A Successful Natural Breech Birth Without a C-Section

By sunshineandholly on April 25, 2017

This is a personal birth story of a successful natural breech birth. I am not a doctor, so please follow your doctor or midwife’s advice during labor for a safe and successful birth. I am also NOT judging moms who have c-sections. The goal of labor is to bring a baby into the world the safest way for both mother and child.

natural breech birth | sunshineandholly.com

Our little Madeline made her “grand entrance” into this world on September 27th, 2014. I say “grand” because my sweet little girl was breech and came out butt first!

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to try for an unmedicated birth this time around. With my first baby, my son Graham, I had low milk supply and wasn’t able to breastfeed like I wanted. So this time, I didn’t want any drugs in my system to make sure that breastfeeding would (hopefully) get off to a better start.

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The 5 Stages of the Hell that is Consigning Your Kids’ Clothes

By sunshineandholly on April 19, 2017

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Chances are, if you’re a thrifty mom, you’ve been to a kids clothing consignment sale. It’s a great place to find cute clothes, often name-brand items, for a much lower price. Because really, who wants to pay $20 for a shirt that’s only going to fit your child for a few months, at best? No thanks! I can think of a few other things I’d rather spend money on. Mostly Starbucks and wine. But I digress.

Consignment sales are also a great way to make some extra money by selling those barely-worn outfits. But don’t be fooled, consigning takes a lot of work. Sorting, ironing, tagging, hanging – it all takes time and effort. If you’ve ever been a consignor, you know what I’m taking about. Some moms love it – usually the type of moms who like having yard sales and volunteering for school fundraisers. (No thank you!) If you’re one of those moms – great! Consign away! But other moms (like me) don’t actually realize what they’re getting themselves into when they start going through all of those old bins of clothes. Here are the 5 stages of consigning your kids’ old clothes.

consigning your kids' clothes | sunshineandholly.com

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Our Easter Sunday

By sunshineandholly on April 18, 2017

We had such a busy Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday | sunshineandholly.com

Lots of driving, church, food to organize, an egg hunt to prep, a couple of Easter baskets to fill, all on less than 5 hours of sleep. (Where’s that Easter bunny when I need him? I could’ve used a little help!)

Easter Sunday | sunshineandholly.com

Add all of that, on top of all our normal activities and chores, and needless to say – I was one stressed out mama.

Easter Sunday | sunshineandholly.com

So although adorable, these pictures won’t tell the true story of our Easter Sunday.

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Tips for Road Trips with Kids

By sunshineandholly on April 5, 2017

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I’m not a fan of road trips.

I really hate riding in the car for a long time. We took a ton of road trips when I was a kid since my mom hates to fly. And while I’m grateful that I got to travel and see so many parts of the country, I think I learned to hate road trips at a young age. And I still dread being in the car for over an hour. I get bored, cramped, and carsick.

tips for road trips with kids | sunshineandholly.com

But flights are expensive. So if we want to travel these days, we have to load up the minivan and hit the road.

My kids are pretty good travelers in the car. Lucky for them (and for me as a mom) we live in an age of portable DVD players and iPads. So we just plug them into the matrix…er…give them the iPad, and let them zone out to a movie or two while we’re driving.

Here are a few more tips for road trips with kids.

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babies | baby | breastfeeding | family | Uncategorized

My Experience Breastfeeding in the NICU with Low Milk Supply

By sunshineandholly on April 3, 2017

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I always wanted to breastfeed.

It was something I’d always pictured doing when dreaming about being a mom. It seemed like such a sweet thing – a calm, snugly way to bond with your baby. And of course I wanted my babies to have all the wonderful benefits of breast milk!

breastfeeding nicu baby low milk supply | sunshineandholly.com

Graham was born 4 weeks early. I was certain I was going to have a 10lb, 2-week late baby, so you can imagine our surprise when he came so early, weighing in at just 6lbs 2oz. My labor and birth went smoothly – everything worked the way it was supposed to.

graham's birth breastfeeding low milk supply nicu | sunshineandholly.com

I was able to hold Graham for about 5 minutes after he was born, and then he was whisked off to the NICU so they could monitor his breathing. I didn’t get to hold him again or try to feed him for almost 12 hours. A lactation consultant was sent to my recovery room soon after the birth to show me how to pump. I really hadn’t thought much about pumping – I thought I’d have plenty of time to figure that out once my maternity leave came to an end. I started pumping that day every 3 hours…little did I know that I would be chained to that pump for a lot longer than I ever expected.

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