Posts Tagged ‘birth story’

What “They” Don’t Tell You – Part 2

After the interest in my “What ‘They’ Don’t Tell You About Pregnancy” post a couple months back, I knew I had to follow up with one about labor, delivery, and the early post-partum days. If you’re a man reader…you may want to avert your eyes. If you’re squeamish in any way about body parts and personal topics…you have been warned. Now for yet another post pushing the TMI boundaries.

Your boobs will hurt. And not just a standard ouch kind of hurt either. Whether breastfeeding or not, a few days post-delivery you will feel as if you carry 2 bowling balls on your chest.  2 bowling balls that are also ticking time bombs about to explode and rip in half from the pressure. Milk engorgement is fun, no?

Even better? If breastfeeding, your nipples will feel as though someone rubbed them raw with sandpaper. And that “let-down” feeling that lets you know your baby is sucking out the good stuff? Burn, baby, burn!!!! I do promise it all subsides after about a month and then is so much easier. Plus, it truly is worth it.

Ice Diapers. I briefly mentioned these in my previous post. They intrigued you all. And yes, they are very much real and very much useful.

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Let’s put it this way. You know how long distance runners take ice baths after tough runs? You just gave your hoo-ha the workout of its life. It needs its ice bath. You will stuff a baby’s diaper with crushed ice and wear it as a pad without shame.

Tears. Sometimes things just don’t pop out so easily. Rip. You can use your imagination for the rest. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it does heal.

I still look pregnant?! The uterus takes awhile to shrink back to standard size. This means for a solid couple of months your body will inevitably have a pregnant looking pooch. You will likely still look 6 months pregnant coming home from the hospital. I looked like this 3 days post-partum…

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And you saw my 1 week photos yesterday (in the bikini no less). Just remember how wonderful the body still is…even if it does mean some idiot will ask you when you are due, despite the obvious newborn baby you are holding.

Scared to poop. The first time or two after delivery is purely frightening. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe the thought of having to push anything out again?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The baby-blues are very real. It is standard for them to last two weeks. Any longer is when you need to consider talking with the doctor about post-partum depression. But for the first two weeks…fully expect mood swings you have never seen before. I haven’t faced them too much this time…but I can tell you I went from yelling at Peter that he was NO HELP to crying over how much I loved him and he was the BEST FATHER EVER in minutes last time.

Hospital food may actually taste good. After delivery and when trying to prep your body for breastfeeding, you want food. Any food. This actually looked and tasted good to me post-delivery.

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Nothing like a bowl of congealed oats!

Babies trick you. It is very standard for newborns to sleep a lot in the hospital. They just went for the craziest ride ever after all. They don’t do this when they get home. You come home and it’s time to push limits and see how often they can wake up. I warned you.

And I’m likely forgetting some important things. Things like is baby pooping enough, sleeping enough, spitting up too much, going to be colicky, etc, etc, etc kind of make the rest of your mind a jumbled mass.

Thank goodness I knew what to expect this time! I can actually function! Good thing too because I have a very exciting post for tomorrow. Any guesses? 😉

Question of the Day – Totally random question…but color combos have been on my mind…what is your favorite color/color combo?

Posted by on January 19th, 2011 85 Comments

There’s No Place Like Home

We got to come home today! Technically, our discharge should have been tomorrow but they allowed us to leave earlier since the roads may worsen for Thursday. We took advantage of that offer. Although going home did present a few problems.

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First off, we had no car. We headed to the hospital via ambulance, remember? Peter’s dad helped us out. He drove up and then picked up Peter to take some of our stuff home and pick up the car seat. When they made the original pit-stop to our house, they quickly discovered that our neighborhood’s roads are still not driveable.

What did that mean for us? We still went home. We had to park the car at the front of the neighborhood and walk up to our house.

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The fun just never stops, huh? Luckily its a short walk and we made it safely. We also managed to get Makenzie home. I wish you could have seen the excited look on her face when she first saw him!

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It feels so incredible to be home with my family!

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Question of the night – What makes your home feel like home to you?

Posted by on January 12th, 2011 99 Comments

 

 
Catch Up With Recent Posts

Announcement Time

Posted: November 23, 2011 at 7:47 am

Well, I have had a whirlwind of a few weeks over here. I missed all of you so much! I can’t express enough gratitude for your patience while I got some important things sorted out. Some scary things. Are you ready for the announcement? Here goes! I will no longer be blogging at Faith Fitness […]

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Self-Love Reflection: The Road Not Taken

Posted: November 20, 2011 at 11:47 am

Hello FFF readers! Nice to meet ya! My name is Carissa and my husband and I blog at Fit2Flex.  Well, I blog…he consults! We are both certified personal trainers with a passion for healthy, active living and clean eating.  I am also studying to become a registered dietitian, a race announcer, and a runner.  Stop […]

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Healthier Eating For Kids

Posted: November 19, 2011 at 10:56 am

Thanks to Plum Organics for sponsoring my post about tips for baby feeding magic. What if you let baby choose what’s for dinner? Check out their cute "Quest for Yum!" video and see what happens! As parents, we want the best for our children. We help them to feel loved. We strive to teach them […]

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Announcement

Posted: November 17, 2011 at 3:36 pm

Hey, everyone! I wanted to pop in and say I am working on some new and exciting changes.  As a result,I may not be posting as much during the coming week.  Please stay tuned for the big announcement! Love you all! And still feel free to find me on Twitter and Facebook for the time […]

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Where The Change Happens

Posted: November 16, 2011 at 7:54 am

It’s kind of funny. I become a certified personal trainer and the first workouts I turn to this week come from someone else. The book came in for me at the library last week and, after flipping through it, I couldn’t wait to give the circuits a go. Making The Cut includes a lot of […]

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From Beginning To End

Posted: November 15, 2011 at 11:53 am

Good morning! First off, thanks for the many congrats yesterday. Love you all bunches for the tons of support you have given me in so many things this year. I hope I can return a little bit of that love through this here blog as well. So yesterday I had my first parent-teacher “conference” for […]

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