Kid 1......
I was very newly married (like THAT day type of thing) when I got pregnant with my first child. To say I was excited was an absolute understatement. All I wanted in my whole life was to have a baby. A husband is nice, but that wasn't as important as children. Is that messed up? lol
My pregnancy was easy. I had a little bit of morning sickness and felt rotten for a short period of time. Unfortunately it was while I was making baked goods at the coffee shop that we owned. Not the best thing for business. I loved to EAT everything, but baking gagged me. It also seemed that when I did get sick it was after a meal that we just spent money on. My biggest issues was I was tired. Very tired! But otherwise, it was really pretty easy for me.
I don't think I've ever felt as beautiful as when I was pregnant. And that's laughable because I gained LOTS of weight with every pregnancy (50-60 pounds each time). That said, I still felt amazing. Maybe it's because you are growing a PERSON inside you. I loved it all.
As the delivery date neared, I was impatient and even more excited. I had done the child birth classes. I was ready to have a baby in my arms.
My due date came......and went. UGH Why? I was sure that I would be early.
I finally was induced. I can say with all honesty, that it was a tough way to be set up for delivery. I wanted to try for a natural birth, but when you are slammed with contractions that are every few minutes and strong to start with, it's hard to adapt. So my idea of the perfect delivery wasn't exactly followed, but an epidural and a little time I finally was holding my baby girl.
My breath almost stopped when I help her for the first time. This beautiful perfect little girl was laying in my arms crying. What a magic moment.
We went home the next day and I started this journey of being a mom. Kayla was a very relaxed baby. She was happy and slept well. She was adventurous and our days went quickly.
Things I wished I would have known or done differently:
1- Tried to enjoy each moment- in other words, not been so impatient that last month.
2- Kept an open mind as to what the "perfect" birth experience was. This wasn't much of an issue for me, but I asked my doctor no less than 10 times if he thought I would have to have an episiotomy. lol Not that it was a huge deal, but I stressed so much about that it became annoying.
3- Realized that my hospital room/bed was not a REQUIRED place I had to stay. I didn't really understand I was free to get up and move around. I stayed in bed the whole time unless I was getting up to go the restroom. This made recovery more difficult because I didn't MOVE for 2 days.
4- Been more vocal about what I wanted. I didn't want to bother anyone, so I let the staff decide when I would and wouldn't do things with my new baby. Then after we went home I was embarrassed to call my doctor and tell him I was having issues.
When I got home with my baby life was perfect minus the sleepless moments. I loved each second I had with this tiny little girl. When I look back at home videos I have literally hours of video with my baby laying on the couch doing nothing. HOURS!
Kayla has always challenged me more than the other kids. She has a very strong personality and KNOWS who she is. You can take her or leave her, but she isn't apologetic as to who she is. I've always loved that about her, and have tried to learn from her (as I'm a people pleaser).
Kayla struggled in school when she was younger until we realized she is dyslexic. Once we learned to work around the areas that caused her issues, she did great. She was a very social kid when she was younger.
Kayla and I really bumped heads as she neared her "tweens". I was sure we wouldn't survive the attitude or the issues we had almost daily. There were seriously moments that I threw a fit as big as hers because I was STUCK and didn't know how to parent her. I "toyed" with the idea of military school, which was really a joke, but I thought maybe something could be done with my child. lol It WAS a phase and although it seemed to take forever, Kayla morphed into a beautiful woman both inside and out.
As Kayla got into 8th grade and then into high school, we discovered that she was having signs of depression and anxiety. As a parent I think it's really hard to realize that your kid might have some problems. I remember being scared to admit that she was truly having depression problems. Even though I was a paramedic, I was also very slow to recognize her anxiety. It wasn't until she started having full blow attacks that I finally understood what was going on.
As a mom, I feel like I failed Kayla possibly more than any other kid. I thought she was just difficult when it came to school (we were home schooling at the time) because she wasn't reading and got frustrated when I taught her. It was NOT that....it was dyslexia. When she started showing signs of depression and anxiety, I was slow to realize what was going on. I can't think of how many doctor visits and specialists we saw until we finally understood what was going on. It took me a long time to help give her the tools to cope with every day life. We pulled her out of traditional school because she missed so much time and put her in online school. It was perfect for her. I just had to learn to be a better mom for my kid. It wasn't easy. HA
Now my daughter is a crazy talented writer. She has the most amazing ability to draw you into her stories that even if you aren't a fan of that genera you'll still be on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next. She just finished her second novel and is waiting for it to go through editing before it is published. The child makes me so proud!
She will do great things over her lifetime. I'm sure of that!
Enjoy these moments! Each one is special, but they change so quickly. And your baby will grow so fast. My first "baby" will turn 21 in just a couple weeks. WOW....were did time go?
My pregnancy was easy. I had a little bit of morning sickness and felt rotten for a short period of time. Unfortunately it was while I was making baked goods at the coffee shop that we owned. Not the best thing for business. I loved to EAT everything, but baking gagged me. It also seemed that when I did get sick it was after a meal that we just spent money on. My biggest issues was I was tired. Very tired! But otherwise, it was really pretty easy for me.
I don't think I've ever felt as beautiful as when I was pregnant. And that's laughable because I gained LOTS of weight with every pregnancy (50-60 pounds each time). That said, I still felt amazing. Maybe it's because you are growing a PERSON inside you. I loved it all.
As the delivery date neared, I was impatient and even more excited. I had done the child birth classes. I was ready to have a baby in my arms.
My due date came......and went. UGH Why? I was sure that I would be early.
I finally was induced. I can say with all honesty, that it was a tough way to be set up for delivery. I wanted to try for a natural birth, but when you are slammed with contractions that are every few minutes and strong to start with, it's hard to adapt. So my idea of the perfect delivery wasn't exactly followed, but an epidural and a little time I finally was holding my baby girl.
My breath almost stopped when I help her for the first time. This beautiful perfect little girl was laying in my arms crying. What a magic moment.
We went home the next day and I started this journey of being a mom. Kayla was a very relaxed baby. She was happy and slept well. She was adventurous and our days went quickly.
Things I wished I would have known or done differently:
1- Tried to enjoy each moment- in other words, not been so impatient that last month.
2- Kept an open mind as to what the "perfect" birth experience was. This wasn't much of an issue for me, but I asked my doctor no less than 10 times if he thought I would have to have an episiotomy. lol Not that it was a huge deal, but I stressed so much about that it became annoying.
3- Realized that my hospital room/bed was not a REQUIRED place I had to stay. I didn't really understand I was free to get up and move around. I stayed in bed the whole time unless I was getting up to go the restroom. This made recovery more difficult because I didn't MOVE for 2 days.
4- Been more vocal about what I wanted. I didn't want to bother anyone, so I let the staff decide when I would and wouldn't do things with my new baby. Then after we went home I was embarrassed to call my doctor and tell him I was having issues.
When I got home with my baby life was perfect minus the sleepless moments. I loved each second I had with this tiny little girl. When I look back at home videos I have literally hours of video with my baby laying on the couch doing nothing. HOURS!
Kayla has always challenged me more than the other kids. She has a very strong personality and KNOWS who she is. You can take her or leave her, but she isn't apologetic as to who she is. I've always loved that about her, and have tried to learn from her (as I'm a people pleaser).
Kayla struggled in school when she was younger until we realized she is dyslexic. Once we learned to work around the areas that caused her issues, she did great. She was a very social kid when she was younger.
Kayla and I really bumped heads as she neared her "tweens". I was sure we wouldn't survive the attitude or the issues we had almost daily. There were seriously moments that I threw a fit as big as hers because I was STUCK and didn't know how to parent her. I "toyed" with the idea of military school, which was really a joke, but I thought maybe something could be done with my child. lol It WAS a phase and although it seemed to take forever, Kayla morphed into a beautiful woman both inside and out.
As Kayla got into 8th grade and then into high school, we discovered that she was having signs of depression and anxiety. As a parent I think it's really hard to realize that your kid might have some problems. I remember being scared to admit that she was truly having depression problems. Even though I was a paramedic, I was also very slow to recognize her anxiety. It wasn't until she started having full blow attacks that I finally understood what was going on. 
As a mom, I feel like I failed Kayla possibly more than any other kid. I thought she was just difficult when it came to school (we were home schooling at the time) because she wasn't reading and got frustrated when I taught her. It was NOT that....it was dyslexia. When she started showing signs of depression and anxiety, I was slow to realize what was going on. I can't think of how many doctor visits and specialists we saw until we finally understood what was going on. It took me a long time to help give her the tools to cope with every day life. We pulled her out of traditional school because she missed so much time and put her in online school. It was perfect for her. I just had to learn to be a better mom for my kid. It wasn't easy. HA
Now my daughter is a crazy talented writer. She has the most amazing ability to draw you into her stories that even if you aren't a fan of that genera you'll still be on the edge of your seat wanting to know what happens next. She just finished her second novel and is waiting for it to go through editing before it is published. The child makes me so proud! She will do great things over her lifetime. I'm sure of that!
Enjoy these moments! Each one is special, but they change so quickly. And your baby will grow so fast. My first "baby" will turn 21 in just a couple weeks. WOW....were did time go?
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