Three weeks postpartum.

Baby- Eat, sleep, poop, cry, repeat.

Mum- Feed, lull to sleep, change diaper, soothe cries, repeat.

Not so hard, right? Ha! You might be wondering when I eat, sleep, shower, and spend time with Ashton. Let's just say, I've learned to feed Liana and make grilled cheese sandwiches at the same time! A mum's gotta multi-task! :)

But I'm definitely not complaining! I knew what I was getting myself into and it's all completely worth it. So what's the best part of being a mum? Seeing this precious face first thing in the morning and last thing before bed at night (and a few times in the middle of the night too!).

Ashton and I have been feeding our Little Roo on demand since she was born, but we do keep an eye on the clock (and her dirty diapers!) to make sure she is eating often enough. Since the first week she was born, Liana has slept for three or four hour blocks at night between feedings and goes two or three hours between feedings during the day. During her second week the night feedings became regular at midnight, 4am, and 8am, then she would switch to day mode and feed at 10am and noon to make up for less feeding at night, and then go to every two and a half or three hours for the rest of the day. For her first two weeks, she would stay awake for a half hour to forty-five minutes at most before napping again. This past week, she has managed to stay awake for an entire two hours between her feedings, and sleep for five or six hours between her night feedings. It seems like she is trying her best to give mummy some sleep at night!

Currently she seems to nap the longest when we co-sleep, since she probably likes my warmth and scent and is so used to hearing my heartbeat. Up until the past two nights, she hadn't slept more than 45 minutes on her own, but two nights ago she slept in her bassinet for two hours before her first night feeding and last night she slept in her cuddle cove (removable part of the pack 'n play) for over 5 hours! While I love co-sleeping with my munchkin, I want her to be used to sleeping on her own so I can get enough sleep when I have to go back to work. We also make it a point to keep the lights on during the day even when she naps and keep her in complete darkness at night, so she will start to get a sense of day and night and know when she should be awake and when she should be taking her longer naps. Hopefully this will help her start sleeping through the night in the long run.

This week I've officially started "tummy time" so she can work on strengthening her neck and arm muscles. She is so adorable trying to get up on her knees and kick off with her feet, but she has yet to find her hands. She lifts her head up to look around, but her hands have stayed glued to her sides so far. I try doing this for about ten minutes at a time a few times a day, when she seems the most alert.

My recovery after delivery has gone exceptionally well. I only had one external stitch due to very superficial tearing and after it was done initially, I never even felt it again. I'm actually not sure when it dissolved or if it has already. Two hours after delivery when the nurse moved us to the postpartum room, I felt well enough to walk. I wasn't allowed to, of course, but I hopped right up out of bed and into the wheel chair.

While in the postpartum room, every time a nurse came in they asked if I wanted painkillers to help cope with the aches and cramping from losing the rest of the placenta and my uterus shrinking back down to size. I declined any form of medication because I didn't really find it that hard to deal with the pain. I was achey and crampy for about three days after delivery, but was mostly painless after that.

Postpartum bleeding lasted for a good two weeks and I only had mild spotting this past week. I can feel my stomach muscles making their way back to their normal spots and that is aching a little as well, but my midwife said that is a good sign!

 

I've been trying to go on a 20-30 minute walk with Liana three days a week to get some exercise. My pre-pregnancy weight was 119lbs and at my 39 week prenatal appointment I was 146lbs (I gained 27lbs total). Immediately after delivery I lost 9lbs and weighed 137lbs, and now at three weeks postpartum I weigh 126lbs. Only 7lbs to go!

All in all, I feel like supermom!

I've been loving every moment taking care of this incredible little princess.

Just look how beautiful she is!!