“Hello, new phone who dis?”

Hello everyone, I’m Michelle, mom of toddler Scarlett, and now 40 weeks pregnant with baby #2. I’d like to thank my parent-in-crime Marissa for providing me this platform to share my experience and hacks for other parents-to-be’s! I admit I was clueless as to what it really meant when you decide to start a family. It was only later on, with all the new knowledge acquired, sage advice from elderlies, and multiple attempts to run from a looming tsunami of emotion beyond comprehensible reason, that I really understood what it meant to be parents. Here is to hoping that our humbling experience can help others be better prepared that we ever were!

I am a regular mom with no special story, just surfing in the vast fabric that is parenthood, trying hard not to topple over. All you moms and dads, both new and experienced, would most probably know how it feels to “surf” through parenthood, even if you’ve never surfed before! You can get stuck in a “riptide,” or shall I say, a continuous stretch of time where your baby is just colic as hell, or you can get “wiped out,” or better known to most moms and dads as “being completely knocked out of life because you haven’t slept in days.” Don’t be discouraged, sometimes you’ll be able to ride that wave like a pro and still reach shore standing on your board with a beverage in hand, if you’re lucky.

“WE GOT THIS GUYS” - said every parent until the baby is born.

I am no surf pro, but I can tell you I picked out the sickest board out of the stack and tried to ride a barrel wave like Kelly Slater even though I had never surfed before. In plainspeak, basically I jumped into parenthood headfirst, without properly equipping and informing myself. This happens to most parents of today, with the unlimited and varied articles you can access online you think you’d know it all. Unfortunately, what most people don’t consider is the the main variable- the baby.

Fortunately, I was blessed with a baby who never had colic, who was able to be both breastfed and bottle-fed, who slept according to our schedule since she was one month old (and still does!), and never experienced any allergies. I was also quite lucky to have had a smooth pregnancy, albeit a painful induced labor that lasted almost 24 hours that resulted in extreme contractions with no dilations for the first 20 hours. Breastfeeding was a walk down the beach, a few painful blistery nipple hell moment, but otherwise a pleasant experience.

However, no matter how easy we had it, it is important to point out how underprepared we were. When people talked about “nesting,” I thought it was about buying toys and painting the walls. When my mom asked me if I bought breast-pads, I had to google what they were. Instead of taking prenatal classes, I was so stubborn and firmly believed maternal instinct would kick in naturally. Instead, I spent the time I should’ve been preparing eating nuggets everyday.

This resulted in not knowing there was a difference in “Newborn” and “New Baby” terms that are used by most brands. We didn’t know there were nipple sizes for bottles- we bought a bottle for our poor baby that had a stage 3 bottle nipple included and for weeks still found her vomit everywhere. We didn’t know how much towels we needed for the mess that is breastfeeding and breast-pumping. We had no clue what we were doing- we were surfing at night, blindfolded. Even with all hands on deck (my parents, my mum-in-law, household staff, and my confinement lady) we still had zero clue what the heck was going on. We were extremely humbled when we realised how lucky we were. What if we were blessed with a nightmare baby, and had no help, with having no idea what was what?

Millions of parents, (and single parents) around the world definitely had it tougher than we did, and I really want to take my hats off to them for persevering, because sterilising bottles with a cracked nipple and a colicky baby sounds to me like the perfect hell. Now I am pregnant with my second child, and hopefully with knowing what to expect, I could lay low with the nuggets, and with a better understanding of what “nesting” truly means, I could be a bit more prepared when our little bundle of joy arrives, whether she will be a nightmare baby, or an easy baby. I said before that the baby, as the main variable, will always be a mystery and will change everyday, so I believe there is no such thing as being 100% prepared and 100% knowing what to expect, but I believe you can prepare yourself the best you can.

After first-handedly experiencing what personally works for me and what didn’t work, I would like to share with the parents-to-be some post-natal and newborn hacks. These hacks are what worked for us, but even if we have further improved it, THERE IS STILL NO RIGHT OR WRONG. Every baby, parent, home-life, financial and cultural background is different. In addition to other variables, every equation could result in different outcomes. This is merely a guide that could help many parents who, like we did, did dive into parenthood headfirst without any safety gear.

Please watch this space as I regularly update with nesting hacks, post-natal hacks, confinement, traditional post-natal care, and more. Hopefully these hacks will save you time so you can enjoy your nuggets in peace!

Parenting- A Surfing Lesson!

“Hello, new phone who dis?”