These New Moms Recorded Their First Weeks After Giving Birth

The first week of motherhood is a blur: New moms are so busy taking care of baby, there isn’t much time to reflect. But these three mamas had a slightly different experience; they partnered with Canary to document the beginning of postpartum life. The end product was a video that blended all their first-week experiences to show the variances and similarities in that early-stage parenting (and came out on Mother’s Day, because these moms deserve to be celebrated).

For Dorian Smith-Garcia, founder of Tales of a Mommy 2 Be, motherhood began earlier than she planned: At her 39-week checkup, she was admitted to the hospital for an induction. She says she didn’t even have time to get used to the cameras because birth happened so rapidly. Later, watching the video, Smith-Garcia noticed that “because I chose to breastfeed exclusively, it felt like my entire days revolved around her feeding schedule.” At the same time, the only thing that really surprised her when she looked back at the footage “is how zombie-like [she looks] in some of the videos. You don’t realize how tired you genuinely are until you see yourself breastfeeding with a glazed-over look in your eyes!​”

New mom Cortney Sellars was so wrapped up with taking care of her baby, she forgot the camera was even there. “The video did a good job capturing those first moments and what it’s really like,” Sellars says. She says she didn’t expect to be as exhausted as she was, but the video definitely captured all of those little moments she shared with her son.

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Melissa Sberro, a second-time mom, agrees. Even though she was more prepared for baby this time around (now that she knew what to expect), the time still passed in a blur. “It was fun to look back on [the video] and see what we are really like when we are just doing about our daily activities,” she says, “especially with the kids.” Plus, because her family quickly forgot the camera was even there, “some of the footage captured was very very unfiltered.”

Sberro is definitely glad she recorded the beginning of her baby’s life. “They don’t stay little for very long, she says. “It’s important to soak up as much as you possibly can…It’s okay if there are dishes in the sink sometimes, because the time with your kids goes so fast.”

For more information on the Canary cameras, visit canary.is!

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