What I've Been Through

The hardest part of transitioning to motherhood was having it be nothing like I thought it would. My entire life I've dreamed of the day I'd become a mother, how special and tender of a moment it would be. I thought that it didn't matter if they were colicky they'd still be perfect and I would have a beautiful mommy glow from being overjoyed with the birth of my new baby.... Boy was I wrong! Don't get me wrong, I love my daughter more than anything and I'm grateful every day that Heavenly Father thinks I'm worthy of such a blessing. But.... I was not prepared for a colicky baby, or a baby that was sick every week, or not being able to sleep for 4 months (maybe even more). All of my preparation with lamaze did not prepare me for my 13 hour labor when my epidural quit working towards the end and I did an unplanned natural birth. My desire to breastfeed, the classes I took to help me do so, and the weekly visits with lactation consultants did not prepare me for the disappointing news that I was just not able to produce enough milk (even when I was feeding then pumping and taking reglan to boost my supply I still only produced 1 - 2 oz) after 7 weeks of my baby's birth. Then my daughter got an ear infection at 5 weeks old, which never cleared up and became worse at 7 weeks (the cherry on top to my breastfeeding battle because my baby didn't want to suck because it hurt her ear). After the ear infection her colicky-ness peaked and she screamed for 8 straight each day for a week. Not to mention how horrible growth spurts were, no sleep! She just wanted to eat every hour, even when she was bottle-fed she would eat 4 oz every 1-2 hours, which did not help with her reflux! Week 9 she smiled :) (a real one, not a gassy one).  Then she stopped eating and became dehydrated because the prevacid we were giving her for reflux was causing her to have extreme tummy aches. After a barium swallow test we found out that she didn't have reflux, so we stopped giving her prevacid and put her on the formula Nutramagen that is twice as much as other formulas! Finally a good week until teething began…. Then a bladder infection, a virus (diarrhea and vomiting), and now at 4 months old… a second ear infection. 

And not mention, LOTS of family drama. A certain family member told me I was a horrible mother and that I was making my husband unhappy and that he would be better off without me! 

In addition to all of these sicknesses and drama I had issues with my home being under contract to sell but then the buyer backed out last minute. We had a beautiful home (everything I wanted and could of dreamed of... in our price range!) that we then had to back out of due to this. Since our home for sale was a rental property, the tenants had just moved out a few days prior to the buyer backing out so the buyer could move in. After this we had to move back into the rental property to pay the mortgage... which I was not very thrilled about. 

Phew! Every week it’s something new… and frankly it’s exhausting.

However, I’m somewhat grateful for these experiences. I feel like I have so much more experience and am able to help others who have to face similar struggles.  I’ve read so many books trying to figure out how to soothe a colicky baby and how to empower them to soothe themselves that I feel confident in the advice I give to friends, because I’ve tried it all!

Some of my favorite books that saved me during this time are:

• Happiest Baby on the Block
• Good Night, Sleep Tight
• On Becoming Baby Wise (I know how controversial this book is, but it helped me. I did not follow it exactly but some of the concepts were great and I was able to modify them for my parenting style)

It's no wonder why I fell into postpartum depression! Starting this blog has been a great way for me to overcome this though. I treat this as an outlet, a way for me to seek advice from others who have had similar experiences, and for me to give advice as well. 

Have you experienced any of these or had to take care of a sick infant? How did you cope? What did you do to help soothe him/her? If you’re a working mom how did you manage with having to get up with your baby every other hour in the middle of the night and then go to work the next morning?