Having had the all clear from my GP at my 6 week check-up, I decide that it is time to try and get back into shape, having only done my pelvic floor exercises (very important!!) and gentle walks since the birth. I put on about 3 stone during my pregnancy (more than I would have liked) and had a massive bump so I know that it will take a while. I lost a stone in the first week (mostly down to BB, waters, placenta and blood) after the birth and a further stone over the following weeks.
I am not into diets at the best of
times and whilst I am breastfeeding and looking after BB it is the
last thing I want to worry about. So, cutting back on biscuits and
upping the gentle exercise is the plan for now. It is recommended
that you do not do any running or other strenuous exercises until 5-6
months after the birth as muscles and ligaments are still quite soft
and it is easy to cause an injury if you start too soon; but faster
walks, cycling and swimming and the like are good. The walks are a
good way of making me get out of the house to get some fresh air and
do help to try and get BB down for a sleep if she is having a tantrum
and refuses to. Unfortunately it does take BB a while to get used to
her car seat (I only used the carry-cot part for the first few weeks)
so some of walks in the buggy are abandoned half-way through and
slings are tested out (the BabyBjorn and Close ones both work well).
I also add a fitness DVD to the mix and
go for the Tracy Anderson one. She apparently put on over 4 stone
during her pregnancy and she looks pretty amazing! The exercises are
mostly floor ones for the stomach (to bring the skin back to the
muscles) and then some exercises for the legs and arms. It takes an
hour in total and I have been able to time it so that I put BB down
for her morning nap, start the DVD and as BB wakes up I put her in
her bouncer as I finish the DVD. Some of the stomach exercises are
absolutely impossible for me to do the first few times but I stick
with it (having one day off of it a week). Slowly the exercises do
seem to be getting easier and I am starting to feel better generally.
Mr B even comments that I am toning up nicely already, especially in
the bum department – result! So the DVD is a success and I decide
to stick with it.
Routine or not to routine? There seems
to be some debate whether at this stage it is too early to try and
get little ones into a routine. However, with the constant feeding
and lack of order I do feel that a routine might help BB and me. I
try the Gina Ford, The Contented Little Baby Book. Most of what she
says does make sense but I do find that the routines are very strict.
I try to stick to them as best I can for the first week or two but we
seem to slip either an hour ahead or behind the times. Still, it does
feel as if we are starting to get somewhere. I decide to only use the
routines on a flexible basis and it does help. BB soon gets to grips
with when her bedtime is and from around 6/7 weeks she goes down at
around 7:00pm which gives us a bit of an evening if we want it. We
then rush to have dinner and I go to bed as soon as I am finished
(around 8:30pm). BB then tends to wake up at anything between 12:00
and 1:30am for a change and a feed and then again between 3:00am and
5:00am. I tried waking BB for her 10:30pm feed but she wasn't having
any of it and seemed to mess up her later feeds so I decide to let
her sleep through till when she wakes. It sometimes takes an hour or
two to settle her down after her night time feeds, which is plain
exhausting, but my body clock soon gets used to it. The routine goes
out of the window when BB seems to be coming down with a cold and
when she has her first jabs, but it is fairly easy to get back into
it and her bedtime still seems set.
Getting ready for outings still seems a
bit frantic and I try to limit them as best I can in the first few
weeks. But I now feel that I just need to take the plunge. The girls
from my ante-natal group have been meeting on a fairly regular basis
so I decide to finally join them when BB is just over 8 weeks old. I
prepare the water and powder for a bottle just in case I “bottle
it” with breastfeeding in
public or in case BB actually decides to take the bottle! It is
really nice to chat and share experiences with the other girls.
Everyone has had their little obstacles to face but they have all
been able to stay positive. This helps me to realise that even in the
difficult times I can get through it. Finally the time comes that BB
wants a feed so I get the water and powder out only for it all the
powder to spill on the table! Great! So I have to try and feed her on
the breast as discreetly as I can, which I also fail at. So I admit
defeat and leave the girls to go to the parent room to do the feed
properly.
BB has her first
jabs at just over 8 weeks. I know a lot of people get quite anxious
about these but I have managed to keep pretty level-headed about
them...that is until they are actually given. My mum kindly offered
to come with me as moral support but had to leave the room before the
nurse even got the jabs out. I am told to sit on the chair and to
hold BB on my lap, her back to my stomach, and to hold her hands. She
gets one jab in each thigh. After the first one I can feel BB squeeze
her hands around mine and she does a silent yelp before the scream
comes out. The second jab is quickly given and the cry really comes.
I give her a strong hug and walk her around the room to settle her.
She has a few tears but she soon settles and I am sooo proud of my
brave little girl. We keep a closer eye on her over the following
48hrs and check her temperature every so often but she seems largely
unfazed by it all (although I do indulge her with an extra feed and
nap after the jabs).
A major plus at weeks 9 and 10 is that
BB finds her thumbs! Now, I did try a dummy with her when she first
had her crying tantrums but she spat it right out so I gave up on
this (plus I was in two minds as to whether I wanted her to use a
dummy or not). But luckily she seems to enjoy sucking on her thumbs,
which really helps her with self-soothing – this helps to settle
her when she feels a bit grizzly and gets her down for her naps much
easier.
By 10 weeks I start to feel more in
control and more confident in what I am doing. Little achievements
like getting a bit of exercise in, getting out and about and meeting
up with other mums or even just being able to have a shower without
BB screaming the place down makes me feel as if I am doing OK and
finally getting to grips with this mothering lark.
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