Letting stories unfold around the table
This weekend marked two months of life for our sweet boy! I have learned so much in these last two months and it’s been so fun to learn to be his mama. Overall he is a sweet, curious little thing who loves to snuggle, eat as often and as much as possible, and take in the world around him with wide open eyes. We sure do love being his parents! Here are a few updates from month two of Caleb’s life.
My best friend Haley is an amazingly talented photographer who has documented just about every important part of our life (I’m not kidding…she’s taken pics of our proposal and engagement pictures, parts of our wedding, our pregnancy announcement, our maternity photos, and lots of other pics along the way!). So when she came out to visit and meet the newest member of our family, we were so excited to have her take some newborn pics of our sweet little man!
Taking these pictures was quite the adventure since newborns don’t exactly cooperate with any schedule but their own. These sweet ones of him sleeping were some of the first ones we took and they are pretty much too angelic for words. I mean…look at that sweet face!
As of this weekend, we have officially survived the first six weeks of being parents. I had lots of people tell me the first six weeks are the hardest and if we could survive them, we might just make it through the next 18 years (or something like that).
Like I shared in this post about how motherhood challenges my perfectionist self, this new journey into motherhood has had its share of challenges. But in all honesty, it hasn’t been as impossible as I thought it would be. There were a few things we did to make those first 6 weeks more manageable and they made all the difference in our hearts and our transition into parenthood If you are having a baby sometime soon, I hope you’ll make these same decisions and give yourself the space to heal and process the new world of being a parent.
I think one reason we survived these first six weeks was we had so much support from our friends and family. Jordan was off work from a week, my mom came and stayed for a week, my mother-in-law took a few days off work to come stay with me, my mom came again, friends brought dinner, and the list goes on and on. Any time someone asked to come fold laundry or snuggle the baby while I napped, I said YES without hesitating. Letting go of my pride and accepting help in those first few weeks made all the difference in my physical recovery from labor and my emotional transition into motherhood.
I loved having Grandma in town!
It’s been a little over a month since we had Caleb (you can read his birth story here), and like any mama knows well, my heart has been broken and stretched and grown in a million ways since he arrived. I feel invigorated and exhausted, overjoyed and overwhelmed, head over heels in love and desperate for some alone time. But maybe the best word to describe my emotional state these last few weeks? Terrifyingly, achingly vulnerable.
I am a perfectionist to my core and I love doing things well. I love feeling on top of things, feeling in control and successful in everything I do. So this whole motherhood thing? It’s rocking my world a bit. It’s one of the few times in my life where I am doing something that is completely new to me. I’ve held a few babies in my day but that’s nothing compared to the ups and downs of taking care of a newborn around the clock.
As I think through and process all the ways that motherhood is humbling me and exposing my needs for control and success, these five situations come to mind.
I am so excited to sit down and write this story because it was such a sweet, joyful answer to all of our prayers about Caleb’s birth. I am so grateful that he is healthy, I’m healthy, and that we got to experience a simple, natural birth with no complications. If you love reading birth stories as much as I do, then enjoy! I will give the disclaimer that I’m sharing all the details of the birth, so maybe skip this post and read all the other cute posts about pregnancy if medical stuff makes you a little grossed out! Anyway, without further ado…
Today’s post is by my friend, Hannah of Just Bee. I’ve gotten to know her a lot these last few months and I love how her deep, encouraging heart shines through in her writing. Make sure to check out her blog for lots of pretty pictures and wisdom on everything from marriage and relationships to blogging and photography!
I’ve thought a lot about seasons lately. Perhaps it’s because of all the snow days we’ve been getting here in Minnesota 🙂 but I’ve been struck by the bigger picture lately too – the narrative of life seasons.
Sometimes, we find ourselves caught up in a season that’s just plain busy! We rush from one task to the next, watching a new to-do list materialize as soon as another one is completed! For a lot of people, this craziness is the high school or college season.
But other times, we discover we are in a period of waiting or abiding. And since waiting often comes after a busy season, it can feel downright uncomfortable and foreign! I love the quote by Jess Connolly that a friend of mine shared on Instagram: “There are years for crazy big strides. Graduation, marriage, babies. And there are years for quiet, day-in-day-out stewardship.”
Today’s guest post is by my friend Amberly of A Prioritized Marriage. I love her heart to see marriages thrive and grow in every way and her blog is full of great resources on everything from parenting and intimacy to managing finances and communications. Make sure to pop over and check out her blog!
Whether you’re having your first kid or your sixth, the addition of a new baby to the family is an event that can bring stress to your marriage. I will be the first to tell you that parenthood is one of the most challenging stages to adjust to in your marriage. It will stretch you as a couple and as an individual and at times, it will feel like you’ve given all that you can possibly give.
Even though parenthood can be hard, it is also one of the most exciting and rewarding adventures that you will ever embark on in your marriage. Becoming parents will challenge your relationship more than you ever thought possible. Working together in this new stage of life will also strengthen your relationship and make you a better team in every other area of your marriage.
I haven’t talked a ton about our dreams and hopes for the birth of our son. Every woman is different and every birth is different, and I don’t know that one way is necessarily the right way as much as it is the right way for that family and that baby in that particular moment.
Either way, what we are hoping for and praying for is that we’d be able to have a natural, unmedicated birth with as few interventions as possible. The more I read about childbirth, the more I feel like it is a beautiful, natural process that God uses to stretch us as women as we partner with Him in the act of bringing life into the world. I want to fully experience the joys and pains of that and let my body do what it was created to do with as little intervention as possible.
If things get complicated or drawn out, I am by no means opposed to epidurals or whatever interventions need to be done to keep our baby and me healthy. But my deep hope? That we would be able to experience childbirth in its most natural form.
As we pray and prepare for labor and what it will take to bring our son into the world, I have been memorizing and praying through a few Scriptures. I’m hoping to pray through these and remember them when contractions grow overwhelming and I need something to distract myself from the pain. Who knows if I’ll actually remember any of these in the throes of childbirth, but praying through them during pregnancy has been such a good way to remember God’s truths about who He is and who I am to Him. If you are preparing to bring a little one into the world, I hope that these verses encourage you like they’ve encouraged me!
These verses remind me that just like God is creating the tiny person growing in my belly, He created my body to go through the processes of pregnancy and childbirth. He knows exactly what will happen with our little one and with me and I can trust His plan and provision in that.
I’ve always loved these verses, but in the last few months these verses have reminded me that God is present and faithful even in when it seems like the world is ending (which I’m sure it will for a few hard moments in childbirth!). I love the imagery here and I love the feminine language that reminds me that God is in the midst of me, that in Him I will stand strong and not be moved by the overwhelming waves of pain.
I memorized this verse in college and I have come back to it over and over when my mind spins before bed or I find myself feeling anxious about what will happen in labor and beyond it.
The peaceful imagery here is so calming to me, and I’ve found myself saying over and over the line, “I have calmed and quieted my soul.” This verse reminds me that He is in control and that knowledge can bring me peace in the midst of struggle.
Like I wrote about in this letter to our son about the pains of pregnancy, this verse reminds me that pain and suffering are something that I share with Jesus. As I share in His suffering, I also share in His comfort, and that will be a huge prayer of mine during the pain of childbirth.
I love the imagery of God rescuing us from the pit and the pain to give us a firm place to stand and a new song to sing. I can’t wait for the song (and tears) of joy that will come when we finally meet our son and am so grateful to God for giving us that beautiful song.
If you are awaiting the arrival of a little one, I hope praying through these verses will encourage you and inspire you the way they have for me. I wish you all the best as you go through the process of bringing that life into the world!
What are some verses that have inspired you and encouraged you in pregnancy or motherhood?
I am so glad I started blogging before we got pregnant because it has been an absolute joy to share the world of pregnancy and motherhood with all of you. I’ve loved all your comments, encouragement, advice, suggestions, and sweet words as I and we have navigated this crazy process of growing a tiny human.
I wanted to take a minute to sit down and talk through with you all a few of my dreams and ideas for what this blog will look like immediately after Caleb arrives how this space might change once I am a full-time mama.
First things first…
I’m a big believer that some seasons are meant to be slow, that we are meant to rest and take a step back from good things so we can focus on the best things. I’d say that having our first child definitely falls into that category! As such, I’m planning on taking a step back and reducing my posting here, at least for the first few weeks after Caleb is born.
Nine months pregnant. 36 weeks pregnant. Are those really three words I can use to describe myself?! Even if I’m struggling to wrap my mind around it, my body feels nine months pregnant (or maybe more like 10-11?) and I am getting to excited and ready to meet our little guy. But instead of just rambling about it, here are a few more organized updates about this past month!
It’s funny, because people ask me this question all the time and my usually honest self never really knows how to answer. It is acceptable to say something like, “Oh you know, just feeling like my body’s been taken over by an alien that’s smooshing my organs, making it hard to breathe, giving me heartburn and carpal tunnel, making any and all physical movement difficult, and slowly trying to push his way out my rib cage booty-first?”
I usually just stick with “Just chugging along, you know?” But if I’m honest, the first answer is more accurate.
