I don't talk about it much, but I struggled a lot after Goldie was born. Life with a new baby is exciting and fulfilling, wonderful and sweet, but for many moms it's also filled with different types of hard emotions. For me, at the top of the list was anxiety.
I noticed the change right away. Whereas after the birth of my first baby, I felt at ease and generally just content, harried thoughts started to fill my head immediately when Goldie was placed in my arms.
No one else was good enough to watch her. Nobody could be trusted. Even as her mother, I didn't deserve the goodness and preciousness that she was. Didn't feel equipped to keep her safe against a world whose edges seemed to harden every day. At night I would lie awake and watch her tiny chest rise and fall, fighting off sleep with high-stress Netflix binge shows and granola bars, waiting eagerly for morning when I could place her in her father's loving arms and get a few precious hours of shut-eye myself.
I had heard of Post-Partum Anxiety in passing but it gets much less coverage than PPD. I knew something was wrong with me but I wasn't quite sure what -- I didn't feel depressed or unhappy. I felt blissfully obsessed with our little life and simply terrified that something would happen at some point that would wreck it all.
With the help of my husband, my mom, and my doctor, I got through my roughest days of PPA. But I still struggle. I still swoon at times looking at my precious children and have a hard time letting them out of my sight. There are times I still have racing thoughts I can't control. I am better, but I'm not totally there yet.
But babies grow and eventually it became clear that Goldie couldn't sleep in a bassinet beside my bed forever. Also, I needed to sleep. We transitioned her to the crib and she took well to the new sleeping arrangement. I, however, needed a little extra help.
Enter Lollipop #babymonitor -- a truly unique and amazing new mom gift if you ask me! This incredible baby monitor is designed to be affixed to anything. Unlike other monitors that I couldn't fix at the right angle and awkwardly had to perch on shelves or furniture, this one is designed to wrap around the items and fixtures in baby's room so that installation is easy and fall-risk is virtually eliminated.
We affixed the Lollipop monitor to Goldie's crib, but you can put it anywhere. And because it's so beautiful, it won't mess up the aesthetic in your Pinterest-worthy nursery. (Mamas, I know you know what I mean!) Our Lollipop monitor is pink, but there are two other gorgeous colors to choose from.
The ease of installation and pleasing look of Lollipop monitor aren't the only things that we love about it though. This baby monitor connects to our phones, which means not only that I have access to a visual on the baby any time I want, but so does Josh. We can also set up the app on babysitters' and caregivers' phones for convenience.
In addition to a live video feed of the baby at all hours, there are notifications when room volume is too loud and when baby is crying. You can also set it up with other smart devices to control the temperature and humidity in baby's room.
I can add white noise or lullabies to Goldie's room at any time with a simple touch from my phone, even if we're out to dinner and the girls are at home with a sitter! (This is the future, ladies and gentleman). We can also speak into Lollipop, which will come in handy when Goldie turns from a baby to a pesky toddler and needs to be told to lie down and go back to sleep ;)
I also love that you can take a photo of the baby right in the app, and that you can see recordings of all noise incidents. This gives me total ease when we're out that if she's crying, someone went in to check on her. I'm not gonna lie -- I wept a little when I looked back at our video history and watched the seemingly mundane moments from the past few weeks relived in the palm of my hand.
Sometimes we forget, I think, how much beauty there is in the every day. When I watched myself enter her room at the cries, change diapers, sing her to sleep, my eyes filled with tears over the sweetness and devotion of our bond. Lollipop is helping me encapsulate these treasured but oft-forgotten moments, and they might not even know how much that means to a busy mama.
In short, Lollipop baby monitor is the best baby gift of 2018. If you have a friend who's expecting or are looking for a baby shower gift, please consider this gem. If you're a nervous new mommy needing a multifunction baby monitor that will put your mind at ease with a slew of fun functions and attractive look to boot, you need this monitor!
Purchase at official Lollipop store, $149.