Dealing with the unexpected

As first-time moms, I think that we often have to be brought back to reality after getting lost in our fairy tale ideas of what pregnancy, delivery, and motherhood should look like.  I like to think that I am easy-going, yet over the past couple of weeks I have had to be reminded that things don't always go as planned.  We as moms have to be flexible.

#1 Planned: Dakota would arrive on Dec. 13th

• Happened: Arrived Nov. 25th

#2 Planned: breastfeed

• Happened:  Dakota was bottle fed formula by the nurses in the NICU.  (I am still a little mad about this.)

#3 Planned: Come home with no problems

• Happened: Came home with oxygen, which Dakota had to stay on for over a month

• Dakota was able to say goodbye to the oxygen tanks and the painful sticky pads that left marks on her cheeks on Jan. 1.

#4 Planned: Start nursing as soon as possible

• Happened: Dakota hated nursing because the bottle was a lot easier. She was even able to hold the bottle up on her own.   It wasn't until after 'Booby Bootcamp' that she is finally starting to get it.  It has taken A LOT of tears from both mommy and baby to get this. We are still working on it!  I always felt that it was an uphill climb from the beginning because she was started on bottle right away.

#5 Planned: Dakota would eat well with no problems.

• Happened: Dakota has acid reflux and is on medicine.  She is doing better.  She makes so many funny noises.  We call her our little velociraptor.

#6 Planned: Dakota wouldn't have any join problems.

• Happened:  She had to get an ultrasound on her hips because of the way that she was sitting in the womb.  Thankfully the results were good.  No hip problems.  This was just another thing that I had to worry about.  We are hoping that she is a volleyball player, so we don't want to have to worry about any hip problems.

Overall, I have learned to be flexible as a little mom.  Things will go differently than planned and it doesn't help to stress over them.  Dakota is healthy, happy, and very cute. (We are a little biased).