4th trimester blues - adjusting with a newborn. - Takeia Washington

Hello mamas,

I know it’s been a while since I’ve last talked to you all, but, life and having a newborn has been taking all of my attention lately.

But....

I hope you all have been staying safe + sane and enjoying the little bit of summer we do have.

As many of you may/may not know, I recently had my baby May 1st and let’s just say newborn life is MF real.

I honestly thought that I had this mommy thing down pact, I mean I do have two other children so one more wouldn’t hurt right?

My face exactly, fooled the hell out of me.

My baby requires all of my attention and breast.

Lately, I’ve been trying to find time to get all of the things I’ve been meaning to do, done.

But with a newborn, it’s starting to become impossible the older he gets.

I miss being able to just kick up my feet, relax and unwind without any interruption, but now that I have a newborn you already know they have a mind of their own and when they’re ready for you to stop what you’re doing, guess what?

You’re going to have to stop what you’re doing and tend to them and their needs.

In the beginning when we brought baby home, I was still used to waking up at 4am so I would utilize that time to make me a cup of tea/coffee and do things around the house like clean, set out food to cook for the day, journal, shower, etc.

Kaizer slept a lot in the beginning but as the weeks are going by, he’s becoming more active and sleeping all day is becoming 5-10 minute naps here and there. I would say he does sleep through the night, but with being up with him all day, when he goes to sleep, I’m going to sleep right with him.

Anywho....

I was talking to a few of my mama-friends this week and realized that I needed to create a schedule that works around my baby schedule. The schedule I had before him clearly doesn’t work and I have to be okay with changing things up to fit my new life.

We also talked about giving myself a little more grace, enjoying these precious newborn moments because you’ll miss them when they they get older and to also enjoy these last few weeks getting myself mentally + physically ready to return back to work.

The past few days I’ve decided to create a daily small task list of important things I need to do without overwhelming myself and if I don’t get them all done in that day, guess what?

IT’S TOTALLY OKAY!

There’s always tomorrow.

So...

Moving forward, I’m going to do better with making myself a priority and utilizing the time I have while the baby is down for a nap or gone a few hours with his nana is to do something I enjoy doing and getting 1-3 things accomplished.

Wish me luck...

Question : How was your 4th trimester experience? Did you find more/less time for yourself? Did you create a schedule? If so, how’s that schedule going for you?

Best,

Takeia Washington