Truth from the Trenches: Speed Dial

Before we get started here, know there were lots of people who helped us get through the newborn phase...our moms who came and stayed and helped our house not fall apart, everyone who showed up bearing food, our friend Heather who correctly diagnosed BB with reflux from halfway across the country just by seeing me a video of him sleeping, my aunt and uncle who went grocery shopping for us....we are surrounded by awesome folks.  This blog will focus on three of those people.

When you get home from the hospital and realize that your kid doesn't come with an instruction book and you cannot call down to the nursery to come pick him up when you want to sleep, you need a couple people on your speed dial. 

Mrs. Hepburn

First, you need Mrs. Hepburn. I am not really speaking metaphorically here. If you are having a baby you literally need to get her cell phone number and have her on speed dial. I am here to tell you 100% without a doubt I could not have survived without her text message therapy.  Not only is she always very calm and reassuring, she is a nurse so that adds a level of confidence when she tells me that my baby is not dying.  She also talked me through breastfeeding, which you would think is a natural thing that just happens, but is anything but that. There is zero doubt in my kind I would have given up a week in were it not for her support.  Find yourself a Mrs. Hepburn or better yet, call mine. 

Soulmate Friend

I mentioned this before, but she was the only one of my friends who shot it to me 100% straight about this baby having thing. She is the one who warned me about the first ultrasound and who told me about how I would really feel in those terrible first couple of weeks at home, and she was who I called when I was about to have a nervous breakdown to talk me off the cliff. You need someone to shoot it to you straight so you know you are not alone. 

Not only was she honest, she really listened. She didn't try to jump in with a bunch of advice, she very simply said things like "I know exactly how you feel, this is normal, you will feel better soon, this will get better and you are going to love being a mom."  Find yourself someone to repeat these words to you when your hormones are a wreck and you are exhausted and you feel like you will love your life covered in spit up and never be normal again. 

Super Mom

Lastly, Super Mom. She has 5 kids and has seen it all. "Oh he is projectile spitting up all over you?  It's ok, Carter did that." "He won't sleep on his back? Stick with it, John Paul was that way." "You read that lavendar scented soap will make a boy girly? I use it on Peter, the boyest boy around. I think it's fine." "You are sending me the 64th text question of the day? No worries! Let me tell you again that this is normal without making you feel like a moron." Seriously, get her on speed dial.