My 1st pregnancy experience + becoming a mom @ 23 years of age!!!

It's been so long!

Hello!!! I'm baaaack! 

It's been forever since I last wrote a blog post, so here's what's been going on for months! First of all, happy new year! (kinda late, but never gotten the chance of communicating with you all since)! 

For my first blog post, I want to share with you, my experiences of being pregnant for the first time + how I'm doing so far with being a new mommy!

There's a baby in there?!

So, in September of 2017, I found out that my boyfriend and I were expecting! We were both nervous but truly excited taking our 3+ year relationship to a whole new level. It was actually the same month as our year anniversary. 

There were good times being pregnant, and there were bad times...

Not only that I was dealing with pregnancy for the first time, but I was also dealing with what concerns it...my health! As some of you may not know, that I was a high-risk patient, (diabetes, high blood pressure - not to mention that diabetes runs in my family so I've had it for quite some time and high blood pressure came along around due date)...it was absolutely hard! It was nothing that I would expect my first pregnancy or any pregnancies to be! There was dieting, and pinching myself with needles, throughout the day! All of those gyn appointments and tests, it was craaaazyyyy! My body the whole time was exhausted, but it was all worth it, for my little one! 

Lovely Baby Bump.

Fast forward near due date...

I expected to go in to get induced on April 8th, which was a Sunday, but before my arrival to the hospital, I had my last check up days before, on the 4th of April. I was exhausted, but filled with excitement along with the boyfriend, because our time of officially becoming parents was near. Everything seemed well, until I've been having painful headaches, my body felt like it wanted to drop and I really didn't want to go in too soon, since we planned for Sebastian's arrival for April 9th. But the pain, I just couldn't take it anymore...so, I spoke up about it with my nutritionist and gyn doctors and they said my blood pressure was high (which was dangerous for me and the baby), so it was time to go in. So during my last appointment at the gyn, it was also induction time! Ahh!!! So much anxiety was bottled up inside, especially knowing that my first child was on the way! 

So I went in, with the help of Alfred (boyfriend) and my mom by my side, stayed over night, got induced, GOT THE EPIDURAL, soon before you know it (after waiting patiently), Sebastian was ready to meet us! 

It was a not-so-bad first experience giving birth. The whole staff at the hospital, treated me well and made sure that both me and the baby were okay, (especially after I had to get so many stitches afterwards) long story short, I had some tearing in my body when pushing out Sebastian that I had to get a little help from the staff (not to mention I was a nervous reck, hearing the doctor yelling and seeing a nurse jumped on top of me to avoid a lot of tearing, and didn't even know any of this until Alfred told me). 

HE WAS PERFECT!!!!! Born April 5th, 2018 @ 10:17 am, @ Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City --- weighing 7lbs and 9 ounces. --{Sebastian Yamil Calderon-Baker}-- 

How am I doing with being a first-time mom today at the age of 23? Mixed emotions ever since pregnancy. I was excited, I am now happy, and healthy, Sebastian is healthy and we're doing fine. I'm obsessed with being a mom, I love it! Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. 

I want to be able to soon join some "mommy + me" groups, since it's been awhile being able to socialize with people and I think it would be great bonding for Sebastian and I. 

Advice for those who are either first-time parenting, or a young parent, I am sure 100%, you would agree with me. It's hard, it's overwhelming sometimes, and (especially for us young parents), you feel like everyone's at your neck, giving you lectures almost every day...or have those people who looks at you weird because you're "too young to be a parent". What I've learned is to ALWAYS take the advice with parenting, DON'T be afraid to ask for help, and to NOT CARE about what people think. Just take care of yourself and your baby. 

So that's my story of how my first experience with pregnancy went, and how it all led up to giving birth! 

- The Calderon-Baker family <3.