10 days post-partum

Just some assorted musings.

It is hard to believe that only 10 days ago she was still curled up inside.  Her little feet were tucked under my right ribs.  I still marvel that she fit!

After 4 babies, I've learned a few quirky things.

You will sweat a LOT.  In fact, you may wake up in a puddle of sweat.  Lovely, huh?  The body is trying to get rid of all the excess fluid and water retained while pregnant.  Not only will you sweat a great deal at night, but you will pee quite a bit too.

Babies go through growth spurts. When they do, they change their regular routine back to eating all the time- day and night.  If breastfeeding, they do this to increase the milk supply.  Not only do they want to eat all the time, but they will probably be fussy and pull off of the breast crying.  The extra fussiness and constant eating usually lasts a day or two.  It can be rough patch, but then things get back to normal.  I've found that the growth spurts seem to occur around 2-3 weeks, at 6 weeks, and a few times after that.

Belly binding. I didn't learn about this until my third child.  Pregnancy can cause the abdominal muscles to separate; this is called diastasis recti.  In addition uterus is still shrinking back down, the organs have shifted, and you have a big pouch of loose skin.  Immediately after the baby I tend to look about 5 months pregnant.  Tightly binding the stomach and hips helps bring those muscles back where they are supposed to be, improves posture, and I personally think aids in keeping the uterus firm.  I've found it also helps get your waist back quicker.

You may feel like you've been hit by a Mac truck.  This is especially true if the delivery was long or tough or the baby (bless his heart) is a challenging baby.  It's tempting to take care of the baby's needs and forget your own, but if you don't eat, drink, and rest enough you can't adequately take care of the baby.  Accept offers of help!

Conversely...


You may feel great!  Everything above still applies.  Rest, rest, rest.  (Otherwise you could end up with raging case of mastitis, a fever of 104, and heavier bleeding- btdt not fun.)

Learn to feed the baby while lying down as soon as possible.  It is much more comfortable and you tend to rest better.  Corinna and I are still working on this one.

Losing hair is normal.  I still get surprised when it happens at about 4 months after the baby.  It comes out in clumps for about a month and I always fear I'm going bald. Fortunately that hasn't happened.  Eventually things do normalize.

And another picture of the baby, just because.

Right after baths her hair springs into curls.  Sometimes when she eats she breaks out into a sweat, and her hair curls then too.  She takes eating quite seriously.  :)