I was wondering what was so magical in ‘40 days postpartum’, because everyone advised me to wait for ‘40 days’. And in reality, 6 weeks after giving birth I feel closer to the pre-pregnant state I was.
I now understand why everyone told me “Let first 6 weeks pass” and that I’ll feel better.
I really did 🙂
The first 20 days postpartum were hard for me from physical point of view. I had a lot of stitches, my coccyx was hurting, I couldn’t sit on a chair, I had a muscle spasm on the left side of my gluteus and I had no physical strength. I felt better after the second week, and after the third – almost normal.
I haven’t thought about working out at all. I just wanted to feel normal. In the end of the third week I felt the urge to move around and I started going up and down the stairs in the building. 6 floors up, 6 floors down. I started to do it 5 times and got to 9 times, which took about 18 minutes.
At the end of week 5 I wanted to work out, hurray! I thought that I wouldn’t want to do anything for 2 months. I had the feeling that my body will need time to heal.
I think I should give myself a lot of time (4 months) for my abdominal muscles to recover so I can start with more serious workouts. Until then I will work out lightly and will avoid all isolated exercises for abdomen.
3 kilograms (7 lbs) and I will reach my weight before pregnancy.
Because of breastfeeding I have an enormous appetite and I probably eat around 3000 calories per day. I don’t count, but it’s a lot of food.
I give myself a year time to get in shape. I don’t think I’ll go on a diet or do anything special. I will eat and work out and see what happens. One year after giving birth I will ask myself if I want more and then I will decide how to act – whether I will get rid of fat or not.
I really want my belly to be flat, but that happens soo slow (according to me). Patience, ommmmm…
It’s good that I thought of taking pictures every two weeks, because now I see that there is a progress and my belly is getting back in, I just need time and patience.
I have no stretch marks!!!
I thought that I will have and I fanatically rubbed myself with lotions twice a day.
I used a Mustela lotion in the morning.
I used one of the following at night:
Shea, coconut and jojoba oil
Rosehip Oil
Oil for pregnancy
I still rub myself after shower 🙂
How do I Feel As A Mom
Just like when I wasn’t mom. I don’t feel a particular change.
There are many changes in my life, but I don’t see any in my personality.
I have to plan very carefully all meetings and tasks away from home, because I breastfeed every 2-3-4 hours and I have to be available when the baby needs me. The planning is very hard, because Max gets hungry on call and there isn’t an exact rhythm, even though it’s every three hours and I breastfeed him 8 times a day and night.
What Did I Want To Know Before Giving Birth?
Breastfeeding takes 8 hours of 24. This was a shock for me, that this much time goes into breastfeeding. Everyone told me that breastfeeding takes dedication, but I needed to hear that it’s 8 hours a day. The little one eats about 50 minutes, then 10 minutes for burping, changing his diaper 5-10 minutes and there it is – an hour, and there are 2 hours left until the next round. When I understood that, it was easy for me to organize my work and breastfeeding to go hand by hand. Max is now feeding about 20-30 minutes, he is getting better at this 🙂
I can sleep on periods. I feel restful if I get 7 hours of sleep, it doesn’t matter that they are not consecutive. Everyone told me that I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep, but that’s not quite right. If I get 2+2+2+1=7 hours of sleep., I feel good.
When breastfeeding every 3 hours, there isn’t a way that you can sleep more than 2 consecutive hours. I’m glad I took my new way of getting sleep and don’t dramatize it (unless when Max wants to eat every hour, then it’s kind of dramatic, but it’s rarely). My Love really helps me get my sleep, when he cuddles the little one every 2 night feedings so I can have 2 shifts of 2 hours of sleep without being interrupted. Because sometimes Max mumbles when he sleeps and I wake up without him needing attention.
A Question
What did you want to know before giving birth? Let’s help future moms 🙂
Congratulations! You are beautiful pre and post pregnancy! Blessings to you and your family!
Thank you!