After Birth

My body has gone through a lot of changes since Sebastian was born, some expected some not.  Sometimes I still can't believe this little munchkin was in my belly!

For about a week after the birth, my whole body was achy from the exertion of labor.  And my lower back would get sore from just walking around the supermarket.  Now my lower back gets sore from carrying Sebastian around the house.  Two days ago we went to a bbq party, when we got home I felt as if I'd been cruising a trade show all day: sore back and achy feet.  Philipp offered a warm bath, but that would take away from precious sleep time so I declined.

Adding to the achiness, my wrists have been very sore from bending them at odd angles holding Sebastian.  Philipp got me wrist braces, which keep my wrists straight but make it very awkward to do anything with my hands.  So I put on the wrist braces only one at a time and when I'm doing nothing but watching TV...  when I remember.  Other than that, I just have to be mindful of how I hold Sebastian and try to keep my wrists straight.

Also, my fingers are kinda stiff.  Right after giving birth, my hands were a bit swollen.  My wedding ring was feeling very tight so I had to take it off and hung it around my neck on a chain.  Took 4 weeks for my fingers to get back to normal to put my ring back on.  But my fingers are still stiff-ish.  A couple of times my right hand has cramped up after an odd maneuver holding Sebastian.

At first I actually missed rubbing my giant watermelon belly, just like that it turned into a wobbly emptiness.  I'm surprised how quickly the baby weight has come off.  For the last few weeks I have been hovering at 127#, only 7# over my "normal" weight.  It looks like I have a bit of a beer gut.  My old jeans don't fit, so I am still wearing the stretchy yoga pants that got me through pregnancy (although they are looking quite worn and have rips at the hem from Maja tugging on them).  And since I don't get out of the house much, I am often wearing PJ pants and nursing tank tops.

Since birth, my teeth have been getting increasingly sensitive, especially the incisors and lower front teeth.  I managed to sneak out to go have the dentist check out my teeth last week...  Dentist has a 5 month old (second kid) so she was very understanding and said she had the same issue.  And the reason being that I'm likely clenching my teeth more with the lack of sleep and stress of a newborn, and the added clenching causes my gum line to recede exposing the root.  AGH.  So dentist told me to always wear my night guard when I sleep, even naps during the day.  And if I noticed I'm clenching even when awake to wear the guard during the day too.  And I was given a paste to put into my night guard to help reduce sensitivity.  Plus I'm brushing with Sensodyne.

Stretch marks are more visible now (or maybe I just couldn't see them before because they are concentrated on the lower part of my belly).  They're not as bad as I had expected them to be, I'm just hoping they will turn from pinkish to more skin colorish.  Dark line down my belly is still there.  Inside of my belly button is also dark, looks like I have dirt in there.

And then there's the exhaustion.  Sleeping for only a few hours at a time and then being alert for 1-2 hours to care for baby is crazy.  Taking care of a newborn is hard...  for me, mostly because I am just SO TIRED.  My head is often in a fog.  I feel it has gotten harder, probably from accumulated exhaustion.  I've been on the verge of losing my mind twice...  Once in the middle of the night and another in the late afternoon, I was so tired and couldn't figure out why Sebastian was crying.  Usually a short list of issues solves the fussiness:
- Hungry
- Needs burping
- Wet diaper
- Wants to change position / viewing angle
- Tired, needs a nap

Getting out of the house is tough, with a newborn.  Trying to time the exit with feeding/nap time.  And it has gotten harder as Sebastian gets older because he doesn't just sleep and eat now...  he has wakeful moments and he wants to be entertained.  But today we had an amazingly productive day!  First thing in the morning we went to the supermarket, just the two of us.  WOW!  And then I made chili and cornbread.  WHA?!?  We took a long nap in the afternoon, and I have been updating this blog post through the day.  YEY!