Mommy Fitness: 2 weeks 3 days Post Partum

I have decided that since I didn't post much about my pregnancy, I want to make sure I document my post-pregnancy recovery so that I can at least remember that. I know that this was my last pregnancy and I also know that this is going to be a struggle for me that I want to remember so that I can be proud of myself.
So, with LC I lost all of my weight in 8 weeks. I can already tell you that is not going to happen this time. It is two weeks and I am only down 20 pounds. My highest pregnancy weight was about 222, and I am currently 201. I was hoping to be less than 200 right now, but that hasn't happened.
I can honestly say that with LC I felt like shit for the first two weeks and was in a lot of pain. I couldn't walk for more than about 10-15 minutes without feeling intense pain in my lady region. This time around I have felt amazing! Once my epidural wore off I was able to walk around and I didn't even require pain medication in the hospital. I started walking Sunday. I am not yet walking every day, but I have walked three times this week so far, and I plan on walking again today. I'm not walking very fast, or far, but it's better than nothing. The only annoying thing is that I because the street we live on is not paved, I have to put the kids in the car and drive to a trail we can walk on. It's much easier to do when Mr. P is here, but 5 days out of the week he is not. Also, it has gotten pretty hot here so we have to go EARLY so that it's not to hot for SJ. One good thing is that we have decided that one day a week LC will go to hourly daycare on post. This will allow him to have time with other kids, me time to bond alone with SJ, me time to nap when SJ is napping, and finally a break from me having both kids all day. So, on those days (today is the first one) I plan on walking on our treadmill in the afternoon. This way I don't have to worry about not getting out the door so early.

So here are my my fitness goals for post partum week 3-4. I don't see the point of doing week 2-3 since I am almost over halfway done with it.

1. Drink more water
2. Quit my new found starburst addiction
3. Walk 5 days

SJs Birth Story

On Sunday May 11th, Mother's Day 2014, I had determined that I was going to go to bed early because I was so tired. LC goes to bed at 7:30 and I had told Mr. P that I was going to go to bed immediately after LC went down. So I was pretty excited when I was in bed at 7:41 pm. I had my Ipad with me because Mr. P and I had decided that we really needed to come up with a name for this baby boy. So we went over a few names and about 8:30 we finally came to a decision. Mr. P and I were watching TV and around 9:40 I decided that I had had enough and that it was time for me to go to sleep. I went to roll over and I felt a sudden gush of discharge. I turn to Mr. P and said "either I just pee'd myself, or my water just broke". Honestly, I thought it was the former as I didn't hear the "pop" I hear so many women speak of when they say their water breaks. So Mr. P asks if I'm sure and I said that I wasn't. I didn't know. So I sat on the edge of the bed afraid to get up, and when I did, there was a wet spot on the bed so I told him I was pretty sure, but still not 100%, but we should probably go to the hospital. So I called my mom and asked her if she wanted me to bring LC to her house, or if she wanted to come to mine. She asked me to bring LC over there so I jumped in shower while Mr. P packed up LC and the dog and off we went.
We got to the hospital a bit after 10:00 and I was fully admitted by 10:30. While I was admitted to the hospital and my water had broken, my nurse let me know that I might get sent home. This was a shock to me because once your water breaks you usually only have 24 hours to deliver. She checked with the on-call doctor and I wasn't leaving. Since I wasn't leaving and I had issues with my epidural not working with LC, I asked for my epidural. The nurse suggested that since I wasn't really having contractions yet that it might be best for me to wait on the epidural until I was uncomfortable. - I still don't understand that, because why the fuck do I WANT to get uncomfortable? But, like a dumbass I listened to her.
Around 2:00 am my contractions had started to pick up so I again asked for the epidural. The nurse checked me told me I was at a 3, 75%, but baby was still really high, so she suggested again that I wait. It was also at this time that she informed me that the dr wanted to start me on pitocin because I was progressing so slowly. I was okay with it, but I wanted my epidural first because I knew how fast I progressed with LC on the Pit and my epidural didn't really work and I didn't want that situation again. My nurse told me that the pit was going to be on the lowest dose, it would take an hour to work, and she would call the anesthesiologist to come as soon as she was done with the emergency c-section that they were doing.  So at 3:00 they started the pitocin. Prior to starting the pit I was able to rest between my contractions but around 3:27, that stopped. I told my nurse that I was uncomfortable and I needed my epidural. Unfortunately everyone was still tied up in that c-section. I was getting pissed and looking over at Mr. P sleeping peacefully didn't help.
4:30 I finally got my epidural and I was so disappointed when they checked me and I was only at 4 cm, and the baby was still really high. Once I got my epidural I laid on my left side and was able to relax. Around 6:00 I noticed that my right side seemed to be feeling everything but my left side was numb. I asked the nurse about this and she contacted the anesthesiologist. Apparently laying on my left side allowed the medicine to pool on that side so they flipped me to my right side and gave me some more drugs, but I was in an extreme amount of pain (on one side of my body) by this point.
I don't remember who it was, but at this point someone had the bright idea to check me. I was already at a 9, and baby was fully engaged. Since I was moaning and groaning in pain I asked if the pain would let up when I was complete and was sad to find out they don't. Evidently I had forgotten that you push with each contraction. So, they got everything ready and by 6:28 I was doing my "practice pushes". At 6:35 the doctor came in and I asked for the mirror. 4 pushes later at 6:43 am SJ was born peeing! My initial reaction was that he was so tiny, but yet his cries were so much louder than his brothers had been.

After everything we went through at the beginning of this pregnancy, I NEVER thought we would get   here. Honestly, that is why I haven't said much about my pregnancy on this blog, is because this whole time I have felt like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am so greatful that everything
turned out okay and that I have another seemingly healthy little boy to complete our family.

My Little Man is Here

My little man made his arrival yesterday morning at 6:43 in the morning. I am over the moon. I will post his whole birth story later today when I have a few more minutes as I'm expecting Mr. P and LC to arrive any minute and I don't want to be interrupted. I never thought this day would come. This pregnancy scared the shit out of from my first ultrasound and I honestly doubted that I would ever make it to an outside baby, but he is here, and he is healthy!!

Nearing the End 37w4d

I can't believe that I am finally nearing the end of  this pregnancy. After the way things started out I never thought I would get here, but here I am. And, I am ready to meet this little guy. In the past couple of days I have started to get extremely uncomfortable and irritable. Not to mention that my AF levels have been all over the place this past month. They got so low last week I was sent to the hospital for an IV and told that if they didn't go up by Thursday I would be induced that next day. Thankfully they did go up because Mr. P is out of town for training right now. In fact, he's been gone for the past month and I think that has a large part to do with how uncomfortable I am. When he's here he's able to help with LC and I get a bit of a break in the evenings. Now, I get no break and that little fella has SO MUCH energy!!! I feel horrible because I am so tired (I do not remember being this tired last time) and as a result of my tiredness/laziness, LC has watched way more TV lately than I would care to admit to anyone. I really pray that after this baby comes, and I get used to having two little one (8 weeks PP I hope) that I get some of my energy back. I miss rolling on the floor and playing with toy cars with my little man.

28 Weeks - Welcome to Third Tri!

• How far along? 28 Weeks 
• Total weight gain: 34 lbs
• Maternity clothes?  yep
• Stretch marks? None new that I have noticed. 
• Sleep: I really don't have any issues when it comes to sleep. 
• Best moment this week:  Passed my GTT! 
• Miss Anything? Dairy! I have decided to give it up starting in 3rd Tri due to LC being MSPI
• Movement: I am starting to feel more which makes me feel better
• Food cravings: I don't really belive in cravings
• Food aversions: I wish!!
• Gender: He is still a boy according to our US yesterday
• Labor Signs: Nope.
• Symptoms: Back pain, gas, and horrible heartburn!!
• Belly Button in or out? Out, and it has been out since about 18 weeks this time
• Wedding rings on or off? Off since about 22 weeks 
• Looking forward to: Nothing specific that I can think of. 
• 
  

I had two appointments yesterday, and both of them went well. The first was my initial appointment/GTT at the new practice that I am now going to. I got to meet my doctor who seems pretty straight forward and nice at the same time. I appreciate that. I don't need someone who will blow smoke up my ass, but I don't need you to deliver news to me without an ounce of compassion either. So, while I haven't heard officially that I passed my GTT I haven't heard otherwise so I'm assuming I'm safe. I would think they would want someone to know right away if they failed. 

Random thought here - I think it's crazy how different offices do the GTT test. In VA I drank the drink at home, came in and had my blood drawn, and if I failed, I did the three hour test. 

This time, I just did the three hour test. Which, since my babysitter fucking bailed on me Wednesday night at 6pm, sucked! 

My second appointment was with my MFM for another growth ultrasound. Baby boy seems to be doing well and is still measuring a bit ahead, but not as much as last time. They estimate his weight to be about 2lbs. I will go back in 4 weeks for another one so I'm excited to see how much he will have grown. 

LC was stuck with me all day yesterday and I honestly felt bad for him. He had to sit and be pretty much still at the doctors office for three hours, then get in a car and ride for an hour, sit through another appointment, and then another hour ride home. That's a lot to ask of a two year old and honestly, I think he did pretty good. Since we have been re-introducing dairy to him and he's tolerating it well, I got him a milkshake to enjoy on the ride home. I will now be cleaning his car seat, but I don't care. He deserved it, and he thoroughly enjoyed it! 

 

Everyday I struggle with things to do with LC outside of the house so that we are not sitting at home every day bored out of our minds. One thing I heard about when I moved back home was this thing called Sing-A-Long with St.eve. Every Tuesday this little coffee shop in town host a childrens hour where one of the owners plays the guitar and sings songs for the children, and then reads them a book. We have been going sporadically since we moved here in January and LC hasn't really taken to it. Generally he sits on my lap while the other children sing and dance around. When he gets bored, he will then take off running back and forth through the cafe while my big fat pregnant ass dodges customers, tables, and chairs running after him.
Well today was different! He only sat on my lap for about 5 minutes total, and he actually got on the floor close to the other children during the "story time". Okay not really on the mat, but pretty close!

LCs Vocabulary

Ever since I started staying home with LC I have convinced myself that he is not learning enough being home with me. That was always my fear when he was a baby also and I initially debated staying home with him. I don't think that he is learning all that he should be. I would love to start some sort of "school lessons" with him daily, but we have literally been in our house one month today and so far we just haven't had the time. I really am going to try to start that next week. I'll make sure to post about how it goes. Anyway, even with our lack of educational activities, I am thoroughly impressed with his vocabulary. He will be 2 next month and he uses at least 200 words on a regular basis.
LC is my first child, so I don't know if this is normal or not, but I know that he says more words and speaks more clearly than 90% of the children his age we have met since I have started to stay home with him. At his daycare, all of the children seemed to be on the same level. Well, there was one little girl at his daycare who ran circles around all the other children when it came to speaking and vocabulary but his teachers assured me (and several other parents) she was an anomaly.
This is just my observation. It means nothing, but it does make me wonder if being home with this next one will delay his development. What if  I'm not as good for my children educationally as a daycare center would be.