Cardigan // Finn’s Outfit // Soothe Shirt
Thank you to Olay or partnering with me on this post on life with a newborn. The opinions and text are my own.
The 12 weeks following having a baby are called the fourth trimester because it truly is like another trimester of adjustment for you and baby. You change in your mind, body and heart but it seems that no one really prepares you for that fourth trimester and what life with a newborn looks like – because how could they? Until you experience the emotional rush, the tears, the lack of sleep, the overwhelming love and the dying of desire to look out for #1 …how could you even fathom it? Life with a newborn is wildly overwhelming and a totally new territory for first time moms. It is the sweetest time and also the hardest. So much pain and love intermingled.
As I sit down to write about a day in my life with a new baby, I realize that I feel a bit stumped because every day looks different. There is no normal. As baby tries to figure out his new schedule, I am on his clock and also my toddler is just trying to piece it all together. Many nights I go to set my alarm but then realize when I’m feeding Finn 45 minutes before it goes off that I might as well just turn it off and get up for the day or if he gets up earlier than I expect to feed, then I may push my alarm back to allow for more sleep in the morning.
We loosely follow the Moms on Call schedule making it flex to work with us and Leyton’s schedule as best we can. Know that none of my days look the same, some days my babysitter takes Leyton to Mother’s Day Out, and other days I pick him up and vice versa. Leyton doesn’t go to Mother’s Day Out every day of the week so this is based around a day when he does.
When people ask how I’m doing, I truly think that this time is a walk in the park compared to last time from the standpoint of my body and mind recovering, mainly because I have such bad PTSD from my first delivery and how long it took my body to recover. The emotional toll this time is different with Leyton and trying to figure out our new normal for him as well. I’m going to try to answer all your questions throughout this post by sharing our current schedule in this stage of life with a newborn!
Life with a Newborn: A Day in my Postpartum Life
6:00 am: Typically Finn wakes up around this time to feed. He feeds for about 30 minutes and by the time I get him up, turn on the light on my phone, change his diaper, go to the bathroom and get him settled down, it has easily been 40-60 minutes. As baby gets older and can feed faster, this timing should go down.
6:40 am: Back to bed after applying nipple cream. Bless it. Breastfeeding is HARD…you can read about my struggle with it here.
Plaid Flannel // Moto Leggings
8:00 am: Up and at ’em to get Leyton ready for Mother’s Day Out. Guzzle coffee. My babysitter takes Leyton to MDO often as I’m truly exhausted during these first few weeks and can sleep in a bit while baby sleeps. A lot of you asked me if I nap when baby naps and typically the mid-morning is when I catch up on my sleep. I’m EXTREMELY fortunate that Leyton likes to sleep in late too so even on the days when he’s home with me, we’ll sleep until 9:00 or 10:00 am.
9:00 am: Drop Leyton off at MDO (He usually says to me, “Mommy, play with me” and then I want to break down in postpartum hormone-induced tears.)
Nursing Tank // Leggings // Swaddle // Boppy
9:15 am: Back home to feed baby Finn. While feeding him, I’ll catch up on Instagram comments/DMs and return any texts I’ve missed.
10:00 am: Typically try to pump (I’m not killing myself to do this every day. I just need to build up enough stash to get me started after my 12 week maternity leave is up and I start venturing out again for events/teaching classes, etc.) and put on my Belly Bandit to help with my mid-section recovery.
11:00 am: This is my most likely point in the day to get ready. Getting ready at this point means putting on a new nursing tank that isn’t milk-stained, moisturizer and minimal makeup typically. I have done an embarrassingly bad job of keeping up with my skincare since life with a newborn has begun all over again.
I was excited when Olay Whips reached out to me and asked if they could send me their OLAY LUMINOUS Whip with SPF 25. It is super lightweight, evens skin tone and minimizes the appearance of pores PLUS it acts as a primer for your makeup. BOOM! I’m all about a product that multi-tasks because mama doesn’t have time for much else! It has active rush technology that means it almost instantly absorbs into your skin so you can go ahead and put on your makeup without having to wait for it to dry.
While technically fall should be coming, we all know that it’s still muggy and hot here in the South so I’m glad Olay keeps my skin hydrated but without being greasy by drying to a nice matte finish to create a great base for my makeup. And please let me take this opportunity to remind you that you should be wearing SPF whether it’s summer, spring, winter OR fall. For most of us, unless it’s in our moisturizer or makeup we don’t think to apply it so do yourself a favor and grab Olay Whips with SPF next time you’re out and make sure you are covered.
12:00 pm: Feed Finn. Try to wash bottles, pump parts, do a few dishes or other housework.
12:45 pm: Lunch or a walk with a friend – I usually try to see someone at least a few times each week. Whether it be a friend or family member, I love having visitors and this was critical, especially after my first pregnancy when I couldn’t get out of the house. Some of the questions I received were about my diet right now and I have to tell you I don’t have much of one. Breastfeeding makes me SO hungry, like even hungrier than pregnancy.
When people bring us food and ask what we want, I typically try to choose something somewhat healthy. And then if they bring dessert, I don’t feel bad about it, ha! I am so grateful to have so many wonderful friends and family members who are bringing us food and it truly takes a huge burden off in the first few weeks after baby arrives. Some creative things people have done for us that we’ve loved – a breakfast casserole in a freezer-friendly container so we could have breakfast or breakfast for dinner, cinnamon rolls from a local bakery, a bag of coffee from O’Henry’s and a little container of snacks for me and Leyton. So sweet and a great way to serve someone you may know who just had a baby! Other new mom gift ideas and ways to love a new mom here!
2:55 pm: Leyton gets home from MDO and goes down for a nap, usually after a meltdown about how I didn’t close the curtain just the way he wants or how I didn’t “kriss” him 15 more times on the cheeks and on the lips. #ToddlerLife
3:00 pm: Feed Finn.
Plaid Flannel // Moto Leggings
3:45 pm: Usually both boys are napping at this time so I nap if I can, typically about 2 days a week and other days I’ll either work on blog content, answer emails, hop on a call with my assistant, or just try to catch up on housework and laundry. What is it about life with a newborn that makes it IMPOSSIBLE to keep a clean house?!
5:45 pm: Eric gets home from work.
6:00 pm: Feed Finn. When Leyton is around and I’m feeding Finn and Eric is working on getting dinner out or whatever else, I’ll have Leyton pick out a few books for us to read or he can watch Mickey Mouse, Curious George, Little Baby Bum, or some other favorite show. He also has a bin of toys that only comes out when mommy is nursing.
6:30 pm: Eat dinner as a family. After dinner is Leyton’s bath time, brushing teeth, cleaning kitchen, the general CRAZY time of the day as we try to keep both kids from melting down before bedtime and get everyone fed and ready for sleep.
7:30/8:00 pm: Leyton goes to bed.
Soothe Shirt // Leggings // Leyton’s Lunchbox // Squeaky Pops
8:30 pm: Pack Leyton’s lunch for school the next day, set out his clothes, and then start Finn’s bath time and bedtime routine.
9:00 pm: Feed Finn.
9:30 pm: Finn goes to bed in his swaddle in the Rock and Play in our room.
9:40 pm: If I didn’t get to earlier I’ll take a shower or bath usually every other night if I’m not too tired, ha!
10:20 pm: Catch up on any IG posting, DMs, emails, work on upcoming blog posts, or watch TV with the hubs
11:00 pm/Midnight: Get ready for bed after applying lash serum, wiping off makeup with a makeup remover towelette, body oil/belly butter to help with stretch marks, brushing teeth and forgoing all my other usual beauty routine because I just don’t have the time or energy at this point and I know every minute I stay up past this is one minute closer to when Finn will wake me up next.
1:00 am: Finn wakes up to feed sometime between 1:00-2:00 am usually and I realize I’m having the dreaded postpartum night sweats…yuck!
4:00 am: Finn wakes up, fingers crossed, 1-2 times per night to feed. Change his diaper, go to the bathroom, nipple cream, the works. And then the whole routine starts over again. WHEW!
I hope this helped answer many of your questions about what my day to day life with a newborn looks like and how I fit everything in…OR DON’T…because some days you just can’t win them all!
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