I thought maternity leave would mean lots of time to blog and take pictures. While Tad’s room has become my new home office, I haven’t been paying attention to blogging like I thought I would. We are taking plenty of pictures of the little man, but like most parents, aren’t keen on openly sharing all of our family moments, especially given all of the fears that come along with putting your whole life online.

We were very fortunate that everything went well with his birth for both of us, and that all four grandparents were anxiously waiting just outside the door to meet him. I don’t have a dramatic rush-to-the-hospital story as we ended up scheduling the delivery, which was the perfect choice for me. I wasn’t going to go into details here, but this seems to be what all of my friends are asking about! I went into the hospital around 6am and they started Pitocin to induce contractions a couple of hours later. Since Pitocin (a synthetic form of the hormone oxytocin) can cause pretty intense contractions that come on quickly, they gradually increased the dosage in my IV every 20-30 minutes. I didn’t feel a thing until around noon, but by 3pm, when the maximum dosage was being delivered, I definitely felt the contractions. I wasn’t set on having an epidural, but was open to it, and Ted strongly encouraged me to go for it at that point, especially since the anesthesiologist was only two doors down. I literally felt no pain for the rest of the day, and was still excited and somewhat rested when Tad finally made his appearance. The combination of a scheduled delivery and epidural makes for a pretty boring story, but I’m glad I got to  watch Gossip Girl on Netflix all day and relax.

Once we got home, I was excited to find that my clothes fit again, but quickly realized that wool/cashmere dry clean only sweaters are not newborn friendly and pretty quickly regressed to wearing mostly workout wear and cuddly fabrics. My new mom “uniform” is mostly Lululemon crops, a cotton nursing tank, and a cuddly sweater or soft jacket that won’t scratch or irritate Tad’s little face. I have to admit that I have more fun getting him dressed these days than getting dressed myself, though we both usually have an outfit change or two during the day! Days are filled with lots of cuddles, and nights are less anxiety provoking now (partially due to Tad’s Owlet monitor).