Blogmas Day 12- Oh Baby!

Me and Baby Boy

This year I was blessed with one of the greatest gifts I found out I was expecting and the baby was arriving this same year! . I was excited and nervous at the same time. As much as I felt I had experience with children such as babysitting my younger cousins and watching them grow up there is nothing like having your own child.  Then you begin to wonder what your child will be like , how will their personality be ?

There is no instruction manual that can fully prepare you to become a parent. For some reason I thought that babies just sleep all day 😩😩😩😩 boy was I wrong! My baby boy was born in October and when I tell you first month was rough , it was rough.  Shortly after arriving back home from the hospital the baby was sound asleep peacefully then once night hit my husband and I were up for hours. We couldn’t figure out how to calm him down everything we did changing him, soothing him, and feeding him nothing worked. We were more than sleep deprived. We soon figured out that our baby boy was colic. I had heard the term but didn’t quite know exactly what it meant. Then I learned that it is the term for when a baby cries for more than 2 hours straight.

Then we started to get nervous because people were telling us “colic” could last for up for up to three months or more. Then at his first doctor’s visit the doctor told us “colic ” is not really a real diagnosis or condition but just a term. We soon figured out that the reason he might be fussy is because he has gas and his digestive system was very sensitive. He was not being breastfed so we tried changing his formula to something more gentle and that seemed to help a lot.

One thing to remember is that babies have to get used to being outside the womb after being in there for nine months. They do not know the difference between day and night, so during the day they sleep and during the night they may be a bit more cranky.

Now at  two months my son is currently much better and started to develop a routine even though the routine is not permanent we are happy he is doing much better!

Oh Baby!!!!

Pregnancy and Acid Reflux

Photo of me taken by my husband
7 months pregnant

Hi Everyone I missed you all !  I wrote this article a couple of months ago during the summer time when I was still pregnant. The baby is now here ! But I still wanted to publish this so you guys could see my experience with Acid Reflux and Pregnancy.

Hey guys! So the reason why I have been away from blogging on this site and my social media for quite some time is because my spouse and I found out we were expecting a child! Now with pregnancy comes a whirlwind of emotions. You just go through all these different stages and emotions and sometimes you just can’t control it because of all the hormonal changes taking place in the body during pregnancy.

As I embark on this new journey in my life I am learning a lot and all the symptoms that come with pregnancy. One of the major symptoms of pregnancy that most women experience and other women are very very lucky not to experience is NAUSEA and VOMITING. Even though the cause is unknown as to why women experience these symptoms such and nausea and vomiting especially in the first trimester ( first 12 weeks) the main culprit is believed to “The Pregnancy Hormone Hcg” also known as Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (see reference below). I know that is a very long name to pronounce so we will just say Hcg.  

Hcg levels are especially high in the beginning of pregnancy and this is the hormone that allows us to actually confirm that we are pregnant either by a blood test or urine test. After about 11 or 12 weeks levels of the hormone will start to decline but still remain active until the end of pregnancy.

I thought that pregnancy would be a breeze for me but I had these symptoms instantly and even at almost reaching 20 weeks I am still experiencing symptoms such as gagging when waking up in the morning and throughout the day, nausea before meals and after meals, and extreme fatigue not to mention the backaches, insomnia, and changes in heartheart. I mean it is a lot but as women this is what we were called to do and it is a beautiful thing.

But now as the baby grows, I am starting to experience more reflux and heartburn. There are still some medications such as tums which is safe to take during pregnancy but I have tried them all and nothing has worked. So getting through reflux during pregnancy is a challenge especially if you are having changes in your appetite sometimes you just eat what you can and it is hard to stick to the rules of reflux. Of course you should continue to make sure that you are staying away from your trigger foods , greasy foods, spicy foods and certain spices and condiments. Also drink lots of fluids especially water but drinking fluids during pregnancy be after meals or before meals so that you do not get too full and nauseated. You should also eat small frequent meals and try not to overeat. So these are some of the things I try to do to take control of my reflux if you guys have any tips please comment and share below!

Thank you for reading!

Want to read more about The Pregnancy Hormone Click on this link that will direct you to the American Pregnancy Association Website

Reference: https://americanpregnancy.org/while-pregnant/hcg-levels/