River’s Newborn Photoshoot | Carmel

I had a chance to chat with River’s mom recently about her experience as a new mom.

How did you come up with your baby’s name?

I wish I had a great story. But honestly, we didn’t know the gender of our baby. We waited till birth to find out. So we had a handful of names. Some could go either way and River was gender-neutral. It fit her.

Anything about being a new mom that surprises you?

People will tell you that you won’t get sleep but I don’t think you really know what that feels like until you are, you know, two weeks in and petting a pillow at like two in the morning thinking it’s your baby. And then you’re like, “Oh my God, where’s the baby?” You know, it’s wild. So sleep deprivation has been the craziest thing. But now she is back to a good sleeping schedule. She’s sleeping through the night now so it’s a lot better. But that sleep deprivation has been insane.

All things considered, I think we lucked out though. We got a pretty easy baby. We didn’t have any major issues.

What’s your favorite thing about being a new mom?

Honestly just watching River grow and meeting these milestones and starting to develop a little bit of a personality. Seeing her smile and giggle. Each week she learns something new and that’s been by far the most fulfilling thing. Just watching her grow and seeing what new tricks she has for the day.

What’s the most useful baby product you have?

The white noise machine has been a serious game-changer.

Any baby product that you have that you ended up not using?

We got a handful of like swaddles and different types of sleep sacks and a lot of them we don’t use. It was kind of trial and error. Some don’t work some do.

Any pregnancy or parenting books you would recommend to expectant moms?

We have a book now. It’s called “The Wonder Weeks: A Stress-Free Guide to Your Baby’s Behavior. I got it for Christmas. It’s been interesting to read about the upcoming will be like, or fussy period, or good periods. But the biggest help I’ve had is actually following a nurse practitioner. There’s a postpartum nurse practitioner on Instagram. Her name is Karrie Locher. She has a few courses, one on the early weeks of bringing home baby and then the early weeks of breastfeeding, and that was by far the most helpful resource that I came across.

Any advice for expectant moms?

It would be that the days are long, but the weeks and months go by so fast. River just turned four months old yesterday. It just blows my mind. So yeah. It does go fast, that’s for sure.