kids playroom
Love the wall color. Also, crown molding just has a way of making rooms look gorgeous.
(via roomforkids)
call her blessed: Tips from a friend about Labor and Delivery
A friend of mine just recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl :) She sent me an email about a week after her delivery and passed down some really awesome insider tips about labor and delivery (things she learned, things she wished she remembered etc). I wanted to share them with you all!
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My 2 cents :)
-Bring the nursing bra and your Lansinoh to the hospital with you. And clothing-wise, bring something that you wore when about 5mos pregnant as you will be that size (just about) when you leave the hospital. I just had a tank top and some maternity shorts.
-Snacks are great. Joe and I brought a cooler with fruit, fruit juice, string cheese, yogurt, etc to tide us over.
-I, for some reason, refused the stool softeners at the hospital. Why? Because I pooped so much while I was in labor because it felt like I had to go all the time so I thought I didn’t have anymore left. HA. So, take the stool softeners and buy a bottle for when you get home. I think I took them for 2 weeks. I was more scared of going #2 after labor than I was of actual labor.
-Extra strength Tylenol was my friend, too (he and Mr. Stool Softener hung out a lot in my medicine cabinet postpartum).
-I stocked up on the thinner Always brand pads and thought they were enough for the postpartum bleeding. The ones from the hospital are great for going to sleep because they are super long and super thick (that’s what she said).
-Tearing wasn’t that bad for me either, and I think it helped that the nurse was massaging down there the whole time I was pushing.
-And one thing I didn’t know about contractions—you have to push 3 TIMES with each one! I thought you only pushed once! So this really caught me off guard. It is super exhausting (this is when the fruit juice really helped—nothing like a burst of sugar to get a boost of energy!) but actually is a relief to know that after all your hard work, you little baby will be in your arms.
-You’ll barely remember how painful it really was. It’s weird—I’m sure it’s some evolutionary mechanism so humans would continue to procreate but it trips me out. I know it was painful, I know how the contractions feel like, but the last 2 hours or so while I was in transition and while I was pushing Logan out? I can’t even imagine it anymore.
And that’s it! Honestly, just go into it with an open mind. Anything can happen, and at the end of all of it, you will have your little baby! :) Can’t believe you’re almost to your 3rd trimester!
EDITED TO ADD: -bring cookies or any other snack that suits your fancy for after delivery. Between the exhaustion, not eating while in labor, and just having pushed a baby out, you will be ravenous (I was!). I ended up sending Joe to get me pastries from Starbucks the morning I had Logan because breakfast wasn’t served until about 9am!
Was going through my archives just now, and currently feeling very nostalgic. I was 16 weeks pregnant this time last year, and I couldn’t wait to find out if we were having a girl or boy. How time flies, as they say. How is it that it has only been 29 weeks (yes, I still count in weeks!) since Logan was born and I now couldn’t imagine my life to be any different than what it is now? She has consumed me entirely, completed me, really, that I sometimes wonder what kept me going before she came along.
“ourbabyx replied to your post: Thrifting
Are you still couponing too?”
I am trying, but it is so time-intensive that although I have the coupons, I just don’t make it to the stores to actually buy the stuff! I get the coupons for free from my boss though so I’m not buying the paper just for the coupons (otherwise, I would feel the pressure to actually use them!).
“softcaressofhappiness replied to your post: Thrifting
The thrift store you wrote about in your post sound a lot like a chain of stores here with the discount by color. I’m not sure how far the chain expands but it’s called mega thrift here, what’s the name of yours?”
Hi Jasmine! Ours is called Ecothrift. I think it’s great that the thrift stores have those discounts because it makes it all the more awesome to buy the items for so cheap! By the way, you’re so close to meeting your little boy! So exciting :)
Thrifting
So, now that I can fit in normal clothes (thank you, breastfeeding), and we have a new house (read: lots of empty spaces that need to be filled), I am loving thrift store shopping again. I’ve started a new Tumblr to document my finds:
Already, I have a few things I want to share! My number one thing that I love to shop for is books for Logan (see previous post). I have at least a hundred books, most from Beatrix Potter and Dr. Seuss, with some vintage Winnie the Pooh thrown in there. I also love finding blazers for myself, and now dresses. I can’t wait to see what treasures I can document this year!
The amount of books I’ve amassed (and continue to) for Logan is forcing me to find more creative ways to display them. This fits the bill.
(via roomforkids)
I think parenting young children (and old ones, I’ve heard) is a little like climbing Mount Everest. Brave, adventurous souls try it because they’ve heard there’s magic in the climb. They try because they believe that finishing, or even attempting the climb are impressive accomplishments. They try because during the climb, if they allow themselves to pause and lift their eyes and minds from the pain and drudgery, the views are breathtaking. They try because even though it hurts and it’s hard, there are moments that make it worth the hard. These moments are so intense and unique that many people who reach the top start planning, almost immediately, to climb again. Even though any climber will tell you that most of the climb is treacherous, exhausting, killer. That they literally cried most of the way up.
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Good stuff from this honest article that puts it all in perspective. (via ilovebean)
This is beautiful—thank you for sharing, Laurel!