I'm really reluctant to share these because I'm deeply enraged by how ripped off I was. So before you skip to the photos read this if you're about to be a new parent or know a new parent.
DON'T GET RIPPED OFF AT THE HOSPITAL.
They will send in a photographer that will try and sell you the pictures they take. Only buy into it if you make sure you're prepared for their visit and you make them take ALL of the pictures you want. Get them to take pictures with you and the baby. Get them to take pictures of your baby all dolled up in whatever outfit you want them to be wearing in the pictures.
The amount of money I paid for these 8 pictures on a USB drive is embarrassing. I wish I wasn't mega drugged up and hormonal when the girl came to sell me on them. To my defense, I would have never bought them if I knew there would only be 8 pictures. I wasn't that drugged up, but I was too drugged up to ask. :(
So, BOO on Mom365, I want more for my money.
Go spend your money on a birth photographer or some one that does lifestyles photo shoots and will come take way more pictures that are way better, and creative and worth every penny!
So, with further ado, the 8 pictures I could have taken with my Iphone.
Okay, okay, a day late! But, happy one month to us being a family! In honor here are a few pictures that had me crying my eyes out at 3am this morning nursing Peggy.
There's more to come and more you'll never get to see.
I am eternally grateful I let Ali, my kick ass doula take pictures. When I write my reasons you need a doula blog, I'll post how to hire her as your doula and or birth photographer. Until I write that or get back to editing and updating this blog with her info ask me and I'll directly message you how to be in contact with her. She gets ten out of five stars.
We did it! We have survived the first two weeks of parenthood! It's everything we did and didn't expect. It's mostly easier than we thought but with a thick layer of exhausted icing. Here's fourteen thingsI've learned while earning the new title of Mom.
1. Breastfeeding is really hard. I couldn't understand how it could be until I had to do it.
2. Humor is key. Laugh a lot. Laugh at every blast that comes out of your little blast ended screwt. Don't groan about another diaper change in less than five minutes.
3. Be prepared. Slide a new diaper right under her butt before you slide off the old one.
4. Baby clothes. Adorable, but what a joke. The cuter the outfit the more swear words that are required to put them on!
5. Postpartum hormones are more insane than all nine months of pregnant hormones combined. I cried today driving Peggy to her check up because right after the new Missy Elliott song came The White Stripes, Seven Army Nation. Insert crying, driving through Brookside at 8am me, "Peggy these songs make me so h-h-happy"!
6. The 30-second rule. Peggy likes to sleep talk, or so I like to think that's what she's doing. I've learned to wait just a little bit before I decide to get up and start the process of feeding and changing her when she makes one of her many varied noises.
7. I certainly will miss nine months without a period. I also remember why I hate pads so much.
8. People love babies. People do great things when you have a baby. Like surprise you and babe with gifts and amazing food or find people who have leads for jobs for your husband to keep us in Kansas City.
9. Driving is scary. Okay maybe it's a little more scary that I drive a Mini Cooper but suddenly i feel really tiny and surrounded by gigantic tank like cars ready to run us off the road now that I have this tiny human with me.
10. It takes a lot of work to not strangle, kill, scream at, laugh insanely, or cry when Rick tells me he's tired. I gotta count to ten, fight every urge to snap at him and ask him how badly do his boobs hurt. I pumped and gave him a night shift and he learned quickly, his tired isn't like my tired. I am cutting him some slack now that he's decided to move out of the guest room and back with us. I take it as a sign my pregnancy snoring is getting better. AMEN!
11. Taking a shower feels better than any "need to shower" moment ever before in my life.
12. Sleeping on my stomach again.... Weird.
13. Leaving the house takes serious planning and coordination. So long are the days of jumping out of bed last minute.
24. Being a mom feels so good and so right. No matter how tired I get, how sore my body is, how creeped out I am when Peggy goes all poltergeist and roller her eyes around learning how to use them, or how sore my boobs are, she's worth every bit of it!
Oh! Also! Tomorrow, December 22ns is Peggy's official due date! I can't believe she's two weeks old. I'm so thankful I'm not still waiting for her! Clocking in at almost 8 pounds two weeks early, she would have been quite the Christmas ham.
We had another doctors appointment today, mostly a weight check because we had a rough time starting off breastfeeding and things are going well! Peggy is back to her birth weight! Yay!
Fair warning, there's no rhyme or reason to the order of my blog posts!
1. A long robe.
Www.walmart.com
A long robe is a must. It was a huge benefit when I was allowed once to wander the halls of the hospital with my darling Doula, Ali pushing my IV around with me. It covered my ass while I was rocking one of those horrible hospital gowns, which, do suck on all kinds of levels, but trust me, I'm glad they exist. I went through a few of them during my stay. Postpartum wise, a major blessing. A must for hormone cold and hot flashes, covering up when company visits and wearing a bra or shirt is the worst sounding idea ever, and getting used to breast feeding, this is perfect, because like a just said wearing a shirt or bra, even nursing tops just seems horrible and impossible at the beginning.
2. Pain killers
Don't say no to the pain killers they bring you in recovery. The first week, was horrible for crotch pain. Everyone would ask me, " how's mom?" I always said, "not to bad, but my ass is killing me". It was the truth. I have second degree tears down there, which aren't as horrible as the horror stories you hear about like ripping to your rectum, thank god, but I have stitches in the front, back and side of my lady parts. I could tell every four hours it was time for the major pain killers because they would begin to wear off and I would be finding myself in a serious struggle to get up out of bed or even readjust in bed.
3. A Doughnut
Www.amazon.com
What a life savior. I ordered this on Amazon prime within hours of being moved to my recovery room so it would be home for my arrival. Like I said before my butt hurt SO much! A lot of ladies I've heard use their Boppy pillows for bottom pain relief. I don't have one, so this was worth every penny. I could take it around with me in the house easily and deflate it to travel with it easily. This is my number one must have thing for after birth needs.
4. A Peri Bottle
The hospital will give you one for recovery. It's great for cleaning down there, but it's also amazing when you need to pee. You sort of torture yourself as you wait for the water to warm up a bit to refill the bottle, but sqirt yourself while you pee to delute your urine and it significantly combats any stinging or pain you have while you pee. I like to put a little which hazel in mine too.
5. Aloe Vera and Witch Hazel
I mixed the two into a spray bottle, and sprayed it onto a maxi pad for my first few days home. I had premade maxi pads with this and froze them, but it was way to cold for me! The room tempature gel aloe Vera did the trick for cooling and relieving the pain. You can find all kinds of tricks and tips for postpartum padicles online.
6. Sleep
"Sleep when the baby sleeps"
It's much easier said than done, especially the first few days you're home and all wound up, no matter how exhausted you are. But once your excitement calms down, SLEEP! I have had a few crying fits myself from being totally exhausted and burnt out while trying to figure out breast feeding.
7. The Swaddel
Www.bertiesblankets.com
Learn the art form of swaddeling! Seriously! It's magic. There's tons of videos and info online, you'll be so happy you learned this trick! It knocks Peggy out every time!
I'm sure I'll have more favorite things posts coming!
I'm quickly realizing I'm going to have a lot of spare time on my hands, well, sort of. My days are now going to be filled with waddling to the bathroom, crying out "my ass! My ass it hurts so much!", feedings and laying around with Peggy snoozing on me!
I'm switching back over to this blog, on blogspot because I can't post to my other blog from my iPad so keep coming back here! Rickandallie.blogspot.com
As I type this, I immediately think my dad telling me like he has so many times, "you know a lot of people follow you on Facebook, a lot, more than you think." I know it's his way to constantly remind me to not write things that could make me or anyone look bad or regret, which I get, and thanks dad! But fair warning dad, I'm going to be super candid about my pregnancy, labor and being a first time mom. There's a lot I went through I had no idea could or would happen, I also learned a lot from asking other moms and especially from the moms who told me exactly how it is and I've had numerous folks, well, ladies, who have thanked me for being so opened and honest about my experiences. Truly that's what my goal is, to say something here to inspire or prepare any future mom for what is or could be in store for them.
I also have to stress, that I am not a professional I am just a regular lady who had a baby. All babies and moms are different only your doctor or midwife knows what truely is best for you and you need to know you can and must always maintain an open and honest conversation with them about how you feel with all the changes your body is going through. They have seen and heard it all!
I'm planning on writing a bunch of blogs to break up my experiences... labor, life at the hospital, hiring a doula, breast feeding, epidurals, pre-eclampsia, and what not!
So keep checking back! I'll also post pictures here that I won't post anywhere else!
With Love,
Allie and Peggy!
Ps. Rick and I were so excited to see how our pets, fur-babies, react to Peggy. Our doula suggested we bring home the orginal receiving blanket Peggy was "caught in" before we came home to have them all become familiar with her smell. Which we did!
We got home, our 8-9 year old lab, Cosmo 2.0 gave her lots of wet noses kisses, Henry our about to turn 5 year old corgi, wasn't very interested he was more stoked for me to be home after being away, he did give her kisses, licks. Once we were settled in he decided he was scared of her! He wanted to be curious but when we would get near her he would be so scared and nervous around her. It's really adorable, it's really like he knows she's fragile and he's a little wild child that needs to be careful!
Suzy, my 8 year old cat, who was super In love with my baby bump just isn't sure about her. She has warmed up and rubbed her face all over Peggy, but she's also in the boat, of being stoked moms home more than anything. Then there's Helga. Helga my about to turn 8 years old cat who is also known as Helga The Hell Cat, is the most interested in her! She, as soon as we came in wanted to see her, sniff her and stare at her! It's adorable! She's been our shadow and when she's not she finds her way to us as soon as Peggy starts crying. Melts my heart!
One of the first things I noticed in the house, which turned into a list containing at least one million "oh that's not right" or "that needs to be changed" things, was I could see brush strokes on the paneling in the dinning room. The wood just looked sort of gross. To glossy, dinghy and dark. The picture below, you can see to the upper left some of the brush strokes.
Instead of plain paint or shockingly much more expensive wallpaper, I'm going old school and using fabric to line the paneled walls that are not wood. I'll have another post up soon with all the choices so you can help vote for which is the best. So now that the wood is actually much lighter, this changes the game a little for which fabric we like.
But for now.... I figured I would show you guys a quick little demo of how easy it is to remove paint from wood, with out using harsh chemicals! I always cringe and usually blurt out something along the lines at resale shops, "yuckkkk! That would have been an awesome dresser, that could have made them more money if they didn't paint it!" If you have a nice piece of furniture but it's beat up, DO NOT PAINT IT! Please. In a weekend or less you can refinish it back into the beautiful piece of art it originally was.
But some times we fall in love with a piece that is some ghastly purple color, buy it for ten bucks and add it to the grave yard of other, "I'll get to it" projects. Not, that I speak from experience of anything....
What You Need.
- A Heat Gun
-A Putty Knife
You can find these near the paint or drywall
department. Don't get too wide of one, three inches
max. Also buy the one step up from cheapest, you'll
drive yourself a little crazy using too thin and flimsy
of a knife. Remember to keep it clean and free of
bends and dents
- Something to lay your heat gun on and tools
The heat gun stays hot for quite sometime,
so make sure you don't leave it laying around
on something that could catch on fire. Also,
your other tools likely will have sticky hot
paint on them.
- A Mask that blocks out vapors and odors.
Spend the $6.00 for the one mask, don't be cheap
and get the five pack of"dust masks" for a buck.
- Wire brushes
I like brass for cleaning out the
grain and nylon as a cleanup
after cooled brush.
I have a big ol' respirator to use as my mask.
If you do a lot of projects, it's worth the 30-60 bucks
to not constantly be buying new masks.
Please don't burn you're house down! Be aware of everything you do!
Lay down a crappy towel or newspapers below your work space, the paint is gooey when hot. Turn on your heat gun, not a blow dryer, to medium, maybe high, don't be antsy, start low and move up in heat, you don't want to burn your wood. At first it takes a little while to warm up the paint, but once you see it start to bubble you're ready to go!ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS scrape with the grain!Did you get that? Always scrape, scrub, brush, wax, oil, whatever with the grain of the wood. If you don't do this, just give up and pay someone to do projects for you. You need very little pressure to scrape the paint off. Once you get through to the wood it is really easy to get the feel of how hard you scrape. Then go to town, scraping along the grain! I like to use a wire brush to help get the gunk out of the grain, I use a brass wire brush gently and once the wood has cooled I use a nylon brush to dust off any left over paint globs.
And, Now! The time lapse uncovering of the beautiful
quarter sawn white oak that lines our dinning room walls.
Once I have the wood all clear of paint, I might go back through with super fine steel wool and a chemical remover. But I don't think I will need to do that here unless there are a few nasty spots that are being fussy. Then I will move on to the next steps of cleaning, feeding and finishing the wood!
