What I Know Now: 2 weeks Postpartum

Miss Maggie is two weeks old today. I have been trying to think of a way to appropriately close out this blog of my pregnancy and what better way than one final "What I Know Now". Thanks to you all for following me along the way on my "secret" blog. It's time to close up shop as I will only be updating my public blog from here on out. And really, since I can't really whine about being pregnant anymore, I won't have much to talk about, ha ha ha.

So here goes - What I know Now that I have a 2 week old baby.

1. The most important day in any running program is rest. Rest days give your muscles time to recover so you can run again. Your muscles build in strength as you rest. ~Hal Higdon Here we go again with the link between parenthood and running. "Sleep when she sleeps". If I hear that piece of advice one more time, I will go bonkers. Of course, people tell you this because it's true. The surest way to go insane is to be sleep deprived. I thought I would be ok with the sleep deprivation since my pregnancy was insomnia-filled. I actually think I am clocking more hours of sleep now than when I was pregnant but am MORE tired. How does that work??! I am not good at sleeping when she sleeps yet. Too much other stuff to do and I don't really think I'm tired. Then 6:00 PM comes and I am WIPED. Trying to get better about this.

2. Breastmilk = Dope for babies. Baby can be screaming bloody murder and the second she gets the boob in her mouth is quiet. 10 minutes later she is a limp noodle. Makes me laugh every time.

3. Breastfeeding is hard..but gets easier! Magster latched immediately in labor and delivery so of course I thought, "YES! This breastfeeding thing is going to be a piece of cake". YEah. Somewhere on the wheelchair ride from labor & delivery up to the mom and baby floor, she forgot everything. We literally had to train her to suck using a syringe full of colostrum and my husband's pinky finger. From there she graduated to my boob with a thin tube taped to it. Thankfully on Day 4, something clicked and she has been a feeding champ since then. For an instant at 1 in the morning while my husband was trying to help me get both my boob and the feeding tube in her tiny mouth, I realized that THIS is probably why people give up breastfeeding. I feel lucky that we figured it out because I don't know how many more days I would have lasted with that feeding tube.

4. WOW does your relationship with your husband change. I'm sure it will go back to somewhere in between but I don't think I have had a conversation with him that wasn't about the baby. My husband literally had to milk me that first night in the hospital because I was so tired that I couldn't do it by myself anymore. So as I tried to squeeze colostrum out of my boob, my husband was there with a plastic shot glass trying to scoop out the drops. Poor guy will never look at my boobs the same way again.

5. I have no idea what I do all day. I am not going to lie - I do miss things like reading, crafting. Maybe one day I'll get to return to these things. Right now, the latest book I read is My Hand, Your Hand. And it is a black and white picture book for babies.

6. Daytime tv is terrible.

7. You do forget what boob you fed with last. Prior to breastfeeding, I thought it would be easy to track which boob I fed the baby with last. Yeah. NOT. Now I rock my yellow Livestrong bracelet on whatever arm corresponds to the boob on deck. Keeps me sane in the middle of the night.

8. I am a leaker. Boobs leak constantly. Baby cries, boobs leak. I tried sleeping without a nursing bra a couple nights and my shirt was totally milk soaked. So sleeping with a bra it is.

9. I feel like I am pretty well healed "down there". Nice. That whole thing was not as bad as I thought it would be. I am really sick of wearing pads but I don't have any pain or soreness so that's nice. I have considered going for a run already, but don't know if it is too soon.

10. I was totally afraid to poop after giving birth. Thank goodness they feed you stool softeners in the hospital.

11. I have to remember to eat. Most days, I don't remember to eat lunch until around 3 PM.

12. Holding your baby is really fun. That's probably what I do all day :)

13. Giving birth is AMAZING. Hands down one of the coolest things I have ever experienced. And it is way harder than running a marathon.

Thanks again for checking in on me and my pregnancy! This blog is officially CLOSED for BUSINESS.