postpartum – Some Punny Bunny

My First Mommy Horror Story

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Eryn 🐰

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October really is the month of horror. The spooky season is upon us, and apparently, I’m living in my very own mommy horror story.

Baby girl has been struggling to poop, which I’ve learned is apparently pretty normal for newborns because they’re still figuring out how their little bodies work. Imagine being a tiny human who has just entered the world and already has to learn how to use the bathroom. Honestly, relatable.

Well, she finally pooped. And when I say she pooped, I mean she had the biggest poop of her entire little life. A real milestone. A moment worth celebrating. Except, naturally, motherhood decided that one poop-related victory was enough and immediately had to throw a plot twist at me.

Her next, smaller poop had blood in it.

BLOOD.

And now I’m looking at every diaper, wondering if there was blood in the previous ones and I just didn’t notice because I wasn’t feeling great myself. Nothing says happy October quite like becoming a full-time diaper detective.

Meanwhile, I had taken DayQuil because I was feeling under the weather. From what I understood, it was okay to take while breastfeeding, and we’re actually doing pretty well with breastfeeding these days. We’re kind of exclusively breastfeeding now, which is exciting! Yay for us!

But also, WHAT THE HELL.

Now, I did wonder whether the DayQuil had something to do with what was happening with her poop because the timing had me side-eyeing that little bottle of medicine like it personally betrayed me. However, I called the 24-hour doctor line, and they told me the DayQuil and the poop issues were unrelated. So, apparently, those are two separate problems, and I can stop trying to connect the dots on that particular mystery.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t make the situation any less stressful.

Day one: blood in the poop.

Day two: the most acidic-smelling poop I have ever encountered in my entire life. I swear, it smells SO BAD. And now every time she farts or seems to need to go to the bathroom, she screams like she’s being personally victimized by her own digestive system.

My poor baby.

And me? I’m over here trying not to spiral while mentally replaying every single thing I’ve eaten, taken, touched, or breathed near this child. Welcome to motherhood, where your hobbies apparently include Googling poop, inspecting diapers, and wondering whether you accidentally did something wrong.

I called the 24-hour doctor line, and they said we didn’t need to rush to the ER right now. We also have an appointment scheduled to see her doctor because I absolutely want to get to the bottom of what’s going on.

I’m trying to remind myself that babies have all kinds of weird little things happen while their bodies figure out how to function. But knowing that something can be common doesn’t magically make it less terrifying when it’s happening to your own baby.

Especially when you’re a first-time mom and every new experience feels like an exam you didn’t study for.

So that’s where we are right now. Waiting for the doctor’s appointment, watching her diapers like a hawk, and hoping my sweet girl feels better soon.

I wanted a spooky October. I wanted Halloween movies, cozy blankets, hot cocoa, and chilly weather.

I did NOT ask for a horror movie in which the main character is a newborn, the villain is her digestive system, and the jump scares are happening inside her diapers.

Motherhood, you are doing entirely too much.

And it’s only October.

A little follow up

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Eryn 🐰

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I’ve been told I shouldn’t feel sad. This was in reference to my postpartum depression. Don’t be sad!

Instead, I should be happy that I have a healthy baby, because my family knows someone whose baby was just born and is now in the NICU, needing surgery. Since I don’t have to experience that kind of fear and heartbreak, I’m reminded that I shouldn’t be sad about what I’m going through.

I didn’t say anything at the time. I just sat there and took it in.

But later, I couldn’t stop thinking about how incredibly painful it is to feel like your emotions need to be justified by someone else’s suffering.

It feels like everything has become a Trauma Olympics. Someone else has it worse, so why are you complaining? Someone else is hurting more, so what right do you have to be upset?

I’m tired of feeling like I have to apologize for my feelings.

I can be incredibly grateful that my baby is healthy and still feel sad. I can feel blessed and overwhelmed. I can be happy and anxious. I can love my baby more than anything in this world and still struggle with everything I’m feeling.

Those things don’t cancel each other out.

My pain, frustration, anger, and anxiety don’t become less real just because someone else is experiencing something worse. Pain isn’t a competition. There is no ranking system that determines whose feelings are valid and whose aren’t.

And honestly, being told that I shouldn’t feel the way I feel doesn’t make those emotions disappear. It just makes me feel like I have to hide them.

Like I’m not allowed to admit that I’m struggling.

Like I should feel guilty for having a hard time when, from the outside, everything looks okay.

That’s part of why I keep writing this blog.

Because maybe someone else is feeling this too.

Maybe someone else has been told to be grateful when what they really needed was someone to say, “I know you’re grateful. You’re still allowed to hurt.”

Maybe someone else is sitting quietly, swallowing their feelings because they’re afraid someone will remind them that someone else has it worse.

I don’t want to swallow mine anymore.

I’m grateful for my baby. I know how incredibly fortunate I am.

And I’m still allowed to have hard days.

I’m still allowed to be sad.

I’m still allowed to be angry, frustrated, anxious, overwhelmed, or confused.

I don’t need to prove that my pain is worse than someone else’s before I’m allowed to feel it.

My feelings don’t need permission to exist.

Postpartum meals I want to make

Posted on September 11, 2026September 8, 2026 by Eryn 🐰

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One of the things I’ve been thinking about as I get closer to having this baby is food.

I want a lot of homemade food around after I give birth, but I also know I’m going to be recovering, taking care of a newborn, and probably running on very little sleep. So I’m trying to plan ahead and make as many freezer meals as realistically possible.

A lot of what I’m planning to make is inspired by la cuarentena, the traditional postpartum period of rest and recovery. The idea is to focus on warm, nutrient-dense, comforting, and easily digestible foods that can help nourish you while your body is recovering.

So the majority of the meals I’m considering fall into that category: chicken and rice casserole, meatball soup, caldo de pollo—which, growing up, my siblings and I called caveman soup—lentil soup, butternut squash soup, and beef stew.

Then there are the meals that are here because it’s going to be fall and I simply want them: pumpkin ravioli with brown butter and sage, chicken pot pie, and French-style baked leek and zucchini served with baked chicken.

Because apparently my postpartum meal plan needs to include both traditional wisdom and me saying, “But what if we had pumpkin ravioli?”

My friend also offered to make me three meals, which I am absolutely taking her up on. I’m asking for her lasagna, chicken nuggets, and pork shoulder.

Are chicken nuggets necessarily the most nutritious postpartum meal? No.

Will they probably save Hector and me when we inevitably reach soup fatigue? Absolutely.

Because as much as I love soup, I know there is going to be a point where the last thing either of us wants to see is another bowl of broth.

I also have to be realistic about freezer space. I have no idea how much room we’re actually going to have in his parents fridge and freezer, so I’m not planning to make everything I just listed. This is more of a collection of ideas I’d like to choose from rather than a challenge to somehow prepare nine freezer meals while heavily pregnant.

Whatever I do end up making, I’ll either create a recipe for it or share the recipe I used, assuming I haven’t already shared one here. So hopefully this turns into a little postpartum recipe collection along the way.

For now, I’ll wait until I’m in California and go from there. But I should also figure out how much food I can reasonably fit in a freezer without accidentally meal-prepping myself into another full-time job.

And, apparently, I need to leave room for chicken nuggets.

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