Throw That Plan Away

As the founder and president of Bayberry Naturals, I suppose you could say my life is that of managed chaos at all times. Add three kids six and under and you end up with the craziness—and joy—you’d expect to come with those smiling (okay, not always) faces. One thing I’ve learned from having my kids is that when it comes to babies and pregnancy, you can never plan what life is going to throw at you.

It began for me when I learned I was pregnant the first time…with twins. Wait, what? I thought twins were genetic. I’ve since found out identical twins can happen to anyone, though I didn’t learn mine were identical until they were born. I had carried them separately when pregnant, so my doctor assumed they were fraternal. It crossed my mind after the final ultrasound that they looked awfully similar, but it was definitely a surprise when they were born!

I also learned that being pregnant with multiples can be tough (there’s a reason doctors call it high risk). Even though I’d been in excellent health and was very athletic prior to my pregnancy, nothing prepared me for the bed rest I entered into at week 27 because the doctors were worried about preterm labor. I also never expected to develop high blood pressure, which eventually turned into preeclampsia—when a woman develops high blood pressure and protein in the urine after the 20^th week—resulting in the early delivery of my twins at 34 weeks. Don’t even get me started on what all that extra estrogen did to my skin and hair; it wasn’t pretty!

That led me to what I now refer to as “the hardest thing I will ever do in my life.” I knew that having twins would be difficult at first, but you can never know quite how hard it is until you have them. Add to that the fact that the girls were six weeks early! Preemies are much harder to care for because they are slower eaters and can often have reflux and colic, which mine both did. The sleep deprivation, combined with the fact that my body was still suffering from high blood pressure (it can take weeks to resolve post-delivery), made everything so much harder. There were eight hours blocks of time that would go by where I’d be caring for a crying baby, whether it was one or the other. I know it all sounds frightening and a little overwhelming, but having made it through that time in my life makes me feel like I can make it through anything.

I fully expected to have similar complications with my next pregnancy, but to my surprise, it was totally normal, with a normal, on-time delivery, too. The only thing I didn’t expect was that my newest would want to eat all the time and never want to sleep during the day. I tried giving her baths in the morning to try and coax her into taking a nap afterward, but she did not want to miss out on anything her sisters were up to! I planned on having to wake her up for meals, as I had done with her sisters, but that wasn’t the case. As I said earlier, you can make all the plans you want, but babies have plans of their own. I think the sooner you learn to accept and be open to that, the lesser surprises you’ll have in store.

Nancy Liddell

Nancy Liddell was a new mom of twins, when she made the decision to try to eliminate unnecessary exposure to chemicals and toxins in her household wherever possible. She began investigating the labels of all of the shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and soaps in her house and was astounded by what she found—every single product contained artificial and controversial ingredients.

Thus began Nancy’s search for natural, plant-based products, where she quickly realized that many inferred they were natural or organic, but really were not. Whenyou strip down health and beauty products to the most natural, basic ingredients, they can be both incredibly effective and gentle at the same time. From this philosophy came the Bayberry Naturals product line. Simplistic in its packaging and basic in its premise, Nancy designed it for men, women, and children to cleanse and nurture their bodies without fear of toxins and unnatural ingredients.