Weight: I am down 22 pounds. That leaves 21 pounds left of pregnancy weight. Not to mention that I was overweight to begin with. But we aren't mentioning that. So we will focus on the 21 pounds left to lose of baby weight. That seems like a lot. Ergh. Obviously I am still wearing mostly maternity clothes. Definitely maternity pants because otherwise they hurt. But I have worn some regular t-shirts and that's exciting!
Feet: You wouldn't believe it, but my postpartum feet were way worse than my end of pregnancy feet! They were out of control swollen. When I was discharged, the doc said it would get worse before it got better. He was right. At about 12 days PP, they actually seemed normal again! It is lovely to wear regular sandals again. Last night when we were up in the middle of the night for a feeding, I was just admiring my feet as they were propped on the ottoman. Yeah, I'm a nerd.
Staples: I was more than a bit nervous about getting my staples out. I went on the Friday after Elijah was born to the office to get them removed. Erin told me it was no big deal, but it was hard to believe. She was right! It was a total non-event. The nurse was super sweet and chatted with me while she pulled them out. She said everything looked great and even said she didn't see why I couldn't talk about a VBAC during my next pregnancy if I wanted.
Incision: Sneezing continues to make me a bit nervous. But it's never as bad as I imagine. I've yet to explode my insides out of my incision! On Wednesday this week I had my post-op appointment. Everything looks great. I think my doctor is a super surgeon. She said I have a super healing body. Its just this little line straight across. She did say that because of the situation surrounding my c-section, the chance of having a successful VBAC is lower than a typical VBAC (such as breech, fetal distress or something). But we will talk more about that in a couple years when that time comes.
Emotions: At this point my emotions have pretty much leveled out. From about 24 hours after having Elijah until about a week postpartum, I was having some rough emotional issues about the c-section. Adam was amazing and had conversation after conversation with me reassuring me that I pushed hard enough, I didn't give up, and we should be happy to have a perfect, healthy, son, no matter how he came out. He is right!
Nursing: Though pushing a baby out didn't go the way it was supposed to, my body is rocking at this nursing thing. My milk came in about Tuesday after Elijah was born and I handled the engorgement phase pretty well. I think because he became such a champ nurser, we were able to power through it. I've been trading off between using coconut oil and the Earth Mama Angel Baby cream and it is tolerable. And getting a little better now! I'm leaking like a sieve though. It is out of control! It's like Daytona Beach Spring Break over here...but it isn't beer spraying everywhere!
Sleep: Last Thursday night was a momentous occasion when I was able to sleep on my right side for the first time! Until that point when I laid on my right it felt like my insides were tearing. Friday night I even half laid on my tummy and it was fine. Getting up from that did cause a bit of "insides tearing" feelings, but it was a good start! The first few days home were rough because getting in and out of bed was pretty painful. And I couldn't bend and reach to grab Elijah like I wanted. Adam would have to get out of bed, come around the side, and grab him to hand him to me even though he is in the Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper right next to my side of the bed. It has been getting better all of the time though! And now I can hold him and scooch right out of bed myself.
Other Body Stuff: I don't know if my doctor is just a super surgeon or if it is combination with what I did in preparation for birthing a baby, but I am doing really well. I would have thought a total of 4 hours pushing would cause some issues, but....somehow it didn't. One of my nurses told me to just feel lucky and don't expect it to be so lucky next time! And the big event that most postpartum women dread....really was no big deal. Not to say it isn't painful once in a while, but really, it is fine.
Overall: For having a c-section, I know I am doing really well. Of course recovery is slower than I want it to be and it is hard for me not to jump in and do everything I want right away, but I just keep reminding myself I am lucky with how well I have been healing.
Emotions: At this point my emotions have pretty much leveled out. From about 24 hours after having Elijah until about a week postpartum, I was having some rough emotional issues about the c-section. Adam was amazing and had conversation after conversation with me reassuring me that I pushed hard enough, I didn't give up, and we should be happy to have a perfect, healthy, son, no matter how he came out. He is right!
Nursing: Though pushing a baby out didn't go the way it was supposed to, my body is rocking at this nursing thing. My milk came in about Tuesday after Elijah was born and I handled the engorgement phase pretty well. I think because he became such a champ nurser, we were able to power through it. I've been trading off between using coconut oil and the Earth Mama Angel Baby cream and it is tolerable. And getting a little better now! I'm leaking like a sieve though. It is out of control! It's like Daytona Beach Spring Break over here...but it isn't beer spraying everywhere!
Sleep: Last Thursday night was a momentous occasion when I was able to sleep on my right side for the first time! Until that point when I laid on my right it felt like my insides were tearing. Friday night I even half laid on my tummy and it was fine. Getting up from that did cause a bit of "insides tearing" feelings, but it was a good start! The first few days home were rough because getting in and out of bed was pretty painful. And I couldn't bend and reach to grab Elijah like I wanted. Adam would have to get out of bed, come around the side, and grab him to hand him to me even though he is in the Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper right next to my side of the bed. It has been getting better all of the time though! And now I can hold him and scooch right out of bed myself.
Other Body Stuff: I don't know if my doctor is just a super surgeon or if it is combination with what I did in preparation for birthing a baby, but I am doing really well. I would have thought a total of 4 hours pushing would cause some issues, but....somehow it didn't. One of my nurses told me to just feel lucky and don't expect it to be so lucky next time! And the big event that most postpartum women dread....really was no big deal. Not to say it isn't painful once in a while, but really, it is fine.
Overall: For having a c-section, I know I am doing really well. Of course recovery is slower than I want it to be and it is hard for me not to jump in and do everything I want right away, but I just keep reminding myself I am lucky with how well I have been healing.
