1 month with Mikayla Medina | 1 month of Parenting

25th August - Mikayla's birth date

Believe it or not, it has been a month already that I've become a mom! I gave birth to the most adorable baby on the 25th of August 2019, and a month has past and is see my baby growing chubbier. I never really wanted to write about my baby in my blog, but these moments are just too precious to not be recorded, so if this topic isn't for you, please skip to another post that I have to offer, but as of now, I'll be talking about my 1 month with my little munchkin, and how im adapting to being a first time parent.

Post-partum Delivery Recovery 

14th September 2019 - 2 weeks plus post-delivery

The first month is pretty tough cause everything that I had to go through all seems new to me. From breastfeeding my baby to realizing that some parts of my body that I never knew could hurt that bad. So, coming home from the hospital, I had a confinement lady to take care of me for 2 weeks and honestly that was helpful for me to adapt to motherhood. Food was served, I had a sauna session followed by traditional treatments by Malay traditions and also followed by a body massage to remove 'wind' from the body. The first week was crazy cause I was totally disabled as every movement I made was accompanied by pain, but my body improved after about 3 massages from the confinement lady and I was already able to move around after 10 days postpartum delivery.

With the confinement lady, CL Yaya from Dr Bidan

Once I got a hang of moving around without over-stretching certain parts (stitched area) of the body, I had some moments of accidentally stretching it anyway and yes, that added on to another 2 days of recovery till im back to an 'ok' state. Mostly my movements were slow till I reached week 3. After week 3, my body was more cooperative and I was already moving in a pretty good speed. In terms of food, I was diligent for the first 2 weeks with a strict diet, but after that, I had some cheats of having eaten out meals cause I got sick of the bland food. HEHE. People usually tell me that the effects may hit me later, but honestly, I believe that as long as instincts in moderation it's fine and it really depends on your body's speed in recovery.

20th September - Nané came to visit too!

19th September - Spending time with her Inik

Now that it's been a month, how do I feel you may wonder? As im typing now, I guess I do still feel a little tired since im adapting to a new sleeping routine of waking up at least 4 times in the middle of the night to feed the baby, but thank god im at home and on confinement, so I manage to get some shut-eye when the baby sleeps as well. A little hard to keep up with her sleeping schedule, but we make do with what is possible. Hehe. My back still hurts, but im assuming it's my body adjusting to the weight it used to carry and now readapting to my body post-partum to delivery. Other than that? I've just started having food outside (with precautions) and so far so good. Not in a state that I can exercise yet but we're getting there!

Motherhood with Mikayla Medina

16th September - Mikayla at 23 Days Old

Okay enough about me, how am I adapting to being a mother to my baby girl, Mikayla? First 2 weeks was rough cause I wasn't able to move much. But now that im moving more and feeling less pain, I'd say im doing pretty good! She's been on direct feeding for the past 1 month, and she has definitely gotten fatter from the 1st day she entered the world (and heavier too). I've somehow roughly gotten use to a pattern of newborns and that's a good thing. You see, there are a few things that you need to be aware of a newborn, her signals are important and as of now, I notice that she makes different sounds for different reasons such as when she's sleepy, she needs to poop/burp, she's uncomfortable and just plain seeking for attention. Hehe

Mikayla with Daddy worried about the Jaundice readings

3rd September - We both struggled to get your Jaundice cleared

My poor baby. 1 night under UV light

She has been sleeping on the bed with us cause breastfeeding is way easier to reach to her when she gets hungry at night, but we're planning to set her up in her cot sometime next week in hopes she wouldn't be so fussy about the change. We're lucky that she doesn't really cry at midnight as she only gives us signals of hunger and diaper change at night that sounds really cute. In mommy's progress, I've gotten used to bathing her in a bathtub and im pretty good at burping her too (self praise much). haha. Showering her may be tricky, but we got the bathtub stand with the bathtub, so its at a level where I don't need to bend down too much since I have this annoying back pain. We stick to a routine of bathing her in the morning, and im glad that she loves bath time! Thank god I got the hang of that.

29th August 2019 -  Mikayla at 4 days old

6th September - Mikayla at 12 days old

Diaper changing with Petpet as her choice. (It was my preffered diaper too when i was a baby)

In terms of pooping and diaper change, sometimes shes calm when she poops, but when the bigger poop comes to attack, man, she will cry her heart out for a few seconds till the poop is out. haha. She has this funny way of making her face turn super red just because she needs to poop, but we both know that poop ain't gonna come out when shes that tense. Still figuring out how to calm her down when she needs to poop, but diaper changing now seems to be pretty relaxing cause she knows she likes a clean diaper.

25th September 2019 - Mikayla at 1-month-old

To conclude my first month of parenting, i would have to say the top achievements that I've learned to adapt would be to shower her when she wakes up, diaper changing without freaking her out, tummy time is playtime, if all goes chaos means she just needs to burp, and basically the bond that we have grown even greater. The first day after delivery was a little awkward cause as a first-time mom, I had to take some time to think that im now a mom and also trying to fix the equations of wondering how was I carrying her for almost 9 whole months? Now, I feel like she's a part of me and it really does feel like youre seeing your heart outside of your body. Fragile and precious.

Happy 1-month-old baby girl! <3

OH! And some of you may be wondering if post-partum depression is real? Honestly speaking I think it does kick in after delivery, but I would consider my depression as the 'i am aware' that it's normal that some hormones may make you feel depressed. How I managed to handle it is basically to include her to be a part of my daily activities. Yes, because she's now here, I won't get my carefree life back, but what's wrong with being carefree when im with her? Its all in the mindset, and hitting the 1-month timeline, I'd say the depression subsided. That's all for now, cause duty calls! Will update my 2 months experience when we hit 2! xx