Hello, Paloma

I still can’t believe our baby girl is here and now I’m a mom of TWO! While I’m deep in the thick of everything newborn life brings: exhaustion, hormonal mood swings, happy tears, trying to find time to even shower… I wanted to share more about Paloma’s birth and answer some of the questions I received on Instagram.

Photo by Twinty Photography

Her Birth

With all the uncertainty that has come with COVID-19, we talked with my doctor about inducing a few days before my due date. That way I would know my doctor would be there to deliver her and I would be tested for COVID ahead of time. You can’t always plan things though and early in the morning on May 23, one week before my due date, my water broke while I was in bed.

It was the Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, which I’ll say makes for an interesting situation… it definitely felt like a holiday weekend at the hospital. A midwife checked me out when I got there, but then it took four hours for a doctor to see me since things weren’t progressing too quickly yet. Once the contractions became unbearable and were happening just a few minutes apart, it was time for the epidural. Then a few hours later, it was go time. At that point I got really anxious and shaky thinking about what was about to happen— a combination of nerves and a side effect of the epidural. It’s true what everyone says about the second child though: once I started pushing, she came out very quickly! And she was perfect. Cue lots of happy tears from me and Justin.

Her Name

I got so many questions on Instagram about how we came up with baby girl’s name: Paloma Renée. Paloma has been on our list of girl names since I was pregnant with Runner. It means dove, a symbol of peace, and is of Spanish origin. Justin is part Spanish, but really we just loved the name and it’s the only one we ever talked about once we knew we were having a girl. {I also love to drink Palomas and craved grapefruit juice and soda my entire pregnancy, but that’s just a side note :) } Renée is my mom’s middle name, so she and Paloma have the same initials. It’s French and I love all things French, plus I thought the two names sounded pretty together. So, that’s how she got her name.

Hospital During COVID-19

I was very curious to see what the experience would be like during this pandemic. Justin and I wore masks which were required any time someone was in the room with us. Right when we got to the hospital our temperatures were checked (and mine was checked consistently throughout labor) and we were asked if we were experiencing any symptoms. Since it wasn’t a planned delivery, I was not given a COVID test. Because of that, once it was time for delivery, the nurses and doctor had to wear full PPE including face shields.  I kept my mask on during labor when anyone was in the room, but did take it off at the end when I was pushing. I put it back on right after she was born. Overall, I felt very safe during our time there. I saw our nurse wash her hands both before and after she touched anything in our room and everyone always wore a mask and gloves. Because of COVID and since we were fortunate everything was good with Paloma and me, we were told that we could leave the hospital 24 hours after she was born, so we only stayed one night and ended up being able to leave by the next evening.

First Couple Weeks

Baby girl is a precious angel and we are so in love, but she’s also slowly trying to kill us by refusing to sleep much at night. She loves to be held and is happiest sleeping that way, so it’s been tough at night because she won’t sleep long on her back in the bassinet. We rented the SNOO, which is a “smart sleeper bassinet” that combines gentle rocking and white noise and comes with a swaddle that is secured to the bassinet to prevent rolling. I’ve heard and read great things about it and we’re hoping that it’s worth it in the long run. So far though, she hasn’t given us more then a 2.5 hour stretch of sleep at night. Needless to say, we are exhausted and I’ve been trying to nap when I can during the day. Everyone says, “Sleep when the baby sleeps,” but I’ve never been very good at that. I know this is temporary, so I’m just soaking up the newborn snuggles as much as I can because they’ll be gone before I know it. And here come the tears (hormones) once again… Thank you for all the sweet messages and helping us welcome our sweet Paloma!

*Photos by Twinty Photography