Welcome To The World + Our Party Of Four

April 30, 2019

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Taking a little break from the newborn haze to introduce you to our newest bundle of love Camille Annette (both girls have middle names after my grandmothers)… who entered this world on April 22nd at 5:24pm. After being induced last Monday… and then having the doctor break my water… she arrived so much quicker than I could have anticipated. We’ve been enjoying lots of family time… bonding + acclimating to life as a party of four… and lots of family coming over to visit.

Overall labor was non eventful, thankfully, and we stayed in the hospital overnight and headed home the following day to get life started with little miss….

I’ve received a lot of questions as to how Harper is dealing with the transition, and overall I’d have to say she is doing really well. She loves having a little sister… asks for her first thing when she wakes up… gives her tiny kisses throughout the day… sings her songs… and is always wanting to hold her. I think the most challenging change has been the divided attention that was once all hers. Being that I am currently exclusively breastfeeding, my attention has shifted tremendously (I forgot how demanding the early days of nursing are….). TJ has been able to jump in and take over, which has been very helpful. Yet, I think that once Camille + I get a good rhythm established for nursing, I will start pumping and using a bottle here and there so that others can help and I can give Harper more focused attention. Right now, I try to spend dedicated time with her before bed, after her bath (she likes it when I dry her hair), when she wakes up from her naps, and everywhere in between. The balancing act isn’t easy, but we’re navigating. We have also had some minor regressive behaviors (i.e. wanting to nurse or use a pacifier) but nothing that has lasted past us explaining to her that she used to do that when she was Camille’s size, but now that she is a big girl she gets to “drink out of a cup” or “sleep in a big girl bed.”

The other question I’ve received with frequency is how am I recovering. In all honesty, this recovery has been easier than it was with Harper. Not sure if it was because I only pushed for 20 minutes this time around (as compared to almost 2 hours the first time around)… or the exercises I did this pregnancy. After I had Harper I remember being so amazed at my complete lack of core strength…. getting off of the couch required so much in terms of support… and it took a long time until I was able to just stand up and get off of the couch without assistance. This time around, my core strength seems to have remained intact. The only difference in my exercise routine this pregnancy was that I utilized the Tone It Up prenatal workouts until the end, which I feel worked the core indirectly, and has helped me feel so much stronger post-pregnancy.

I’m looking forward to sharing more of this “party of four” journey here with you all! Hoping to be back to a somewhat consistent posting schedule next week. Hope you all have a great week!