You wish I was at the beach. That makes the two of us.
These photos were taken almost 4 months ago, seems like ancient history now that we are self-isolating at home during this COVID-19 pandemic. Hope you are too ♡
(Warning: The following content is a little TMI so if you’re not up for it, close the tab)
Coping With The
I don’t think I can ever forget that physical pain after coming home from the hospital. I remember saying to Daniel & myself that “the pain is not as bad as I thought it’d be”, but that was when I was still recovering at the hospital. Little did I know that was the pain killers talking. Vaginal soreness was real shhh & forking intense for up to 5 days at home. When I say “fork” I mean spoon – fork. Just like a sharp pain that triggers with movement. Yeah, forget walking! I couldn’t even sit properly so lying down was the best option to relieve pain. I was advised that my stitches would take up to 3 weeks to completely heal & to be honest it didn’t sound that long. Again, that was the pain killers talking. Nurofen is the go-to. It helped so much! I’m not easy on drugs, even when I’m sick I’ll always find other ways to cure myself before resorting to meds. Even though I was in so much pain I didn’t want to further substance abuse my body because I’ve already taken so much drugs after delivery. I tried to limit my Nurofen to as little as possible. I only took it twice daily & reduced to once daily before stopping entirely before my 5 days mark of being at home.
I’ve always had this concerned thought that going to the toilet with vaginal stitches in place would be a total nightmare, but surprisingly it was not painful at all. Unless you have constipation then that’s “shit”. I did everything that I could to avoid that scenario by sticking to a constipation free diet & luckily for me it worked. It was heavy bleeding for the first 2 days so I used adult diaper. The hospital does provide large sanitary pads, but I find adult diapers more comfortable & mess-free. I switched to large pads after returning home & used those for a few days before down sizing to normal size pads & eventually liners until the mess was no more.
Experiencing
So apparently only 40% of women will undergo this, why did I have to be in that 40%. I experienced hair loss at around 3 months pp & had a bit of a panic attack because I wasn’t aware that it was even a thing. There was hair all over the house & I’m not even exaggerating. Ok, it didn’t fall out all at once. It was small amounts everyday for almost 3 weeks. This was one of the reasons why I cut my hair short to a shoulder length. Now both you & I know why many mums go for the chop after giving birth Lol
First Postpartum
Your period will typically return around 6-8 weeks after giving birth. However, it may vary from 6 months to a whole year for breastfeeding mums. My first period after giving birth was about 9 months which was also when I stopped breastfeeding. It wasn’t much at all when it returned, but then again I’ve always had very light bleeding over a short time ever since starting my fitness journey. FYI, drink plenty of water ladies.. I think this impacts largely on your bleeding.
Feelings About Being A
I think I may have experienced a little of the baby blues at first, but to be honest it all went away when our mums were no longer invading my personal space LOl That sounds bad, but I’m sure some of you can relate here. I was full of joy & happiness during my first 2 days after delivery & that was spent at the hospital. I was just too excited about Nova now being a part of our life that I still had so much energy. Even with the lack of sleep, I wasn’t even exhausted one bit. There were babies crying consistently at the hospital & yet it seemed far more peaceful than being at home. I’m sure our mums only meant well, but I was too overwhelmed with them invading my personal space & forcing their ways onto me. I couldn’t do any of things I wanted to & had to do things in a certain way. I even had to sneak to take a shower cause my mother in law wouldn’t allow it due to superstitions. It was suffocating so I cried a lot in the first few days at home. Thank goodness Daniel was there, he tried to comfort every time he saw I was going to drown. I cannot express how important it is to have a supportive partner.
What It’s Like To Be A
I felt like I was running a 24hr milk convenience store. I love the intimacy & bonding time that you get from breastfeeding, but gee it was exhausting; mentally & physically. You really do feel like you’re MIA all the time. While everyone was enjoying the party, I’m there in the other room breastfeeding so it really did feel lonely sometimes. I started out expressing my milk so Daniel & I took turns to feed Nova, but after some time I just let Nova fed directly from the nipple because I thought it was more convenient. Nope! That was not the case, especially when it came to feeding in public. When Nova became more alert, feeding in public was a forking mission. She would get so easily distracted with surroundings that it’d take twice as long for a feed & sometimes it wouldn’t even be a complete feed. I had to go back to expressing my milk to feed Nova by the bottle which I hated because it took up extra time. Time that could be spent on myself or just sleep.
Trying to get bub to latch on correctly was challenging. It normally takes a few days to get the milk production going which is where proper latching practices kick in. The first week was painful, my nipples were so sore I had to use nipple cream consistently to cope with the commitment of breastfeeding. I stopped breastfeeding as soon as Nova’s teeth were visible otherwise RIP to my nipples. Another reason why I stopped was because I noticed that I was loosing too much weight, far more than desired. I really liked the weight I gained during my pregnancy so loosing it all was not so ideal for me. Even though I was eating far more than I ever did before, I was getting very little from it. Not only could I see it, but I felt it too. Nova was sucking everything out of me, quite literally & that was a sign to stop.
Who knew that nursing pads would be so essential. I barely ever wear a bra around the house & yet I couldn’t go a min without nursing pads because my breasts would leak. I’m not just referring to day, but also at night. I never ever wear a bra to bed so it was quite uncomfortable for me & I hated it.
Returning To
I had a lot of compliments regarding my figure after giving birth & questions on how I got it back so quickly. I am flattered! Though, the truth is that breastfeeding aids with weight loss & I breastfed for almost 9 months so win-win. I did ease back into exercising towards the end of 2 months pp. Starting over again was not easy. The thought of wanting to do much more, yet knowing that my body wouldn’t be able to cope sure was frustrating. It was plenty of sloppy workouts for sometime before forming a weekly routine where I now workout 3 times a week, 20-40min sessions depending on whatever time I can squeeze in. Sometimes I’d even carry Nova as weight for a workout, she loves it because she thinks it’s playtime.That being said, I have not completely returned to my pre-preggo workout routine of lifting above my body weight.. yet.
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