Ezekiel's Birth Story

Ezekiel Jeffrey Mixon

January 7, 2013

7:53pm

7 pounds, 8 ounces

19.5 inches long

 

I just sat down to type out Ezekiel's ("Zeke") birth story and i read over my last post. I can't believe that less than 6 weeks ago we didn't even know if the baby I was growing was a girl or a boy.  It makes me smile to read my writing about "the baby" and remember the mystery that was there even at the very end.  It is still SO fun not knowing and Jeff and I are so happy that we waited again to know the gender!

Wow - I can't believe it's already been almost 6 weeks since Zeke was born! So much has changed and there has been so much transition, but in a glorious and beautiful way! We would not have it any other way! And since I am so prone to forgetfulness and I want to do my best to preserve the details of each of my childrens births, I have to write it down.  So this is really more for my benefit but you also can read about how the events of that day went and know some of my thoughts along the way :) I would love to hear your thoughts in response too!

Monday, January 7th, 2013 was my regular weekly doctors appointment with my doctor, it was the day before my due date and so was my 40 week appointment.  I was ready to have this baby!! ;) I never got past 39 weeks when I was pregnant with Malachi and boy was I feeling that at the end this time!

The previous week at my 39 week appointment I was already 3 cm dilated and things were looking very favorable for the drug-free, natural delivery that I wanted.  At my 39 week appointment I was already very uncomfortable but the midwife assured me that things looked good and my body was showing signs that it would be able to go into labor on its own this time around (which it did not with Malachi).  I wasn't having regular or painful contractions yet and nothing was happening to make her feel like I was in early labor. So we went home after that appointment and waited.  The discomfort eased up as the week went on but other "signs" of labor started to show up.  I won't go into the details but I was sure that things were progressing and my body was getting ready to have a baby! It was exciting and yet scary at the same time because we had been having a good bit of snow and I was starting to get nervous with the hour drive to the birthing center.  But I prayed a lot and continued to remind myself that God already knew the outcome and whatever happened He would take care of me and the baby. So all week I continued with normal life, cleaning, keeping up with Malachi, etc. and would watch the contractions I was having.  Nothing was regular or overly painful during the week, I would have periods of time where I would notice the contractions and would notice that they were regular but not for very long - still nothing that I was ready to say "let's go!" to.

So Monday came and I knew I had my appointment that afternoon at my doctor around 3:30pm.  Jeff and I had already discussed the possibility that the doctor might tell us to go onto the birthing center, depending on how much progress there had been from the previous week, because we would only be 10 mins from the birthing center instead of the hours drive it would be from home. I just had this "feeling" that things had progressed from the previous week and that if they broke my water I would have the baby. And I was ready! If the doctor gave the go-ahead, we agreed that we were ready to have the baby and we would allow them to "help us along" a little bit. I wasn't going to let them hook me up to any medications to induce labor but I was willing to have them break my water and see if that would send me into active labor.  That is what happened with Malachi and so I was fairly confident that it would work this time as well.  So we made preparations just in case, we found someone to watch Chi and told them of the possibility of staying down there, we packed our bags, etc.

We went down to the appointment in Dayton and the whole morning I had been having contractions- more regular than the previous days but still not super painful or coming super consistently so I just kind of ignored them. The doctor came in and asked me how things were going, if I was having contractions, etc.  I told him I had been but not regularly but that I had been having other signs all week and I was pretty sure I was more dilated than the week before.  So he said he would check me and we would talk about options after he knew where I was at.  He checked me and said I was at 5-6cm dilated! I was ecstatic! I knew I had progressed and since I was so dilated I thought he might be more willing to just go ahead and send me to the birthing center. He said that based on how dilated I was, and that he could have probably even stretched me further and the contractions I was having, he thought I was in early labor and that if they went ahead and broke my water that would kick my labor into gear.  I agreed! He felt like I would be at the birthing center either that night or the next day anyway. And once we started talking about how far away we lived he agreed even stronger that we should just go ahead there from the doctors office.  He said he would call ahead of us and tell them I was coming and was in labor so we could bypass being assessed in triage.  So we left and headed to the birthing center - calling all of our family on the way!

Once we got to the hospital (the birthing center is a part of a larger hospital but is a separate wing) we got checked in and they took us up to labor and delivery triage to wait for our room to be ready - it was about 4/4:30ish at this point.  They had just had a woman discharged and were cleaning and flipping the room.  While we waited in triage they hooked me up to a monitor and by this point I was having regular contractions that were starting to get kind of painful, still not bad but enough for me to notice.  I said to Jeff at this point that if we would have gone home to wait it out I didn't even think we would have made it home before I told him to turn around and go to the hospital.  It had been less than an hour from the time the doctor checked me at the office and I think him checking me really aggravated things and my body started to respond with labor! The nurse in triage said everything looked great, the baby's heartbeat was great and the contractions were regular now.

Within an hour they took me back to my room and we waited there for the midwife on duty to come in and break my water. I changed into the clothes I had packed for labor and we settled our stuff in.  She finally came within 30 mins and we talked about why I was there, the risks of breaking the water, etc. etc. She told me that it could still be a while after she broke my water for my labor to really kick in and that since my contractions still weren't really hurting yet that it may still be early.  But I told her how things went with my labor with Malachi and I just felt like things would go similarly.  I was ok if it took a while but I was just excited to be in labor at this point! So she broke my water around 6pm and we just waited.  And within about 20 mins I could feel a definite change in my contractions, they were stronger and were starting to hurt.  Jeff and I were watching Seinfeld on the tv in our room and after a few minutes of painful contractions I moved off the bed I was sitting on to the birthing ball and just started rocking on that.  I stayed there for a few minutes and noticed I was really starting to have to breath through the contractions.  I really don't even know how much time went by but once Jeff noticed how much pain I was in he came over and started to time the contractions.  They were only about 2 minutes apart! This was not long after the midwife broke my water! So basically as soon as the contractions started they were already 2 mins apart.  This went on for a little while longer where Jeff was timing the contractions and I was rocking on the birthing ball really breathing and moaning through the contractions at this point.  Then all of a sudden I felt really nauseous and I thought I was going to throw up.  So I rolled off of the ball to the floor and knelt, leaning on the side of the bed.  I asked Jeff to go get a nurse because I felt like I was going to be sick.  So he did and she came in and helped me breath so that the nausea went away.  Then as soon as the nausea went away I felt like I had to push.  I told the nurse and she was super encouraging and started the water in the birthing tub.  She then yelled to the other nurses that she needed help, we were ready to push! In my head I was freaking out - I did not think it would go that fast, I hadn't been checked since arriving, it hadn't been that long, etc etc.  My mind was racing but I was in so much pain I didn't care. 

They got the midwife back and I was still next to the bed and they were still filling the tub.  She asked if she could check me but my contractions were pretty much one on top of the other at this point and I told her I couldn't be checked till the contractions stopped.  So she said they would get me in the tub and she would check me there.  So they moved me to the tub at this point and they asked Jeff to get in with me, so he changed clothes really quickly.  The midwife checked me once I got into the tub and she said I was ready to push.  WHAT?!?! Are you kidding me?!?! It's not been long enough!!! But it had been and it was time, I knew it too. Jeff slid in behind me in the tub to give me support and held onto my hands so I had something to use to push against.  At this point there were 4 nurses in my bathroom bustling around and doing whatever they were doing to prepare for the baby to be born, it was shift change time - that's why there were 4 nurses.  So I pushed a few times, maybe ten - I honestly don't know, and the baby was out! The midwife asked Jeff to announce the gender but he said he couldn't see past my head and she said "it's a boy!"  She put him right up on my chest and they started rubbing him down and sucking and all that they do with a brand new baby.  I heard Jeff behind me say "Hi Ezekiel!" And the nurses made comments on his name and how neat it was.  I was just sitting there relieved that that point it was all over!

We sat there for a few minutes in the water, they let Jeff cut the cord, and then they took Zeke out so that I could get out.  They found a true knot in his cord and I asked her what that meant.  She said it meant that this little man was lucky that the knot wasn't tighter! I praised God right that second (as much as I could form a coherent thought) that He spared Zeke's life and that he was healthy and alive! The midwife also made the comment that his cord was really really long.  I didn't know such a thing was possible to have a longer cord than normal but I thought it was interesting. She said that was probably why he had a knot because there was so much cord in there to get wrapped in. 

They moved me to the bed at that point to get cleaned up and to pass the afterbirth. Jeff got to snuggle Zeke while they dealt with me.  We kept asking what time he was born because we both knew it went extremely fast - 7:53pm!!! Less than 2 hours from the time they broke my water and my labor really kicked in.  I couldn't believe it! God was so good to sustain me and give me the grace to get through it.  It was crazy and a little scary at the time but looking back it's kinda nice to have it all over so quickly! ha! :)

We named him Ezekiel Jeffrey - Ezekiel means "God strengthens" and Jeffrey is after his Papa and a good friend of ours that passed away about a month before he was born. We pray that he will be strong and courageous in the Lord for all of the days of his life and that he will follow in the footsteps of his earthly Father who loves the Lord more than anything else.

And as is our tradition to choose a passage of scripture that reflects our prayer for our new child, we chose Ezekiel 36:26-28 -
²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. ²⁸ You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Our prayer is that Zeke would be given a new heart and a new spirit and that he would dwell with the Lord all the days of his life. 

And what birth story would be complete without a few pictures?

last picture inside! waiting in the triage area - 39 weeks, 6 days

moments after birth

Malachi meeting his new brother for the first time!

 

 

proud Papa :)

 

 

Until next time,

Love from the Mixon House!

Thoughts at the end of a pregnancy...

These last few months have been quite the whirlwind and I can hardly believe 2013 is upon us already! I have said for months that Baby Mix #2 is due "after Christmas" and here it is post-Christmas and we just wait...
Waiting puts me in quite the reflective mood.  For many months I have had lots to distract me and fill my thoughts - Jeff's last semester of seminary, graduation, family visiting, a "Babymoon," Christmas, more family visiting, etc. etc. But now all of that has passed and I just wait.  I wait for this baby to make it's way into the world.  I can finally think about labor and delivery and life with a newborn - things that I am not all that far removed from but still seem so long ago in so many ways.
I can't help but remember how NOT ready I felt when I was nearing the end of my pregnancy with Malachi.  Maybe it's the way many people feel with their first - where fear and anxiety and uncertainty outweigh (or feel like they outweigh) the excitement.  Maybe I'm alone in these feelings, I don't know.  Don't get me wrong, I was excited but I was also very scared! I had NO idea what to expect and so when it finally came time to deliver I was terrified.  So much so that Jeff had to look me square in the face on the afternoon we went to the hospital to induce and say "Courtney, we are not coming home without a baby." Wow - talk about denial! ha!
But this time around it's different.  Maybe because I feel like I know what to expect, maybe because I am uncomfortable, maybe because I am now further in my pregnancy than I ever got with Malachi.  I don't know what the specific reasons are but I feel ready to have this baby.  And in a lot of ways I am so thankful that I feel so ready.
There is still a lot of uncertainty this time around too. Like what will the buildup of labor feel like this time when I don't have to be induced? What will it be like to have TWO kids? How will we manage with a newborn and a non-stop 19 month old? Will Malachi be sweet and gentle to his little brother or sister? All things I think about and all real concerns.  But overall I feel excitement and joy to be blessed with another child - now I'm just ready to meet him or her!

38 weeks, 6 days

This is the day in my pregnancy with Malachi that he was born - feels weird to be past that now!

the things God teaches you through pregnancy sickness...

i know you're probably wondering what happened to me. i mean the last thing on here was Malachi announcing we were expecting Baby #2 and then nothing for 2 months! well, i sincerely apologize for being so quiet around these parts for so long. but the last few months have been hard ones in the Mixon house with me moving a lot slower that normal due to some first trimester sickness. the Lord has been so gracious and sustained me and the last 6 weeks have been TONS better but those 2 months of feeling icky really helps to put things in perspective for you! the Lord has been teaching me a lot through this season of slowing down and i would love to share with you some of those lessons.

lesson #1 - there are seasons of life where you HAVE to slow down! this was the first lesson God started to teach me early in my pregnancy, i think because He knew it would be the one that would take me the longest to get! ha! i mean, i do not like to slow down. i push myself and think that i "should" be able to do x,y, or z because i "always" do it. well, guess what? you're not "always" laid up feeling nauseous and so when you are you should take that as your body telling you to slow down! there are seasons where you just have to be ok with whatever you can do and thank the Lord you were able to do that. during those 2 months we bought a lot more things at the store that i normally like to make but didn't, my house wasn't as thoroughly cleaned as i normally like, the laundry didn't get done all in one day like i like, etc., etc. But in the end we still ate, we still had clean clothes, we still had each other. and in some seasons, that has to be good enough.

lesson #2 - all babies are different. this is such a helpful lesson for me to learn now and continue to remember forever. i think it's even more important because Malachi and Baby#2 will be so close in age. i think it would be so easy for me and for others to compare the two. "well, malachi did this" or "malachi didn't do that" etc. but the reality is that these are two completely different little people that God created unique and separate from one another and they will each do things the way that God has ordained them to do it. this pregnancy has actually been a really helpful little "sneak peek" into how different i think they could be. i didn't have any sickness or anything with Malachi, my pregnancy was like a model pregnancy (atleast until the end with our little "twist").  but this pregnancy has been so different! it makes me wonder how else they will be different... will he/she sleep great like M always has? will he/she be a better nurser than M was? will he/she have an outgoing personality the way M does or will he/she be more reserved? these are all questions we have to wait to have answered but i am so thankful that God is reminding me even now that comparing them is futile, they are each their own person.

lesson #3 - the way you take care of yourself during pregnancy is the way you take care of that baby inside you. this lesson goes along with number 1 but has had a much greater impact on me than the first one which is why i am listing it separately. i think a lot of times we can forget that pregnancy is about growing a person and not all about me and what makes me feel good. i have realized this even more this time around when i was feeling sick and gross and didn't want to do anything. i still had to remember that the baby needed me to do certain things for it.  i still needed to eat, i still needed to get up and move as much as i could, i still needed to try to eat those foods that are good for me, even if they didn't sound appealing, etc. etc. This is the first of many sacrifices you make as a mother! you have to take care of yourself, not just for yourself, but because that baby is dependent on you for everything! everything you eat or don't eat, the amount of activity you get or don't get, the amount of rest you get or don't get, all of these things affect your baby. and no mother would ever give their baby anything but the best after it is born, but sometimes we don't do the same while pregnant. it's hard things to think about, but it's an issue of selfishness vs. sacrifice.

lesson #4 - going through sickness gives you compassion on those who also suffer through sickness. i am in no way saying that i had it worse than anyone else, i know of many friends who suffer much worse with sickness during pregnancy than i did. but i think now i have a glimpse of what others have gone through and it gives me compassion on them. since i didn't experience anything like this with my first pregnancy i could never really understand what all the fuss was about or how debilitating sickness can make you feel. and i think if i had never experienced it it could have led to pride in my heart toward those people, like i was somehow better because i always had easy pregnancies. but the Lord humbled me, even before it got there, and for that i am so thankful.  He allowed me to go through this so that i could be humble and helpful toward those who also suffer.

these are just some of my thoughts on what God has taught me this far. He could have more in store to show me through this pregnancy and if that is true then i will be thankful for that. but for now i am so thankful he has allowed me to feel more "normal" and to get caught up around here. now i can share some of the things going on around here this summer!

Until then,
Love from the Mixon House!

malachi has something to say....

I'M GOING TO BE A BIG BROTHER IN JANUARY!

mommy tried to get me to hold the ultrasound picture of my little brother or sister to show my excitement and i just didn't want to. silly mommy!

she thinks she can get me to do things nowadays even though i am so big and independent. ha!

mommy is 13 weeks along today. baby brother or sister is about the size of a medium shrimp! (mmmm shrimp! i like shrimp!)

i really am excited - even if i don't want to hold the picture! ;)

baby brother or sister is due around january 8th, 2013 - i can't wait to meet him or her. i'm hoping for a brother to wrestle with!

favorite baby items... 6-9mos.

i cannot believe that my little guy is 9 months old! it's crazy how this first year keeps trekking along. it won't be long now and we will be having a first birthday party!

i have to say, i think this 6-9 month stage has been my favorite so far! :) malachi has been developing so quickly and every week we have some new big accomplishment. it's been so fun to watch him figure things out and seem to understand more of what is going on around him. and with that understanding has come a BIG personality! he is such a ham and will let you know just what he does or does not like. so when he likes something he really likes it but when he doesn't like something he really doesn't like it. he is hot or cold. sometimes this is amusing to jeff and i but sometimes it is beyond frustrating to try and figure out what it is he doesn't like.

so all that to say, these are some of malachi's favorites for the 6-9 month stage. and of course, some of my favorites as well ;)

- MAM pacis

{via}

malachi still loves his pacis and i love them for comforting him at times when i can't. we have moved up to the biggest size and so we'll see how long this paci thing lasts. these pacis are malachi's favorite!

 -  a good sippy cup

{via}

as we started to feed baby food to malachi we also started working on using a sippy cup. this cup made it so nice for us because it has a soft spout, which a lot of babies prefer as they learn to use a cup. and the handles make it easy for malachi to hold himself. he can't quite get his hands around a cup and hold it, so the handles really help with this. this particular cup is the nuby brand, but really you just need to find one that your child prefers and stick with that.

 - a good highchair or booster seat

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we decided when we were putting together our baby registry that we were not going to get a highchair, at least not until we thought that we needed one. and honestly, we haven't missed it. we fed malachi in the bumbo for a few months and then when he started to get bigger and more active and was able to sit up on his own well i felt like it was time for something with buckles. so we have been using this for the last 2 months and have loved it! it straps right to a regular chair, it's compact and super easy to clean. and the tray has been really nice as we have been working on self-feeding. really, you just need someplace to put your baby as you feed them. but might i convince you that you really don't need a big bulky highchair taking up space and looking ugly in your kitchen? we haven't missed one at all!

- baby food grinder

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this is probably my all-time favorite baby item (at least so far)! i absolutely love it! i take it everywhere with me, use it multiple times a day and it is so easy to clean. once we moved past the "puree everything" stage of eating i have been using this little thing like crazy. it has been the best $10 i ever spent :) and now that malachi is pretty much eating everything we eat it makes it so easy to feed him. i just take what we are eating and run it through the grinder really quickly and voila! it's baby food! i can take it with me if we are going out, it's super compact, and then malachi can eat off my plate or whatever. no need to carry jars of baby food around anymore, just my grinder. i LOVE this thing!

- robeez shoes

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yet again the robeez shoes make my list. i love these shoes! my MIL bought these for malachi for christmas and there have not been too many days when he has not worn them since christmas. they are the easiest shoes to get on and off of a baby and they are so soft, so malachi doesn't even act like he has anything on his feet. i'm pretty sure he will be in robeez-type shoes until he is old enough to help me get his shoes on!

- sophie the giraffe

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you might remember from my christmas posts that we bought malachi Sophie for christmas and he has loved her ever since. he loves the squeaky noises and chewing on her. whenever he hears her squeak he gets a huge grin on his face and starts to laugh - it's so cute! i highly recommend this fun toy for all babies!

- baltic amber teething necklace

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this little thing has been so helpful during the teething process. i get asked all the time - "do you really think it works?" and my answer - "who knows?!? but it doesn't hurt anything for him to wear it!" so honestly, i have no idea if it makes any difference for his comfort level but i figure it doesn't hurt anything, so why not! we haven't had to use any tylenol or orajel while malachi has teethed and so i am very pleased with that. if this necklace has had any part in not using medication then it has paid for itself!  the basic idea is that the baby wears it around his neck and the amber is supposed to release little bits of oil when heated by the body heat that are then absorbed into the skin and act as a natural pain reliever. the closer to the source of pain the better it is supposed to work, so that's why the neck is best - closest to the mouth. the baby DOES NOT chew on the necklace, he just wears it. i think it has been a great thing to try and we'll keep letting him wear it while he is teething.

this 6-9 month stage has been so fun! these are some of my (and malachi's) favorite items that have made this stage so fun and so memorable!

until next time,

love from the mixon house!

favorite baby items.... 3-6 mos.

continued on from yesterday...

3-6 months
At about 3 1/2-4 months we transitioned Malachi to his own room and his own bed at night. and around 5 months we started baby food with him. there are big changes during this time! so these are some of my "essentials" for the 3-6 month stage.

1. a sound machine
this is probably not an "essential" but we have found it to be soooooo helpful for malachi to sleep well.  as he has gotten older and more aware he is much more alert to sounds during the day and at night.  this has helped with his naps and now we even use it at night and have found it helpful for him to sleep more soundly at night. we were gifted this one by Homedics and we really love it because it will stay on all of the time if you want it to (which we do for nighttime use).

2. footed pajamas
malachi wears these every night and i love them because i know he is warm and snuggly, even though i don't put him in a sleep sack anymore. and really, is anything cuter than a baby in footed pajamas?!?!

3. robeez shoes
these are my absolute FAVORITE shoes for a baby. when malachi was a newborn it was summer and he never wore shoes or socks. but once it started getting cooler i knew he needed to have something on his feet. but he moves his legs so much that socks never stay on his feet without some kind of shoe.  so these are my favorites because they are soft and flexible and have a stretchy heel.  so it makes it super easy to put them on a squirmy baby who can't "help" you get his feet in. the ones i have are discontinued, as i bought them both from consignment stores, but these are on my wishlist for christmas and for the next 6 months!

4. bumbo seat
when we started malachi on solids, this seat was a lifesaver! we don't have a traditional highchair (and don't really want one) but this seat with the tray was the perfect size! i bought it at a consignment store and paid a good price and it has been worth every penny. and its great because its really supportive for smaller babies and kept malachi upright when we first started babyfood. i'm not sure a big highchair would have been the right size, as he was still pretty small at 5 months.

5. lots and lots of bibs
once we started malachi on baby food i realized why families with babies have so many bibs stashed around! haha... and now that he eats twice a day we go through two bibs a day - i think we're going to have to get more soon! this one is jeff's favorite! haha...

6. a swing
honestly, we have had our swing since before malachi was born but only did it get a lot of use when he turned about 3 months old. he slept in it for about the first week of his life but then after all of our company and after we moved he just didn't seem to like it anymore. i guess he just didn't like being put down or whatever.  so after several weeks of working with him on the whole "i don't want to be put down" thing, we tried the swing again. he still didn't really like it and would only sit in it for about 10 mins. but once he was about 3 or 4 months old he started to like it again. and i tell you what, that thing has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion.  it sits in our kitchen currently and he sits in it and watches me cook or do whatever in the kitchen on a daily basis. i'm so thankful that he likes it now, as it allows me to get stuff done while he's content. ours is not this one specifically but very similar - small, portable and can fold up for transporting it or storage.

7. good diapers
i think this is especially important if you cloth diaper like i do, but good diapers will save you lots of headache when babies get to this stage. they wet more heavily and soil more in consistency. so a diaper you trust is a must! i want to eventually do a cloth diapering "essentials" list, but i feel like i am still learning so much, so maybe i need to wait for that a little bit.  but since we started cloth diapering regularly at 3 months, the Kawaii baby diapers have been my instant faves! they are absorbent, fit malachi well, and are not too bulky (even when double stuffed at night!). good diapers will make your life so much easier in the 3-6 month stage.

8. don't forget mama!
i know i included this in yesterdays post but in this stage it is just as important! at this point malachi was eating and sleeping more regularly which meant one thing for me - freedom! :) i was able to plan outings and not have to worry about feeding while i was out, it was awesome! so here are my essentials for mama during the 3-6 month stage -
- regular date nights: these are so much easier at this stage because i can be away from malachi for more than jsut a few hours at a time. it doesn't happen every week, but when we do go out it is so nice! :)
- babysitters you trust: so important, especially if you're like us and don't have family close. but when you have some babysitters you trust your times away are so much less stressful!
- regular times to just get out: staying home with a baby can be a lonely time for some people. planning times just to get out and do something outside of your house can be so refreshing! even going to the store can be a pick-me-up somedays :)

so take it or leave it, but these are some of my favorite things for baby (and mama!) during the 3-6 month stage.  hope you got some great ideas for yourself or someone else!

what are some of your favorite 3-6 month baby items?!?!

favorite baby items... 0-3 mos.

since christmas is coming so soon, i thought some people might have a need to buy a baby gift. so i decided to put together my list of favorite baby items. i always like recommendations and maybe some of you out there might too!

i feel like the last 6 months have been quite a blur.  i wouldn't say that they have flown by (i know a lot of people think that when they have a new baby, that just hasn't really been my experience) but they have kinda all run together.  so my goal is to document as many things as i can so that i can remember them.  i think i realized too late that the early days are a blur, but this is my goal going forward!

i think it is starting to sink in that malachi is half way to a year! crazy! so i wanted to share what some of my favorite newborn "baby items." my 0-3 month essential list if you will. and then my favorite things for the 3-6 month stage. the point is so that i can remember but also so that it might help anyone trying to wade through the endless amounts of baby products out there. the essentials are not so numerous after all!

i think you'll realize the things you "need" to have is really not as much as you think you "need" to have. it's so easy to get caught up and think you need all of these new things for your baby but the reality is that if they have love and food they really will be just fine.  all of the other stuff is sometimes nice but really not necessary.  and honestly some of the stuff is just plain unnecessary and will just clutter up your house.  so take these as suggestions of what worked for us.  sure, we have more stuff than this but when all is said and done these are the most important things.

0-3 months
1. a good place for baby to sleep near you at night
this makes feedings in the night 10x easier.  jeff and i opted not to get a bassinet and got a pack and play with a bassinet feature.  it kind of acts as a two-in-one for us because even now we will continue to use the playpen even though he has outgrown the bassinet part. here is the one we have -

and another great feature of this pack and play was the changing table part, though not really essential.  this was so nice for us because we don't have a changing table and this worked perfectly for the first few months when we changed diaper after diaper. which brings me to number two...

2. lots and lots of diapers
i was so blessed to be given a TON of diapers.  especially newborn and sized one diapers.  i wanted to cloth diaper eventually with malachi (and do now!) but i could not have handled cloth diapers right away.  there are so many things to adjust to with a new baby, diapers should not be one of them.  i never would have thought i would have used all of the diapers i was given but surprisingly enough i did use almost all of them.  so buy more than you think you will ever need! (or hope for generous friends and family that will gift you diapers!) newborn size and size one will get you through a few months, so these are the two sizes i see as most important to have a lot of.  by the time you get out of those sizes you will have a better view of how many diapers your baby will go through in a day and how quickly they will move to the next size. then you can decide how much you want to stock up on the bigger sizes.

3. newborn sized clothes
call me stupid or naive or whatever but for some reason while i was pregnant i was convinced that we were going to have a big baby, like an 8 or 9 pound baby.  and so i did not buy one peice of clothing in newborn size.  everything i bought was 0-3 month size, thinking this would be what we needed with such a big baby.  well, malachi came and he was a healthy size but definetly not that big.  so all of those clothes were just swimming on him.  thankfully we had wonderful friends and family that gave us some newborn sized clothes that he wore for several weeks.  next time i will know to have some newborn size on hand! :)

4.  sheets, waterproof pads and blankets
malachi was not a spitter-upper and i am soooo thankful for that.  he only really threw up a couple of times in the first month, but when he did - oh my, watch out! i found it super helpful to have several waterproof pads on hand to put under him when he slept and then be able to change if i needed to in the middle of the night.  there was one night i remember when he went through three sheets and three water proof pads and had to be changed three times.  it was a rough night! but it just goes to show that you might need more than two sheets ;) i loved the play yard sheets from target - i think they fit better than the graco ones, and way cheaper!
also, for the first several weeks we swaddled malachi in receiving blankets, which also needed to be changed often.  so having several of those on hand will be helpful.  plus, flannel receiving blankets are so useful for so many things! we still use them daily for one thing or another. and so cute, aren't they?!?!

 5.  pacifiers that the baby likes
not all babies like pacis or will take one but malachi loves his! we realized early on that its a comfort thing for him when he's going to sleep and reduces the crying a lot.  the MAM brand are our favorites. the key is to find one your baby likes.  pacis come in lots of different shapes and babies will not like all of them but when they like one they usually love it.

6. a good carseat
this is a really important essential because you can't leave the hospital without it!  we wanted a carseat that wasn't too big or bulky or heavy because you're going to be carrying it a lot over the first several months.  we are so pleased with the one we got.  we weren't really looking for a "travel system" at first but my family gifted this to us and we couldn't be happier. 

and the stroller is a huge bonus! we love that it's all-terrain and it has gotten a ton of use over these last few months! we can't wait till it gets warm again and can use it more!

7. don't forget about mama!
what i mean by that is, don't forget about your mama stuff and to have that ready before the baby comes too!
 - some good quality nursing bras or tanks if you're planning to nurse (i love the glamourmom brand!)
 - good sleeping bras! these were invaluable to me for the first two weeks and honestly i didn't know i needed them until malachi came. they are also great for when you're just around the house.  i wish i would have had them in the hospital quite frankly. my favorite is Medela's Comfort bra.
 - plans to rest and not do too much for atleast a week - have meals lined up and get as much rest as you can.  not only is this important for your recovery but it is also essential to build up your milk supply and to establish good breastfeeding.

these are some of my favorite items for the newborn stage and tomorrow i will post about my favorite items for the next stage - 3-6 mos.

what are some of your favorite 0-3 month items?!?!