Last Thursday morning, our lucky little 7/11 baby girl made her grand entrance at 9:24 a.m. here in Madison, Alabama following a successful induction. (I hope to share the birth story soon, if you’re interested.)
She weighed in at 7lb 14oz and is 20″ long. She has a head full of long, dark hair (our first baby with not only dark hair but some decent length as well!) and has the cutest little nose and cheeks.
We stayed at the hospital for the traditional 48 hours post delivery and then came home to two big sisters who could not wait to love on her. My parents made sure our home was warm with balloons on the mailbox (letting the neighbors know that I fiiiiiinally had this baby, haha!), a breakfast casserole and fresh fruit for brunch (my favorite), and a chicken parmesan casserole in the refrigerator ready to go for dinner. They left to go home shortly after we arrived, officially kicking off our lives as a forever family of five.
The last week has been full of normal postpartum things, which is always a combination of the happiest moments and some difficult physical obstacles too.
The “my heart is actually exploding” moments have included welcoming friends and family into our home to meet our girl (we have truly felt the love from our people via their company and generosity), seeing our two big girls gush all over Jillian while she’s in her DockATot, tons (and tons) of hours spent holding her as she slept after a feeding, and seeing her eyes get wider and more curious about her surroundings. There was one day where I cried three or four times while staring at her because I was just so happy, so grateful, and just in such awe that she’s our daughter. Babies are such a miracle and I find myself being more and more in awe with the addition of every little one.
The difficult moments have included the struggles and pains associated with engorgement and mastitis, some deep right pelvic pain from my body contracting and putting itself “back together”, and simply just the struggle/adjustment of not sleeping much for days on end.
Most of these things, both the happy and the difficult, are totally normal for a postpartum mother, but I found myself many times wishing I could just enjoy this precious baby girl and her teeny self without the first week being partially wrecked by all of the yucky physical discomfort and adjustments. “I just want to physically feel as good as I emotionally feel” is what I kept thinking, because the physical stuff (specifically all things related to breastfeeding) were acting as such joy suckers.
But my mom comforted me well when she said “This is why moms typically get six weeks of maternity leave, because it generally takes that long to recover, adjust, and figure out everything uncomfortable and new”. This made so much sense to me. Recognizing that I wouldn’t have this perfect little peanut without the no-fun stuff just isn’t much of a reality.
We’ve taken it super easy the last week or so, and we plan to do more of the same this upcoming week. The girls and I have honestly had such a fun, full summer, so I don’t mind kicking my feet up a bit with Jillian throughout the remainder of the month, getting to know her and her needs more, squeezing in one-on-one time with each of our big girls, and allowing friends and family to help entertain Hadley and Sadie when they offer.
I’m not trying to be any kind of hero here, so I’ve committed to doing my best to accepting help when it comes our way. I’m not the best receiver sometimes, but I’m trying to do better at allowing people to love on us in this way.
It’s been fun to share our journey to Jillian here on the blog. We found out that she was on her way on November 3rd, which feels like yesterday. I can’t believe nine months flew by the way they did and now we have our girl here. I never saw myself having three kids, and I sure never pictured my life with three daughters, but man – this is so obviously how our lives are supposed to be, raising a handful of sisters. We’ll never stop counting our blessings and thanking God for bringing to fruition the plan He laid out for our family, a plan that is so much more fun than one we would have designed on our own (and that’s for dang sure!)
Thanks for the love via social media, friends! Your messages and comments have been sweet and fun to read, even though I haven’t been able to respond to them all. I’ve read them and appreciate them, and you!! xoxoxo
Hi! I’m Erica, and I absolutely adore sharing my life on this website with you! I come here almost daily to blab about all of the things related to being a regular wife and mother in today’s ever-evolving society. I share about our new home, what’s on our kitchen table, what we’re hanging in our closets, where we’re traveling to next, my crazy 5 a.m. work outs, how I make time for girlfriends, our faith, and much more. We always have a lot of balls in the air and somewhat thrive on the chaos. I believe in the power of story-telling as a form of inspiration and entertainment, so I’m here to do both! I was born and raised in north Alabama and recently re-planted roots here again after my husband transitioned out of the Army (he is now in the Reserve and it’s going so well!) I’m a super proud mom to three little girls (ages 7, 4, and 1) who seem to be the stars of the show around here (for good reason – they’re pretty great!) I’m so glad you found me and are here reading! I hope we can get to know each other here on the blog as well as Facebook and/or Instagram. xoxo