Meet River Reign
Allow me to introduce you to my son, River Reign Henderson. He was born on March 20, 2023 via C-Section 4 weeks before his due date at 5 lbs and 6oz. He's the perfect combination of his dad and me, with my big eyes and his dad’s perfectly pink lips.
My C-section was planned (and traumatic, but I’ll save my birth story for another day). I was diagnosed with placenta previa halfway through my pregnancy. Basically, my placenta was blocking the baby’s exit from my womb. Trying to deliver vaginally would have been life-threatening for me and for him.
River is my firstborn son, and I am not ashamed to say 100% obsessed with him. I take an average of 10 pictures of him a day and try not to torture my social media friends by posting all of them.
River has been smiling since the day I brought him home from the hospital. He exclusively drinks breastmilk and eats like a champ from both the boob and the bottle. He hates being cold, and he loves contact naps. He also much prefers to sleep with his dad and me than in his very expensive bassinet, so most nights we co-sleep (if you can call what I do “sleeping”).
He still wakes up to eat every few hours, so most of the night I’m feeding him in a zombie-like daze. If there are any mom’s out there with tips for getting infants to sleep through the night, feel free to leave them below! (We’ve tried swaddling, dream feeding, sound machines, black-out curtains, the snoo, pacifiers, and pretty much every other sleep product on the market!) We’re also only 7 weeks in, so I don’t have any expectations that he’ll be a perfect sleeper any time soon.
For the past few years, I’ve worked part-time, and primarily from home, as an entertainment attorney while simultaneously working on my other ventures (books, products, podcasts, etc.). When I first found out I was pregnant, I thought working from home would allow me to simultaneously work from home and take care of my son. Now, I know that taking care of a newborn is a full-time job, and working from home isn’t going to be as easy as I thought it would be.
At the same time, trying to imagine someone (apart from his awesome dad) taking care of my son causes me anxiety. What if they don’t recognize the difference between his hungry cry and his gassy cry? What if they don’t pat his butt the way he likes to get him to calm down when he cries? Or worst of all, what if they’re not as diligent as I am with him and something bad happens to him on their watch?
Working moms, what did childcare look like for you when your babies were small? Did you use a nanny? Rely on your significant other? Send your kid to daycare? Or did you try to do it all yourself? I have about 4 weeks to figure it out!
Xo,
Kiara
