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Completely smitten second-time mum Turia Pitt has opened up about how exhausting caring for a newborn baby is.
The Australian burns survivor, ultra marathoner and motivational speaker gave birth to her second child, Rahiti, this week, sharing the joyous news on Instagram in the form of a photo of herself with her brand new baby and the caption, “Maeva i te ao nei! Welcome to the world Rahiti 💙”
Turia has now followed up with an endearingly raw and honest Instagram post about how exhausting new motherhood is.
The mother-of-two has shared an adorable image of wee Rahiti along with a message in which she opens up about feeling “sleep deprived”, “delirious” and “extremely emotional”. She said she was constantly having to stop her mind racing ahead to what needs to be done – like getting the washing in or sending an email. But she said she was also acutely aware of the importance of staying in the moment and enjoying her time with her new baby.
“Ah neonatals,” she wrote. “They truly are the most unique and divine creatures. I’m overjoyed, delirious, sleep deprived and extremely emotional #allthenewbornfeels.
“Sometimes my mind will race ahead of me – I need to get the washing in, send that email, get Hakavai’s stuff ready for pre-school. I worry about how I’ll sleep tonight, and what tomorrow will be like if we don’t get enough.
“It’s exhausting.”
She continued, “So, what do I do about it? I remind myself to stay in the moment. In THIS moment.”
Turia said that she tried “not to get too caught up in the future, and all the things that need doing, and focus on what is happening right here and right now.
“AND JUST LOOK AT HIM! HE’S ADORABLE! I GREW HIM!” she concluded.
Turia has also taken to social media this week to thank people for their kind messages since Rahiti’s birth.
“Just momentarily popping my head out of the newborn bubble,” she wrote on Tuesday, “(where I vacillate between sheer, golden euphoria and a sleep-deprived/hormonal/deeply emotional state 😂) to say: Thank you for all your kind messages!”
She said baby Rahiti was a “little legend” and that his big brother, toddler Hakavai, was adjusting to having a sibling.
She said she and her partner Michael Hoskin “are just so stoked!”
Turia has become something of a national icon in Australia after surviving burns to more than 65 per cent of her body when she became trapped in a grass fire while running an ultra marathon in West Australia in 2011.
She has undergone more than 200 surgeries since her horrific ordeal and not only recovered but gone on to return to competitive running and give birth to two healthy children.
Through it all her partner Michael Hoskin has stood by her side; the pair plan to marry next year.
And while we can only imagine how much Turia has had to endure and overcome, a social media post she wrote in January while heavily pregnant with Rahiti gives some insight:
Turia revealed that the bush fires that have decimated parts of Western Australia had been giving her recurring nightmares.
“You have no idea that a fire sounds like a thousand road trains coming towards you. You have no idea how hot it feels, and that you will watch your skin bubble before your very eyes,” she wrote.
“You have no idea that the smoke will feel like it’s invading every single one of your pores. And you have no idea that in those last few seconds where it’s almost upon you that you will KNOW that you are about to die.”
“A lot of things have been tough,” she admitted.
“Being 8 months pregnant with a toddler, I’ve felt as useful as tits on a bull. I’ve had recurring nightmares about running through flames with my son in my arms.
“It’s been difficult to sleep, eat or think and all I’ve really wanted to do is tap out, put my head in the sand and pretend that nothing is going on.”
Pretend that nothing is going on is not what she did though.
Turia set up an Instagram page, @spendwiththem, to support businesses in fire-ravaged towns.
“If you want to buy something (now, or in the future), check out @spendwiththem and buy something from one of these places,” she encouraged.
“Spend your money with the people and the communities who really, truly need it. They need you. We need you.
“This is a way to put money directly in the pockets of the people and communities who need it the most, and need it NOW.”
The initiative has been a great success.
