1st Mother's Day Ideas
Dear Laney,
It’s May and we love to feature moms all month long. Our first mom is newly mom, Miranda, one of our favorite models and rad girls! We caught up with Miranda and wanted to know a bit about her new role as a mommy and wanted to share with you guys! Here’s her amazing journey below as superwoman!
Miranda, tell us about yourself... what would you like people to know about you? (Career, Pets, Hubby, Family life, etc)
⁃ Well I’m married to the most amazing man ever. We’re actually coming up on our one year wedding anniversary in a few weeks. We’ve got a full house with 3 cats, a 90 pound rescue pitbull named Diesel, and a new baby. I have a culinary arts degree and make some pretty yummy food. I really enjoy making cupcakes! I also ride horses and run. I just finished a 6k for a global clean water organization. My goal is to run a half marathon by the end of this year. My best friend has the most beautiful property that she keeps her horses on and we ride in the arena she built in her backyard. I love being around the horses, they are magnificent animals. I can also do a really good British accent and sometimes when I meet new people I like to talk in my accent and see how long I can keep it going!
Introduce us to your baby boy! (Date of Birth, His name )
-My son’s name is Archer Wild. He graced us with his presence on December 22, 2019 at 6:45 am.
How would you describe your pregnancy?
- My pregnancy was easy in some ways and challenging in others. I had morning sickness which lasted all day for the first 3 months. I thought some articles I read online were exaggerating when they described the swelling some women experience. Then one morning, I woke up to the biggest cankles! I think what I loved the most about being pregnant was feeling my son move. He’d move the most right after I ate something. At the time my husband and I didn’t want to know the gender, we wanted to be surprised.
We know sometimes pregnancy triggers interesting cravings... what were yours?
- I craved grilled cheese sandwiches with banana peppers dipped in ranch dressing or ketchup with tater tots! I tried to eat as healthy as I could but there’s some days you just want to eat cold raviolis out of the can.... another craving!
Labor and Delivery, was it what you thought it would be? Share your experience.
- I was so nervous for this part. I definitely felt squished being pregnant but both options of delivery sounded awful! My due date was actually December 20th but the day came and went. My bag was packed and ready to go in the car and at this point the waiting game was on! I woke up in the middle of the night in the worst pain of my life, but it didn’t feel like contractions. I mean I wasn’t sure what a contraction felt like but I was pretty sure it wasn’t a contraction. It felt like I couldn’t breath and the pain wrapped just below my chest. I woke up my husband and he drove me to the hospital at 3am, stopping at EVERY SINGLE RED LIGHT! We finally got to the hospital and while my husband parked the car the nurses got me hooked up to all these monitors and an IV started. Shortly after my husband got back to me, my mom and step dad arrived too. It was really important to me to have my mom there; and I also wanted her to french braid my hair. I remember bits and pieces of because I was given something to help with the pain. When I arrived at the hospital they ran a bunch of tests and it turns out the pain I was experiencing was preeclampsia that went undiagnosed at all my prenatal appointments. Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication mostly resulting in high blood pressure and can be managed if caught in time. My preeclampsia was so severe and so quick my liver and kidneys were shutting down. My blood pressure was 210 over 180. The nurses tried to get my blood pressure down to a safer level with three rounds of medication through the IV. On the last round my blood pressure went back up again and the baby’s heart rate dropped. I remember a crowd of nurses flooded the room and started moving my bed out the door. I didn’t understand what was happening and everything was moving so fast. I was moved to an operating room for an emergency c section. I remember this wonderful nurse who was also pregnant had me hug her while the anesthesiologist did a spinal block. I was so afraid my husband would miss the delivery of our baby but after what seemed like an eternity he was there next to me. The doctor announced its a boy and I heard my baby cry for the first time. My husband brought him over to me to see and for our first family photo. Afterwards I was moved to the maternity ICU for three days. I was so afraid to hold my son due to the medicine I was on. The side effects gave me double vision and made my fingers numb. I was so afraid I would drop Archer. We were eventually moved to a regular room and spent Christmas in the hospital. Everyday my husband brought Archer from the hospital nursery with the cutest knit Christmas hats and on Christmas he even came with his own stocking! The doctors and nurses were absolutely incredible and helped my husband and I in one of the scariest moments of my life. My husband was amazing taking care of me, our son, and running back and forth to our house to take care of our animals.
Best part of motherhood?
⁃ I would say the best part of being a mother is seeing the way my son looks at me; the smile he has every time he sees me. I also love hearing him talk to my husband and I. He sometimes will just babble for an hour and it is the most heart warming thing to listen to.
What would you say changed the most after becoming a mother?
⁃ I think my schedule has changed the most. Everything needs to be strategically planned around Archer’s feeding and nap schedule. It can be disastrous if the schedule isn’t followed.
Favorite thing you like to do with your son?
⁃ I love to cook with him! We make breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. It’s awesome to see him so engaged in what I’m doing. I also make it a daily goal to make him laugh. His laugh is infectious.
Any advice to share for new moms?
⁃ I would have to say enjoy every moment! Every laugh and cry, take it all in. The time really does fly and they grow so fast. I would also say take the time to appreciate everything your body did in creating a tiny person! Our bodies are amazing!
