The First Year of Motherhood

I Know I'm a Mom Because:

• I am more proficient at doing things with one hand
• There is no such thing as a "schedule" anymore as my world now revolves around when baby eats and sleeps
• The amount of things that can be achieved in just 20 minutes has tripled
• Laundry has become a daily chore
• Sometimes I forego showering or even going to the bathroom for long periods of time
• I suddenly understand why some people have done crazy things while tending to their baby such as shaking the baby, leaving them unattended, and even the guy that puts Vodka on the baby's dummy (pacifier). 
• I know what it actually means to sacrifice for another individual
• I can identify my child's cry amidst other children's cries
• ANYTHING that can help the baby stay calm and quiet seems like your best friend like bouncing on an exercise ball for endless hours and watching movies. 
• My exercise routine now consists of walks with the pram (stroller), baby deadlifts, and hundreds of times up and down the stairs to put the baby to sleep
• All clothes are regularly covered with drool, spit up, and occasionally poop. 
• Sometimes those same clothes are worn multiple days before being washed (After all it will just get dirty again right?) 
• My body can run perfectly fine on 5-6 hours of sleep even when there was a 10 minute break in the middle to feed the baby. 
• I don't think I ever truly understood what feeling drained meant until now
• And finally... I never knew how much smiles and silly noises could bring me so much joy!

Now I get to start 2018 with a new version of me - Shanna 2.0. This version involves a person who is now a mother which includes upgrades in selflessness, learning how to accept help from others, multi-tasking, physical emotional and spiritual strength, awareness of surroundings, and an increase in baby stuff!

The Holidays:

Before discussing plans and events of the new year I should first cover how the last year ended. Christmas is my favourite holiday so I put up Christmas lights around our unit, hung up stockings, and printed out a picture of a Christmas tree since we weren't going to get an actual tree. I even had a diffuser with evergreen scented oil to add to the ambience. The only problem was we had only one stocking so I decided to make one with leftover material I had. I was pretty happy with the end result! (Apparently I never bothered to take a picture)

For presents Matt and I really struggle since we tend to buy what we need and many wants as the year progresses. This last year though I kept a list of anything that Matt was interested in but wouldn't likely go out and buy himself. I also kept a want/wish list for myself. In the end I got Matt a couple of things off the list and I got a couple of things for me for fun. I like the giving part more than the getting part anyway. Since we had plans Christmas day I just had Matt open the gifts on Christmas Eve. It was perfect because he got lots of time to build his new Lego set and play with his micro magnets. That day we had a shorter church meeting and I made a turducken roast for Christmas Eve so it was a pretty great day.

Christmas morning we had breakfast with our friends the Whitakers. It was a lovely meal spent with good people and I was glad we shared it with others instead of staying at home alone. Later we went to the Innis home to have a big lunch with them and the missionaries. We had amazing ham and various salads for lunch. I made my first ever pumpkin pie for the occasion. My gluten free pie crust turned out better than I expected, and the gluten free mud cake we made was also a success. After our meal we spent the rest of the time playing games including Settlers and Epic Duels. Unfortunately, Sakura was not having a great day that day. She struggled to sleep the whole day and so by around 6pm she was overtired, having reflux as usual, and who knows what. We tried everything and finally just let her cry in the corner hoping she would calm the next time we picked her up. She didn't. It was probably one of the worst days she has had and so as we were leaving I asked Dan if he and Matt could give her a blessing just in case. I was so grateful I didn't have to go through that alone and I had friends that were understanding and were able to help me not get distraught over my distressed daughter.

Matt didn't have work until after the holidays so we tried to take advantage of the time we had together. I wanted to go to the beach, but as we packed all of the stuff and left we saw that the freeway heading to the northern beaches was packed and barely moving. We decided to go to a place called Cedar Creek that wasn't too far from our place, but unfortunately after an hour of driving around we did not find the swimming area of the creek. After getting home we discovered we just didn't drive far enough down the road.

Later in the week we did a city scavenger hunt called Big City Hunt with Dan and Cate Innis where we went around major landmarks in the city answering questions via an app. It was a nice walk, but I would have preferred some more difficult questions that really made you think. I would definitely recommend doing with a family of young kids.

As of Dec 30 she is 2 Months Old!

We didn't have plans on new years eve, but when I discussed with a member about visiting to discuss finances, they invited us over to play games with them and their family. The funny part of this story is that I had mistaken who Matt and I had talked to about getting help organising finances and this was the WRONG family. They were likely VERY confused why I was asking to go over how they do their finances, but I explained my error and everything worked out. In the end I was glad I made the mistake, because we had a great New Years Eve with them. We left before midnight to try and put the baby to sleep at home so we missed the countdown.

The next morning I wanted to try to go to the beach again, but Matt wasn't up for it. Our friends the Lybberts from the night before posted they were going to Redcliffe Lagoon and I convinced Matt to go. It was Sakura's first time in a pool and she seemed to like it. She slept for a very long time afterwards too!

Other Events:

I bought material and made my own moby wrap, which has so far been my favourite wrap for Sakura. Later I was brave enough to try grocery shopping with her in the wrap and it was a huge success!

We have had lots of doctor's appointments lately. Matt had a bunch of tests done and the doctor thinks he might be celiac. We don't know the results of the celiac test yet. Additionally, he wants Matt and I to get this genetic test that looks for chronic conditions and other problems with gut health. The company does a specialised report with the results and I hope this will help explain many of the issues both of us have had. In previous posts I have made a lot of mention about the MTHFR gene mutation we have, but according to my doctor, he believes my gut problems and auto-immune condition stem from more than gust the gene mutation. I'm hoping that I can help my body to improve because right now Sakura has not been doing well. The doctor says she has gut issues, structural issues, and has allergic reactions to something in my milk. Structural problems he can help by doing osteopathic adjustments. Her cheeks get read and bumpy when she has allergic reactions to my milk and this can be improved by a tedious process. It's called P/N testing where you find the precise diluted mixture of breastmilk that neutralises the allergen. I take 2ml raw breastmilk and then and put it into a dropper bottle with 8ml sterile water. After mixing this up I take 2ml of the diluted mixture and repeat the process until I have 6 dropper bottles with increasingly diluted mixtures. Then I have to wait till she is asleep and find her pulse on the inside of her elbow to get her base pulse rate. I give her a few drops (while still asleep) of the raw milk and then check the pulse again. Her pulse spikes in reaction to the allergen. I then repeat this with each of the diluted mixtures until I find the one that returns her pulse to the base rate, typically number 3 or 4. This has been an issue because 1. I need to use a new needle and syringe for each bottle and I quickly run out. 2. I struggle to find her heart rate and wake her up looking for it. 3. It is hard to take the time to do this and I have to do it every three days. 4. The diluted mixture has to be given before every feed in order to have the effect, but it also has to be refrigerated. It's a pain to run to the refrigerator every time you want to feed your baby. Now for her gut issues - she gets reflux and abdominal pain. Sometimes she will wake up screaming in pain. I have been giving her DigestEasy which can help with reflux and colic especially if it is due to a reaction to the Casein in the breastmilk (read more here). This helps, but also has to be in the refrigerator and it is hard to be consistent with every feed. I also have been given her Infant Friends for reflux and Brauer's Colic drops for the abdominal pain. Everything helps, but it is difficult to keep up with and be consistent. It's not knowing what to do that's the problem, it's doing it.


 

Anyway things have been rough trying to get her to adjust to a schedule of some sort, keep her as happy as can be expected, and still have a little me time here and there. Luckily due to some local help I was able to get my hair done, get the house clean for inspection, and I've even managed to do some baking!

The New Year Plans:

I won't bother listing my yearly goals or anything here, but I thought I would list what I had in my previous year's goals that I achieved.

• Better Mental Health
• Move to Queensland
• 2-3 Sewing Projects
• Have a kid

Not too bad! I think my mental health took a serious dive before it improved, but at least I'm not as bad as I was. This new year has started off well with Matt and I taking the Pathway Connect courses through BYU-Idaho. The first course is Life Skills and I am excited for getting better at having a schedule as well as learning how to study while being a mom. So far I do all the homework as early as I can so I can help Matt with his if needed. I know we will be blessed as we work towards doing more with our time even with our cheeky baby. 

Sakura the Movie - gift from my brother

My grandma (mother's side) recently passed away and I was sad I was unable to attend her funeral and see all the cousins. Not too long after the President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also passed away. I find it ironic because both my Grandmother Ruth Wittsell and the Prophet Thomas S. Monson had a long legacy of service. Both were always thinking of others and went above and beyond the call of duty to help. It is wonderful to have such wonderful examples in my life.

This year will definitely be an interesting one. My brother is coming to visit in May and my best friend Laura wants to visit again as well. We have officially started a gluten free dairy free diet again and my hope is we will get much better at meal planning and trying new recipes. So far I have made some decent pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It will also be fun to see the church progress under the new First Presidency including the prophet Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, and Henry B. Eyring. I don't know what is truly in store for me this year, but I know that the Lord does and that is all I really need to know.