One Week Post Pardum

Over the past week I have had a chance to reflect on things. I have some more good stories. A lot of pregnancy books focus so much on during the pregnancy they forget to talk about what happens after. Plus this gives me a chance to share the final results of my pregnancy experience.

Where cool socks to deliver
Although, you might be want to be willing to toss them afterwards, depending on what happens. I wore knee high Seattle Seahawks socks during my labor and delivery process. They are my favorite socks.  I was going to post a link to them, but they are no longer available. They are really cushy and keep my feet warm. I got a TON of complements on them. It seems like every nurse and doctor that came in the room commented on them. Fortunately the survived the labor and delivery process to live another day.

Utilize the nurses
This is something H and I were really bad at. We really should have used them more. There were a couple of times H was sleeping and I needed help moving around with the baby. I would have gotten more sleep if I had called a nurse. Oh well.

Hospital food sucks
They brought me meals every day and it really was inedible. I wish we had packed more snacks. I wasn't ready for how hungry I would be. I ate what I would call double meals for the first three days. For breakfast I would have a scone and a ham and egg sandwich. For lunch I would have a meal plus a protien shake and for dinner I would eat dinner plus a snack about an hour later. I also keep granola bars by our nursing glider. Now I only eat maybe one in the middle of the night when I am feeding Hailey.

Weight gain and loss
My pregnancy ended with a weight gain of 25 pounds. I was up to 27, but lost two the last week I was pregnant. As of a week and a half post pardum, I lost 13 of those pounds. I never had to wear maternity pants after giving birth. I can wear all my old shirts now too. I still wear two of my GAP maternity shirts for two reasons, they are really comfy and they are really long. I highly recommend them as a gift for anyone expecting. I bought two other tanks from Old Navy and I didn't like them nearly as much. I am actually pretty happy with my body after delivery. My hips are a little wider right now (but shrinking) and I still have a little belly, but I would say I would feel confident in a bikini. I also have no stretch marks!! I am so happy and feel so lucky.
Getting energy back
Each day I have more and more energy. I feel more like myself. I am trying to take an afternoon nap, but it does not always happen. I am the worst napper. I have been taking some walks with Hailey when we have nice weather. The walks take a lot out of me, but it is nice to get outside. Each day we can go a little farther. (I also LOVE our Bob Stroller, I will post a review for it when I can start running again. Even for walks it is worth every penny.)

Night sweats
Since I am still shedding my water weight, I sweat really easily. The first day I was home and took a nap I woke up and had H bring my a towel because my neck was drenched in sweat. It felt like I had a fever, but I did not. It was weird to see muscle definition in my calves again. I had no idea how swollen I actually was. I figured I had just lost muscle tone because I was not working out as hard. It is nice to easily get my wedding ring on and off again.

Finally, since it is Halloween, I will share a picture of Hailey in her costume.

Baby Hailey is Here! Birth Story

I'll try to spare you guys too many gory details. If you have any specific questions go ahead an post them in the comments and I'll answer them there.

About 8am on Monday, October 17th I woke up having contractions. Not sure if I woke up because of them or it was a coincidence. I tend to get up about 8am any way. They were pretty regular to start, about three to five minutes apart, but they were short in duration 30 seconds to a minute. In relative terms they didn't hurt that much either. I felt them mostly in my back, having terrible lower back pain in between the contractions. That was worse than the contractions themselves. I was able to eat some toast for breakfast. At about 10:30 am I had a yogurt and some coffee that came back up. I think the toast stayed down though.

By 12:30 pm my contractions were feeling more regular, so we called the doctor and they had us come in. One thing I didn't know is if the clinic is open they see us in the clinic and not at the hospital. It was nice to be able to go to my regular doctor (who was in). She checked me and I was only at 2cm, but fully effaced.They hooked me up to do a non stress test to make sure the baby was doing okay. She was, so home we went. We thought about walking around, but all I wanted to do is cuddle up on the couch with the heating pad to help my back. That gave me some relief. I was able to catch up on some DVR before we were scheduled to come back in to the clinic before it closed for the day. I had a feeling even before she checked me at 4pm nothing had changed and that was the case. Home again we went.

Again I sat on the couch with my heating pad. I remember trying to watch Monday Night Football and Diner's, Drive In's, and Dives. I tried to eat some soup. As the contractions got more intense that came up though. I also remember using Guy Frier's hair to focus on through my contractions. At about 7pm is when the contractions got too intense for me and at 7:30 I told H to call the hospital. The timing and the duration of them never really changed from 8am that morning, but the intensity sure did. I could no longer focus through them. The pain had also switched off my back and more towards the front.

The ride to the hospital was traumatic, luckily we only live 15 minutes away. By 8:30 they checked me again and I was at six cm! No wonder I was in so much pain. I wanted an epidural so bad just to get some relief. They walked me back to a room and the anesthesiologist came in. He turned me on my side to clean my back. The nurses checked me again, I was at eight cm. Then my water broke. The baby's heart rate started to drop during contractions. They had me get on all fours. I was at ten centimeters and starting to feel the urge to push. It was too late for me, like it or not I was having a natural child birth. I can tell you I defiantly did not like it, but proud I did it.

Her head wasn't in quite the right position. I remember them talking about using a vacuum to help and her heart rate kept dropping during contractions, so they talked about possibly doing a c-section as well. The whole room was a blur of people and pain. I am glad I can't see well with out my glasses. In the end none of those extra things ended up happening. After about six contractions, maybe 15 to 20 minutes of pushing she was out. She was healthy and I was relieved it was over. H didn't have a chance to even park the car and the grandparents didn't get called.

Hailey was born at 9:48pm. She was 7lbs, 10 ounces, 22 inches long. All ten fingers and toes accounted for.

Hailey going home

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing, Hoping

... For this baby to arrive. I am tired of having to share my body with this little person. I did get some good news from the pediatrician yesterday though. She said I can jog with the baby in my Bob stroller with the infant car seat attachment as long as we don't go off roading. That means I could be back on the pavement as soon as two weeks after having the baby! I am so excited. I am really looking forward to going on family jogs, H, the baby, and me. I've been tempted to try to run lately, just because I want to so bad, but the knowledge of knowing I will wet my pants is stopping me. lol.

PS... I promise to do a product review for my Bob stroller as soon as I can start using it.