I'm finally back after giving birth to a healthy baby girl on March 11th. My beautiful Olivia came into the world at 7 lbs, 15 oz and 20.5 inches long. She was born with a full head of hair, which disproves the notion that a head of hair causes heartburn during pregnancy…I never had heartburn. During labor, I made it a day and a half with back and abdominal contractions at home and it was not a pretty site for my husband and mother who witnessed the every 3 minute, kickass contractions. I’d finally had enough. The hot baths, showers, Tylenol and breathing were no longer providing any relief and so I decided to go in after the contractions got closer and more painful. I needed that epidural! Seriously, what was I thinking that I could make it without pain meds?! The pain was just much more intense than I ever imagined it would be. After that, I was in labor for an easy 12 hours. Delivery was more than I had hoped for…it was easier and faster and without c-section, which I had prayed for. The recovery, however, was intense, tear-jerking pain that lasted nearly 2 weeks postpartum. This in addition to the nipple pain from breastfeeding did not make me fun to be around those first couple of weeks.
Ah, breastfeeding. This is a bittersweet subject for me. I’m so so happy I’m able to breastfeed, but OMG! PAIN! BLOOD! TEARS! Breastfeeding is much tougher than I expected it would be even after hours of classes, reading books and educating myself every which way on the subject. “Tough” is an understatement. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do…physically. 2.5 weeks in, it’s gotten better. I’m a round-the-clock feeding machine and proud of it. But I must confess…I can’t wait until I introduce a bottle. Just the thought of 5-7 hours of straight sleep gives me goose pimples and makes my eyes glaze over with joy. Sigh.
Now that hubby and I have a pretty good routine going on and can “handle” Baby Olive better, it’s time to start thinking about getting my body back. I’m excited and the fire inside me is ready to get down and dirty, quick! Unfortunately, it’s not recommended to get back into my pre-pregnancy workout routine until 6 weeks postpartum, so I’ve got to take it easy for another 3 weeks or so. More to come…
After a feeding, a diaper change and a baby crying session, I’m finally able to put this post up. :)
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