Pearson - Deep Breaths: The New Moms Handbook to Your Babys First Year

Michelle is an inspiration to millennial moms everywhere! Her realistic, raw, and simple approach to navigating live as a millennial mom is not to be ignored. She is wise beyond her years and is a true inspiration of what healthy motherhood should and could be!

Jordan Page

YouTube Vlogger

Michelle is what the millennial mom strives to be. She has such a positive outlook on life and enjoys each moment with her family in such a real and raw way. Sharing wisdom and experience with a touch of style and class, Michelle is a role model to so many of this generation!

Jeannie Brattrud

YouTube Vlogger

Reading Michelles journey as both a mom and a millennial woman, with hopes and admirations of her own, I couldnt help but feel like I was sitting down to coffee with a close friend, sharing some of our hardest and most beautiful struggles. Michelles depiction of both the blessings and the challenges that every millennial mom faces, is raw, refreshing, and shows truly how unique the millennial generation is. Sharing her high moments, as well as the low- you get an intimate look into her life as both a young woman and also a mom who is passionate about everything she does. Millennials have both the advantage and the curse of social media, and Michelle so candidly speaks life and hope into a generation of moms who just want someone to tell them theyre doing it right.

Jaimie Kight

YouTube Vlogger

Michelles passion for helping other women navigate the highs and lows of motherhood in this modern age is a gift to all who come in contact with her. Her genuine and sincere personality made this a joy to read, and feel like you have an instant friend in your own mom tribe!

Alycia Crowley

Blogger

Mchelle is going to help ease the worries so many new moms have and inspire them to be the best version of themselves.

Jennika Anderson

YouTube Vlogger

Not only does Michelle touch on the accuracy of what it means to be a millennial, but really speaks for what generational mothers are feeling in todays society. As a young, millennial mom myself, I was able to connect on so many levels.

Brittany Sills

YouTube Vlogger

Copyright 2017 Michelle Pearson.

Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design: Laura Meja

Layout & Design: Laura Meja

Mango is an active supporter of authors rights to free speech and artistic expression in their books. The purpose of copyright is to encourage authors to produce exceptional works that enrich our culture and our open society.

Uploading or distributing photos, scans or any content from this book without prior permission is theft of the authors intellectual property. Please honor the authors work as you would your own. Thank you in advance for respecting our authors rights.

For permission requests, please contact the publisher at:

Mango Publishing Group

2850 Douglas Road, 3rd Floor

Coral Gables, FL 33134 USA

For special orders, quantity sales, course adoptions and corporate sales, please email the publisher at or +1.800.509.4887.

Deep Breaths: The New Moms Handbook to Your Babys First Year

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication has been applied for.

ISBN: (paperback) 978-1-63353-643-2, (ebook) 978-1-63353-644-9

BISAC category code 2017909206

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to:

My incredible best friend and soul mate Brad Pearson. Your love and support gives me all of the strength that I need to get through this crazy life. I love you and I am honored to be your wife.

My children Will, Max, Molly, Abigail and Margaret. For teaching me what unconditional love is. I am forever grateful for your laughs, cuddles, and smiles. Thank you for shaping me into the mother and woman I am today. I love you all more than you could ever imagine.

Table of Contents

How To Become The Mom
You Want To Be

I ve known Michelle for a few years now, in fact, I like to think were part of the O.G. Moms on YouTube. If youre one of the older millennials (like me *cough* O.G. stands for original gangsters) basically weve been making videos about babies and all that motherhood entails for a seemingly long time.

I discovered Michelle while I was still living in Malaysia. We both make videos about beauty, motherhood and life, and we hit it off right away! I like to think of my piece of the internet as a safe spot for women to land. Those Moms working their way through motherhood and life, and want a friend to share coffee with or just to share. Michelle was that friend for me. A smile that lights up a room. A message that resonates with positivity and love, that conveys a delicate vulnerability which is motherhood. Thank goodness for this era of technology that allows us to lean into our screens and connect with like-minded creators near us and around the world.

Being a mother is tough work. In this time of technology, mothers can be quickly judged if they share too much online, everyone has an opinion and is more than happy to tell you how to parent. Dont even get me started on self-diagnosing illnesses thanks to a few online questionnaires! In my experience, having a voice and sharing your story online has only brought amazing things to my life and those around me. Being able to document your journey in motherhood, find a community of people sharing their stories and feel connected to women around the earth is what its all about. They say it takes a village, and being able to create one online is incredible. Motherhood can be lonely and what we see others doing online doesnt always resonate with our experiences, it can leave us feeling isolated and lost. Michelle has always been so open and honest in her parenting journey. From her struggles with pregnancy weight gain, her joy and pride in building a large family, to her journey through postpartum depression, Michelle has lent her voice to those walking a similar path.

Is everyone watching motherhood videos on YouTube? No. Although if you ask me, they should be! Im so grateful to the internet for bringing me (and you!) to Michelle. In writing this book, and sharing her story through these pages, Michelle extends her community reach to those mothers in need of a friend. Whether Im making a day in the life vlog, having fun over live video with my viewers or speaking on stage about women and mothers in digital media, my message is always the same; were all in this together, and sharing the highs and lows is what makes motherhood such a delicious time. From one gangster momma to another, Michelle I support you, I love the work you do and hopefully one day well actually get to meet in person. Until then, Ill see you in your next YouTube video, in our village.

I will never forget the day we found out. The test was positive and we were ecstatic. We were pregnant! I was 26 years old at the time and my husband was 23. We couldnt wait to take a picture of the test and share it someday soon with our family and friends via text and social media.

I remember hearing that it was not socially acceptable to announce your pregnancy until you were out of your first trimester. This proved difficult, as I worked side by side with my mother and sister every single day. I wanted to follow what I was told, because what if I had a miscarriage? I did not want to go against what I had heard. Nonetheless I gave in. The smells and the bustling Thai restaurant that my family owned proved to be a difficult place for a pregnant woman in her first trimester. I had to tell my family. So I did. Before I was 12 weeks along. I somehow felt like a rebel of sorts.