Before I get into this recap, I thought I’d tell you about my labour music story.
During my pregnancy, I always read about other mama-to-be’s making a playlist on their ipods so they’d have music to listen to during labour. Genius, I thought. I need one too. And so I used my pregnancy card for the umpteenth time and charmed Eric into making me a playlist when I hit around 38 weeks. I was busy nesting my heart out and luckily he was willing to entertain my labour requests. Much to my control-freak’s chagrin, I let him choose the entire playlist. I had no clue what would be on it, but remember – at 38 weeks pregnant I was too tired to care! I just asked him to include a mix of upbeat/fast tempo and slower songs. I also asked that there be little to no classical music. I’m all for classical music at the right time, but if it’s the wrong time it can drive me bonkers. So there’s that.
He made me a playlist and since Eric never does anything half-assed, he didn’t just make me any old playlist. He made me a playlist with two separate categories: fast/upbeat, slow/chill and I’m pretty sure he spent a few hours picking the “perfect” songs. I even heard him chuckling about adding the Rocky theme song. Oh boy…
I packed the ipod along with portable speakers (you know, to blast the roof off the joint) in my hospital bag. It sat for 2 weeks in my bag and I was so happy that I would have amazing music to play during labour! It was going to be the BEST labour evaaaaa.
Fast forward to the labour. Do you think that ipod even got taken out of the bag? Of course not. Do you think I even opened my bag during labour? No again. Do you think my hospital bag even made it out of the car? Nope!!! I was in so much pain when we got to the hospital we totally forgot about my bag. Eric got it shortly after delivery when we moved into another room. Here I was thinking I needed my music to get through labour, but the thought of music didn’t even cross my mind during labour. I guess I had other things on my mind!
Fast forward to last week. Eric hooked up our treadmill in the basement so I could workout in the house. After he set it up, I dug out the beloved “labour” ipod music, and clicked play. Holy crap, this is a GREAT playlist. He didn’t let me down. Maybe next time!
Did you listen to music during your labour?
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A lot has happened over the past two weeks! When I started these bi-weekly recaps, I worried that I wouldn’t have much to write about, but I’m finding there is so much to write about. I’m actually thinking I might have to switch to weekly recaps so I can stay a bit more organized. What would you guys prefer?
During week 10, my dad came to visit for the week. It was his first time meeting Adriana so that was very special. Unfortunately, he came down with a horrible flu just prior to his arrival so that really put a damper on the visit. He felt so horrible all week long. Luckily, none of us caught it, so I am very grateful for that.
We had an exciting milestone happen this week. Adriana rolled over from her tummy to her back. She was on her tummy for tummy time and all of a sudden she just rolled over out of the blue! She did it once more that same day, but she hasn’t done it since. Maybe she decided rolling over isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?
Another thing she has started to do over the past few weeks is pouting. She sticks out her bottom lip and is so dramatic about it. I can’t handle it. I’m sure the pouting lip will get old, but right now we think it’s the funniest thing we’ve ever seen. Where do they come up with this stuff?
Adriana appears to be showing early teething signs. After reading up on it and talking to other moms, apparently teething symptoms can start months before the first tooth cuts. Around the start of week 10, she started to drool a ton. She’s been chewing her shirts and soaking them, gumming everything, rubbing her cheeks (which can be from nerve pain), fussing and crying a lot more than usual, etc. She has also been rubbing her cheeks against my nipple when breastfeeding. Maybe it’s not early teething symptoms, but it sure seems like something is up. We pulled out her Sophie the Giraffe teething toy she received as a gift and she’s loving it so far. I also ordered her an organic cloth/wood teether from a Toronto company called Ringley.ca. I will report back if she likes it!
It’s probably going to implode as soon as I type this, but sleep has been pretty consistent lately. We’re in a great routine right now where I feed her around 9:30-10pm, she sleeps until 3-3:30am when she feeds again, and then she sleeps until 6-6:30am for an early morning feed. Our overnight sessions are also much shorter now. They used to take about an hour by the time everything was said and done, but now we’re down to about 25-30 minutes per session. I feed her on one side, then Eric burps her and changes her diaper, and then I offer her the other side (sometimes she takes it, other times not).
Breastfeeding is still going well, although she gets sillier by the day. Sometimes she loves to coo and act silly when I put her on the breast to feed (unless she’s very hungry, then it’s all business). I’ll go to feed her and she will look up at me with this huge grin on her face and let out a big squeak. It’s hilarious to her! It takes her a few moments of this little game and then she finally latches on. I’ve also been making progress with breastfeeding around other people a bit more. We went to a Christmas party this weekend and I fed Adriana in the same room as everyone else (I use this nursing cover). I’m shy so this is a big step for me. I hope to get more and more comfortable with it over time. I’ve also discovered parking lot nursing! We’ve had a couple outings this past week where she all of a sudden needed food yesterday, so I nursed her in the backseat of the car in a parking lot. I also changed her diaper in the back seat! It was awkward and I thought I was going to pull out my back, but it worked. You gotta do what you gotta do!
Our biggest challenge over the past few weeks (and really, the past 11 weeks) has been finding a balance with our relationship. Eric and I have a lot of love and respect for one another, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re on the same team. Sleep deprivation and hormones are no joke. It’s easy to be snappy and bicker for no good reason. So we’re trying to work on things and not take each other for granted. My friend told me that her and her husband have weekly meetings where they talk about everything from their children, to schedules, to their relationship. We gave it a shot and let me tell you it was so refreshing. We spent half of the meeting talking honestly about our relationship and parenting (what’s going good, what we can improve, how we can help each other) and the other half about our business. I think it’s going to help us a lot and we plan on continuing these weekly meetings into the future. It’s amazing how just a bit of communication can make all the difference.
Exercise: After getting into spin classes around week 8 and 9, I fell off the spinning bandwagon. When my dad came to visit during week 10, I didn’t make it to any spin classes. I didn’t want to wear myself out given there was a chance I could catch his flu. So I took that week off exercise. The week after, I decided to start working out in the basement on my treadmill. Since Adriana still isn’t taking a bottle, it’s a lot easier working out at home. So now when she naps I squeeze in my workout.
Here is what I’ve been doing:
Treadmill Hill Workout:
Warm-up for 2 minutes
1-10 minutes: Speed 4.3 mph, incline 8%
10-20 minutes: Speed 4.3 mph, incline 9%
20-30 minutes: Speed 4.4 mph, incline 10%
Cool down for 2-3 mins
It might be a walking workout, but don’t let that fool you. The hills and fast pace have me covered in sweat and out of breath!
I’m also doing these resistance/weight workout videos every other day:
10-Minutes Pilates Butt Workout (via FitSugar)
Madonna Arms 10-Minute Workout (via FitSugar)
I LOVE these two videos. In just 10 minutes each, I really feel like I squeeze in a great workout. The beauty is you can do them anytime, anywhere. For the Madonna arms, you will need a set of 3-pound and 5-pound dumbbells and for the butt workout you will need one 5-pound dumbbell. I’m loving getting my strength back!
Bottle feeding: We ordered the Comotomo bottle based on some of your suggestions. It has great reviews for babies who don’t take to bottles easily. She still hasn’t latched onto it yet, but we are going to keep at it (both with me out of the house and in the house). I think I have a fast letdown reflex, so we might also try ordering a nipple with a faster flow to see if that’s what she prefers…it’s all trial and error at this point!
Favourite game: I started sticking out my tongue at her to see if she would stick hers out at me. She is so captivated by my tongue sticking out! Sometimes she will stick it out back at us. It’s SO stinkin cute.
She loves: diaper changes, mornings, eating, daddy’s silly faces, snuggles/being held, mamaroo, playing airplane, bathtime, Christmas trees/lights, black chandelier in our bedroom (she grins at this thing)
She dislikes: nail clipping, ear cleaning, eye cleaning, gas pains
Nicknames: squirmy wormy, monkey, milk monster, werewolf
New postpartum symptom: We are both losing our hair! I knew this day would come…sniff, sniff. My hair got so thick during my pregnancy, and it’s starting to fall out now (especially around the forehead area – my hair stylist said this is so common). It’s the circle of life, I suppose. Adriana’s hair has also thinned out a lot! It seems to be coming in a lighter colour, so it’ll be interesting to see how it grows in.
Eye colour: Still blue, but they have changed from navy to a lighter blue now.
“It’s not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself,” – Joyce Maynard.
It sounds like you’re doing an amazing job and that everything is going pretty well! Thank you for your “real” assessment of life with a baby. Living in a Facebook world, people really only show the great moments, so when things are hard you think something is wrong with the way you’re doing it. I’m glad to hear you and your husband are finding ways to connect, which needs continual re-balancing as the weeks and months go on. My daughter is two now, and I enjoy reading your experience. The only way we got my daughter to take a bottle was for my husband to give it to her – she never once took a bottle from me – food always had to come in breast form when I was around! Good luck finding what works for you!
I love your blog and I love your cookbook. You put such attention and love into everything you do. I haven’t had the chance to try your tea yet but know without a doubt they too will be wonderfully delicious. You are a modern day wonder women – thank you for sharing your recipes and thoughts. I love reading whatever you write – I’m repeating myself again but you are amazing! At first I was interested in your recipes and now I’m addicted to your site and enjoying hearing about your trials and tribulations with baby/life and balance. I think what you are recording is brilliant. You daughter will be forever grateful that you have documented so much. You seem to have it together on so many levels. You are inspiring! Enjoy and savor every minute of being a Mommy! Many thanks for sharing.
I would love to see weekly updates if you can wing it. We just had our first baby a month ago, so I like reading up to see what may be coming.
Did you/do you co-sleep with Adriana at all? Just curious as it seems to be a touchy subject for some. I’ve been co-sleeping and been loving it (we both get great sleeps this way – tried the bassinet and i could only get 1-2 hours of sleep in the beginning! forget it) but some people think it may be hard to transition to a bassinet and then to the crib later on. Just curious what your experience has been like :)
Thanks for the update!!
My little one is 5 weeks and some change. It’s been so hard. I love her to death.
Love these updates!
Completely unrelated, but did you make a lot of freezer meals for when you got home from the hospital? I’m 37 weeks and thinking about what to do. If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear them!
Hi Angela…Fitness Blender.com may be an option for working out at home. They are a dynamite couple that provide free workouts. You can use the free workouts or purchase a workout plan. The workout plan works for me because they tell me what to do each day so that I am working all parts of the body. Your daughter is adorable. Best to you and your family.
Weekly, please! I can’t wait for your updates, I would open your blog on a weekly basis, just in case you posted a weekly (instead of bi-weekly) update! And could I please ask more cuty cute baby photos, I just looove watching Adriana grow!!
And thank you for disclosing it’s not all roses when a baby is born, it can seem pretty perfect on the blog, so it’s helpful to see that both of you are humans too!
I love the quote! I am slightly jealous that Adriana is sleeping so well for you. My son, Colt, will be 6 months old tomorrow, and we hit a milestone 5-hour straight sleep stretch just this week. He is not a good sleeper, and is normally up every 2 hours or so. I’m trying some No Cry/Tears methods first, since the sound of the Cry It Out (Ferber) method makes me cringe. I’ve read “The No-Cry Sleep Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley, however it doesn’t seem to be working (at least not yet). If you have any suggestions, I’d love your feedback. Good luck with the bottle! Colt took to the bottle easily. We started with the Medela Calma nipple, which fit the Medela bottles. The child has to suck for milk flow to establish from the bottle, which mimics breastfeeding. It worked great. However, after a couple of months, the nipples started leaking through. Since that defeated the purpose of the nipple, we transitioned to a Medela slow flow nipple, and he’s been using that with great success. Take care! I look forward to reading your next post.
Lovely post, Angela! I would also love weekly updates! Would also love to find out what songs are on that playlist, if you don’t mind sharing? ;)
Weekly updates would be great! I’m a first time mom of a 6 wee old. We are manly struggling with naps… Your posts with the highs and lows are so helpful!
This is too funny! I did the exact same thing. My son is now 2 years old and I still have a playlist on my IPOD title “Baby A” that was supposed to be for the labor room =)
I never understood the use of music during labor. I have had 3 all-natural child births. Baby #1 was 10 hours from start to finish, but only 8 hours of contractions (water broke first, and then I didn’t have anything for awhile). Baby #2 came in 1.5 hours (at home – that was fun – not). This last baby, was what I always thought it was “supposed” to be like – 17 hours, but 11 of them very manageable. I have NO idea how anyone could tolerate any distraction during labor at any time. It is just bizarre to me. But perhaps I lean more toward the Bradley approach (though never followed it, exactly).
Oh thank you for this! I love your weekly updates as it brings me back to my little ones newborn days. I too had a playlist and nothing came out of that damn bag (packed during my labour) until the next morning! Glad I wasn’t the only one. Also, I really appreciate you talking about the struggle with keeping a balance in your marriage. I think this isn’t spoken about enough and it’s enlightening to know that it’s normal, and others are experiencing it too. I had a lot of resentment towards my husband in the first few months and at times I felt like a single mother (especially during those feeding marathons in the middle of the night). Oh, the hormones! Everything is much better now, but I love your idea of having weekly meetings. Now that I’m back at work there seems to be even less time for each other. Thank you for keeping it real, and not sugar coating the journey.
My girl started acting like she was teething at 3 months and didn’t get her teeth for MONTHS. I recommend an amber teething necklace. Supposedly it releases a natural painkiller to cut down on teething symptoms. My biology-teacher husband is a total skeptic, and of course we have no way of knowing how bad teething would have been without it, but even my totally grounded nurse mother noted that the baby drooled less with the necklace and has said that the whole process (she’s now past 2) hasn’t been bad at all. And if nothing else, everyone comments on how cute it is! kellyscloset.com/Baltic-Amber-Teething-Necklace_p_4345.html
I just love reading these recaps, especially when we get to a similar stage. Liam turned 9 weeks yesterday and it’s so interesting to see the similarities between babies! Now I need to just catch on to your workout motivation…
ohoho… I read your comment on the loosing my hair…. Our second girl is 11 weeks on Monday and my older one just told me “mum, you are getting bald!”… it doesn’t help when little hands keep pulling the hair from my head :D
We are mix feeding because apparently I don’t have enough but incredibly she is very angry at the bottle and dislikes it and she started screaming at it now, which is a bit funny. she eats 2×30 ml, 1 x 50 ml and 2×70 ml so it is not like a lot she would need on top of the breastfeed but without it she is hungry. She sucks on the bottle, sips couple of time detaches and cries and makes auauauauaua sounds and latches again and again the same thing.
She really likes her boob. Her sister hated it and was biting me and pulling head away and making the angry wrrr sound when i breastfed her and when we offered the bottle she was all zen and nirvana. But with this one when I change my clothes and she sees my boobs – she smiles, turns her head, winks and sticks a tongue to them as if they are her best friends… and when I actually breastfeed her she looks like she is stoned with the half closed eyes and touching herself on the ear….the kids at that age are hilarious :)
Same here on so many levels, similar sleeping patterns, drulling and half wet shirts, workout (threadmil here too becaus emy schedule still depends on her schedule) and finally feeling like I am a human being again :)
stay strong
Hang in there, they say having a baby puts a huge strain on marriage but in time it settles and gets better. My daughter is 19 months and while it still can be challenging we are both United and amazed by this little lady. It gets so much easier as time goes on, before you know it you’ll be able to go out for date nights here and there, and then you’ll be missing your little munchkin!
Hey gorgeous lady, so happy to have found you. Thanks so much for sharing the good stuff. Your site is beautiful, love your pics, your stories (& your Joyce Maynard quote :))
Looking forward to sharing with you in the new year.
For now, just thought I’d let you know I’d mentioned your fantastic work in my latest post :))
http://foodthatsings.com/gluten-free-food/
Cheers Roni xx
I forgot my bag in the car during labour too! My expensive camera as well. And nope didn’t listen to music either although looking back I think it would have helped.
Half an hour after my daughter was born the police knocked on the door of the delivery room! I wasn’t even done being stitched! They called my husband out ( I was like “WHAT have you DONE?!) but told him our car had been broken into and my bag of special things for myself and baby was gone :( the thieves also had the disgusting nerve to also PEE IN MY CAR! However, they somehow missed my camera and I had a brand new baby girl via VBAC so I was on top of the world!
omg! I can’t believe that happened to you!