Pregnancy/Delivery Recovery

I never got to write much about how I was doing after Landon was born because I was so preoccupied with how he was doing. I had been dreading the delivery recovery process- any message board I stumbled upon talked about 4th degree tears, pain for months, etc. I was also dreading the arduous return to my pre-pregnancy weight. My mom insisted that she felt great after having me and my two siblings, but she's something of a freak of nature in all things physical- she's weighed the exact same since she was 18 (think head cheerleader/prom queen type figure), eats a large popcorn drowning in butter every time we go to the movies, and even though she gained over 50 lbs when she was pregnant with me, she was back in her tiny jeans in two weeks. So yeah... I wasn't exactly taking her word for it.

Anyway, it turns out that I felt pretty darn good after getting that baby out as well. Yeah I was sore, swollen, and stitched up, but you just wear those pad-like ice packs (loved those), take the ibuprofen regularly (I never had to take the narcotic that I was allotted- I was sore, but not in pain), use your peri-bottle every time you go to the bathroom, and exercise care when transitioning from standing to sitting. I also bought those moist cottonelle wipes to use instead of toilet paper and that made a big difference. Since we were in the NICU all day, it was hard to keep using my peri bottle so I just stuck those wipes in my purse. I was lucky with my tearing- I just had one first degree tear and another one too small to even get a degree designation. I think my skin is quite stretchy because I didn't get stretch marks either. I was very sore for about 3 days, rather sore for another 3-4, and honestly felt pretty great after that. By the time we took Landon home from the NICU (12 days post-partum), I had been feeling totally normal for several days. I do wonder if my recovery was quicker because I didn't have a baby to take care of. When we weren't visiting him, I was resting in my hospital bed, and even when we were with him, I was just sitting in a chair next to his isolette. There's also nothing like worrying about someone else to make you forget or minimalize your own pain. So having a baby in the "Special Care Nursery" (Northwestern's euphemism for the NICU) is probably a positive thing for your physical recovery- not that I'd recommend it or ever want to use that method again.

As far as the weight goes, I was at +41 lbs the day I went into labor. I'm now +11. It's amazing how much of that weight must have just been fluid. My wedding rings fit the day after delivery and I tried on every single pair of shoes last week and they all fit (thank goodness!). I'm pretty much wearing normal tops and maternity bottoms- it's very comfy and I'm really not that excited about trying on my old jeans again. I've grown quite attached to the cute jeans with the stretchy waist band. Sitting in the library was so much more comfortable with those on- they were like jean PJ pants. My stomach is still quite squishy and I find it unbelievable that it will ever return to its original size, but we'll see. Luckily, I have all of Fall, Winter, and Spring before I even have to think of wearing a bikini again.