Nat Your Average Girl: Mama Natalie

I'm so excited to be sharing here at Natasha's blog! My name is Natalie and I'm over at Nat Your Average Girl. It has been so much fun watching Natasha journey through her pregnancy. I adore her sense of style and am honored to be here today.

Like Natasha, I just experienced my first pregnancy. I gave birth to my daughter Blair on March fourth of this year, five weeks early! And while that was very challenging, (she spent ten days in the NICU) nothing was harder than being a new mom when she came home.

me at 28 weeks prego in Maui

Blair in the NICU

Of course I love her more than I ever imagined but I felt like my world went from "anywhere I could drive to in a day" to "anywhere I can drive to in less than five minutes." My life had shrunk down to nursing all day every day at home alone while life went on all around me. I felt overwhelmed, incapable, lonely, unproductive, and bored. For the first two months I was too nervous to take Blair anywhere by myself so it was like I was on house arrest. As a type A person who used to work full time as a teacher this killed me! However, people were right and everyday did get a little easier. And then she turned three months...

Blair at two weeks

Blair at three months

All of the sudden, having a baby was fun! She started talking, smiling, entertaining herself, and having consistent sleep patterns. So this is my honest advice for any new mom...the first three months suck are hard. You get no sleep, the baby doesn't smile (or do anything other than nurse and cry for that matter), and you are so overwhelmed. But it really does get better and that magic age (for me) was three months. You just have to push through the first twelve weeks and let things go. Like a clean house. Or do what I did and whine to your husband get a cleaning lady! Some of the best advice that was said to me was to ignore all of my expectations and just survive. There is plenty of time to develop a schedule and routines when life with baby becomes easier. My last piece of advice is to let people help you. If they offer to bring you dinner, say yes! If they offer to watch the baby while you nap, say yes! And if they offer to babysit, leave some bottles and get out of there before they change their mind...

smiling!

Good luck to all you new mommies! And Natasha, I know you are going to be a wonderful mom and Ryan will be so helpful. You will be a great team! Thanks for having me!