Tuesday 7 May 2013

Mind and Body One Week After Baby




I can not believe it's been a full week since Audrey joined our crazy household! She has added so much life, love, and tenderness to our daily routine, and we truly feel blessed to have a little girl in the mix. 
Here is how both Audrey and I are doing, one week after our official 'meet and greet:'




First Audrey: She is a sleeping, eating, and pooping champ! Eli very clearly enunciates 'puke' now as he watches his sister puke ALL.DAY.LONG. She eats so incredibly much that she simply explodes from both ends on a regular basis. Too graphic? While she doesn't seem to mind, it sure has made an impression on Eli ha! Audrey wakes once or twice a night to eat, has two long stretches of being awake in the day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and then sleeps the rest of the time. During the day she wakes to eat every three to four hours between her two alert times. When Audrey is alert she is ALERT! She will stay awake for over an hour, looking around, making faces, and cuddling. She has been able to pick her head up since she was born, and makes full use of this skill during her awake time. The boys love to hold her when she's awake, as she will just stare up at them and make funny faces. 
Audrey's umbilical cord fell off Sunday morning, leaving a bloody, oozy mess. With both boys it took two weeks or more for the cord to fall off, so seeing the umbilical site before it is fully healed is a new sight for me. Needless to say it worried me, but after waking my mom, texting my Hottie Husband whose out of town, and calling my midwife, it turns out this is normal, and we just need to wait and watch to see how it heals up. 




Audrey is a happy, sweet, and patient little babe. We've heard her cry only a handful of times, and each time for good reason - she really doesn't like being cold. As she snores peacefully next to me in her bassinet, I can't help but feel incredibly blessed to have another sweet little angel to care for and love. 

How I'm Healing Up: Because labor and delivery was so incredibly fast, I sometimes forget that my body still did all the same steps as it did with the boys, and needs the same rest afterwards to recover. Friday I was feeling fantastic when I woke up, and so I jumped back into normal routine. But, by the end of the day I was exhausted, felt heavy, and just needed to sleep or I was going to burst into tears. Saturday [which was exactly one week postpartum] Audrey and I were on our own, so we slept - A LOT. When we weren't sleeping, we were resting and snuggling. I went up and down the stairs four times total on Saturday, and made it outside for a extremely short walk around the block. Water continues to be an integral part of my daily routine, as Audrey nurses very efficiently already and leaves me feeling dehydrated. My milk came in on day two [last Sunday night] and I never got fully engorged as Audrey has kept up with supply since day one - which is completely shocking to me. She is by far my best eater, and my boys were no slouches in this department! 
I'm closing in on my pre-pregnancy weight already, which is a little too fast. While it's wonderful to have the option to wear something other than stretchy pants, I worry about my body being able to keep up the milk supply Audrey needs if I continue to lose weight at this rate. 
Emotionally, I'm on a bit of a roller coaster. I know my hormones are reeling, so I've been cutting myself slack. I cry, often for very little reason, and then it stops just as suddenly as it started. I'm much more easily offended, but am able to talk reason into myself afterwards so there's no lasting resentment. I'm looking forward to my hormones settling back down, but in the mean time here's what I've been doing to help keep a genuine smile on my face: 

sitting in the sun


eating [and drinking] lots of fresh veggies
and drinking copious amounts of water

and


getting dressed everyday

 Having my sweet boys running around smiling and laughing is a huge pick me up, just as snuggling my sweet girl is too. I've been consciously focusing on the good - because when it comes down to it, I know the choices I make are main contributors to how I feel. I can not wait to be cleared for exercise, as exercise has always been very emotionally therapeutic for me; I can't help but be happy when I have endorphin's flooding my body!

All in all, week one with three kiddos has been enormously rewarding. I love my sweet children, and can think of no better way to spend my day than teaching, caring for, and loving these tender little spirits. Everyday is a gift - and I intend to relish in it!


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