![\"baby](\"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/baby-sleeping.jpg\" "\\"baby")
<\/a><\/p>\nI quickly saw in the mirror what sleep deprivation will do to a person (it isn\u2019t pretty), and I learned that I don\u2019t do well without my solid 7-8 hours. Luckily I was blessed with a pretty great sleeper (knock on wood!).<\/p>\n
Over the past 4.5 months, I\u2019ve learned a few other things, too. Allow me to share\u2026<\/p>\n
I learned to trust myself.<\/strong> I learned to be more flexible. I learned that time flies by.
\nYou\u2019re pregnant, you glow, you push and the doctor hands you a baby (or something like that ) and then 2 days later you leave the hospital to raise that child on your own\u2026. except every move you make is now on one side of an argument or the other. Example: \u201cThey\u201d say if your baby sleeps more than 2 hours, you must wake her up to feed her. Personally, I never woke Hailey up to feed her and high-fived myself when she slept for 4 hour stretches. I felt comfortable with that because she was gaining weight, creating plenty of wet and dirty diaper and was very happy overall. However, I still fretted about whether my decision was the \u2018right\u2019 decision more than once, then realized that it was the right decision for me and my baby. And that\u2019s all that mattered.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I thrived on organization, a schedule, a plan for the day\u2026 then I had a baby. Don\u2019t get me wrong, I still love those things, but I\u2019ve had to learn how to not breakdown when Hailey gets a dirty diaper as we\u2019re walking out the door or if she isn\u2019t tired when the schedule says she ought to be. I\u2019m learning more everyday about how to go with the flow and I\u2019m so glad because whether I stress about it or not, things aren\u2019t always going to go according to plan. So I might as well laugh instead of cry.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>I love watching Hailey grow. It seems like everyday she learns something new, giggles a bit more and her hair grows a little longer. When I reached about age 24, I felt like time kind of stopped, that I wasn\u2019t really getting any older; I was just chillin\u2019 in my 20s. Then Hailey came and days started flying by. So did months. 4 and 1\/2 months have flown by, to be exact. So even on the crazy days, the tired days, the grumpy days, in between my frustrations I remind myself how blessed I am to be here\u2026 sometimes I smile at the thought\u2026 and other times I mock my cheerfulness as I wash baby poop off my hands. <\/p>\n