Baby Gear All New Moms Should Have For The First Two Weeks of Life (Including some they tell you you shouldn't)

For someone who reads a ton of blogs, I'm not sure why it never occurred to me to read a couple of baby blogs, or new mom blogs. Maybe I was just a little too scared of what was coming and thought I'd deal with it a bit better if I didn't know what was headed my way. Or maybe I was just so busy focusing on the impending arrival of our little bundle of joy that it didn't cross my mind to read about what was going to happen once she arrived. Either way, I wasn't really sure what items I would need the most during my first couple of weeks with Kaiya so I just organized all the goodies we got from our showers and prayed it included everything we needed. Reflecting back on the past two weeks I thought it might be helpful to list for other new moms the items I have found essential in successfully navigating the first couple of weeks of motherhood.

Aden & Anais Swaddle Blankets

I'm pretty sure every new mom with a set of these would concur with the inclusion of these on this list. They are huge, and they have just enough give to allow a really tight and secure swaddle, and they  have about 100 uses. I throw one in the diaper bag to use to cover the car seat, use as a nursing cover, or as a light blanket on warmer days. These things are money, and let me tell you, as someone who tries to make anything I think can be easily duplicated, gauze like this isn't easy to find. They're a bit pricey, but stick them on your registry because they're worth every penny.

SwaddleMe Infant Swaddlers

Kaiya LOVES to be swaddled. I recognize that not all babies do, but if your little one does, you'll have to either learn the art of swaddling or get yourself a couple of these things. While we've become pretty competent at swaddling with receiving blankets and the Aden & Anais swaddlers, she inevitably manages to free her little hands from our swaddle, thus losing the security she enjoyed while being swaddled. These little things are super easy to stick her in (even at 4am), and she's never freed her hands from them.

Medela Hand Pump

I wouldn't have purchased this myself since my insurance company covered a pump, but my sister included it in her little kit of "things you need" and thank goodness she did. It was super helpful during the "engorgement" stage before my pump arrived, but it's also proven to be an essential part of my packed diaper bag. Kaiya tends to be a sound sleeper, and when she doesn't want to wake up, it doesn't matter what I do to try and wake her, she's not going to wake up. So when "the ladies" need attention, and Kaiya isn't volunteering, this little hand pump is a godsend, and it's leagues more convenient to pull out of my diaper bag than worrying about hooking up to a pump.

Mam newborn pacifiers

Before Kaiya arrived, I had attended a breastfeeding class and read a couple books on breastfeeding. I had been warned about "nipple confusion" and the importance of waiting about 4 weeks before sticking one of these in Kaiya's mouth. Then real life happened and I found that Kaiya was using my boob as a pacifier. Why? Because babies like to suck, and sometimes it has nothing to do with being hungry. So, I caved one day and let my mother stick one of these things in her mouth (which I had lying around because my sister had also stuck these in her "things you need" kit). I should also mention that Kaiya hasn't had any real issues feeding (other than the below mentioned couple of days when my milk came in) and these may not be great for babies who are struggling with latching or feeding.

A Nipple Shield

I hesitated to include these because they're controversial in the lactation world, but ultimately I decided to because I wanted women to know it's okay to use them if needed. The day my milk came in was a breastfeeding disaster day. "The Ladies" were just too big, and too hard for her to recognize. I mean, she was a great feeder from the very first feed but we were learning together, and just when she started to get the hang of it, mother nature threw her a curve ball and changed it all up. For the 48 hours of engorgement, she just could not get a good latch, and both her and I got frustrated with her inability to get a good feed. In a moment of defeat I asked John to go out and get a nipple shield from the store. When he returned I prayed it would work, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I stuck it on, she was able to latch. I nearly cried with relief (emotional AND physical). I know they aren't recommended (nipple confusion again) and even Kaiya's doctor seemed to hem and haw when I told her we were using one to get through the engorgement days, but we only needed it for three days and she actually preferred not to use it after the engorgement passed so we didn't have any of the weening problems they warned me about, thankfully.

The one thing I heard from every lactation consultant and nursing mom is how vital regular use of Lanolin is to successful breastfeeding, and they were right. Those first few days are pretty painful. But I'm not sure how many people know what Lanolin actually is. It's an animal derived product (sheep actually), and while I have no problems with animal products, what I do have a problem with is how animals are treated as a result of our wanting products from them. Lanolin is derived from wool after it has been sheered from the sheep through a process that includes hot water and some chemicals. I've heard that the wool industry is a pretty cruel industry but being allergic to wool I've never had good reason to think much about it until now. As an awesome alternative to lanolin, I found Angel Baby's Natural Nipple Butter. Made with olive oil, cocoa butter and soothing calendula, it's perfectly safe for baby (and smells yummy!)

Honest Company Diapers

Those of you who know me, know that I'm a bit of a crunchy environmentalist. As such, I have every intention of cloth diapering, and can't wait to share my super cute cloth diaper collection with you. That being said, I have exactly 1 newborn cloth diaper, and have seen recommended that you wait until their umbilical cord falls off before using cloth (because it's easier to fold the disposable diapers under than doing so on the cloth diapers). That being said, I still couldn't reconcile putting chemical filled diapers on my baby, or putting toxic diapers into landfills that would remain there longer than Kaiya, or her children's children, would be alive. Enter Honest diapers (which my mom bought and used to make Kaiya's diaper cake). They are biodegradable, non-toxic, come in cute prints, and (best of all), they cost about the same as other premium diapers (like Pampers). I love these as a temporary solution until we kick cloth into full gear!

The "Hooter Hider"

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this thing is awesome. I literally walked around the National Portrait Museum nursing Kaiya under this thing. It provides tons of coverage, folds up easily into it's little case, and has boning in the top that allows you to easily look down on baby. It's a must for the breastfeeding mom's diaper bag.

I'm sure there are a number of other items that we wouldn't have survived the past two weeks without, but these are my favorite. It's hard to believe two weeks have passed already! I'm interested to hear from other moms though, what would you add to this list??

The Birth Story of Kaiya Paige Katz Murphy

Since the day she missed her due date, we joked that Kaiya was going to be the type of girl who did things her own way. in her own time, on her own terms. Being an Aries, and my child, there was always a pretty good chance that this girl was going to be super independent with a firecracker personality. There was little chance she was going to make her debut until she was good and ready.

The belly on the day I went into labor.

Eight days past my due date came and it became increasingly evident that we were going to have to pick her due date for her. I had nightmares of birthing a 30 pound baby, and another that we'd have to do a c-section because she'd grown too big to fit through the birth canal. Wednesday, April 3rd, I had my last doctors appointment before my induction (scheduled for 8am on Thursday morning), and I was ready. We had picked the 4th to be induced because that was the day that my doctor was on call, and I loved her so much I really wanted her to be there, and not one of the other 30 doctors that work at the practice I go to. However, being induced early on the 4th meant arriving to the hospital on Wednesday night so they could start cervidril (if you care what that is, and why it's done, you can read about it here). 

John and I have always joked lightheartedly (on most occasions) about our lives being run by Murphy's law. A great example of that is the mind-boggling number of things that went wrong at our wedding (a great story for another time). It's actually what inspired the name of this blog. It was silly for us not to expect it the day we were supposed to be going in to have our daughter, but we really didn't. However, when John's phone up and died the morning of the induction, I laughingly joked to John that it was Murphy's law. As he sat at the apple store trying to take my phone upgrade so that he could have a phone in case I happened to go into labor before he got home that evening and was told that some woman in Alabama had somehow accidentally been given our upgrade, I chalked it up to Murphy's law, yet again, and called Verizon to make it right. When he called my mother on his way home from picking up that new phone and told her not to freak out, and that he had a little incident and would be late getting home and we wouldn't make it in time for our 7:30 admittance time at the hospital, I started to get worried. I mean, what are the chances of THIS happening to anyone else?!

Luckily, the excitement of finally having our BABY was enough to allow me to look past the unfortunate luck (aka Murphy's Law) that was plaguing the day. When John finally arrived home we grabbed the bags we had packed weeks ago in anticipation of a frantic midnight race to the hospital and calmly, yet excitedly, loaded into the car for our drive in. 

On our drive in we talked about how surreal it was that after 2 years of trying to get pregnant, and what seemed like the LONGEST pregnancy ever, the next time we came home, we'd be a family of three. It was crazy to think our dream was finally becoming a reality!

We finally arrived at the hospital, checked in at admissions and were assigned a room. I put on the issued robe (backwards, of course, because I can never seem to figure those damn things out) and the ugly green socks and climbed into the bed. The nurse came in and hooked me up to a fetal monitor (to monitor the baby's heart rate), and the monitor that captures contractions. I had been crampy all afternoon, but being 8 days late, I had been enduring plenty of braxton hicks. The nurse started asking a bunch of questions, keeping one eye on the monitor read out. About half way through her survey she looks down at me and asks if I knew that I was contracting every 2 minutes. I told her that I had been crampy, but that I hadn't really bothered timing anything since I was on my way in to the hospital. At the time, they weren't very painful. The nurse decided that instead of starting the cervidril as prescribed, she would call the doctor and see what they wanted to do.

The doctor decided to keep me and let me labor myself, which was a good decision because it wasn't another hour or so before the pain was regular and intense enough that I would have come back anyways. By one in the morning I was already exhausted. With contractions every 2 minutes it was hard to recover enough to prepare myself for the next contraction. I called in the nurse and asked her to check me. I was 6cm, and making quick progress of it. At this point I elected to have an epidural and we called our birth photographer.

The epidural was amazing. I mean, I give props to any woman who decides to do it au-natural, but I have no regrets with deciding to get the epi. Unfortunately, the epi only took effect on the left side of my body, which, to be honest, was still leagues better than not having it at all. It was tolerable for a while, and actually kinda nice because I could still feel when the contractions were occurring and how intense they were getting, but as I closed in on 8 cm, it started to suck. The nurses advised me to turn onto my right side to try and let the medicine drain in that direction. It wasn't a quick fix, but about an hour later, it started to work. Once I was numb on both sides, I was able to take some catnaps as per the nurse’s recommendation.

By morning things were progressing nicely, but Kaiya's heart rate kept dropping so they put me on oxygen. There aren't many things that have scared me in life as much as hearing her heartbeat fall off monitor and having a bunch of nurses come in, roll me on my side, strap oxygen on my face and stare at the monitors waiting for her heartbeat to come back. After that, progress felt slow, but come 9:27, it was time to push.

21 minutes later, the most perfect and beautiful gift imaginable was placed in my arms.

John and I couldn't be more in love <3.

Click below to see the beautiful and touching birth video put together by our birth photographer, the talented Heidi Daniels. I could not recommend her talent enough. She was one of the best choices we made during our pregnancy.

the birth of kaiya paige from Heidi Daniels on Vimeo.

Kaiya- Day 5

Today, I fell even further in love. We've been struggling a bit with getting a consistent latch and it's caused a bit of frustration on both our parts, but today everything clicked, and we're both happier for it. She's such a dream. She sleeps well, has such a happy and calm demenor, and now eats like a champ. I honestly could not have asked for a more perfect baby. She's made being a first-time mom a breeze, and I can't look at her without being in awe of her total perfection.

It was so beautiful out today!! In celebration we took our very first walk outside and tested out Kaiya's Ergo carrier. Daddy liked it, but still isn't convinced that it's not suffocating her so checks on her constantly :)

Kaiya also really exercised her facial muscles today! Most likely she was practicing her parental eye-roll, along with her grimace and smile. I haven't inteacted with a whole lot of newborns, but Kaiya has to be one of the most expressive babies. I caught this little collection over the course of about 3 minutes while she was dreaming <3

Kaiya- Day 4

Day 4 of Kaiya's life started out in a bit of a frantic race to get ready for her first doctors appointment. She took forever to feed, which set us a bit behind, and with a 10:15am appointment, it started out being a bit of a challenge. We managed to get her changed, dressed and in her carseat and only ended up being 15 minutes late to the doctors. The elevator was being SUPER slow and there were about 5 strollers waiting in front of me so ulitmately I decided to just take the stairs with her while John parked the car. Wouldn't it figure that the office would be on the top floor of a four floor building? Being 4 days post-partum, four floors is no small accomplishment, but I arrived at the top huffing and proud of myself for doing it. I'll also mention I beat the elevator and arrived before all the stroller toating women. Reason 13 why I love baby-wearing.

After filling out the paperwork, and waiting a considerable amount of time in the "healthy child" waiting area, we were called back for her first appointment. Our first instruction was to strip her down. Doing so we realized she had a wet diaper (good girl!) and then we both realized that we hadn't brought a diaper bag. As a matter of fact, we had left the house without anything baby related except a receiving blanket. Here we were at our first outing, and we essentially got caught with our diapers down. Total. Parental. Fail. Luckily the office was only a 5 minute drive from our house, so we managed to finish the appointment and drive home without any accidents. Kaiya was very forgiving of her new parents. We totally earned a dirty poopy mess, and she kindly restrained herself. Such an angel.

Her weight was 7lbs and 7oz, so she's gained a respectable 3 oz. since returning home with another 5 ounces to gain by the time we go in for her 2 week appointment. Everything else looked perfect. Her physical exam resulted in no concerns. The doctor even commented on how beautiful she was, calling her "model-worthy." I tend to agree, and refuse to believe that she says that to all patients ;)

Being examined by the Dr. is not her favorite thing.

Being soothed by Daddy after the trama.

Other than the eventful morning, we had a nice relaxing day of naps... and more naps. She's a super good baby, and sleeps through most of the night, but we craziness of the week caught up with us. BTW, how CUTE is this outfit? Thank you Adriana, Max and Sofia :)

Kaiya- Day 3

Today we came home! Kaiya was given a clean bill of health by passing her hearing test, scoring a ZERO on her billiruben test and leveling off with only a 5.5% weight loss (7-10% is normal for a breastfed baby). She went right to sleep as soon as we placed her in her carseat and didn't make a peep all the way home. I want to mention as an aside that city driving has always stressed me out, but having your entire world strapped inside a little plastic seat is enough stress to drive someone downright crazy. I'm pretty sure my bloodpressure was about 20 points higher than normal by the time I got out of the car.

Coming home also meant introducing baby Kaiya to her big brother Cooper. There was a time early on in the pregnancy when I had half a concern about how Cooper would adjust to Kaiya's presence, but somewhere in my heart I kind of knew it would be okay. There was no way I would have predicted how awesome he would be with her. It's like he immediately claimed her as his. This was their initial introduction:

And this is where he will pretty much stay if we let him:

Needless to say, Cooper has taken quite well to his new baby sister:)

Also welcoming Kaiya home were her God parents Els and Jon, and her Aunt Brittany. All in all, it was a relaxing and wonderfully successful first day home.

Kaiya- Day 2

She's utterly perfect. We didn't get much sleep last night, but I think it was more my not knowing her cues more than her being fussy. She's nursing like a champ, and nursing a lot. A matter of fact, she's only lost like 2% of her birth weight already. That's pretty good! We've learned she doesn't like being undressed, changed, or being cold, but other than that, she almost never cries. She LOVES being swaddled, but she will work endlessly while swaddled during her "wakey" times to get her hands out, and she's a determined little bugger.

Mommy feels like she birthed a bus, but is getting by with just the motrin and a Tylonol every 6 hours. And ladies, you weren't joking, these awful mesh panties they give you are just about the most awesome inventions ever. Does Amazon sell these things??

Kaiya had a couple admirers visit in the evening, including her Aunt Liana, cousin Siana, Ahma (Grandma Nancy), and her God Parents Elspeth and Jon. I wish I had taken more pictures, but in my sleepless, pained state I only thought to grab my phone a couple of times :/ Between Liana, John and myself we did manage to get a couple.

41 Weeks!

Total weight gain/loss: I leveled off at 30 lbs. Thank goodness.

Maternity clothes? At this point, I'm lucky if I fit into fabric draped around me.

Stretch marks? Nope, not a one.

Best moment this week: When my whole family was here for Easter. Liana and Siana, Mom, Karl and Nathan were all down over the weekend. There's nothing better than being surrounded by the people you love most in the world <3

Food cravings: At this point, I crave anything that'll put me in labor.

Anything making you queasy or sick: nope.

Gender: Girl!

Labor Signs: I've had a steady stream of braxton hicks and cramping, but none of it fruitfull.

Belly Button in or out? In! At this point, I don't think it's coming out.
Wedding rings on or off? On, but mostly because I no longer have a choice. I'm too swollen to get them off.

Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy! I know the end is coming and I'm surrounded by family. Being uncomfortable and anxious can't outweigh that blessing.

Looking forward to: Same as last time, Labor! I am SO ready to have that little bundle in my arms. I can't wait!!

Note: This was the day that I went into labor with Kaiya! We went in for our scheduled induction only to find out I was already in labor. Labor story to go up soon:)