I love to read, and I absolutely love reading to little ones.  Reading to your baby is an opportunity to slow down, snuggle with your baby and create a routine that fosters connection.  Anyone can read to baby; Dad, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, neighbors.... As a midwife, one of the sweetest things I have witnessed is Dad reading to his newborn daughter who was less than two hours old and her brothers while Mom was taking a shower. 

I read to both of my sons, starting while I was pregnant.  When my oldest child was born and I started reading to him from one of the books I had read often while pregnant, he got so excited, cooing and flapping his arms. He recognized the rhythm of the words I was reading, and now he could see the pictures that went with the words.  If he was fussy while we were driving somewhere, I could open a book and put it where he could see and he would stop fussing to look at the pictures.  Books were stuffed in the diaper bag and went with us everywhere. Reading kept my boys occupied when we were waiting, at the doctor's office or a restaurant, or whenever they were bored while we were out. Reading was also part of our bedtime routine.

My boys are adults now so my list is probably more of a "classic" children's book list, but the classics are tried and true. Here's my list:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Katie Caboose by Bill Peet
Wait Til the Moon is Full by Margarat Wise Brown
Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw
Sheep in a Shop by Nancy Shaw
Sheep Out to Eat by Nancy Shaw
Cat in The Hat by Dr Suess
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess
Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel By Virginia Lee Burton
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
If You Give a Moose A Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff
If You Take A Mouse to the Movies by Laura Joffie Numeroff
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
​Tootle by Gertrude Crampton
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
​​Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
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These are what I consider my favorites to read to my sons when they were babies. I read them so often that I can still recite the texts of some of them. Today my sons like to read whether it's to expand knowledge or just for fun. I think reading to them starting before birth was a big part of the love of reading we all share now.
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My last blog post was about my health emergency, so please read it to have context for this post.

During my hospitalization and recovery, I learned a few things. I thought I would share them since they can be applied to pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

• You need to advocate for yourself.  
  • I had to advocate to be able to take my thyroid medicine in the middle of the night as I've been doing for years instead of 1 hour before breakfast.  I had to do this multiple times with multiple staff members.
• A sense of humor helps everyone.
  • I joked about mooning people in my hospital gown, and hospital food. Laughing together helped put everyone at ease.
• Recovery takes time.
  • While my emergency happened very quickly, recovery did not.
• Recovery takes longer than we think it should.
  • I was told to allow 6 weeks for recovery. I expected I would be back to normal in two weeks but my body made it very clear it needed 6 weeks and then some.
• Sleep is very healing.
  • I slept for 16 hours a day the first few weeks at home. While there were things I wanted to be doing, my body made it obvious that sleep needed to be a priority.
• Eating nutritious foods and hydrating well help with recovery.
  • Being dehydrated, and living on potato chips is not going to give your body the tools it needs to recover. Your body only has the tools you give it to work with, so give it nutritious food and good hydration.
•  It's okay to ask for help.
  • I don't usually ask for help, but there were so many things I just couldn't do myself. I had to ask for help to get out of bed early on, I needed someone to pick up things that fell to the floor, I needed to have my husband come on my walks because I was so unsteady, and the list goes on.  
• It's okay to have days where you just rest, sleep and eat.
  • I've had to create rest days even though I'm feeling so much better. I have overdone things and needed more rest to compensate for overdoing it. Sometimes it's just been nice to have an easy day and that's okay.

Every single thing listed here applies to pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Be kind to yourself. Give yourself space. Give yourself time. Ask for help, and let people help you. While it can feel like a long time, remember where you are at is temporary and things will get to a new normal.