She's here!

I can't believe that it's been almost a week. At 2:46am it will have been exactly one week since I heard Avonleigh's first cry. Needless to say this has been a week FULL of emotion. I've had ups and downs, which I hear is pretty normal. There are so many things I want to say about this week but I just don't know where to begin. I would begin with my labor story... I definitely want to tell it. Though that is a long story and I have a week old baby. Any mothers out there would understand why that just doesn't add up. Luckily, I have a pretty great support system and my sister has taken over Avie care for an hour while I get some "me time". I think I've decided the two things I'd like to write down. The two things I'd like to remember if I ever decide to have another child.

First-
Nothing Goes As Planned
I know they tell you this is ever book you could ever read. You can plan for your labor, delivery, and baby all day long but at the end of the day, what's going to happen is going to happen. I planned on getting an epidural - it didn't take on my right side at all. I planned on breast feeding - turns out that I'm one of those freakish, like 1 in every 100,000 that just doesn't produce milk for some reason. I planned a lot of things and I'm very slowly realizing that at the end of the day, all that really matters is that I provide love and security for my daughter in a way that keeps my sane. I already know that I won't be boiling the nipples on her bottles after every time I use them. Regular laundry detergent is fine, really. She's going to spit up and we're both going to smell like it on occasion. Just another joy of motherhood. I'm learning not to take things so seriously. It's a slow learning process, with many tears along the way, but it's happening.

Second-
It Is Harder Than Anyone Thinks It Is
People warned me that it wasn't going to be easy. They did it in a nice way, I'm assuming because they didn't want to scare me. Even if they'd tried to be real with me and tell me how hard is really is, I don't think I would have taken them seriously. BRINGING A NEWBORN BABY HOME IS HARD. I wasn't prepared at all for how hard it would be. Not just physically demanding, but emotionally demanding. I feel taken up in every aspect of my being. Everyone tells you that you'll be tired. I didn't realize that I'd be so tired that I'd cry for no reason at all or that I'd fall asleep holding her in the middle of the night. I've never known this kind of tired and no one could have prepared me for it. Worse than the physical demand, though, is the emotional one. I have cried more times than I can count. I love this little girl more than anything in the world but my hormones are making me look like a crazy person. Again, people told me that my hormones would be crazy and that I'd be super emotional but I never expected it to be like this.

Avonleigh Grace is amazing. God couldn't have blessed me with a more wonderful little girl. Compared to the stories I've heard from other mom's, I have a very well behaved newborn. My family has been a tremendous help and I know they will continue to be. I just need to remember that it's ok to let me watch her for an hour or two while I sleep... or shower. I'm so thankful for my mom-friends, without whom I think I would be at a loss. Their advice and suggestions are managing to keep me afloat. I didn't realize before how much I didn't/don't know.

Despite my plans going out the window and this being so much harder than I prepared myself for, I am extremely blessed. And when my hormones take me to that place where I just want to cry, I remind myself that God designed me for this. He has prepared and equipped me with everything and everyone I need to make it through and thrive as a mother.