8/23/2017 0 Comments My Journey From Giving Birth to Being A Mom With A Kid In Headstart | Motherhood With AnxietyI can still remember taking a pregnancy test at 10:00 at night living in my tiny apartment in Orlando, Florida. My husband had just left for work and I had missed my period. It came up positive almost immediately and I was in absolute disbelief after going from amenorrhea (the absence of menstrual bleeding for three or more months) to menorrhagia (prolonged menstrual bleeding) due to having PCOS and Hypothyroidism caused by Hashimotos. My pregnancy flew by and we even picked up and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina to be caregivers to my mom. That's a whole other blog post coming soon. After being induced due to having Gestational Diabestes I finally gave birth to my beautiful baby girl Brea Elissa Davis on May 17, 2014. She was as healthy and perfect as can be. Breastfeeding did not come naturally.We were exclusively breastfeeding and admittedly I cried the first night in the hospital. It is not something that comes naturally for mommy nor baby so we both had to learn the technique because latching on for her was more work than taking a bottle. My nipples were flat and we were both exhausted from childbirth so I asked for a lactation consultant which made all the difference. She showed me what cues to look for so that I knew my baby was full and gave me a nipple shield to make the whole process easier for the both of us. After that we were smooth sailing. Why I decided to be a stay at home mom.My daughter is my first and only child and my anxiety was so uncontrolled after I had her I couldn't possibly accept leaving her while I returned to work. My husband agreed to let me stay at home which allowed me to have control over every aspect of my newborns life but I didn't realize what the pros and the cons were at the time. Being home with my daughter meant that I could helicopter to my hearts desire which decreased my anxiety tremendously. I know that sounds extreme but I was experiencing separation anxiety from my newborn on top of post partum depression. Although I felt satisfied with the amount of involvement I had in raising my daughter, I also was becoming overwhelmed taking on the true responsibility of being a Stay At Home Mom and the negative perception of not contributing to my household financially to help my husband. I received so many accusations on how selfish I was being for spending more time with my daughter than my husband would be since he had to work. To say the least I didn't get much support from "traditional mothers" who couldn't fathom me doing anything other than returning to work. Amongst all the negative comments I was shocked at exactly how much work it actually was to be a homemaker. It wasn't that I was just taking care of my kid but I was solely taking over all of the duties that needed to be done in the home. 14 months later and I want to quit Breastfeeding.By the time my daughter turned two I was completely touched out from breastfeeding, my daughter was growing teeth and I was ready to be done. I went from nursing on demand to only nightly feedings. My boobs felt like rocks and she could still smell my milk so it took a couple of weeks for us both to readjust. Whole milk was the suggested next step which we tried but my poor baby had eczema so after a while we started giving her almond milk. I didn't use pull-ups to get my daughter to pottytrain.Not only was Brea getting used to not nursing but she started giving me cues that she was ready to sit on the potty. She started waking up with dry diapers and taking them off so one day when she woke up I sat her on the potty just to see if she knew what she was supposed to do. Sure enough she went pee! I praised her and hugged on her because it was getting pretty gross changing a diaper with real food poop smells. We briefly had her in pull-ups but I noticed she was just using them as diapers because she would pee in them still. A mom in a local moms group mentioned that she didn't use diapers or pull-ups to potty train and had her little ones bare bottom. It was just my daughter and I at home all day anyway so I took the pull-up off and let her roam free. As soon as she began to squat I rushed her to the potty and she would do her business. Of course at night I put a pull-up on her in case of accidents but for the most part she was naked as a blue jay all day. Once Brea started getting better acclimated with using the potty along with my 30 minute reminders she started wearing panties. I'm not sure if that caused her a little confusion because she started having accidents again. Frustration was setting in but we were making such good progress and after countless loads of laundry my baby could leave the house in panties and not have an accident. Being a first time mom without the guidance from a mother figure was hard to accept but at this very moment I knew that I COULD DO IT! 3 years old and off to Headstart.3 years old is where we are right now and school starts in 21 days. New changes and anxiety don't mesh well so I will be a nervous wreck until September 13th gets here. Are we going to walk to school or is she taking a school bus? What school supplies does she need? Will she make friends easily and not be shy like I was? I have so many questions and concerns like any other parent would but to me it's like waiting for water to boil. Overall I'm excited and I'm sure I will have to be told to leave on the first day of school because I plan on watching and taking so many pictures. I'm not sure if motherhood has created my anxiety or enhanced the anxiety I already had but the love I have for my daughter is all the more deeper. This journey is exciting and we look orward to documenting it along the way. I've been doing research on helpful ways to prepare my husband and I for our daughters transition into school and below I gathered a list of tips for you guys to check out.Tips For Talking To The Teacher
http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/child-development/tips-talking-teacher Personal Stories To Help Children Get Ready For School http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/reading-writing/personal-stories-help-children-get-ready-school Parent-Teacher Conferences http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/child-development/parent-teacher-conferences 13 Tips For Starting Preschool http://families.naeyc.org/learning-and-development/music-math-more/13-tips-starting-preschool 8 Books About Going To School http://www.pbs.org/parents/adventures-in-learning/2015/08/school-days/
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