Alright, mamas. Breastfeeding is HARD! Thankfully, I have had great breastfeeding experiences with 3 out of 4 of my babies. But the first time around with my oldest, I was misadvised which lead to pain, stress, lots of tears and eventually formula. And I feel like there is so much misinformation out there regarding nursing. So I brought in the best Lactation Consultant I know to answer some of those questions new andexperienced mamas have regarding nursing! Amey Clark with Az Breastfed Babies is a literal Breastfeeing genius and so educated on every aspect of nursing! (and much, much more!) She has graciously answered some of the FAQ's of breastfeeding and given us her Top 5 Breastfeeding Tips!

Most people think that with each baby you have, you stress less. That with your first baby, you are a ball of stress but by baby number 2, 3 or 4 you are a professional. But I don't think that is the case. Especially with large amount of information that swirls around the internet. Its incredible that we have this much information at our fingertips, but it also sometimes causes more worry. Especially for us mamas that are sometimes up all night either googling a rash, nursing every hour or just checking that our baby is still breathing.

With each of my first 3 previous pregnancies, I delivered the baby and went back to work RIGHT away. After all, I was a hair and make up artist, so I worked for myself. No one paid me maternity leave, no one gave me 6 weeks off. If I wasn't working, that meant I wasn't making an income. And at that time, that just wasn't possible. Fast forward, and I delivered Olivia and decided to just rest. I stayed in my jammies, I took a couple naps, and I didnt leave my house for about 2 weeks. I didn't go shopping as much as I wanted to. But the best rest of all, was resting from my phone. Not answering calls, not responding to every single message. I posted rarely on social media and that was only for work purposes. I just rested. I remained present with my family. I had no desire to get ready or even get dressed. And I cannot tell you another time in my life that this was even possible.

We are home and have had our sweet girl with us for a full week (+2 days). This week has flown by. To start, we feel more balanced than ever. Its funny, my husband looked at me today and said, I feel like we are so much more balanced with 4 kids. And I totally agree with him. Mia totally threw us off when we had her. Everyone said that baby #3 is a hard adjustment, and I never believed them. But it totally was. It could have been circumstantial with a rough pregnancy and a very hard delivery and I never felt quite right after her. But with this one, all feels right in our home. 

Thursday, June 22nd at 10:02 pm, we welcomed our sweet baby girl into the world. We did not know her gender prior to birth, but we were completely convinced it was a boy. To our surprise, another sweet girl entered the world! I will share more about the birth in another post, but she came on her own, a few days after her due date and completely natural. It took us a few days to comprehend that we had another sweet girl, but we finally landed on a name and it is so fitting for her sweet face! 

We are officially past our due date and totally ok with it! Other than a little back soreness, I feel really good. Which has been a big blessing this time around. We have some family in town who thought they would be holding a little baby by now, but instead were just hanging out and waiting for baby! I think most people are super anxious at this point, but we are feeling super relaxed and I think that part of it is our outlook and the other part is our providers and our birth team that we have chosen. 

We are 5 days from our due date. Still hanging out and not quite feeling "done" yet. But definitely getting into the uncomfortable phase. Gravity starts to take its toll by about 5 or 6pm. Partly because I have no torso so the belly just sticks straight out but partly because my activity level has not really decreased either. Having 3 other kids is busy. And I thought I would have some work/life "to-do's" complete by now, but I am finding myself still running around trying to get things finalized before baby comes.