I suppose when you aren't blogging regularly, you also don't keep up with taking photos of your Stitch Fix boxes every month. Woops. Looks like the last post I did was at the end of August for a transition to fall post. This was also the post where I promised to post my first 5/5 box. Dang. Woops. Oops?

Okay I totally thought about photographing everything I kept since then, but in reality, I don't have the time or energy with the baby to do that. I am lucky I have time to go to the bathroom these days. Since my last Stich Fix post I was invited into the Style Pass so I have been getting fixes every 3 weeks or so.



Today I am showing you fix # 16. I just got #17 the other day so I will be posting that one as well shortly. This fix is my first postpartum fix and I am 6 weeks postpartum in these photos. I have a lot of work to do!

So here we go..

For those of you unfamiliar with Stitch Fix, it is a monthly clothing subscription where you get a personal stylist to send you 5 pieces according to your profile. You have the opportunity to write your stylist a note each month further customizing your fix. You pay a $20 styling fee each month to receive the fix, which is then deducted from the cost of anything you keep from your fix. If you keep all 5 items you also receive a 25% discount. Pretty great right? If you have interest in trying out the fix, I would appreciate it greatly if you used my affiliate link.

For this fix I asked for comfy nursing friendly clothes. I feel like my stylist got it partway right. 

Gaiam Astana Performance Knit Top

This first top was really cute and I would have kept it had it not been so complicated to wear. It had all kinds of things going on that made it difficult to get it on and off. Right now I don't have time in my life for difficult anything. It had a cool looking back, so this is all I am showing. Returned.




I had this romper pinned. I am still on the fence about this one. I requested a different size and I am not 100% sure I am happy with it. It is very soft and I like the wrap detail, but again, I am just body conscious right now. What do you all think?


Stay tuned for my review on Fix # 17. It will be up next week!

Now that I am officially a mom, I need to extra remind myself how important self care is. I am going to be honest here, working from home for the past 15 months and getting pregnant really put a damper on focusing on taking care of me. I mention self care a lot on this blog. You would think by now I would have it down pat.. wrong..

Basic things like getting changed out of my pajamas and washing my face regularly before bed weren't happening. I know it sounds like a dream to work in pjs everyday, but for me it made me less motivated.

Someone once said just putting on a pair of shoes can make the difference, which turns out is true, but I even failed to do that every day.

So back to self care. I need to get back to yoga and exercise in general. Winter is *hopefully* done and I have no excuse to not go outside. I can even take the baby on walks.

I need to find time to have alone time.. to journal... to meditate... to think... you know all the things we need to be sane.

I want to get back to the gym more consistently and get my body feeling good again. Lose the extra baby weight plus the weight I should of lost before getting pregnant. Thankfully we have a 24 hour gym so I can really go at anytime when R is home and after I've pumped and all that fun stuff.

I finally pulled out all  of my essential oils. I used a few through pregnancy but stayed on the cautious side when using more than just the lavender and peppermints of the oil world. I  have been gradually using some for different nursing ailments as well as diffusing to get my relaxation on when I have a minute or 2.

I have been trying to pause and remind myself to breathe and get a little meditation in. It has never been easy for me, and it certainly isn't coming easy with a newborn, but I do notice it is working.

The one thing I have never really been able to make consistent is journaling. I know it is supposed to be very helpful, but I just forget to do it. I want to document things these days though. I want to remember how I felt. What made me tick. What made me happy. Those types of things. I am going to attempt it again. See where it leads me.

What do you do for self care when life gets crazy? Share in the comments!

My last Friday of freedom (oh no!) and the first day of the second half of 2018!

Next week I will be going back to work after 8 glorious weeks of maternity leave. I mean I wasn't getting any sleep or traveling, but it was nice to only have one focus really. My little baby boy.

So not much happened this week as far as life stuff but I do have quite a few things I want to add to my 5 things on this first Friday of June.

First off, I feel like the first part of this year sailed by with very little motivation or accomplishment. I mean I did have a baby in April and that was one pretty big accomplishment, but as far as some of my goals and specifically this blog I didn't accomplish much. That's where my 5 things come in..

1. 100 Dreams Project


Today I am starting my 100 Dreams project with my first 10 dreams. This project will run for 10 weeks as I will write about 10 dreams a week until I reach 100. You can read more about the project and how you can participate on my Intro to The 100 Dream Project post.

1. Believe in myself.
2. Find internal peace (Master meditation).
3. Become my own boss and be successful.
4. Create a successful subscription box.
5. Raise my son to be a good honest man.
6. Make an income from my blog.
7. Own a pair of Tieks and not faint at the price
8. Go on 1 girls trip a year and not worry about a budget.
9. Hire a housekeeper to clean once a month.
10. Attend afternoon tea at a tea house in London.

2. I like lists, but I can't seem to use planners

Every year it seems I spend money on some form of nice planner and I never, ever use it. It collects dust. It's pretty to look at, but is completely empty inside. I have probably spent hundreds of dollars over the years on planners that I never use. Because today is the first day of the second half of the year, I figured I'd challenge myself to use the planner I purchased back in January. Turn over a new leaf so to say.

3. When your blog gets negative "press"

I logged into my blogging dashboard the other day and noticed quite a bit of traffic on an old post. Every so often that happens, but when I looked at the last entry points, it came from a Reddit thread. My first thought was "that can't be good".

As suspected it wasn't exactly the best reason to have a link posted on another page. Basically a post I wrote about events leading up to my wedding sparked some negative comments on the particular thread. It was a thread about disliking MLM companies, especially if they are promoting their businesses at a wedding. The post in question had nothing to do with an MLM that I sell. It did discuss items from an MLM but not me personally trying to promote anything.

It was weird to me. Being mean to other people on the internet just because you assume something isn't exactly the best thing. I am not going to let it get to me or dwell on it, but it does amaze me how these things come to be. I guess all I can say is, "thanks for the traffic!".

4. Glossies Made Me Do It!


Last weekend I went through a large stack of magazines (glossies!) that were taking over my living room book shelf. Lauren from Shooting Stars Mag reached out and told me about a link up she co-hosts call Glossies Made Me Do It. Sounded like fun so why not?! I was reading all of the Real Simple magazines dated back to September.


I got up to February and what I did was take an article from January 2018 about not knowing what I want as a passion and used it to influence my 100 Dreams Project mentioned above. It basically encourages you to start doing things that make you happy. See where it takes you. For me it has been writing. Writing all of these dreams down is already inspiring me more and more every day.

5. Gratitude

Another week has come and gone and I am always reminded of all of the things I am grateful for. On Wednesday a good friend of mine pulled some oracle cards for me which lead to a Reiki session. All of the pulls were pointing to change and the ending of a cycle. My body has been under a lot of stress between being pregnant and not knowing what is going to happen once I go back to work.


Nicole from Reiki Panda was able to help my body relax and to remind me that I can only do one thing at a time. My mind was so full of chatter she described it as the snow on TV when cable is out. It is pretty accurate. I have so many thoughts going on at once, it's no wonder I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

I am so grateful for the time she spent with me to help me clear some things up. I feel more at ease today and I slept well even with an infant in the house. I would recommend her a million times over if you are seeking answers to your life.

If you are not familiar with Reiki it is "a healing technique based on the principle that the therapist can channel energy into the patient by means of touch, to activate the natural healing processes of the patient's body and restore physical and emotional well-being."

Distant Reiki can be done, which is what I had done. You do not have to be local to her for this to work. If you decide to get in touch, let her know I sent you! She's a dear friend and I always want to support the people I love.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Namaste.

Do you know what you want out of life? Do you struggle with finding a passion? I sure do. That is why I'm working on a 100 dreams project.

Each week I will write out 10 of my dreams and a little blurb on why it's a dream of mine. Doing this is really going to help me narrow down what it is I should be doing with my life because I'm in sort of a rut right now.

They will help me lay out goals to reach these dreams and find my passion.

Because this isn't an easy task, I am using some different categories to spark some thoughts. I recommend doing that as well if you are planning to follow along. Here are those categories:

• Physical
• Emotional
• Intellectual
• Spiritual
• Psychological
• Material
• Professional
• Financial
• Creative
• Legacy
• Character

Starting tomorrow, every Friday I will be looping in my 10 dreams with my Friday post. I am super excited to do this and I hope it will inspire some of you to do it too! I am also thinking about doing one week where I share dreams that have already come true. Maybe also some shared dreams that me and R share. This could really spark a lot of thought.

Happy dreaming!

Make sure you follow along!
Dreams 1-10
Dreams 11-20
Dreams 21-30
Dreams 31-40
Dreams 41-50
Dreams 51-60
Dreams 61-70
Dreams 71-80
Dreams 81-90
Dreams 91-100

I know it's not technically Monday, but yesterday was a holiday, so Tuesday is the new Monday? I mean technically it doesn't make a difference to me as I'm on maternity leave and every day is a weekend to me... sort of.

So even though I didn't have plans per say this weekend, it turned into a pretty busy couple of days.

On Saturday I cleaned the house. It desperately needed a vacuum and a mop. I swear having cats makes it seem like you never clean your house. Literally an hour after vacuuming there was litter everywhere again. We also went food shopping which was also pretty needed.

Sunday I got motivated enough to go through a large stack of magazines that has been taking over one of my book shelves. There were magazines dating back to 2016 still in plastic. I sorted them by name and then sorted them by month and year.

I literally have 5 or 6 different magazines that just show up at my house. I don't pay for any of them and they are in my name. This has been happening to my parents house for years. Magazines showing up in my name that I didn't order. I haven't lived there in almost 7 years and they still get magazines in my name. They have finally found me here in my new home as I have started receiving magazines last year.

I spend a good portion of Saturday going through and reading the Real Simple magazines cover to cover. I treated it as a self care item that kept me off my phone all day. I even took notes on things I wanted to remember and wrote down websites I wanted to visit.  It was a very soothing exercise for me.

On Sunday night I went to the gym for the first time since having Baby Bloob. It was a very surreal moment for me. It doesn't help that my gym got all new machines and things were all moved and not familiar to me. I had to look for things and that made going back a little harder. I took it easy as I have not been cleared yet from my doctor. I just did 30 minutes on the treadmill. The trip was mainly for stress relief and that was nice.



 After the gym I experimented with making Turmeric Lemonade. I wanted to try something new. I let it sit overnight and served the 2 glasses to R and I on Monday as we were cleaning up and putting up our deck canopy. It was very hot and the drink was very refreshing. I added some of my fresh mint to garnish. It was delish!



We had friends over for food and conversation on Monday afternoon and then it was clean up and relaxing until bed. Baby Bloob went down easy to bed and we got cleaned up and I read my magazines. Even though it was very busy in a sense, I found it all very relaxing too. We have a clean house. We got to visit with friends. And I have found something to pass my time that keeps me from living on my phone.

It's all a win.

How was your (three day) weekend?

Namaste.

I've got those Friday feels! This week has been long and it was only Wednesday when I realized it's Memorial Day weekend which means I go back to work in a week and a half. Booo! 8 weeks go fast when you're not sleeping and snuggling a little baby.

So a couple of things...

1. I feel like I need to start a new series called "Tales from the Midnight Feedings". There is always something happening when I'm up late. This week I was literally attacked by a spider! I was sitting in my rocker pumping when I looked over at the arm just as this black spider charged at me!

I literally jumped up, still attached to the breast pump trying to get away as I was being restrained by the pump. Good times. The spider then ran under the cushion. I kicked at it and it went running under the chair. Guys, I can't even!

This spring has been THE WORST for creepy crawlies in the house. I'm also dealing with ants. Why?! My kitchen is currently spotless amd they are still invading. God give me the strength not to burn my house down!


2. Next up, Baby Bloob turned 6 weeks old this week. He's eating like a 12 year old boy and I can't keep up! He is desperately trying to catch up because of being 5 weeks early, yet he is still in newborn clothes. We have finally graduated to size 1 diapers this week though. I call that a win.

3. I think Spring has finally showed up just in time for Summer. We are having pretty warm weather and lots of sunshine. We got our garden planted this week. It's small, but we are working with a hard situation. We don't have a water source outside, so we must haul buckets of water out to the field. We are praying for rain this Summer as last time we did the garden 2 years ago it was so dry nothing did well. *Rain Dance!*



4. I am working on a new series called 100 Dreams. Basically this is a list of 100 dreams I have broken up into 10 weeks. The reason for this is, it's really hard to actually come up with 100 dreams you have for yourself. I am doing this as a personal growth project. A friend of mine took a seminar on this and it's incredible what you learn about yourself and your strengths. Feel free to do this with me. I think it is going to be a great project!



5. Lastly, I think this is the first Memorial Day weekend that it is supposed to be really nice that I don't have any plans! Normally we are going to a BBQ or something and it rains. I am welcoming a calm holiday weekend being we need to catch up on some sleep and probably some housework.

What are you doing this weekend?

I want to also mention some gratitude before I end this. I am super grateful to have this blogging community to remind me to do me everyday. I am constantly struggling to not compare myself to what others are doing and that really makes blogging not fun. I want to thank everyone who has encouraged me to keep on going with what makes me happy. Love you all <3



Have a great weekend!

Namaste.

This week Baby Bloob is 6 weeks old, which means I am 6 weeks postpartum. The past 6 weeks have been quite a whirlwind and I felt like writing it down. Getting it out there. Letting the world know it is okay to feel completely nuts one day and completely sane the next.


I discussed my labor and delivery and it was not easy to say the least. So now I want to do some updates on how I am feeling 6 weeks out.

I have had a very hard time with breastfeeding. Baby Bloob was early so he was also not very good at latching. We have our moments where it works, but 9 out of 10 times it doesn't and I am pumping for him. The topic is finally not making me cry every time it comes up. It is a very emotional topic and I cried at the pediatricians office last week when they told me little man was still underweight.

Between hormones and maybe a touch of the baby blues, that has been hard to handle for me. Lets talk a little about the baby blues.

According to Web MD, 1 in 7 women experience postpartum depression. It is not something to ever be embarrassed about and you should always seek help if you feel like you are experiencing it.

I don't know 100% if I am experiencing it but, I do have my moments of being upset. It has gotten better, but I will not rule out being evaluated if I feel like it's getting worse. I do suffer from anxiety at times so it would not surprise me if this is something I will struggle with.

Moving on. As far as my postpartum body goes, I am still getting used to the changes. I have so pretty crazy stretch marks and about 12 pounds of baby weight to lose, so that seems to be the worst of it. I am also dealing with the soreness from breastfeeding and pumping.

I know it takes time and our bodies go through a lot of change when we grow a child, but I still feel a little sad that it will be that much harder to lose the weight I was already trying to lose before getting pregnant.

I am working on my diet now and have looked at a few different exercise programs that I want to try. I need to get back to doing yoga. I gave it up during pregnancy and now I sort of regret it. All of my hard work from last year feels lost, but I am going to work to get myself back and hopefully get back to teaching.

All in all I am feeling good. Sleep deprived, but good. I'm going to take it day by day and try ti find balance. I love getting to know my little guy and want to make sure I'm taking care of me so I can care for him.

What were your postpartum experiences? Were you able to find balance?

Namaste.

Whew, what a whirlwind of a weekend full of romance and royalty. In case you missed it, there was a royal wedding on Saturday. With my lack of sleep I completely forgot it was happening, but thanks to little man bloob, I was up for a feeding and got to watch the festivities.

I was glad I was able to watch, as I missed the royal wedding back when William and Kate married. This was was worth it though. So many little details that set this one apart from the traditional royal weddings.

Watching it took me back to my wedding day. A day I never thought would happen. I was 33 (Hey so was Harry! Wedding twins! Ha) and before meeting R, I was ready to give up on love.

My princess dress.

My mom always said I had too high of standards, but who wants to spend there lives with someone who is just okay? I wanted fire and passion damnit!

Thinking back to my childhood, I never wanted to be a princess and I didn't dream of my wedding day. My dream was to move to NYC and work for MTV. I was going to be a rock and roll kind of gal. Have a good time and never settle down.

Well that didn't happen, but I did intern in L.A. and attended some pretty rock and roll events. I also attended the Grammy's a few years ago, but that's a whole nother story. Oh and as you can see in the photo above, I did get married and I did feel like a princess. I never thought I could wear a poofy dress, but this dress found me and the rest was history.

So back to this weekend. Weddings. I'm gonna say it. I didn't like the dress. I preferred Kate's dress, but that's not to say Meghan didn't look beautiful. I like simple, but I felt it was too simple. Does that make sense?

This is supposed to be a weekend wrap of sorts, so let me tell you what else I did when I wasn't glued to my TV and couch watching coverage of the wedding.

I relaxed. That was nice. The annual plant sale happened. We decided this year to put our garden back in. We did one 2 years ago but the weather was so dry, it didn't do so hot. We skipped it last year because we were afraid of having the same problem, but it rained more. We missed it a lot, so we are taking our chances again and are putting one in.

On a side note, I got my mint so I can start garnishing my summer cocktails!





Such a nice weekend really. I got some sleep which is also welcome. So I guess all I can say now is, Bring it on Monday!

How was your weekend? Did you watch the royal wedding?

Namaste.

 I have always lived for the weekend in a sense. I can remember when I was in college I worked full-time and went to school at night. I daydreamed all week about that cocktail in my hand as I danced the night away with my friends.

As I journied through my twenties I lived for weekend adventures and trips. I'd drive to NYC or to visit cousins and friends. Mini road trips to concerts or new places to explore were common. I lived for these escapes.

These days there's a different reason why I live for the weekend. Sleep. When I was pregnant with Baby Bloob I was exhausted all of the time. Weekends were for napping.

 Now that my little bundle is here, I look forward to the weekend because R is home and we get to rest and spend time together as a family. We may be tired but it's nice to have a little bit of a schedule where it works.


This past weekend I celebrated my first Mother's Day. It was also baby bloobs due date. He blessed us 5 weeks early and I wouldn't change a second of it. It also came with cleaning and having company.

So even though I live for the weekends and even though I'm pretty tired, I loved celebrating a day for me with my hubs, little man, and my parents. I gave up my sleep to live in the moment.

I won't get these moments back, so moving forward I'm going to live for the weekends where I can live in the moments. Make memories in this new phase of life.

Tired. But so worth it.

Watch for those weekend moments every Monday here on the blog.

Namaste.

Today I am sharing part 2 of my birth story. If you missed part one, go read that first!

On Tuesday I took you through the first 2 days of my labor exprience. Today I want to take you through the rest. We left off on Sunday the 8th where I was full of pitocin, swollen, and no baby.



My parents had come to visit me on Sunday thinking little man would be making his appearance. Now just to fill you in, my parents live 2.5 hours away. They also have a 1 year old dog who is still pretty much puppy and can be quite a bit to handle. Because this labor was unexpected they had no plan for the dog.

On their way up to NY where I live they hit a pretty sizeable rock and had to turn around for the other car. This made their travels even more stressful on top of the dog situation. They would not be able to stay the night and driving another 2.5 hours home on an already stressful day isn't fun.

After my parents left, with promise from everyone that a baby would be born soon and when they came back on Monday they should get to meet their grandson, I was taken off of pitocin for the night so I could get some sleep. I was still not in active labor and was making no progress. I needed sleep.

Monday came and with no progress I was getting very upset. R left to go home for some things and to take care of our cats and I broke down in the bathroom.

My bathroom had an enormous whirlpool tub.

I cried because I was tired.

I cried because I felt like I was failing as a woman to bring my son into the world.

I cried because I felt like no one was listening to me.

I cried because no one could tell me when this would end or how it would end.

I cried because I didn't want to go back on pitocin.

R came back and I had to face him. There was no way to hide that I had been crying for a bit. He was immediately concerned and we discussed why I was upset. He said I needed to tell my midwife how I was feeling and to get an update on my options. I had no birth plan when I came into the hospital due to the surprise, but I will say I did not want a c-section if it was possible to avoid.

At this point I was open to the c-section. I was tired and scared and wanted to meet my little boy. My midwife came in before lunch time and she could see I was upset. I cried while talking to her. She understood my frustrations but felt we should avoid c-section just because it was the easier option.

Over the course of 5 days I had 4 IV's inserted. So many bruises.

I didn't feel like it was the easier option at this point. I was tired. I was emotional. I was on day 3 of no progress. I told her I did not want to be back on the pitocin. I was so swollen from it I could barely bend my legs. She suggested another option. It was a pill and it was known to bring on strong labor quickly. I agreed to try, but if it didn't work, I wanted the c-section.

My parents arrive early afternoon to no baby and an emotional daugher. They fully supported my decision to want a c-section if this method did not work. We were back to the waiting game.

My nurse gave this to me as motivation to get little man born.

The day went on with very little change. The pill could be taken every 4 hours. My midwife advised I should take 2 rounds of it and if no change back to pitocin. I agreed to the 2 rounds but no pitocin. It would of been after midnight when they would have to start it. They let me sleep instead. My parents headed back home again.

Tuesday morning I woke up to contractions. I was FINALLY in active labor and had dilated to 8 cm when checked. My contractions took off right away and I was having strong ones by 6am. It got bad fast. I was in tears when each came on. I was put in the tub to help, but it didn't make a difference. I was in agony.

My midwife ordered my epidural with warning I may have to wait as it was shift change and there were 3 scheduled c-secections that took priority. A miracle happened because the anesthesiologist was still around and came right away to take care of me. He warned it would have to be quick as he had an appointment to get to.

That man was a God send. He got me taken care of quick and painless. I fought through a contraction or 2 when he was working on it, but once it was in it was much, much better.

I was still only at 8 cm so we had to wait to push, but things were finally looking up. My parents arrived for the 3rd day in a row hoping a baby would be born. Today was going to be the day no matter what. If I didn't dilate I was having a c-section.

My nurses came in to do vitals around 1pm and I had a fever. I wanted to scream and cry all at the same time. I could not start to push until the fever was down. I was hooked up to antibiotics which would take around 2 hours before I would know if I could push.

Everyone in the room was beyond frustrated at this point. How much longer could they hold off this delivery?

My antibiotics finished and my fever was down. I was checked again and I was at 10 cm! It was go time before anything else could put this on hold. Everyone cleared out but R, my nurses and my midwife. Let the pushing begin.

This is where it gets even more emotional for me. I am already tearing up thinking about this.

I was pushing and pushing and everything was going good. The baby was moving and we were making progress. Then I started having breathing issues. I was put on oxygen and I was so frustrated I didn't want the mask on. They forced me to keep it on and I was getting more and more tired.

The baby was stuck under my pelvic bone and I was much too tired to be able push him through. A decision had to be made. After 2.5 hours of pushing my midwife had to consult the surgeon on call. He came in and attempted to help get me to relax and get he baby out. No progress.

He told me that this baby needed to come out and he could offer forcep delivery. I didn't even have to think twice and I said yes! Please!

Let me tell you, when you agree to forceps in a time where forceps aren't used much, the room suddenly gets quite busy. My poor parents were in the waiting room right outside of my room. They probably thought I was dying with the amount of people and equipment that rolled into the room. I looked around and I swear there were at least 20 people around me.

The doctor and his crew. The midwife and my nurses. The neonatal crew. People who have never witnessed a forcep delivery. It was insane.

Within minutes of everything being set up, I was pushing and my son was born at 6:14pm. I cried.

I cried for relief.

I cried when I heard my son cry.

I cried because I had given birth without a c-section.

I was not able to see Ben immediately. They wisked him away to the NICU.

1 hour old. Poor kid had so much bruising from the forceps.

I laid there feeling completely wrecked and fullfilled all at the same time. I had some repairs that needed taken care of and then everyone was gone. For a brief moment I was alone. I laid there trembling. Every inch of my body shook.

R came back in. He needed a moment of his own and had stepped out. He asked if I wanted to see my parents. I honestly didn't know how I felt at that moment. The stress  and tiredness over the past 4 days had caught up to me. I was completly drained.

R let me know they had taken Ben to evaluate him and put him on oxygen. I didn't get much but a glimpse of him when he came out. They told me he was doing good and he was a good size for 35 weeks. 6lbs 2oz. My giant preemie.

It took about an hour to recover before they took me to my post partum room. They alerted me that Ben's glucose levels were low and he'd have to nurse immediately. My parents had seen Ben through the window of the NICU but did not get the opportunity to hold him. He came in and they immediately put him skin to skin and we tried to nurse.

We got him stabilized and it was late. My parents had to head home and I needed sleep. R stayed for a bit and I heard him talking to the baby while I dozed off. I heard him say he was afraid he was going to lose us both during delivery. I had a brief reaction but fell asleep.

The next morning I had a parade of people in and out to check me and Ben. His neonatal doctor said he was doing great other than glucose. Both of us were hooked up to IVs which made it hard to move around. When it quieted down I finally got to ask what had happended in delivery that had him scared.

Him and my nurse explained my vitals had dropped to a scary level. They could not do a c-section at my levels and the baby needed to come out. If the doctor on call hadn't been trained in using forceps one or both of us could of died if they attempted c-section. (Lots of emotions typing those words)

Thats a big realization to swallow. I was told because of a steroid shot I received when I was admitted, it caused fluid on my lungs which is what caused the breathing issues. I was also told that I was lucky the doctor who was on call was there as he was the only one in the area who did forcep delivery.

I also started to bleed out. I was literally on the cusp of every issue related to danger during my 4 days of labor and delivery.

I think I was in shock with all of this new information. I continued on doing what I needed to do. Ben had been taken off the monitors and was just on glucose in an IV by end of day Wednesday. I was discharged on Thursday. Both my doctor and midwide discharged me. They still didn't know who's patient I was at this point.

I was doing great they said considering what I had been through. I was im the hospital 5 days at that point, but I wasn't actually going home.

Ben was jaundice and had to stay. He was in light therapy and I settled in to stay a few more days. I left the hospital briedly to go home for a few hours and to compose myself. I was sore and emotional, but it was nice to go home.

My cool little dude in his glasses

Ben was discharged on Saturday the 14th. We were so happy to take our little bundle home. So much love filled me. All of the staff were amazing as we got to know a lot of them with our extended stay. We had to follow up with the pediatrician on Monday to check jaundice levels but that was all we needed to do, or so we thought.



Ben's jaundice levels had spiked and he landed back in the hospital Monday afternoon. We only had to stay 1 night. R stayed with the baby and I got to go home for the night to get a full nights rest. I cried.

I cried because it was my first time alone in a quiet place in over a week.

I cried because my poor baby was in the hospital again.

I cried because people can be bullies and I had to deal with one when my 6 day old was in the hospital.

When we finally went home on Tuesday night and we were officially able to stay home I was relieved.

Labor and delivery can be tough. We all have different stories to tell on how it went. At the end of the day we are all strong resilient women who brought a new life into the world.

I applaud you if you made it through this whole thing. I apoligize on how long it ended up being. I will do a one month follow up post so this doesn't have to be longer than it already is.

Thank you again for taking the time to read my story. I hope if you are expecting it helps you to know that things sometimes don't go as planned. If you had a similiar story or can relate I also hope it helps you know you aren't alone.

I'd love to hear your stories. You can email them to me if you don't feel comfortable putting them here.

Namaste all <3

Somewhere between sleep deprivation and not blogging as much, I completely forgot The Trish List is celebrating a birthday! The month on May brings on 4 years of blogging!



I want to thank everyone who has been supportive of not just this blog, but of me. The blogging community is one of the best places to meet amazing people in my opinion.

I know I have been on the fence on whether I was going to continue blogging moving forward or even keep this space around. After lots of time and careful thought, I have decided to revamp this space and continue on. I love this space. There were a few reasons I didn't want to keep this, but I am no longer being held prisoner to those things.

What better day to let you all know that I'm staying than on my blogs 4th birthday!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and have a cupcake (or 5, who's counting?) in honor of The Trish List!

You guys.. Baby bloob is 4 weeks old today! How in the world did that happen? I sure as heck don't know. He is currently grunting in his stroller while trying to nap. Or at least that is what I am hoping is going to happen.

Little man at 4 weeks!

I figured today would be a good day to tell you a little about my little guy and go into the birth story. I am going to break this up into 2 parts because it will get a little lengthy.

If you were following along with this blog prior to this post, you will know that he his actual due day was May 13th, which is this coming weekend and Mother's Day.

When I found out I was due on Mother's Day, I knew it was a sign. I was meant to have this little guy. It was not easy and like many sweet ladies I know, getting pregnant is not the easiest tast. I was 34 when he was conceieved and that put me into the "old" category because I would be 35 when he was born.

I had a pretty text book pregnancy. He was growing and on track and I had no issues. As I got closer to my due date, my stomach was enormous. I got the usual questions... "Are you sure you aren't having twins?" and "When are you due? Are you sure?"

Messy messy bedroom.. oops. One of the last photos I took before baby was  born.

I was surprised I was all belly. I didn't put on any other weight that was noticeable. A total of 27 pounds. I was impressed. Towards the end of my pregnancy I joked that he could come early because I was so big.

Fast forward to April 7th, the day of my baby shower. I was getting ready to go on the 2 hour drive to Pennslyvania which is where the shower was being hosted, when I noticed some extra fluid after using the bathroom. I told R that I thought my water broke. He thought maybe it was just that we were getting close to my due date and that is all that was happening.

I called my mother and she had mentioned maybe it was just the mucus plug, which didn't necessarily mean I was going to have a baby anytime soon. We all agreed it was probably that and we proceeded to travel to my shower. I would just monitor the situation and call my doctor if anything changed.

I had a wonderful time at my shower visiting friends and family. I felt more antsy than usual but was also at that stage where I was pretty uncomfortable no matter what position I was in. I walked around a lot and everyone joked that I was going to make the baby come by doing that.

My shower was robot themed. We also did the nursery in Robots. It is not actually done yet due to little mister coming so early. We are working on it. Will post photos when we have it done. Also.. Baby bloob took the whole, welcome tiny human literally that day...

The shower ended with no unexpected guests, and we headed back home. On the drive I felt a little crampy, so I made the decision to call the doctor when I got home. I was told to head to the hospital to be evaluated so I packed a small bag and hopped in the shower " just in case". We got to the hospital at around 8pm and had a few tests run. While waiting me and R joked that little man wanted to come to his party so bad he got a little routy but now that he missed the party this was just a false alarm.

The nurse came back in with the results, and as she put it, little man REALLY wanted to wear his new clothes, because I was in labor. Say what?!

I was admitted at 8:35pm under the care of one of the doctors on call. Because at the time I was considered 34 weeks 6 days, I was not able to be cared for by a midwife. This would become super confusing as the days went on. More info on that later on.

I was told because my water had broke at 10am that morning, I should expect to have a baby by morning. I was also told to expect a 4 pounder.

Fast forward to midnight. I was not making any progress so I was hooked up to Pitocin to try to get things going. I was on a drip through the night. Because I didn't have a baby by midnight I was now transferred back to the midwives who I was seeing throughout my pregnancy. One of my midwives came in the next morning to check progress. Zero progress had been made.

It was also noted that even though I had amniotic fluid trickling down, not all of my waters had been broken. Let me tell you ladies, no one ever mentions how uncomfortable checking dilation and then breaking your water can be. I was not expecting that kind of discomfort.

But to soothe the discomfort I was told, now we should see a baby anytime now!

So here I was hours later, water broken, pumped full of Pitocin and no sign of a baby coming. My feet and legs were swollen, I was tired and I had no idea what was going to happen next. All I kept getting told was, the baby is fine and so are you. So now all we do it wait...

My poor, poor feet and legs.. they were just so swollen. I thought I was going to pop!

I am going to stop there. That covers 2 days of my labor. Come back on Thursday to read the rest of the story. Part 2 is more emotional for me so I need to cut this up. Not only for length but because I need to keep myself from bawling all over the place. You know, hormones, trauma, etc..

See you back here Thursday, where you may or may not cry with me.

Have a great Tuesday!

You guys, I have no idea what I'm doing these days. And to be completely honest, I'm okay with that.

So a few updates.

I had a baby! Baby bloob.. okay, okay.. his name is Benjamin.. decided on his baby shower day that he wanted to be out playing with all of his new stuff. I gave birth after 3 days in labor on April 10th at 6:14pm.



Little dude was 5 weeks early and weighed 6lbs 2oz. My giant preemie. We had a few trips into the incubator for light therapy, but he's home and hungry as ever. Birth story to come.

Also.. I love him to death! OMG!

Next up:

I started a second blog. Not 100% sure what I plan to do with both blogs at this time. I thought I would just phase out this page, but I kind of can't. I'm more attached than I thought. Bare with me as I figure it out.

Things all seem different now that I'm a mom. Let's see how this goes..

Happy Monday!

Oh hey February. Month of love, friendship, and heart health. Also the month I am officially into my third trimester of pregnancy. Lot's going on and some days I have no idea where to begin!

So this is probably going to be more of a goal/update post. Goals have been a little different for me lately.

So let me start off by first sharing some exiting news. I have been holding on to this info for quite awhile because I wanted to wait until I had my 20 week anatomy scan to reveal the gender of the little bloob.

I have known what I was having since I was 13 weeks due to my age and having genetic testing done. I still preferred to wait and tell the world what baby bloob was until we had it confirmed with ultrasound.

I am happy to announce, that I am carrying a bouncing baby boy!

I keep saying I need to do an update on the baby, and I will. It is halfway done being written.

So my main goal for this month is to continue eating healthy, getting exercise, and listening to my body as little bloob gets bigger and bigger.

Blogging goals have still been pretty low on my list due to the fact that I am working all day staring at my computer and sitting in my office chair is becoming more and more uncomfortable, so by the time I am done working for the day, I have no desire to want to do anything else screen related. I do need to try and pick a day to just work on blog stuff. Hopefully I figure that out soon.

I recently splurged on a new planner for 2018. I have yet to really sit down and use it. This is my downfall with planners. I love them, but then never use them and I feel bad about it. A goal I have for this month is to pull it out on Sunday's and plan out my week.

With the baby on the way, I need to start getting myself in the habit of writing stuff down. My appointments for the baby are starting to get more regular and I need to keep everything in order so I am not double booking anywhere.

Wish me luck!

The last thing on my mind lately is to be more social. Since I work from home and it has become winter, I rarely leave my house. That is not really the best option, specifically because I need the exercise and I miss seeing people other than just my husband.

I am not a winter person at all, and we have been getting pretty regular snow fall so that just deters me more from wanting to venture out into the world. I am going to make it a goal to get out at least 2 times a week and interact with friends.

That about wraps it up for what I am working on for the month. What is on your list?

It's finally here! 2018. A year that everyone is hoping to be much better than 2017 was. As much as I am hoping for a great 2018, just as I wished for a great 2017, I feel like each year teaches us so much about ourselves.

I struggled a lot in 2017 with this blog. I came back time and time again to just fall back into the same cycles. Writers block. No time. Excuse after excuse.

I have been blogging just over 3 years and I can say with certainty that 2017 was the hardest for me to keep up with. I blogged less often. I fell through on my promises and I just overall felt pretty crappy about this site. I thought about giving it up, but couldn't do it.

I have seen people come and go over the years. I vowed I wouldn't be one of them. I was going to keep this blog going on forever and ever and ever. (What a great thing to fantasize about right?)

Looking back I can now see why I struggled so much. I wanted instant gratification. I wanted things to move quickly. I wanted this to be my source of income. I wanted to be just like everyone else that were doing it all.

That's where I went wrong. I was trying to be everyone else. Something I am not in my every day life. I don't strive to be like everyone else. I strive to be me. The blogging world is fun and I love it, but I do see times where it pulls me into that competitive place where I want to compete.

That's not what this was supposed to be about for me. This was a place to unwind. To connect. To share about my life and my interests.

Do I want to do this as my day job? Sure. But I want it to be on my terms and with my own ideas.

Over the past few months that I have been pretty absent from this space, I  have been working on things to unblock my chakras. I have not felt creative. I have felt pretty stagnant. I thought it was just about me being pregnant. I was feeling less active. I was more tired. Easy enough to blame on the growing life in my stomach.

After some Reiki, journaling, and some cleansing of my spaces, I am feeling a bit more like me. The one who started this blog for fun and enjoyed the space.

2018 is going to be a new journey for me on so many different levels. I will bring a child into this world that scares the crap out of me. I want to make this baby live in a safe place where they can be whatever they want to be.

I am also working on my again. It will be tough with an infant, but I can't let myself fall into that slump again or the baby will suffer too.

I will also be transitioning this blog over to my new site where I want to start fresh. Once I get that all settled I will share with you the address.

Until then. I wish you all an amazing 2018. I hope all of your dreams come true. I also hope you are happy. That is the biggest accomplishment  you can make <3

Namaste