Saturday, November 30, 2013

9 weeks old

Once again, I'm a little late. Last Friday, not yesterday but the week before, on 11/22/13, my little pumpkin was 9 weeks old.

He is bigger, stronger and...well...fatter. He is starting to pack on the pounds. At his most recent, doctor's appointment he weighed in at 8 lbs 10 oz and is 21 inches tall. He got his second round of vaccinations and is doing not just fine, but great.

We are still breastfeeding. I just typed and then deleted that we were doing it well, and maybe we are, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I think it's about time for a whole post on how breastfeeding has gone thus far.

This week on Wednesday we began a routine I will put all of that in another post.

E is wearing all newborn cloths and only cloth diapers. He has started to smile a bit, but it is more of a half smile and only when he is tired. He can't be bothered when he is awake.










Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in: 8 weeks postpartum






I kept looking back at last weeks post to really keep myself focused on my goals. I think it has really helped me to do so. I'm making progress and seeing changes.

In fact, I went to a baby shower for a co-worker this past weekend. No one has really seen me because of my maternity leave, they could not stop commenting on how much weight I've lost already and kept complimenting me and how good I looked. They also said that I look slimmer than before I was pregnant. I think they all just forgot what I looked like because I know I look almost exactly the same. Maybe it is that I am just happier and that is reflected in my overall appearance.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 140 (6 weeks postpartum)        
Last Week's Weight: 139
Current Weight: 137 (-3 lbs total, 12 lbs to goal!!!)   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 24.8
Last Week's BMI: 24.6
Current BMI: 24.3 (In the normal range of 18.5-24.9)
Goal BMI: 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:
1. Consume at least the recommended water intake for a breastfeeding mom, 64 oz
I've really done well at this. I fill my water bottle up and drink only from that. It is a 24 oz bottle. I have one bottle between midnight and breakfast, one before lunch, one before dinner and one again before midnight. I'm drinking very close to 100 oz a day but really nearly forcing myself to do so.
2. Purchase some sort of yoga video or program that I can realistically see myself doing
I figured out how to get youtube on our x box on our tv in the living room. I can do many yoga videos from there. On Friday night I did a Jillian Michael's yoga video, and it damn near killed me. It was a 35 minute beginners yoga and I could only do 20 minutes before I had to quit, I mean before dinner was ready. I will try that same video again this week and try to make it through it.
3. Walk at least 2x with E in the stroller
I walked my 5 k training session on Saturday night with him in the stroller. It was a brisk walk or slow jog for 45 minutes. I started at dusk and was out after dark, so Nate followed me with a flashlight. I did not get a second chance to walk with him, but now as an afterthought, I should have done so today.
4. Hike in the mountains with or without E
Rain kept me from hiking on the days planned. Yes you heard that right, it rained in New Mexico...in November...weird! The rain also soaked the cloth diapers I had out on the line, but whatever. I'm not sure I will be able to reach this milestone before it gets too cold. However, I have taken a hike on thanksgiving before and that gives me a bit longer to try to get one in.
5. Continue 5k training program, no skipping days!!!
I am surprised by my own commitment to this program. As I said above, I even did one session after dark when I normally would have just skipped it due to the inconvenience. I am determined to do this even though I truly hate running. I missed today because Nate was out of town and I'm not yet prepared to let someone watch my baby so I will have to make up tomorrow.
 
Activities for this coming week:
1. Continue with 100 oz of water intake daily
2. Complete 1 yoga video
3. Walk at least 2x with E in the stroller
4. Hike in the mountains with or without E before it gets too cold
5. Continue 5k training program, no skipping days!!!

3. Post anything else I feel like sharing.

I got a peek of 136 lbs on the scale one morning this week and panicked a little. Losing 3 lbs in one week is a little more than I planed for and seems excessive. However, it was only that morning, the remainder of the week I was somewhere in the 137's. meaning that my scale does give fractions of pounds, I simply don't post them here, it would make the math more difficult if I did.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

8 weeks old

On Friday 11/15 E was 8 weeks old. 

It is official, more than half of my maternity leave is over. I had originally had November and December marked off for 8 weeks of maternity leave in case I was recovering from a c-section. Because I had him 6 weeks early, that 8 weeks turned into 14 weeks! Unfortunately, it is mostly unpaid. 

My contract changed in June and I now have 3 weeks of vacation each year. I also have 6 sick days. Finally, I have Aflac which gets you 2 weeks of pay. So in total, I had about 6 weeks of pay. Because we had to spend 10 days in Las Vegas, NV (on our own dime) we are really living off of savings rather than that 6 weeks of pay. Oh well, we will survive. 

Anyway... back to the baby...

An 8 week old baby...he doesn't look 8 weeks old, he doesn't feel 8 weeks old, and I guess it is because he is only 2 weeks adjusted. I can't believe he is that old already. I'm glad I get another 6 weeks at home with him as I feel he is just getting into a routine and I am really just now getting to know him. He slept so much when we first brought him home. Now he has stretches where he is awake an hour or more at a time. From 35 weeks gestation to nearly 40 weeks gestation or birth to 6 weeks old, he slept nearly 22 hours a day total. Now he sleeps maybe 16-18. It feels a whole lot different to have a baby that is awake sometimes and becoming mildly interactive.

E weighed in at the pediatrician on Wednesday and he is now 8lbs, the size we expected him to be born at. He feels heavier...the carseat with him in it feels heavier! He is completely out of preemie cloths, they have been packed away and given back to those that loaned us clothing. He is getting much more use of of newborn clothing than we ever expected. I haven't pulled out the 3 mos old cloths just yet though. 

We are back in cloth diapers too. The circumcision is healed and we are finally getting a hold of this diaper rash. Just as the rash was beginning to heal it suddenly got worse. The doc said that he thought it might be a yeast infection and prescribed Nystatin at his appointment on Wednesday. It started to get better immediately. However, we were advised to switch to a different routine. We now wash his little butt in the sink after each poop, which is essentially every diaper change right now. Then I blow dry his butt with a hair dryer. It needs to be completely poop free and completely dry to apply the nystatin. It is truly unrealistic to let a newborn be without a diaper for any extended period of time, so this routine works best. However, it means taking a naked baby across carpet to get him to the sink. Having the diaper change station in the bathroom is not possible so the potential for a poopy carpet disaster is extremely high. I debated using cloth with the nystatin, but everything I've read says that it should be ok with natural fibers, so I'm using cotton prefolds and organic cotton all in ones. We shall see if it ruins them or if they simply need to be stripped afterwards. I just could not justify letting him outgrow my newborn prefolds without ever really using them. Also, I couldn't stand the though of buying more diapers. The cost of diapers is astronomical!!!

He is just my little cutey pie and I'm so happy to be his mommy!





Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in: 7 weeks postpartum

 
The first time I did these weigh-ins, I really focused on my goals. I thought about my next week's weigh-in nearly every day. This time around, sleep deprivation and the care of a little one have drastically affected my focus. However, I still managed to exercise even if I didn't look back at these goals until this morning...oops! I also dropped a lb. (However, I did see a much lower weight on the scale this week, the weight I saw this morning was more consistent with the gradual weightloss I expect)

Also, I have set a definite final goal as far as timeline goes. If I lose 1 lb per week, every week, I should meet my goal in 15 weeks or so. If I add 8 weeks for Ethan's current age and then do a little mental math...hmm, 15 + 8...23... divide that by 4 or so...I should meet my goal when Ethan is 6 months old ! Seems too coincidental that this would fall around the same time, so I am making my final goal the same day that Ethan turns 6 months old, that will be September, October, November, December, January, February, March...yes March 20th, 2014.

125 lbs by March 20th or bust!

I really do need the support and accountability of writing this all down here. As you'll read below, that alone is a milestone for me, coming here each week to put this all down.

1. Reiterate my goal and where I stand in reference to this goal. (BMI info from this website)

Starting weight: 140 (6 weeks postpartum)        
Last Week's Weight: 140
Current Weight: 139 (-1 lbs total, 14 lbs to goal!!!)   
Goal Weight : 125       

Starting BMI: 24.8
Last Week's BMI: 24.8
Current BMI: 24.6 (In the normal range of 18.5-24.9)
Goal BMI: 22.1 for goal weight

2. Discuss what I am going to do to achieve my goals.

Progress on last week's activities:
1. Determine how much water I am consuming each day on average:  
In General, I am not consuming enough. I have a water bottle that I like that holds 24 oz. Without making any effort to increase how much I consume, I realized I would only drink about 2 full bottles a day. That is only 48 oz. I do also allow myself one soda a day which I don't factor into my total liquid intake. The Mayo Clinic's website recommends 8 glasses a day, assuming they mean 8 oz glasses, that would be 64 oz. I'm simply not drinking enough liquids.
2. Find a way to do yoga at home, either buy a video or look online/youtube:  
Without a gym membership, I am limited to doing yoga in my living room as I refuse to pay a per class rate. I can hook my ipad up to my TV in my living room, but as I have the original Ipad 1, I can only play video from certain programs on the TV. This means that I either have to buy a video on itunes to play it or get a DVD to play. I did neither of these things this week, but did at least hook up the ipad to the adapter to see what would work...baby steps I tell you.
3. Create a walking schedule where I can push E in the stroller: 
I have been walking with E with a friend, but not regularly and we only went one time this week. We went on a 1.25 mile path in town and I had a blister from new shoes from the previous week, I could not possibly have gone any further that day. Then on the other 2 days we were scheduled to go, her sons were each sick and not up for it.
4. Hike in the mountains before it gets too cold: 
I just realized that E is not technically big enough by weight for the moby wrap or mai tai wraps that I have for him. I have used them around the house and when grocery shopping, but a worried about him in them when I am doing something more strenuous. The weight minimum recommended is 8 lbs. I decided to wait until we hit that mark to take him for a hike. I'd rather be safe then wish I had afterwards. I could plan to go without him but I'm not ready for him to have a bottle while I'm gone, unless it was for something truly necessary.
5. Look into/start a couch to 5 k program: 
I downloaded 2 running programs on my phone and one called runkeeper has a beginner's running training program. They don't call it a couch to 5 k, but it has you running a 5 k after 8 weeks of training. I did my first training on Sunday and my second one on Tuesday. It has me do some sort of running every other day. It seems truly do-able to me. I will be running a 5 k with the program on January 3rd. However, there is a 5k fun run locally on December 7th. I'm thinking of registering, but don't want to overdo it to try to be done sooner.
In summary: I put way less effort into this than I had hoped. I will try to do better this next week and will only be modifying my goals slightly.
Activities for this coming week:
1. Consume at least the recommended water intake for a breastfeeding mom, 64 oz
2. Purchase some sort of yoga video or program that I can realistically see myself doing
3. Walk at least 2x with E in the stroller
4. Hike in the mountains with or without E
5. Continue 5k training program, no skipping days!!!

3. Post anything else I feel like sharing.
I think it was in my running program that I read recently a quote that went something along the lines of "people who set goals are more likely to achieve their goals". When I first read it, I thought there was some sort of grammatical error, or that someone was trying to be funny or at least ironic...Well duh, how do you achieve a goal that you didn't set in the first place! Then as I sat on the thought and came back to it later in the week, I realized that to me it actually means that people who set milestones to achieve along the way are more likely to achieve a major goal. That will be my motto throughout the next 4 months. Set milestones, work towards these milestones and I will be able to achieve this major goal.