The Journal

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First Days Home w/ Sajda Ouachtouki

First Days Home is a very special glimpse into those early, hazy newborn days. Whether you’re learning the ropes changing diapers for the first time, breastfeeding or bottle feeding, or recovering from a challenging birth, whatever the circumstances may be, each of our experiences is unique to us. By documenting and sharing a snapshot of this moment in time, we hope to create a shared sense of community and understanding around each mother’s personal journey as we all learn to raise our little ones together.

Meet Sajda @sajdareads, DC-based first time mother, lover of books, fashion and travel. Here she gives us a peek into her first days home with baby boy Sufyan, who arrived a little bit earlier than expected (as babes will do).

Napped all the time and I couldn't get enough of staring at him. I just kept looking at him and thinking, "do we really get to keep you?”

Diaper changes definitely took a few days to get used to, especially because we kept getting peed on!

One of us would have to hold a towel over baby boy in case he peed and the other would quickly change the diaper.

We've luckily gotten better at the whole process since that first week.

We tried swaddling for most naps but at times baby boy would be super fussy after a swaddling—he loves having his arms near his head and he looked so cute napping that way so we just gave in and let him be free.

People say that newborns are really groggy that first week but baby boy was pretty alert when he was awake so we took advantage of it with a little bit of play time.

The most insane part of the first week for me was the healing process for my own body.

It was hard to walk for a few days and going to the bathroom honestly became a ten minute process. My bathroom counter was filled with products such as postpartum pads, witch hazel, aloe vera, sitz bath soaks, peri bottles, etc, and those were the only things that got me through the pain that first week.

I had to rely a ton on my husband and mother those first few days as my body recovered -- luckily, within a week or so things got better.

We went on our first family walk about 6 days postpartum and my husband got to use our baby carrier for the first time. I use the term walk super loosely though because due to my healing, we walked super slowly and only for about ten mins around our neighborhood. It was nice to get some evening fresh air though after being indoors for so long.

My family is Moroccan and there is a tradition that at the 7 day postpartum mark, you throw a party to celebrate the birth of the child. It's usually a massive celebration involving lots of food and music.

Due to COVID, we had a smaller party at home with just myself, my husband, my mom, and baby boy but we were able to have my in-laws join via Facetime.

My mom cooked a bunch of traditional Moroccan foods and I wore a Moroccan outfit called a "kaftan." It was nice to celebrate the end of a long week with something so special from my culture.

A week of memories <3

Thank you, Sajda, for letting us into your world and sharing your thoughts on this very special time.