Mommy stats – 1 year later

I haven’t talked too much about me physically post-pregnancy on here (besides the weirdness that was my boobs for awhile), so I thought I’d let you know what’s happened to my body in the 1 year since giving birth. Oh you don’t care? Too bad.

• All the mess that occurred “down there” during delivery had healed itself by 6 weeks postpartum. I did have a small tear that needed to be stitched up, but I’m not sure exactly how long those stitches took to dissolve and disappear. By the time I had that routine follow-up appointment, though, my doctor said she couldn’t even tell I had had stitches and gave the all-clear for physical activity and sex again. Ha. No, let me rephrase. HAHAHA! Sex?? After what happened in that general vicinity? Yeah, that didn’t happen for a looooong time. I have no idea how some women can go in for their 6 week appointment and be pregnant again already. Holy OUCH! I was scared of it. Terrified, really, but that’s a whole other post…
• I weighed myself on D’s birthday, and exactly 1 year after delivering her I weigh 39 pounds less than I did when she was born. And that is still 6 pounds less than I weighed when I got pregnant. I was 154.5 when I found out I was pregnant, gained 33 pounds to 187.5 at the end, and was 148.5 on Monday. I had lost all of my pregnancy weight by 3 months postpartum, before I went back to work. I then lost some more last winter with breastfeeding and multiple bouts of the flu, but now I’ve been able to get back to this level for awhile. And my body seems to be functioning properly again since I stopped breastfeeding, ahem, so I’m happy with this weight.
• It took me a very long time to get back into shape after giving birth. I haven’t not exercised for a prolonged period of time since before high school, literally, so it was definitely a shock for me to be so physically wimpy. I was no body-builder before by any means, but I couldn’t even lift things that used to be an absolute breeze for me. I started going for regular walks with D in the stroller a few weeks after she was born, then did work up to jogging again by last fall. But then came winter, and I don’t run outside if it’s below 50 because I hate running in the cold, so there went that exercise routine. I canceled my gym membership by the end of last year also, because I had zero time to get there with a baby. Kudos to those of you parents who go every day, but I couldn’t do it. Nor did I really want to. I much preferred playing with and taking care of D than paying to go get all sweaty. Finally, come this past spring, I started back in earnest. I began seeing my trainer again (fortunately i can workout with her at the gym still without being a member), I started running regularly and signed up for some 5ks to make sure I stuck with it, and I do abs and push-ups on my own fairly frequently. I can now say that I feel like I am back in pretty good shape, and have been feeling this way for the better part of the summer so far. So it was almost a full year before I regained my cardiovascular endurance and some muscle mass and strength. Damn.
• I am very fortunate to have escaped any postpartum depression with D. I was honestly worried about this, because there is a strong history of depression and mental illness on one side of my family, which could have made me a prime candidate. I made sure I knew what the symptoms were, and I told R that if he ever saw those signs, I would need help. I know that just because I experienced none of them this time doesn’t mean I’m out of the woods for any subsequent kids, but I am hopeful.
• My back is definitely different after being pregnant. It obviously hurt by the end of my pregnancy from all the extra weight I carried, but even since giving birth it’s still more sensitive than it used to be. Not like sharp pains or pinched nerves or anything like that, but it just gets uncomfortable more easily now. Like on one of our couches I still have to sit with a pillow behind me to feel like my back isn’t totally sinking into the cushions. Maybe some of it has to do with holding D across me all those months of breastfeeding, and similarly now when I hold her at night and in the morning to give her a bottle. Or I could just be making that last part up. I’m no chiropractor.
• My crazy smells did go away after pregnancy. I’m not kidding, though, there are 1 or 2 things that still make me cringe to this day when I smell them, all because I started hating the scent at the beginning of my pregnancy.
• I’ve already talked about my hair loss and how that rectified itself after a few months, thank god.

I think that about does it. I was lucky – I had no major problems during my pregnancy and actually enjoyed it, and had a smooth recovery after delivery. I just really hope I didn’t use up all my good ju-ju this time around and have a hell of a ride in store for next time…