Postpartum recovery is a weird phase of life. When I was pregnant, I never really thought about the whole recovery process. I knew labor and delivery would be hard, and then of course I thought about having the baby to take care of and everything afterwards, but I really never considered what my body would be doing and how I would feel physically.
As far as my recovery has gone, I want to document it so that I will have a reference for future pregnancies and babies.
Week 1: The first week is seriously no joke. The first two days immediately after Benjamin's birth weren't too bad. We were still in the hospital and our stay was awesome. The nurses took great care of me, and I was high on adrenaline basically the whole time. Benjamin was born at 2:50 am and by 11 that morning we had guests coming to see him. And it didn't bother me one bit. We were also able to send Benjamin to the nursery anytime we needed to, and that really is a blessing those first few days.
Leaving the hospital, I still looked about six months pregnant. The picture following this really shows off my postpartum belly at roughly 3 days. One of the nicest things though was that almost immediately I could lay on my back again, which at the end of pregnancy had been so uncomfortable. Also my heartburn was completely gone, which was AmAzInG!!
Once we got home recovery was a lot harder. Not only was I exhausted from having a newborn baby that was up all night, but I was also trying to catch up from the 30+ hour labor. I have never felt as exhausted in my entire life as I did during that first week. It definitely caught me by surprise how exhausted I was! There were also a few mornings I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a semi-truck. I knew I was going to be sore in my rear end, but the overall physical pain surprised me. It really does take every single muscle in your body to get that little baby out!!
Week 2: Every week was incredibly better than the one before it. The first two weeks were definitely the most difficult, and I was pretty emotional and weepy. It really is crazy how powerful hormones are, especially since you can't control them in any way!
I only bled for the first two weeks consistently. After the first two weeks it was just on and off, here and there, but nothing as regular. This was something I was really grateful for! Also, I had heard horror stories of blood just dripping on the floor every time you stood up, but I never had bleeding that bad!
Week 3-5: This is going to sound ridiculously depressing, but it honestly took into the third week of recovery before I started having moments where I thought I would survive and be able to take care of Benjamin. Week 3 was when the 'good' days started, meaning that I felt like I was able to accomplish a few things around the house on those days and I started feeling like I had a handle on life. I didn't feel that way every day, but each week had a few more 'good' days and a few less bad and miserable days.
Physically I also started to feel a lot better. The soreness faded and I began to feel like myself again! The picture below gives a (horrible I know!) view of my stomach at three weeks postpartum.
Week 6: Week 6 has been pretty good!! The most difficult part of possibly the entire six weeks has been breastfeeding, and there is a possibility that we will be switching over to formula in the near future. More on that to come if/when it happens.
I had my six week postpartum check-up today, and all went well. I weighed in at 183 lbs, so 8 pounds higher than my pre-pregnancy weight but about 23 pounds higher than my end goal-weight. Now that I have the ok to start working out and I have no restrictions on what I can do, I'm hoping to get fit and lose those extra pounds. My belly skin is a lot looser than it was before I got pregnant, so that is a little annoying. Hopefully as I work out and lose weight it will tighten up.
My stretch marks I think are my least favorite part of my postpartum body, but even they aren't that annoying. I did get a lot of stretch marks, on my stomach, inner thighs, hips, and breasts, but I recognize them as a mark of what my body went through to get baby Benjamin here. The only ones that I really dislike are the ones on my stomach, but I think its mainly because the skin is extra loose there right now still.
Overall I couldn't have asked for a better recovery physically. I actually started feeling a lot better much sooner than I expected. It is truly amazing what the human body can recover from! Emotionally, my recovery has been a bit slower. Hormone changes, sleep deprivation, and a crying infant definitely make for some crazy times. But I am trying to love every single moment that i have to spend with my beautiful baby boy!
Leaving the hospital, I still looked about six months pregnant. The picture following this really shows off my postpartum belly at roughly 3 days. One of the nicest things though was that almost immediately I could lay on my back again, which at the end of pregnancy had been so uncomfortable. Also my heartburn was completely gone, which was AmAzInG!!
Once we got home recovery was a lot harder. Not only was I exhausted from having a newborn baby that was up all night, but I was also trying to catch up from the 30+ hour labor. I have never felt as exhausted in my entire life as I did during that first week. It definitely caught me by surprise how exhausted I was! There were also a few mornings I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a semi-truck. I knew I was going to be sore in my rear end, but the overall physical pain surprised me. It really does take every single muscle in your body to get that little baby out!!
Week 2: Every week was incredibly better than the one before it. The first two weeks were definitely the most difficult, and I was pretty emotional and weepy. It really is crazy how powerful hormones are, especially since you can't control them in any way!
I only bled for the first two weeks consistently. After the first two weeks it was just on and off, here and there, but nothing as regular. This was something I was really grateful for! Also, I had heard horror stories of blood just dripping on the floor every time you stood up, but I never had bleeding that bad!
Week 3-5: This is going to sound ridiculously depressing, but it honestly took into the third week of recovery before I started having moments where I thought I would survive and be able to take care of Benjamin. Week 3 was when the 'good' days started, meaning that I felt like I was able to accomplish a few things around the house on those days and I started feeling like I had a handle on life. I didn't feel that way every day, but each week had a few more 'good' days and a few less bad and miserable days.
Physically I also started to feel a lot better. The soreness faded and I began to feel like myself again! The picture below gives a (horrible I know!) view of my stomach at three weeks postpartum.
Week 4 and 5 weren't very notable on there own. Each week was a little easier than the one before.
Week 6: Week 6 has been pretty good!! The most difficult part of possibly the entire six weeks has been breastfeeding, and there is a possibility that we will be switching over to formula in the near future. More on that to come if/when it happens.
I had my six week postpartum check-up today, and all went well. I weighed in at 183 lbs, so 8 pounds higher than my pre-pregnancy weight but about 23 pounds higher than my end goal-weight. Now that I have the ok to start working out and I have no restrictions on what I can do, I'm hoping to get fit and lose those extra pounds. My belly skin is a lot looser than it was before I got pregnant, so that is a little annoying. Hopefully as I work out and lose weight it will tighten up.
My stretch marks I think are my least favorite part of my postpartum body, but even they aren't that annoying. I did get a lot of stretch marks, on my stomach, inner thighs, hips, and breasts, but I recognize them as a mark of what my body went through to get baby Benjamin here. The only ones that I really dislike are the ones on my stomach, but I think its mainly because the skin is extra loose there right now still.
Overall I couldn't have asked for a better recovery physically. I actually started feeling a lot better much sooner than I expected. It is truly amazing what the human body can recover from! Emotionally, my recovery has been a bit slower. Hormone changes, sleep deprivation, and a crying infant definitely make for some crazy times. But I am trying to love every single moment that i have to spend with my beautiful baby boy!
No comments:
Post a Comment