Wow! What a whirlwind the past few months have been. Our girl is here (and has been for 7 weeks) and we are elated! She is perfect and we couldn’t have asked for a more positive birth experience. Now that she’s here I thought I would answer some of the most common questions you all have had regarding the third and fourth trimester!
HOW ARE YOU DOING?
First and foremost, thank you so much for asking. I’m doing well but I’ll admit, postpartum hasn’t been the easiest! There’s a lot of healing going on and it’s hard to slow down but gosh it’s so worth it. This has been the hardest yet MOST rewarding time of my life and I’m just so grateful.
HOW WAS LABOR & DELIVERY?
Let me start by saying that I was absolutely terrified of birth. I do not handle anything medical very well… I even have to LAY DOWN to get shots… so needless to say I was not looking forward to this part- haha!
That being said… I was nervous for nothing! Our labor and delivery process could not have gone any smoother and for that I am so thankful!
A quick recap: my water broke (while I was on a work call- lol) at 11am on 4/17. Zach and I headed to the hospital to make sure it had actually broken. I was a little dehydrated so they hooked me up to an IV and did some blood work while we waited to determine whether or not my water actually broke. It did so they admitted us! I was only about 3-4 cm dilated at the time so they started me on some meds to get things moving along. Things progressed somewhat slowly I’d say until I was about 6cm dilated and opted to get the epidural to alleviate some of the pain! The epidural was terrifying but wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because they numb you first! We waited a couple more hours and started pushing a little after 12:30am. I pushed for 23 min and she was born! It was really wonderful and such a cool experience. We are so blessed with the sweetest little girl!
WORST PART OF THIRD/FOURTH TRIMESTER?
Third: probably just being so large! It was so hard to get up and live around! I also struggled with terribly heartburn and nasal congestion- both of which are normal and cleared up immediately after her birth!
Fourth: learning how to build a routine as a first time mom while also healing! I had a second degree tear and so there’s been quite a bit of down time and healing to do which is tough when you need to run around and care for a newborn. We did it though! I am thankful for family that has helped us out!
WHAT ARE YOUR MOST USED BABY ITEMS?
I am going to do a separate post on this one because there’s so much to say on this topic.
IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WISH YOU WOULD’VE DONE DIFFERENTLY DURING PREGNANCY OR BIRTH?
Yes! I wish I would’ve taken more photos with the bump to look back on. I wasn’t very confident as a pregnant person so I didn’t love taking photos but now I wish I would’ve. As for during the labor/ delivery portion, i can’t think of anything I would do differently… maybe research a bit more about the entire experience?… or packed less stuff! Haha
DID YOU TAKE ANY CLASSES TO PREPARE?
Yes! We purchased the Taking Cara Babies online class. It was helpful in my opinion.
SOMETHING NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IN THE FOURTH TRIMESTER:
There are so many of these that I could write. No one talks about how scary it is to bring home your first child or get them out of the house, how your body likely won’t just bounce right back and how different it is once baby is born, how frustrating and overwhelming it can be to receive “advice” as a new mom, or how tough it can be on your marriage! Obviously it’s so worth it and I’d do it a million more times but definitely not easy!
WHAT DOES YOUR ROUTINE LOOK LIKE AT THIS POINT?
We are still figuring it out and each day is a little different but here’s what an average day looks like (on maternity leave):
- 8/9am: wake up & bottle
- 9:30am – 12:30pm: playtime/ cat naps on her dock-a-tot
- 12:30pm: wind down & bottle in her bedroom
- 1pm- 3pm: nap in her crib
- 3pm: wake up & bottle
- 3:30pm – 5pm: playtime
- 5pm – 6pm: nap in her crib
- 6pm: wake up & bottle
- 6:30pm – 8:30pm: playtime
- 8:30pm: bottle & bedtime in her bassinet (our bedroom)
- 5/6am: wake up for bottle & back down to sleep until 8 or 9am
BEST PART ABOUT BEING A MOM?
Probably just watching her grow and learn every day. I swear she changes every single day and it’s so neat to watch. She is the best thing that has ever happened to Zach and I and so worth all of the pregnancy downsides!
DO YOU PLAN ON HAVING MORE CHILDREN?
If God allows, yes! I think we’d like to have two kids. Both Zach and I grew up in households with two children and so I think we will try for another baby down the road! Not anytime soon though LOL
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE NAME CAMRYN LEE?
So I always knew I wanted to continue on with the “-ryn” tradition (like LauRYN) because both my grandmother (Charyn) and my great aunt (Kathryn) had “-ryn” names so I thought it would be neat to carry that on!
Camryn’s middle name is my mom’s middle name (Leslie Lee)!