As a first time parent, the first month is rough. You can’t be prepared for what is about to happen to your life. You know sleep will be tough, breastfeeding difficult and babies are supposed to sleep a lot. However, there is no practice run and all babies are different. Here are 10+ things I wish I knew before the baby came from the first month.
I originally wrote this blog post after Tommy hit 4 weeks. He is now over 10 weeks old and technically 12 weeks from his due date which a lot of developmental milestones are based off of. Another point I didn’t know which I guess is #11.
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#12. Once your baby smiles, you have already forgotten the pains of labor and delivery, and awkwardness of having to wear a large pad for at least 2 weeks. Tommy started really smiling around Valentine’s day which was about 6 weeks for us. No giggles yet but I can’t wait!
#13. That $200 swing you bought that you thought your baby hated? He now loves it so don’t give up hope too soon! Keep trying new things. We got a 4Moms Mamaroo for Tommy and were convinced he hated it for the first 2 months. Now, the baby loves it! He even falls asleep in it although he would prefer to play. We have a large Fisher Price swing that helps him fall asleep for naps and the Mamaroo is perfect for when he is awake and wants to move around. I thought we just needed one and you probably can live with one, but when you work from home – having two “swings” is awesome.
The Mamaroo looks like a spaceship according to Dad and has 5 different motion settings (car ride, kangaroo, tree swing, rock a bye, wave). It has sound options as well and can hook up to your phone via bluetooth to control both music and motion. I can put Tommy in his Mamaroo for at least 30 minutes in a good mood to make/eat lunch or dinner and have him smiling at me the entire time. If he falls asleep, he will stay in it even longer obviously.
#14. Take more video than you think and not just pictures. I read this somewhere and even as a video person, I wasn’t taking any! We have no video from the hospital. Now, when we look at our phones to reminisce the past 10 weeks, the videos are our favorites to watch, even the stupid ones that I almost deleted after filming.
#15. If you stayed in shape during pregnancy, you really won’t be starting from scratch and you’ll be shocked at how strong you are after lifting and holding your baby. You also will not want to workout at all the first three weeks after giving birth. I know some people don’t want to workout for at least 3 months, but for me, the active person I am, I thought I’d be going insane by 2 weeks. I wasn’t. I waited 4 weeks to do light elliptical and a good 6 before I attempted to jog at all. Now at 10 weeks, I feel really good fitness wise. I can a run a sub 30-minute 5K and work hard in spin class… my diet… that’s another story. I still have the same 7-10 lbs to lose as I did a month ago.
Sarah! This is s cute and heartwarming. I love the positive aspect of this post…as a busy women I often tend to focus on the scary time consuming aspects of motherhood..not to mention that there are so many articles around about how hard it is..,but this is a breath of fresh air..xo
Completely agree with your list! Don’t stress about loosing the last 7-10 lbs. Just keep breastfeeding and like you’ve mentioned before, I think your attitude on food and your body changes completely after becoming a mom. You realize how your body knows what to do and just trust it! It is amazing, so enjoy your tiny baby and eat what you want because this time FLYS BY! My baby is 9 months old and I miss what you’re going through now believe it or not!
I love that you see the silver lining through each part of raising a new baby! I think this would be so helpful for new moms and other newlywed mothers!
#15 is so right! The first time I went to spin class at 6 week postpartum I felt SO much better than I thought -- I guess it was a lot harder to huff and puff my way through a class with my lungs scrunched/carrying the baby than I thought.
PS: I feel like you could do one of these videos every 2 months and still have so much to say. Something I wish I knew when my 8-month old was still a newborn: it gets so, SO much better every month that passes. Sometimes it’s hard to believe, but I truly run home after work just because I’m that excited to see her 🙂
You are such an inspiration. Makes me motivated every time I read your posts. Sometimes I feel I am so lazy when I look at your energy 😀
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