Newborns

I had a cesarean section to have my daughter in 2018. Though I ended up having an emergency one on a day I didn’t schedule, the original plan was to schedule it because my daughter was breech. I was surrounded by other pregnant women while I was pregnant. Many were doing everything in their control to have a natural birth. They talked about it a lot and I enjoyed listening. I was always intrigued by natural birth but never saw it as a journey I wanted to embark on. Here’s the thing... I quickly found out there’s a subgroup of women in the natural birth category that believe how you birth your child is not only not your personal business and decision,...

Before my personal experience as a NICU mom, I knew other moms who had been through a NICU stay. My sister and sister-in-law had both been there. I visited my nephew in the NICU. I saw what was on the surface: they left the hospital without their baby, the strict NICU rules, scrubbing in. Still, I had no clue what they were experiencing on a personal level, at least not until I had my son at 24 weeks, weighing 1 lb. 11 oz. and 12 inches long. From September 1, 2017, to June 25, 2018, Junior was in the NICU in critical condition. One of the toughest parts of his 10-month stay was the fact that not a single person knew...

Welp, here I am, almost 30 weeks pregnant with twins! It’s truly crazy how fast it has flown by. As the months have passed, I’ve talked to my doctors, read a book or two, and scanned plenty of posts from other twin moms. I have openly accepted that this birth will be much different from my last two. I will either deliver the twins via C-section or vaginally with an epidural, and I will deliver them in the OR either way. I am ok with either scenario. It will mostly depend on the position the babies are in. But I thought I’d share my experience with natural birth and impart my advice if there are any moms out there...

Right now you’re in the trenches. The days are so long, and if a genie popped out of your coffee cup, your only wish would be more sleep. Blessed uninterrupted sleep. It feels like that day will never come. Whether it’s a colicky infant or a toddler who climbs in your bed at 5 am every morning (doesn’t he know it’s Sunday?!), there’s always a reason that you’re forced to face the day before you’re ready. You read about people who wake up at 4:30 in the morning each day to exercise – on purpose – and you wonder how anyone is ever well rested after they become parents. When Will It End? When many finally emerge depleted from the toddler stage...

In February 2018 I just landed an amazing job, bought my own house, just turned 23, felt the most comfortable I ever had in my own skin, and recently retired from competing for Miss Louisiana. I felt like things had fallen into place until I found out I was pregnant. I was scared, but not for the typical reasons someone young and not married would be scared about having a baby. I had supportive family and friends. That was no issue. It felt like a death sentence. I was scared because of everyone telling me “just wait”. Everything I was told and read made being pregnant feel like a death sentence. I was generally advised to hurry up and get married, quit...