The Unexpected Moments of Motherhood

This post is sponsored by Poise® but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Motherhood is chock full of moments. Moments of pure joy. Moments of overflowing love and exploding hearts. Moments of frustration and tears. Moments of laughing until tears are streaming down your face and you pee your pants a little bit. Moments in which you don’t realize are “lasts” until it entirely too late to fully cherish them. Moments of unease that leave you breathless and scared out of your mind. Moments in which you feel like you’ve totally won the jackpot in this parenting thing.

When you first endeavor on this parenting journey, everyone has advice to give. Despite the overload of advice, there are just some things that people don’t tell you.

Nobody tells you that when they hand you that baby to take home in the hospital, that your heart starts beating out of your chest and you’re amazed and terrified that you are now solely responsible for taking care of this helpless, eating, sleeping and pooping machine. Parenting doesn’t come with a manually…you figure it one day at a time.

You’ll question yourself ALL the time and someone always has an opinion. You do you. You truly will know your baby better than anyone else. Trust that mommy gut.

No one ever tells you that mom brain is real and you’ll find yourself constantly forgetting your train of thought, finding your keys in the fridge and that post-it notes will be your bff! Learn to live with the chaos and laugh  it off when you can.

If your a nursing mama or have a baby thats up numerous times a night, there will be times that you’ll look at your husband sleeping peacefully as the baby wails on the monitor and the jealousy you feel will be unreal. It’s hard being the sole food source.

Google is a double edge sword. You may search and find your answer, but you may also search and start believing that your child has the most obscure disease in the world. For those medical questions, your pediatrician is a phone call away. Call them and save yourself the panic.

Nobody tells you about the day you wake up and your “baby” is no longer a baby. Those baby days are truly the longest shortest time. Soak up the moments of being their everything because they go by in a flash. You’ll miss those moments of being their world and hearing every thought that passes through those big, beautiful brains of theirs.

Some days you’ll literally count down the minutes to bedtime, and then as soon as they’re asleep you’ll want to stay with them a few moments longer to watch them sleep.

There will be times that you miss the freedom of your pre-motherhood life SO MUCH, but you can’t imagine life without your crazy, beautiful children. It’s ok to miss the “old you” too. As time goes on and kids get older and more independent, you’ll find pieces of your old self reemerging as well as the growth of a whole new you too. Embrace it.

For some motherhood can be isolating and lonely at times. Even though you are never truly alone as your babes are by your side every moment, you’ll miss adult interaction and conversation. Don’t be afraid to reach out the family and friends when you need to reconnect. Join mom groups and find some other moms in the same season of life you’re in. That’s your tribe and they’ll be priceless for getting through the early years and make those sweet moments sweeter and laughable moments more enjoyable.

No one tells you that sometimes you’ll pee when you laugh (or jump…or sneeze..or get surprised)! Childbirth does a number on your pelvic floor and bladder. Kegels are your BFF. Sometimes you’ll find yourself running to the bathroom countless times with all your kids in tow. You might as well get over the ick factor of public bathrooms because bringing your kids into one is bound to be an experience of getting over germ phobia (p.s. stock up on antibacterial wipes because they’ll touch everything).

Just remember you’re not alone when it comes to leaks. One in three women experience light bladder leak. In the meantime, keep Poise on hand for those leaky moments. Poise has a large assortment of products to move with your body and protect you from leaks so you can worry less and focus on what really matters.

With ContourFit Design a pad shape that is softly curved in the middle, to fit your curves better than before and their trusted 3-in-1 protection for dryness, comfort and odor control, Poise has you covered. You can purchase them up at Walmart (online grocery pick-up is an awesome option if you want to be more discreet). Also, there is a great offer on Ibotta to earn $5 back on your Poise purchase!

Motherhood is full of all the emotions. Most importantly, it’s full of love. So much love that it’s impossible to put into words. Enough love that it can drive you to tears just thinking about how amazing these little humans you have created are. It’s enough to rip you wide open, feel like your heart is walking around outside your body and make you wonder how you could ever live a life without them. And that makes every single tear, hardship, laugh, sacrifice worth it all.