As you might have known from my previous posts, I became a mom in July. I did what all of the first time moms do and that's google everything pretty much. I also asked friends if this or that was a normal thing during pregnancy. They were a big help. When you google things you tend to get a little flustered/confused because there are so many opinions out there from professionals and just normal people like myself. For this post, I asked through Facebook what could some questions be that I could answer from my perspective and what I recently just went through almost 8 months ago. I hope these questions and my answers help you prepare and relax easier during your pregnancy.
Q:What were things you didn't know or expect through your pregnancy/labor/motherhood journey?
A: Since I have never been pregnant before, there were a lot that I didn't know/expected, so I did a lot of googling, asking friends who are moms and especially sending messages to my doctor as well. One thing that come to mind that I didn't expect during pregnancy is nose bleeds. I didn't have any crazy nose bleeds. I would feel like I would have to blow my nose and then see that my nose was bleeding.
Labor was similar to being pregnant, I didn't know what to expect. I thought my son was going to come early but then he decided to be late and we had to kick him out (be induced). I was prepared in case he decided to come during the night and had our(mine and my son's) bags by the door way before I even had him.
The main thing about motherhood that I didn't expect is the time goes by really really fast. I can't believe he'll already be 8 months in a few weeks. When you meet your little one for the first time, your heart literally explodes because you look down and you're like "I made this".
Q: What to expect those first two days after delivery?
A: This answer varies from mom to mom. For me, I think I got lucky. I didn't have no cramps (that felt like contractions) afterwards that some moms get. The thing that I remember is if I walked too much or was on my feet too much during the day, I would be sore but I would just take Tylenol and then it was better. I also might be different in this case as well but I didn't mind the postpartum underwear.
Q: "How will my body change after pregnancy?"
A: Every woman and labor/delivery is different. For me, I was 125lbs pre-pregnancy and I went right back down to 125lbs after having my son because I was all baby (a lot of people told me that during my pregnancy).
Q:How or did you set boundaries with people wanting to help and/or visit once you were home?
A: I didn't have that many visitors at first when we came home from the hospital. When I did, they would message me to see what time/day worked for us because they knew that I was my son's primary caregiver and myself just had a baby so I was taking care of a newborn and myself.
Q:How or did you set boundaries with visitors while in the hospital?
A:For me since I went through the majority of my labor alone until at the end, it was nice to have visitors plus I wanted to introduce my son to my family and friends who came up to visit. I would say if you want to know ahead of time who will be coming to visit is to have them text you to see if that time works for you because there will be nurses coming in/out of your room checking on you and your baby. Also, if you're not comfortable in breastfeeding (if you're planning on that) in front of others at first, ask them to go in the waiting room until you're done feeding your baby.
Q:Must haves that aren’t the most common thing
A: Wow, so mom brain is coming out tonight. The only thing that I can think of are snuggle-buddies. My son loves his.
I hope this post helps you out at least a little bit. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll answer them :)
<3 Amanda
