post-partum exercise aka things i went and opened my big mouth about

first, let me brag on myself. i was a pregnant fatty (this does not sound like a brag so far) .i gained 45 lbs (when you are 5'1" this is probably not a good idea). so last wednesday i had my post-partum checkup- i had decided i was not going to step on a scale until i entered into that office (ours was broken thank the Lord, or else i would've stepped on it 30x a day), and i stuck to my word.

the verdict at my appointment (here comes aforementioned bragging) i had lost 26 lbs! omg! pretty awesome if you ask me. that means i only need to lose 19 more lbs to get back to my pre-baby weight (i would like to make this number 25). this is the hard part...

sadly, i am lazy when it comes to exercise. this is really sad because i took ballet for about 7 years, and then i did cheerleading for 4 years. ballet keeps you nice and slim, and with cheerleading i ran until i wanted to throw up. ever since i have been out of those i have rarely kept a routine. before i was married my mom & i would walk either at the walking track at our church or take the dogs around the neighborhood. sometimes we would do pilates. when i lived on my own, this stopped. after i got married, i would sometimes do pilates, or sometimes do my jillian michaels dvd. then husband and i started walking the silver comet trail with our dogs, then we moved. then i was pregnant. then i stopped doing anything...

i now have the clear to exercise again, yet i haven't. i'm too busy caring for baby, and when he does sleep, i usually either sleep myself, or i have become a clean freak (more on that later). i really should work out.

enter where i opened my big mouth... my husband bikes. he is of a family of cyclists. my in-laws tandem. they go on 800 tandem trips a year. my father in law bikes to work rain or shine, snow or whatever nearly every day of the year. they are serious. my husband and his dad have been to peru, where the biked up the highest unpaved road in the world (my father in law has been twice). i like to brag about this too- because it's pretty amazing. here they are...

pretty awesome, eh?

so i said this to say that last week i told my husband, "i think i might like to try biking." oh, what have i gotten myself into? ::sigh::

there will be more updates on this later, as i am now a cyclist.

::i need to follow this up to quote my husband: "you haven't even been on the bike yet, you are not a cyclist." we'll see.:

thank you for making my day

husband.

there's nothing sweeter to hear post partum than when your husband looks at you and says, "you really look just about like you did before you had the baby. i can really tell."

this is even better b\c i haven't stepped on a scale in almost 6 weeks

it may not be much, but it made me melt!

Week 5

here i am with mommy. she feels like she looks like one of the girls on 16 and pregnant

here i am with daddy and his cool mug from uncle chris. very funny!

here i am smiling for my 1 month pictures that mommy & daddy took! isn't my sweater handsome?

We just wrapped up week 5, and things are pretty much still the same. Ian is currently screaming it out in his pack & play while i give him the 5 minutes of "calm down time" before i go reinsert the paci and we start this all over again. he's still having trouble with afternoon naps, so i am beginning to wonder if he's just a cat napper, or if this is just a phase. we'll see. but first, i must reinsert the paci because my dog is probably about to have a stroke. we didn't know this, but apparently he's the only one in this house who is allowed to cry...

ah, victory, but we'll see for how long. anyway, week 5. Ian becomes more and more alert as the days go by- all part of his not wanting to miss anything (i think he gets that from me). well, he was asleep, but dad came home and woke him up by clanging around. thanks dad.

also this week Ian has started to smile more often. i'm starting to think he actually may like the two of us! no laughs yet, but he's getting there as he smiles are bigger and more often!

Ian also turned a month old on Saturday, and came down with his first cold, courtesy of mommy (so much for those antibodies in breastmilk helping him to fight off colds)... that led Ian to his first time sleeping through the night! of course, it hasn't happened since then, but he has been putting up numbers of anywhere between 3-5 hours, which is really good. it means we've dropped at least 1 feeding at night, and we'll only be sleeping longer from there.

on tuesday, Ian had his 1 month check up. can i just say i'm good? i predicted Ian's weight exactly- 8 lbs, 4 oz. still a pretty small guy, but growing! 20.75 in. as well. 25% in each- so he's a well proportioned baby! next month we go for shots, but everything checked out! i knew it, he's perfect...

that pretty much leads us up to now- we're in the beginning of week 6. we'll see what it holds for us. mommy knows it holds her post-partum appointment, and she isn't looking forward to that, or being cleared to go back to work. darn you, America and your work-centric culture!

oh, i yearn for you pre-baby body

i guess i expect giving birth to be some miracle- my body will heal quickly and i'll be in no pain, i'll lose 800 lbs and be thinner than i was before i got pregnant, and i'll be able to wear my "real" clothes again. riiiiiiiiiight. so, let's just say i'm more than tired of my maternity clothes- the pants with panels are too loose, and my non-maternity pants are way too tight. Just like my baby, when it comes to clothes, i'm stuck in "no man's land."

i gained 45 lbs while pregnant- yikes. let's just say that was all my fault- i craved pizza, pasta and candy while pregnant- not good. i weighed more than my husband- it was really sad. our scale doesn't work here at home, and they didn't weigh me in the hospital, so my best guess is that i've lost about 15-20 lbs. my face is definitely smaller, my belly- obviously. it seems other than the baby belly though that i'm carrying all my leftover weight between my knees and my hips- awesome. like all those years of dancing didn't give me big enough thighs... i'm also apparently carrying lots of weight in my fingers- as i have yet to get my wedding or engagement ring back on my hand. ::sigh::

so i've been shopping a few times- i don't fit into my former size pants currently, and i don't fit into the next size up either- i decided to stop there... tops though- oh, i can fit into tops all day long! squeeeeeee! so i have a closet full of new tops that are filling my heart with joy- and once i figure out how to successfully nurse wearing regular clothes- they will all be making an appearance on my body!

i'm always on the lookout for new things though- sometimes just looking is nice- even if you can't have it. prime example is the subscription i've had to Lucky for 5 years or so. the editors and staff at Lucky must think we can all afford designer wardrobes, and from the looks of it, most of them can. unfortunately i cannot pay $3,000 for a dress, let alone $300- heck, I can't pay $100 for a dress these days. woe is me... however i've become a darn good looker and an even better bargain shopper.

so i was thumbing through the pages of this month's Lucky when i saw this adorable cardigan in the front. i didn't get my hopes up, as most of what i like in there ends up being way out of my price range... BUT my faith in affordable, adorable clothing was restored when i saw that the cardigan was not only designer-made, but affordable and available at h&m!!


so cute!! i love that it's so springy with the pastels, and girly with the bows, and i might even say it's a touch parisian- it is made by a french designer after all! i can't wait until the line hits h&m next week- i will be figuring out how to take baby to the hellhole that is woodfield mall where i will make the cardigan mine, all mine.

now what do i wear with it?! i just don't have the knack for putting together outfits like you guys do. help!

last 4 week appointment

Today was the last of my 4 week appointments, and boy was it a doozy. It was also my glucose screening, so I was kind of dreading that because of all the horror stories I had heard.

I was told to eat 1-2 hours before my appointment. My appointment was at 10, so I dragged myself out of bed around 8:45 and tried to see what I could make for breakfast that didn't have sugar in it. I had woken up around 6 to use the bathroom, and ever since then all i could think about were sweets. I wanted cereal, a banana, strawberries and a pumpkin spice latte for breakfast- it was all I could think about. I decided to go with the recommendation from the nurse at my last appointment-eggs. I scrambled 2 eggs with some cheese and pepper and poured myself some milk. When I was drinking the milk, I was shocked to find it had sugar listed in the nutritional facts. Hopefully I'm safe. I arrived at the office, and per usual had to pee in a cup. I had already gone twice that morning, but managed to go again. After that, I was given my Glucola. I got the fruit punch flavor, was told I had 5 minutes to finish it, so off I went. It actually wasn't as bad as I expected, and I finished it pretty easily. I had to stay in the office an hour to have my blood drawn, and I waited to see Dr. Uma as well.

We finally got back to see Dr. Uma. ::sidebar:: There, Dave & I had a spirited discussion about our house. Most of this stems from my inability to let this house go- which I don't know if I can do. Our house was up for rent from February-September, and has now been on the market for a few weeks. We have it listed for $80,000- a huge loss for us- today our agent emailed Dave & suggested we drop the price to $40,000. It just floors me that we are reduced to doing this. A of all- we own our house- we are not in forclosure (yet), B of all- our house is in immaculate condition. We need a quick solution for this, and for once in 2009, perhaps for the Lord to show us a little mercy. Between the house and our insurance woes i'm near the end of my rope.

Back to Dr. Uma- We asked her about our shots- Flu and H1N1 are both recommended. She wrote a note for me for my flu shot, which I'll be receiving from GE on November 5. Don't know anything about availability of the Swine. Then she spoke to me about my recent back pains. Pretty much I'm in pain from the moment my feet hit the floor unless I'm lying down or sitting with my back against something. I had to call out of work yesterday because it had gotten so bad. She asked me about where the pain was, and was shocked to hear how far UP my back it was. She poked around and ruled out kidney infection by my not punching her in the face. She told me I'd need to take ANOTHER urine test to check for kidney stones. If that were to come up negative, I would be sent for physical therapy. Luckily, the urine test was clean, so physical therapy it is. I called and they were able to get me in for tomorrow morning, luckily. I have today & tomorrow off work, so it will be a relief to get some answers before I work again.

Lastly, we asked her about our insurance issue and what she would think about delivering our little guy in 2009. She saw that I would be at 37 weeks, but still 20 days early would give her some worry. I am measuring right at where I'm supposed to be, so we're not "ahead" of schedule. She wanted to talk to Dr. Duval- who did my ultrasound- and is also a perinatologist. She says he could just say "yes" or he may want to see me again. I would more than likely have to have an amniocentisis a couple days before the induction to check for lung maturity. Usually the baby's lungs are fully mature at 37 weeks, but there's a 1-2% chance that they would not be. Amnio isn't an appealing aspect to me, but from what I've read so far, it's WAY safer at 37 weeks then it is at 20 weeks or sooner when checking for abnormalities. So right now we're just waiting to hear from Dr. Duval. We'll see...

On a final note. I've gained 10 lbs since my last appointment on September 21st. Good grief. This puts me right around 23 lbs with 10-13 weeks to go! AHH!! Dr. Uma told me I needed to cut down on candy, juice and replace carbs with proteins. She obviously doesn't know my cravings! I'm going to try to be good. Lots more water and lots less candy! We'll see. Hopefully when I have my next appointment in 2 weeks things will look a little better. I'm just hoping my weight was the Glucola talking.

Today is the last day of my 2nd Trimester~ Unbelievable!