Trina Fitzpatrick Pregnancy and Birth Story
Trina is a wife and mom of two who lives in New England with her husband. She got her PhD in Chemical Engineering but upon having her daughter,she knew she didn’t want a traditional career so she teaches part-time at a University and blogs in her spare time. You can check out Trina’s amazing blog at www.momsmartnothard.com.
Was your pregnancy planned or a surprise?
It was planned, I knew I was finishing my grad degree soon and it was the perfect time to start a family.
If planned, how long did you try to conceive?
It took about 3 months.
How did you share the news with your partner, family, and friends?
We were studying abroad in Germany at the time but was already planning on visiting home around Christmas time. The timing worked out that we could tell my parents in person, and then we FaceTimed my husband’s family. With this second pregnancy it worked out that we could do the reverse.
Which was your favorite trimester?
Second by far. I had morning sickness in the first trimester and then just uncomfortably large in the third.
What was your pregnancy MUST HAVE?
I randomly craved a Greek salad. Feta cheese is kind of the banned list so I couldn’t indulge as much as I wanted to.
Did you find out the gender?
Yes, we wanted to find out and did at the 20 week ultrasound.
Were there any complications throughout your pregnancy?
No medical complications thankfully. The one challenge that we did have is that we had to change our planned return time from Germany because it would have been too close to the due date. Because of this we had to live with family for a month in the third trimester before our housing was available.
Did you go into labor naturally or were you induced?
I went into labor naturally at 11pm on my due date.
How long were you in labor?
Labor lasted a whopping 18 hours. I hope my second labor isn’t as long.
Did you get an epidural or go all natural?
The plan was to go all natural. But labor was not progressing and I was exhausted having started labor at 11pm. I ended up getting an epidural at about 2pm and then taking about a 3 hour nap.
What was the best and worst part about labor and delivery?
The best part was obviously getting to hold my precious new baby. The worst was when they ran out of nitrous oxide (which was what I was relying on for pain relief) and they didn’t have another tank readily available. This was when I decided to get the epidural.
Were there any complications with your delivery?
I had some pretty severe tearing but nothing out of the ordinary or which caused further medical concerns, it just made recovery a little more unpleasant and long.
Give us the stats!!
My baby girl was born at 8:40 pm and weighed 7lb 12oz and was 21 inches long.
What was the hardest thing about the first few weeks of motherhood?
I’d say the hardest part was learning how to breastfeed. I kind of assumed that it would be something that would come naturally and didn’t invest a lot of time into learning about it before baby was born. Part of that struggle is why such a large part of my blog is dedicated to sharing everything I’ve learned about breastfeeding.
What is the best advice you received as a new mom?
Two bits of advice were the best for me. First, nurse on-demand as you can’t overfeed a baby breast milk and feeding on-demand is so important to building a good milk supply. Second, put the phone down and enjoy your new baby. That newborn phase goes so quickly so I’m glad I soaked up every minute of it.
What is your best advice for expectant or new moms?
Harness your nesting instincts to fully prepare. Don’t just focus on the nursery decor and all the cute stuff but prioritize functionality and educating yourself about baby. I definitely do this enough with my first one but this knowledge learned after the fact has inspired me to write about preparing for a baby.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your journey to motherhood?
Motherhood is rewarding and absolutely amazing, but it can be very lonely. The sooner you make an effort to find other moms with similarly aged babies, the better your life will be. I didn’t make many mom friends for about the first four months. I wish I had utilized breastfeeding groups or other support networks to get that much need social aspect in those early months.
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