Hey there! Bringing home that new baby can be pretty overwhelming. I found there were a lot of things that seemed pretty self-explanatory, but then I was a little stumped on how I should go about doing it. Bathing was one of them. The first bath Jack hated it and cried the whole time. By the next week or so, I had finally found the secret formula that worked for both of us.
I am a visual learner, so I decided to take pictures of our bath process that we have used to show our setup for a smooth bath transition.
2. I also get everything out for after the bath too. I place it all on the floor because I find it the easiest and safest too. That way, if I forget something and he decides now is the first time to roll over, he isn't going far, and he isn't going to hurt himself.
3. Get out a muslin swaddle. Fold it in half into a giant triangle. Once baby is undressed, place baby's head at the top of the swaddle so that the shoulders line up with the crease. 4. Fold the bottom corner up in between the legs quickly. Especially if you have a boy, so you don't get peed on in the process. 5. Fold over both corners on the left and right of the baby to swaddle him or her.
6. Place baby in the bath and get the swaddle nice and wet with warm water. This will help them stay warm and calm during the bath. You will eventually need to rewet the swaddle with more warm water to keep the cloth warm.
When I bathe Jack, I will unswaddle and wash one half of his body. I usually start with the right side for whatever reason. In doing so, he still has the swaddle on half of him keeping him nice and warm. This is also a good chance to dunk that unswaddled corner into the water to reheat the cloth. PRO-TIP: When bathing the baby, pour the water over their head and let the water run down their face. TRUST ME ON THIS. You might think it is mean, but I promise it will save you from issues later down the line. This was one of the very first things I learned what not to do as a kid watching my younger twin cousins experience bathing. My aunt would shield the water from their eyes and face when they were babies. Later as toddlers, my mom was giving the twins a bath. When the water hit their face, they cried so hard that one of them vomited in the tub. When their brother was born a few years later, my aunt made sure to pour water over his head and let the water run down over his face.
7. Wash all those little cracks and crevices. Seriously, babies get gunk in the weirdest spots; behind their ears, in between their little fat rolls, etc.
Also, side note, if you are a first-time mom or dad reading this, the baby only needs a bath 2-3 times per week. CRAZY RIGHT!?! I loved bath time with Jack because he was so cute and fun in the tub, plus who doesn't love that clean baby smell. I was only bathing him 3 times a week and this still was too much for him. His skin started drying out and he started to get dandruff. He now has a Wednesday night & Saturday morning bath schedule. 8.Dry off that cute little nugget and bring the baby over to get diapered and clothed. I will usually just leave all the bath stuff out until after Jack is dried, clothed, and settled. That is one thing you will learn is that things can wait and you can come back to them even if it is 30 minutes later. It is not going anywhere! I hope this helps make life a little easier bathing that sweet little babe. Bath time is one of my favorite moments and I hope this process makes it a little bit easier on you and baby too! Happy bathing! Newborn Jack Taking a Bath
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When my husband and I first got married, we were on the fence about having children. We loved our carefree lifestyle. We could do what we wanted when we wanted. Life was perfect. At the moment, I didn't feel that "urge" that all the moms that I knew talked about. I figured when the time was right, I would know.
I first realized something was up when my breasts started tingling, just like that sensation when your arm falls asleep. My breasts also felt hard, like really hard. Then I realized I was late, which is uncommon for me. Ugh oh... could I be pregnant? I bought a pregnancy test and told my husband that I felt different. He thought I was crazy and didn't take it seriously. I took the test and even went so far as to record it with my phone. I wanted to capture our reactions just in case the pregnancy test came back positive. Sure enough, we were pregnant with two positive tests. I am going to admit it, at first I was freaked out, and so was he. But about an hour later, Tom told me how excited he was once the shock had worn off. This caused my worries to transform into excitement. We were supposed to see my family that night, so we decided why not tell them? We also recorded their reaction because we knew they would be shocked. My mom didn't disappoint with how excited she was about the news. The next day I woke up, I was beaming. I felt so special and excited. It was football Sunday, that's when I decided to give the baby the nickname Jules, after Julian Edelman until we knew the gender further down the line. It was a great day. Little did we know that that joy was about to be torn away from us. The following morning as I got up to prepare to get ready for school, my nightmare began to unfold. There it was, blood. I began to sob; my husband came rushing in. I begged him to go to the store and get me another test. He did; the nightmare continued to progress. They both came back negative. Great, I now had to go to work with a building full of children knowing I had lost mine. I felt it was too late to call in for a sub. I also knew if I didn't go to work, I probably would sit home and cry the entire day. I should have stayed home. For whatever reason, that day, out of all the days, my middle school students wanted to discuss the idea of me having kids someday. They had no idea how heartbroken and distraught I was and how I was barely hanging on by a thread that day. When I got home, I knew I needed to vent. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I don't like holding in my emotions. My husband always says I share our entire lives on Facebook; I felt this was the best way to cope with my heartbreak. I still do not regret this decision. I poured out my heart into that Facebook post that day. Little did I know the overwhelming amount of love and support that was about to come flooding back through my phone. Here was something else I didn't expect. It helped others begin to talk about their own experiences. I was shocked by how many women I knew that had experienced this tragedy themselves. The one moment that was the most powerful was when I received a private message from a former student. We had a great relationship when I had her in class in middle school. She found out that she was pregnant during her senior year and also lost the baby. Although she saw it as a second chance at regaining back her high school life, she still was saddened by her loss. Worse, was at the time, she felt she had no one to talk to about this. My heart broke for her. That night we had one of the best conversations. I was so proud of her for finding the strength to talk about it. Then I realized that so many women have probably had to face one of the worst days of their life alone. This hidden trauma and grief broke my heart even more. I know that not everyone is comfortable with sharing something so personal like this with others. But I promise you that if you find the strength to even reach out to another person, you won't regret it. That leads me to my list of ways to cope with miscarriage: Cry: You need to let it out for as long as you need to. Your hormones are a big mess, and your body is all out of wack. It is going to take time to heal both physically and emotionally. There may be days, even months down the line when you need to cry about it again. It is okay. Talk about it: It takes a lot of bravery to open up to someone about something so personal. But do you know what I think is worse, having to go through this alone. Don't be afraid to refer to them by name: No matter how short your little one's life was, it still was there. There was love and excitement about bringing that baby into the world. In my opinion, giving your child a name is a great way to honor their brief life. Share your story: I know that this one is definitely not for everyone and I completely understand and respect that. However, here is why I am mentioning it. When you are brave enough to share your story, you are helping break down the taboo of miscarriage. You also might be able to help someone else who is suffering silently. Also, when you are brave enough to share your tragedy with the world, if you decide to try and conceive again, the rest of the world celebrates even more with you when they find out about your rainbow baby. Find a way to remember your baby: There are multiple ways to do it. Here are some of the ways I have chosen and some other alternatives as well.
Get a tattoo:
Many people use this as their medium of choice to symbolize the moments they have gone through in life. Getting a tattoo is also a beautiful way to remember your baby if creating art yourself isn't your thing. It is also a way for fathers to honor the baby because dads feel the pain of your loss too. Buy a cake: I highly recommend this one for later down the line. You will eventually reach the inevitable due date day when you should have been snuggling your baby in your arms. When I realized mine was about a week away, all of those emotions came back and hard. I remember driving home with tears running down my face. I called my husband; we decided to buy a small cake for the two of us with some candles like you would a birthday cake. We lit the candles and said a little prayer. I am so happy we did this. I want to continue it every year. Try to find the silver lining: This one is tough, trust me, I know. How can you possibly find the good from something so heartbreaking? Everyone is different; it may not be possible for some of you reading this. However, I found mine; it did help me. My silver lining through this was that without getting pregnant by surprise with Jules, I wouldn't have realized that I did want to be a mom. I wouldn't have my beautiful little rainbow baby Jack; I wouldn't be talking to you trying to help you through this tough time. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. When you are ready, try again: After losing Jules, I knew I so desperately wanted to be pregnant again. I did some research and discovered that you can ovulate again two weeks after your miscarriage. I knew that I wanted to try again immediately. Those two weeks felt like an eternity. I bought these ovulation strips and used them every day to be sure I was ovulating before getting our hopes up. Sure enough, two weeks later, the test came back positive that my body was ovulating. Even better was that we were successful and were pregnant again on our first try. I promise that if you choose to try again when you conceive that next baby, you will be beyond thrilled, your rainbow baby will mean more to you than you can ever imagine. Mama, I wish you the best of luck. I hope that this blog has helped you to find ways to cope and survive this traumatic time. I plan on writing another piece next in regards to getting pregnant after your miscarriage to help you further with this part of your journey. I hope you stop back in to read it. |
Hey there, I'm Melissa.Just a vintage loving new mama sharing ideas, recipes and ideas for the home. Archives
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