Mountain Mother Runner

Dear Soon-to-Be New Mom,                 How are you feeling? That sweet baby of yours should be entering the world sometime between now and the next two weeks. I hope this last stretch of pregnancy has been going well for you. That was the only time I had days of “feeling so pregnant” and my body was tired . I knew those last few weeks were prime time to sleep in, take naps, and rest up , but I was too uncomfortable.   Know that even if you’ve been worried about getting your house set up or thinking about things that you need to buy, it really isn’t a big deal. Most of those things can wait, for a long time. Your baby will have a simple life for the first few months with only basic needs. There might be times where you’re awake every hour of the night to nurse or bottle feed and feel completely drained. You more than likely will cry over little things for a while, but that’s alright . Between the hormon...

Last Friday was our daughter’s 2 nd birthday, which had me reminiscing over her birth. During my pregnancy I kept a journal called Love Letters for Baby Renteria . After baby Eisley was born, I made sure to write her birth story so I wouldn’t forget anything. Someday she will be able to read about her journey into this world! I’m sharing this with you as a raw, real-life birth experience and a reminder that no matter how many books you read, classes you take, or videos you watch online, your “birth plan” is just that…a PLAN, and not everything goes as planned. Still hiking mountains at 36 weeks pregnant! July 21, 2014-4:08am-We went to bed around 11:30pm last night after going to Gold’s Gym for some treadmill time. I was sleeping fairly well until I started dreaming that I was beginning to have contractions. In my dream, I thought, “Ohh, so this is what a contraction feels like.” It felt somewhat like period crams in the front lower abdominal area that wrapped around to my low...