Motherhood Q&A

A long while back on Instagram, I asked my followers to send me some questions on motherhood, and on this post, I'll be answering a few of my favorite questions.

How's motherhood?

Honestly, it's been great! It's everything I ever imagined, I can go on for days about this. I love Lucy so much she's everything I ever wanted. Being a mom is tough. There's a lot of wonderful days and also challenging days too. The good outweighs the difficult ones by a ton. It's true when they say that motherhood is the hardest job you'll ever have but the most rewarding.

What do you wish you knew before you had your daughter?

I wish I would have known how hard breastfeeding really is. You hear a lot that it's a natural thing so I personally assumed it would have been something I picked up naturally and easily, boy was I wrong. Lucy and I struggled with breastfeeding a lot! Once things were getting easier and we were getting the hang of things something would happen. It started off with Lucy being born premie so she wouldn't latch. Then when she finally started taking the boob it was only with a nipple shield which I freaking hated. Once the shield was dropped things finally felt like we were both on the same page and knew what we were doing however, we were hit with a nursing strike at three in a half months which I now hear is very common. I also felt like I had a dip in my supply since I had no idea that when it came to breastmilk it's a supply and demand. The more you empty out your breasts the more milk your body produces. So now, about seven and a half months of nursing, Lucy and I finally have a great routine and I'm so freaking proud of us! It was never easy for neither one of us, but we both continued to show up and I'm so happy I never stopped trying and never gave up.

How is Lucy sleeping at night?

Oh my goodness Lucy is a great sleeper always has been especially at night. We followed the Taking Cara Babies newborn course and that is where we got all the tips on how to get our little one to sleep through the night. At around six weeks old Lucy was already sleeping six-hour stretches. Since I think three or four months old she's been sleeping 9-10 hours. Because we implemented good sleeping habits early on I wasn't too worried about that infamous four-month sleep regression, and we got pretty lucky because Lucy never gave us any issues with sleep around that age. Naps can sometimes be a little more difficult, especially the last one, but I'd take rough naps over her waking up at night any day.

Are there any products that you regret buying?

You know I can't really think of a specific product I regret buying although I do regret buying a bunch of clothes for Lucy such as bigger sizes for when she got older. There are a few clothes she probably won't even get to use. Since she was born premie she ended up wearing her size newborn clothes until she was a little over three months old. She got very good use of the smaller clothes. Now that she is seven months old she is barely fitting into 3-6 months clothes and she had a few warmer pieces in that size since when she was 3-6 months we would have still been in late winter season early spring. Now as I'm slowly pulling out clothes she's now fitting into I'm realizing she probably won't get any use of the two-piece sets I had purchased with Summer being around the corner.

Do you have any advice for an expecting mama?

I have some advice. Number one, if you are planning on breastfeeding take all the help you can get from lactation nurses while you're in the hospital after birth, and even after you go home! Second, take the Taking Cara Babies newborn sleeping class because it helped Rudy and me a whole bunch. Third, if you're able to get help in the first few weeks take it. My mom stayed with us and was the biggest help on this planet with Lucy. She would let Rudy and me go to sleep at night and would wake me up to feed Lucy. Then around 2-3am I would feed Lucy and she'd be in her crib with us for the rest of the night so that my mom would get some rest. Sleep deprivation is real and you don't understand it until you have a baby. It's all so well worth it.

How difficult was the newborn stage?

I'm not sure if Rudy and I got so lucky with Lucy, but the newborn stage wasn't as hard as I always heard it would be. Yes, some days we're way more challenging than others and the little sleep was hard. Lucy has always been a great sleeper and maybe I'm even luckier to have a husband/partner like Rudy by my side. I tried not to overwork myself, accomplish things little by little, and above all nap while Lucy napped. People always suggest that you nap when baby naps and I hear new parents say that it's hard to. Yes, it can be hard but I made getting rest a priority because I know myself and I'm not the best person when I'm overly exhausted, and everything else could wait. The challenging part of the newborn stage was getting to know this new little person, getting adjusted to a whole new routine, and me breastfeeding.

What are your must-have products?

I shared an entire post on my newborn essentials so make sure to check that post out. To this day I still stand behind each and every single one of those products. Some products I didn't include but feel is worth mentioning are a car seat cover in black. I highly recommend getting a black one because it'll help the baby sleep. Lucy sleeps in a black-out room and that's just how she gets the best sleep. When she was a lot younger and if we had to run errands we would go during her nap and I would keep her in the car seat and cover her with the Copper Pearl car seat cover and she would go right to sleep. I still do this whenever when going on long drives during her nap time. Another is some kind of baby-wearing product. We own the Solly Baby one and I recently purchased the Wild Bird sling and I love them both. I would do the Solly Baby one for when your baby is a tiny newborn and the Wild Bird sling has been fun now that Lucy is older, more alert, and heavier.

I had to come back just to add this product. I forgot to mention the Elvie pump. I didn't purchase this pump until Lucy was maybe four months old. Rudy and I decided to invest while Lucy was going on a nursing strike and I felt my supply had dipped, so to bring back my supply I started pumping after each feeding. I have been using this pump religiously ever since. It's definitely a pricey item, and we purchased the double, but I don't regret it one bit. It has made pumping through the day while it's just me by myself with Lucy so much easier since it is a cordless pump. While using this pump throughout the day it has also helped me rebuild my freezer stash of milk. I recommend it if it's something that will work for your family.

Do you guys want more kids?

This is such a hot question everyone asks, and I know it's with good intentions, immediately after you have your baby. As of right now, my answer is no I don't want any more kids, Rudy, however, would love to have one more. It's funny it's usually the women that I hear want more kids. This might become a very long answer to this question but here I go. Every month and year that passed while Rudy and I were trying for a baby I would pray to God to bless me with a baby. One baby that's all I was asking for a healthy baby that I would cherish and love for the rest of my life. I didn't even care what gender it was although like many yes I did have a preference and always envisioned myself having a daughter. When I finally became pregnant with Lucy and when she was born I got absolutely everything I ever asked for. I feel complete right now with no need for another child since God blessed me with all I prayed for. Since Rudy and I did IVF we do have embryos frozen so if we wanted to do another transfer or even try and see if we could conceive naturally we always can in the future. I promised Rudy that when Lucy turns three we can reevaluate this topic and if we would want another one I'd aim for when Lucy turns four years old to expand our family.

How long do you wish to breastfeed?

My personal goal would be to breastfeed until Lucy is at least eighteen months old. If we end up going longer than we do. I'm just so proud of how far we've come especially with all the struggles we faced. With all the struggles I would tell myself let's make it to six months, and we did now I'm telling myself eight months which will be in a few weeks. After that twelve months and well eighteen months. Nonetheless, I'm very happy that I personally stuck at it and really made breastfeeding a priority.

Favorite part about being a mom?

Having Lucy! I'm certain every parent will say this about their child, but Lucy is so freaking amazing. I have been enjoying every single stage of her life and as she gets older she's only becoming more and more fun. I love watching her evolve into her own little person and watching her discover new things. Recently she's discovered her voice and that she can scream, so this little lady has really been enjoying yelling from time to time especially while eating haha.

Birth control?

YES! Now that we have Lucy I'm terrified of getting pregnant again especially with her being so little still. Before Lucy was born I spoke to my OB about my options and I decided to get the Mirena. I got it put in as soon as I had my postpartum appointment and I'm happy that I did that immediately. I have only ever been on the pill but so far I've really been enjoying this form of birth control and not having to make sure I didn't forget to take a pill daily which was never a problem for me in the past. Now with having a baby my mind can be scattered sometimes so I didn't want to risk forgetting to take it.