My biggest complaint with bottle feeding is cleaning/storing/organizing the bottles. It looks like bottle pieces exploded on our counter top! :) Any suggestions on how to manage all these bottles would be much appreciated!!

Wearing

Quickly after posting Jellybean’s first month round up she moved into size 1 diapers. She is also no longer fitting into her newborn clothes and is wearing all 0-3 month sizes. Some 0-3 month clothes are still too big on her … seems to be different brands run differently … not really a shocker hahaha. I’m really enjoying having a new set of clothes to dress the little one up in. Her wardrobe is quite large – she’s a little fashionista!

Milestones

Smiles and “giggles”/coos.

Rocking tummy time and gaining more control over her head each day.

Sucks on her hand, which according to the doctor is the first step towards self soothing.

Rolls onto her side consistently.

Random Tidbits

I started singing the Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes song to the munchkin during week 7 and she just loves it (at least someone enjoys my singing…I must admit I have a horrible voice). Sometimes I make the movements with my hands and other times I use hers, but either way she smiles and coos while I sing.

She has also started to enjoy the play mat. She will play by herself for about 5 to 15 minutes without crying or needing me to sit by her. I try to use this “free” time wisely by going through the mail, switching the laundry or snapping a few photos of her playing. It’s really fun to watch her eyes wide open as she {somewhat accidentally} knocks the toys around and the lights change color.

What is your favorite tidbit from your baby’s second month?

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21Oct 2013

Rocking n’ Gliding

by Nicole ⋅ 8 Comments

Today, let’s chat rocking chairs slash gliders for the nursery. For someone who get motion sick ALL the time (cars, planes, boats), it’s a little weird, but I love chairs that rock/move. The husband and I discussed purchasing a chair for the nursery pretty early on. I spent a lot of time looking at chairs online and trying to determine which would be best. While online shopping is great and I’m a huge fan of not having to leave the house to make a purchase, there are somethings – like chairs – where it is just SO much easier to shop for in person.

My in-laws were in town visiting a couple weekends ago and offered to go crib shopping with us. For someone who prides themselves on being a planner and getting things done ahead of time I’ve been a complete slacker/procrastinator on the nursery purchasing front! I hang my head in shame as I admit … there is a VERY good chance the crib won’t be here by Jellybean’s due date. At least I know she will be in the bassinet for a few weeks, which makes me feel a little less guilty. Anyways, while we were out looking at cribs the husband and I took the opportunity to check out chairs for the nursery as well.

It was great to sit in the chairs and figure out what we were really looking for. There are just SO many options: glider, recliner/glider, rocker, etc. it was honestly a bit overwhelming. The husband and I knew we wanted a chair for the nursery that would look good if moved to another room, like the living room or tv room, in a few years.

Here is my nursery chair inspiration board:

Glider Story Time / Rocker & Glider Story Time / Swivle Glider Land of Nod

Recliner Story Time / Rocking Chair Amazon.com / Wingback Glider Pottery Barn Kids

Regardless of which chair we purchased an ottoman was a must have. I love elevating my feet, plus I’ve heard when you are feeding late at night being able to put your feet up is ideal. I was kind of partial to the glider/recliner/ottoman combo options, however in the end the hubby and I decided upon a simple glider with matching ottoman. While at the store I went through the fabric book a couple of times making note of potential options. My MIL and husband gave their input and we slowly started narrowing it down. The store owner was hilarious when it came to choosing a fabric. He told me “Don’t be shy. Order as many swatches as you want … I do a lot of business with this company.” With that we ordered a couple gray, white and cream sample fabrics. Last week the fabrics arrived and we finally made a decision to go with one of the medium-dark gray fabrics!!

The chair is our second big purchase for the nursery! It feels like we are finally making progress on the baby’s room and we are just 9 weeks away from her bid debut (hopefully). Just like with the dresser, I think I will wait until the “big” Jellybean nursery reveal post to show you exactly which chair/color we chose. =)

Did you purchase a chair for your nursery? If so was it nice to have and what type of chair did you get?