Being a first-time parent is both an exciting and daunting experience. Believe me, my anxiety before I gave birth was nothing compared to the anxiety I felt the moment I first held our baby—it was crippling to the point of me thinking everything I was doing was wrong.

However, the beauty of parenthood is that, despite the lack of a step-by-step user manual on how to care for a little human, somehow, our intuition takes over the initial anxiety and points us to the best direction. Every new parent should know that there is no perfect way to care for a baby—every baby is different, thus, their needs and the way they respond to your care is different too.

To help you ease out the newborn-stage anxiety, here are some newborn baby care tips for new moms and dads. 

This is the second part of the Newborn Care Tips series. In the first part, we talked about newborn baby care tips on sleeping, feeding/breastfeeding, and diaper changing. If you want to know more about the aforementioned topics, head on to Newborn Baby Care Tips for New Moms and Dads (Part 1).

Here, we'll talk about bathing a newborn baby, caring for the cord stump, and soothing a fussy and crying baby.

While most WAHMs are at their wit's end almost every day, it's not entirely impossible to be on top of things, or even just be able to go through the day without missing a single task. All it takes is effective time management. 

Here are five practical time management tips for the busy work-at-home mom:

As a mother, you always need to be at your best as much as possible in order to care for your family. When you're breastfeeding, the motivation to stay healthy for the sake of your baby is much more pertinent. 

However, at some point in your breastfeeding journey, it's not impossible to fall ill—whether it's just a simple cold or something more severe. And when a breastfeeding mother gets sick, one question plagues us: Should I continue breastfeeding my baby? 

The simple answer is, it depends. Studies have shown that very few illnesses require a lactating mom to stop. However, considerations must be taken into account when medications are involved.

So what should breastfeeding mothers do when you get sick? Here are tips on how to manage your sickness while you're breastfeeding, and to determine whether it's safe to breastfeed while on medication.

Children can enhance their education, fitness, and coordination through outdoor play. A world of discovery and activity is just beyond our back doors. Children on the autism spectrum often respond well to the type of experiential learning that being outdoors offers. Rather than learning through a lecture or reading, kids can learn by doing. Science, art, and other subjects become easier to understand when placed in front of children to touch and experience. 

Here are some exciting backyard learning activities that are beneficial for children with autism, and some tips on how to ensure safe backyard fun:

1. Learning through nature. Set up a discovery pit for your child that will incorporate tactile learning. All this requires is setting aside an area that can be used for scientific discovery and learning about leaves, plants, insects, and rocks.
2. Movement. The outdoors allows you to expand your child’s ability to run, play, and have fun. It may be easier to develop coordination in an outdoor environment.
3. Changing up regular lessons. Try taking a normal learning activity, such as reading or doing any lesson that would usually be classroom based, and bring it outside.
4. Relaxed observation. Spread out a big blanket, lie on your backs, and observe the sky. Watch for airplanes and birds and test creative thinking by making pictures out of the clouds.
5. Treasure hunt. Make a list of natural things in your backyard, such as flowers, tree bark, dirt, grass, and leaves. Send your child off on a scavenger hunt within some defined borders. This activity will develop identification and memory skills while also teaching about limits, boundaries, and rules.
6. Traditional games. Take playtime to the driveway and use chalk to make a hopscotch board. Have a sidewalk chalk art show. Back in the yard, encourage a safe game of hide-and-seek.
7. Follow the leader. This game develops motor and social skills by encouraging interaction and mimicking play. Appoint someone to be the leader of the group, who then can do random activities in the backyard. Be sure to set some ground rules first, such as not having an older child lead a younger child to do unsafe physical movements.

Although children can learn much from their interactions outdoors, parents should be cautious of potential hazards that pose risks to children. Tools, chemicals, and other outdoor hazards should be off-limits, and play areas should be kept slip free and free from accident-causing clutter. While securing potentially dangerous areas is important, so too is creating safety plans and instructing your children about barriers and appropriate outdoor behavior.

Since some children on the autism spectrum can wander if not closely monitored, backyard pool safety is especially important. Besides ensuring that your child has basic swimming skills, there are other safety precautions to take. For example, parents can secure a pool gate and only allow access to the pool area when an adult is present. Other safety measures include using a pool alarm, which triggers an audible sound when the surface of the pool water is disturbed. Similar alarms are available for the gate to the pool, and it’s recommended that parents install both to add extra layers of protection.

Through interacting with nature in the backyard, children on the autism spectrum can develop skills and enhance their learning. In addition to gaining knowledge about plants and animal life, they will develop coordination and social skills, too. The outdoors also offers an opportunity to learn and practice new rules, which can prepare your child for school and other activities outside of the home.

May 11—A very special day for our little family, as this day marks the birth of our precious daughter, Juliana Kate (Kitkit). To celebrate her first birthday, I'm sharing our birth story. It's truly a wonderful memory to reminisce, one that I never wish to forget. So here it goes:

It was a sleepy afternoon at the office on May 10, 2017. I was working on some last-minute kinks on my writing project, trying hard to concentrate while the contractions came and go. The contractions had been kicking in since early that morning, at 15- to 30-minute intervals, until it got closer and much more pronounced as the sun started to set.

I already informed my manager that I might not be able to come in the next day. I was not due until May 26, but the past days, I have an inkling that my baby might come sooner than expected. As my shift ended later that day, I've already texted my husband, my OB, and the rest of my family that D-day is near: Juliana Kate is coming.

Despite the 10-minute contractions, I still had time to eat dinner, go back to the office to get my slippers, walk around IT Park, and wait for my husband outside my office while he took a dump (I know). 

Admitted

By 8:00 PM, Jerome and I arrived at the Perpetual Succour Hospital with my hospital bag in tow. My then-pregnant sister and her husband were already there, busily prepping me on what to do next. It was my first baby, so I didn't have a clue on where to go and what to do next. As the nurse helped me to lie down on the gurney, I asked him if I could just walk to the Delivery Room instead. The nurse, bemused, told me I couldn't for safety reasons.

As we approached the door to the Delivery Room, I took off my jewelry and wedding ring as I hurriedly kissed and hugged Jerome. He was visibly tense and nervous. I was too, and I wished he could go inside the DR with me, but sadly he couldn't (hospital protocol).

Jerome waiting for me outside the Delivery Room

I was still 2 cm dilated, but the baby's head was already engaged. The resident doctor gave me the option to go home for the night and wait it out, or have myself admitted to the hospital for monitoring. I went for the latter option; I had a strong intuition that my labor will progress between the wee hours in the morning, and we lived a considerable distance from the hospital.

Labor Room

At around 11:00 PM, I started getting bored and hungry. I was the only patient in the Labor Room and was strapped to the non-stress test machine all night, which meant I couldn't walk around freely. I wasn't allowed to bring any personal items, even my phone, but I took the risk and asked the doctor if I could read a book. Surprisingly, she said yes. I asked her to get my book from my husband, and for a few snacks and some water too.

By around 1:00 to 2:00 AM, my contractions became more regular and more painful. With every strong contraction that came, Romans 8:18 was on loop in my head:

The pain that you've been feeling can't compare to the joy that's coming.

I read my borrowed copy of Lisa, Bright and Dark while the resident doctors slept, all the while wondering what Jerome and my sisters were doing outside while waiting for me. I munched on the cookies and brownies that Jerome gave me. It was a long, long night, and all I could do was wait, read, and eat.

My family waiting for me at the hospital room while I was in labor

Occasionally, I unstrapped myself from the non-stress test machine on my own so that I could go to the comfort room to relieve myself, and then strapped myself back again, confident that I did it correctly because I watched the doctor closely earlier that evening.

Come morning, I was half-expecting I was already in active labor, but to everyone's dismay, I was still 3 cm dilated. I worried that I might be put under the knife, considering how slow my labor was progressing. More patients started coming in at 8:00 AM. By 11:00 AM, there were already four of us in the labor room, and doctors from the Cebu Institute of Medicine relieved the night doctors. It was also by then that my OB decided to artificially induce my labor with oxytocin.

Induced

By noon on May 11, an hour after the induction, all hell broke loose. I was in terrible pain. I could't bring myself to eat, my book and cookies forgotten at the bedside table. I couldn't think straight. I begged for the doctor beside me to lower the dose or to get me an epidural. I never knew induction could be this painful.

"Ma'am, naa pa'y mas-sakit ana. Three cm pa ka (Ma'am, the pain will be worse than that. You're still at three cm)," the doctor said, attempting to soothe me.

Yeah right, I thought sarcastically. I was positive I was more than 3 cm dilated at that point, but I was too much in pain to retaliate.

I was mostly ignored after that, and they transferred the non-stress test machine to the new patient beside me, so my contractions weren't monitored anymore. I cried silently as the contractions became stronger and more frequent. It seemed that I only had a few minutes' respite before the contractions came again, more painful than the one before. I couldn't resist the urge to push; it was like my body unconsciously telling me what to do.

Finally

By 2:00 PM, a resident doctor finally checked on me. As her gloved fingers hovered near my opening, about to perform an internal examination, my water broke in a large gush. Just like that.

It was a blur of harried activity after that: The resident doctor supporting my opening as my baby's head crowned; the other doctors frantically calling my OB, who was thankfully only a few minutes away from the Delivery Room; the nurses and hospital staff preparing the Delivery Room; the orderly ushering me to sit on a wheelchair to be transferred to the DR; the nurse supporting me as I mounted myself on the delivery bed; my OB running, her heels loud on the tiled floor.

"Okay, Kris," my OB said. "Hold the rails beside you, pull your body up, and look at me. Push!"

I did as I was told, took a deep breath, and pushed.

In a split second, I heard my baby cry. A cry so loud and determined, I couldn't believe my ears that she's finally here.

At 2:15 PM on May 11, 2017, Juliana Kate was born.

Our little girl, born 5 lbs 6 oz in just one giant push!

All the pain, fear, and anxiety I felt during pregnancy and labor vanished the very second I heard her strong cry—her first breath.

After she was cleaned up, she was brought to me by the midwife. The first thing I said was her nickname that we fondly started calling her even before she was born: Kitkit.

The moment I said her name, her tiny eyes fluttered and stared back at me. She had a curious expression on her face, and when our eyes met for the first time, my heart melted.

They say motherhood is a calling. I never knew what I wanted more in my life until that very day, the day I had Kitkit. It was then that I knew that being her mother and being Jerome's wife was what I was made to do. And there's no greater joy than that.

The proud daddy

Exhausted but utterly happy

Our first morning together as a family

Here she is, our little girl. So perfect and pure. Our baby Kitkit!

Everyone seems to talk about postpartum depression (PPD). There are myriads of reference articles, research, and support groups available for PPD, but prenatal depression seems to be swept under the rug.

Prenatal depression, antenatal depression, or simply depression during pregnancy is a real thing. Often, people discount the feeling as something "normal" and "expected" during pregnancy, what with all the hormones and bodily changes a woman goes through.

But the truth is, being depressed during pregnancy is not normal nor expected, just like how being clinically depressed isn't normal for non-pregnant people.

Here are some useful information on what you need to know regarding prenatal depression and some practical tips on how to cope with depression during pregnancy—coming from someone who also struggled with prenatal depression.