Eight weeks with my sweet Finn.
He is absolutely the light of my life and has dramatically shifted my perspective on so many things…just like my dad told me he would. Funny how those parents really know what they’re talking about. 😉
THE FOURTH TRIMESTER: EIGHT WEEKS POSTPARTUM
Your questions!
I’ll start by answering a few questions that I received through Instagram.
- What surprised you the most about motherhood? Would you do it again? The thing that surprised me the most was much I loved someone I had just met and how quickly my mommy instincts kicked in. I was so overwhelmed when I was pregnant about how I would figure it all out but once he was here…I just did! I also can’t believe how strong that mama bear instinct is. And yes, I would 100% do it again.
- What’s been the biggest struggle with a newborn so far? The complete 180 on how I spent my time. It was SUPER tough for me to go from my very busy, very free daily life to basically a standstill with a newborn. I can confidently say that 8 weeks in that it has gotten SO much better! I’ve also fully embraced the slower pace of life…and to be honest there are many things about my “former life” that don’t feel so important anymore.
- Do you sleep train baby Finn? Not yet but I’m hoping to get him on a schedule-ish in the next few weeks. I’d mostly like to get a set bedtime and bedtime routine happening around here!
- What is the cutest thing Finn does? I love all the noises he makes when he’s feeding and how he grabs hold of my shirt with his hands. He also loves to be on his back and kick his legs. And I can’t get over all the smiling and cooing he’s doing these days!
- What other baby name were you considering before deciding on Finn? From January through early May, Finn was going to be named Gabriel and we were going to call him Gabe. I would say that was his “working name” through the latter half of my pregnancy but for some reason I could never FULLY get on board with it and to be honest…I had some negative associations with it because the last part of my pregnancy was emotionally difficult. I scoured thousands of baby names in the weeks before he was born looking for something fresh and kept coming back to Finn. It just seemed right. As a Jennifer, I wanted to name him something that was a little different and not super common but also not way out there. Finn was perfect! 🙂
What do we think? Does he look like a Finn?
Emotional well-being: I’ll dive deeper into this in my weekend recap post that will go live on Monday night.
Breastfeeding: I had a little hiccup last week when I felt like I all the sudden had an increase in my supply. I went from worrying that it was going down to feeling SO full and uncomfortable for a few days. I was leaking like crazy! I think it was a combination of Finn spacing out his feedings a bit + a possible growth spurt. We are back in a good groove again.
Sleep: it’s been hit or miss. We got in a REALLY good groove last time I was in Florida of only one wakeup per night and then when we came back to Charlotte he was up multiple times a night again to eat. He’s also become a little tougher to get down at night. This is why I’m thinking we need to get that routine and schedule going soon. My dream is to have one of those babies who has a set bedtime and sleeps for 12 hours a night (eventually!). We shall see. I’m trying not to get too attached to that dream.
Car purchase: most of you know that I’ve been in a car predicament for the last few months. I’ve been having problems with my car + it just wasn’t functional for two dogs and a baby. I REALLY wanted to try to make it a year with my car but it’s been acting up again the last couple of weeks. I had to bite the bullet and trade it in.
Fortunately, I have a friend who owns a car dealership. I had zero bandwidth to search for a car so he set me up with a very gently used small SUV that checked all the boxes for what I needed. I was SO not wanting to buy a car given all the other stuff I’m dealing with but I am grateful to now have something more reliable and functional. Car shopping is the worst ever.
Workouts/activity: usually working out is one of the ways that I deal with stress and anxiety but I have found in dealing with my current situation that I don’t have the energy for much more than walking. I’ve felt like my body has been under so much stress already that working out has felt like too much. I went for my second postpartum run on Friday and while it felt fine when I was doing it, the next day I thought to myself, “eh…I could take or leave that.”
I’m ready to get back into a better groove with my workouts but I’m also going to let my body and intuition lead the way.
Here’s what workouts looked like the last week:
Monday: 2.5 mile walk
Tuesday: REST
Wednesday: 1.5 mile walk
Thursday: 1.5 mile walk
Friday: 3 mile run + 30 minute beach walk
Saturday: yoga practice
Sunday: REST
Physical symptoms: I have a few new ones to report so I’m adding this back in this week. First, my face has started breaking out. Second, this is maybe TMI but postpartum body odor has been so much worse than ever before. I feel like no deodorant can stand up to it. It has to be hormones, right? Third, all that hair that I grew in pregnancy is already starting to shed…I knew this was coming!
QUESTIONS
When did you get your babies on a schedule? What resources did you use?
What surprised you the most about motherhood?
