It was Friday afternoon and I was anxious to get home to my toddler. I wanted to get out of the hospital and finally be a family of 4. I’d given birth just hours before when the nurse came in and said “it’s time for your Tdap vaccine.” Heh? MY shot? For a second a voice inside said whoa wait a minute… but I silenced it and said ok. Honestly my thought was whatever gets me out of here!

I was told the hospital was requiring the shot for all new moms before discharge. I should have asked questions or paused a minute to see how I felt about things. I know it is my right to question “hospital procedures” and decline them but I failed to do so.

By the next day my arm was sore and I couldn’t lift it above a 90 degree angle. Not so convenient for new mom with a toddler! At that point it was only red at the injection site, but as the days went on things got worse. The majority of my upper arm became fevered, swollen and red. My body ached in ways I’ve never felt before. It was painful to sit down, it was exhausting to stand up.

I became emotional multiple times because I couldn’t find the words to describe what I was feeling. What little explanation I could muster sounded something like… sick, awful, achey, like I’d been beat up, like I was recovering from a car accident instead of birth. Neither of those things have ever happened to me but it was what I imagined it would feel like. At one point I swore that my organs hurt, if that’s even possible!

I was frustrated that I should have been enjoying my baby and instead I was feeling seriously ill. I called the doctor and they told me I must be one of the rare individuals who have a severe reaction to the shot, but unfortunately not much could be done. When I should have been recovering from giving birth and feeling well in just a short time, I was overcome with pain due to a shot.

I’m sure there are tons of women who’ve gotten the vaccine and had no reaction at all, but for me this was not the case. I’m no expert on vaccinations and I can’t give you advice as to which ones are bad and which are ok. What I can share with you though is my experience and a reminder that we all have a little voice inside. Listen to your mommy intuition and when in doubt… don’t!

Michelle at So I Married a Mennonite just had an anniversary and she invited us to link up with a photo of our wedding dress. Happy 7th Anniversary Michelle! We recently had our 3rd anniversary, so I thought it only appropriate that I join in!

We celebrated ours last week on the 26th, at home with a toddler and a 5 day old! The day was not exactly what you picture when you think 3rd wedding anniversary. A woman was here for 2 hours in the morning and 2.5 at night encapsulating my placenta. My cousin and her boyfriend cooked a mexican meal for us and then joined us for dinner, my mom then stopped by to drop off some frozen meals followed by my dad dropping off some steamed crabs. We had intended to watch a movie together but ended up so tired after the kids bath night, that we never got there.

Needless to say it was far from romantic but all in all it was a good day. A week before the baby came we went out to dinner and had a more traditional anniversary date with amazing food. Although, I should note that my massively pregnant self was home by 7:30!

photo credit

Because you’re never too old to make a birthday wish list!

Excalibur Dehydrator - I’ve wanted a dehydrator for a long time. I could make so many healthy snacks for my family with one of these!

Epiphanie Camera Bag – Have you ever seen a more beautiful camera bag? I’ve outgrown my current bag and this bag could hold my laptop, camera body, 2 lenses and still have room for extra stuff!

Photo Backdrop Stand – I’d like to have one of these for practicing photography and now that I have a new little subject, it would get lots of use!

Photoshop CS5 – I’ve been saving up for this one myself. I used the trial version for 30 days and I’m officially hooked!

Delicious Library 2 – If you’re a book lover like me you must check this out! This software makes a catalog of all the books you own. You hold the bar code of a book up to your computer camera and it automatically scans it in. Bonus, you can look up which books you own on your phone and find out if you already own one before purchasing it. We had fun scanning books into the trial version last week. Trust me, it’s pretty amazing! For a much better explanation head over to their website.

Window Humming Bird Feeder – While this is not exactly an expensive gift, it’s one of those things I know I don’t need, so I haven’t bought it for myself.

My mom is having my house professionally cleaned for me tomorrow. This should be on the must do list for every new mom. It’s something I’ve never had done before so I’m really excited!

I believe my stepmom is giving me a gift card to a yoga clothing store, so I can feel good about getting back to the gym. Once I hit the 6 weeks mark since giving birth, I’m going to try to make it to yoga class twice a week. That’s the goal. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

It’s supposed to storm here tomorrow, so I don’t think we’ll be spending my birthday outside. If that’s the case we may make the 45 min. drive to Ikea, because who doesn’t love roaming Ikea on a rainy day! The goal is just to get out of the house and then dinner out with my parents tomorrow evening. Enjoy your weekend!

A week ago yesterday this sweet little man joined our family. We’ve spent the last 7 days soaking him up and trying to figure out how life with a toddler and a newborn is supposed to work.

He is beautiful and healthy and we feel so blessed to have him. I have moments when I stare at him and still can’t believe he’s here.  :  )

The following are things I learned during a 5 day hospital stay with our 22 month old daughter. Whether your stay is longer or shorter I think they can still work for you!

Go With Your Gut: On Monday morning (memorial day) we took our daughter to an Urgent Care because her pediatrician was closed. The Dr. took a look at her and within 2 seconds (I wish I was exaggerating) decided she just had an infection. He prescribed her an antibiotic and sent us on our way, all within 15 minutes. By evening she was not acting like herself and had a fever that was going up more quickly than I was comfortable with. She didn’t want a bath (her favorite thing) and was becoming lethargic. I kept trying to tell myself to put her to bed and see how she was doing in the morning but eventually decided I wasn’t comfortable with waiting. We left for the hospital but the whole way there I was questioning myself, it was her bedtime after all! Shouldn’t I have just let her sleep? Once we got to the ER we were quickly admitted and it turned out she was a lot sicker than we’d realized. They told us it was a good thing we brought her in and I realized our mother’s instinct is there for a reason!

Speak Up: If something doesn’t seem quite right respectfully speak up. Especially when it comes to your child’s antibiotics and medications. Remember the nurses are human too. They have other kids to take care of and often they’re doing similar things for many of them. You may be wrong but you may be right! In one instance my timing was off due to sleeping and they were right on time but I can assure you no one minded that I asked. At another time the schedule had gotten mixed up and my asking prevented my daughter from getting medications too close together.

Be Friendly: Chances are if you’re in the hospital with your child you’re feeling more stress than usual. Try not to take this out on the staff. If they’re being kind to your child and friendly to you, do your best to extend the same to them. In regards to speaking up remember that there is a polite way to question someone.
If you become known as the mean lady at the end of the hall, you likely won’t have many people going out of their way to pop in and see if there’s anything you need. Try put yourself in their shoes, would you want to help you?

Be an Advocate for Your Child’s Sleep: While all of our nurses were generally nice, we were blessed to have a few that really got it. I wondered if perhaps their children have been in the hospital and they know what it’s like to be on the other side. Whatever the case may be there are those that make you think yep, she was made to work in pediatrics! One nurse was ok with letting our daughter (once she was stable) skip night time vitals between 10 o’clock and 5 am stating that sleep was just as important to the healing process as medicine. This meant the world to me after many nights of her being woken up every few hours and unsuccessfully trying to get her back to sleep.

Take Care of Yourself: Taking a walk down to the gift shop is great but if you can, actually step outside. After 4 days of being there I realized that I literally hadn’t breathed fresh air at all. If my little girl couldn’t leave her room, why should I? The answer is simple, because you can’t give out what you don’t have. I should have walked outside for 5 min a day just to see the sun. I should have stepped out and taken a deep breath of fresh air. I get that it’s hard to leave them…. really hard, but if they’re preoccupied playing with a grandparent, its ok to go outside and breathe fresh air for a few minutes. You will come back in a better frame of mind, able to care for them even better.

Accept Help: When a friend or family member says can I bring you anything? Ask for that magazine you love but never buy, some fresh fruit to keep your energy up or even some clean underwear! Activities that will keep your child busy are priceless but when someone asks if there is anything you need, don’t be afraid to say yes. Whatever it is ask for something that will make you feel better emotionally, physically, or (ahem) hygienically. ;  )

Has your child ever been admitted to the hospital? What tips would you share with a mom going through it for the first time?