Hi everyone! Can I just reach through this computer screen and give you a big ol’ hug?! Thanks for all the love and encouragement y’all left on my last Instagram post. I read through every comment and private message and all of your kind words made my heart melt! It’s great to know that some of my experiences might be helpful and give you encouragement. And apparently I’m not alone in having issues with navigating through pregnancy and post-partum life.
My tiny baby chunk turned 3 weeks old. We spend 90% of our days laying on my bed or outside watching my other 3 musketeers play in our backyard. She’s nursing every 2-3 hours and this mama is tired. all. the. time. Early on, she was latching–unlatching–latching–I mean, hello nipple whiplash. And hellloooooo contractions during every single nursing session. Ouch! On the bright side, those contractions meant my uterus was shrinking back down into my pelvis and so I stubbornly welcomed them. Not to mention, those natural contractions will never touch the intense Pitocin contractions I felt during my entire labor! I”ll have to share her birth story once I’m sleeping more than 2-3 hours 😉 For now I’m soaking up the quiet, precious bonding time with her since she’s gotten the hang of nursing.
A few days after the delivery I found out that I had a uterine or kidney infection. It’s a long story, but I had horrid back pain and high fevers for 7 days. I had more fevers in that 1 week than I had in my entire life! After the infection cleared up, I spent the next week working on enjoying my new life as a mom to 4 babes since my hubby’s spring break ended and he was back in residency.
During my 2nd week post-partum, I wore the white velcro belly wrap that my hospital gave me. Every night my hubby would help me wrap it tightly around my hips and belly. During my pregnancy, I had SI joint pain and Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction. Having a band wrapped tightly around my hips gave me instant relief and my lingering pain from the SPD is nearly gone. Hallelujah! I wore the hospital belly wrap about 50% of the day for 1 week and noticed a huge difference in how quickly my belly shrunk. I started taking AM and PM post-natal multivitamins. I LOVE evidence-based vitamins and supplements and was impressed that everything inside these vitamins had science and clinical trials to back them up! If you’re interested, you can check them out here: https://www.forteelements.com/product-category/nutritional-supplements/
I’ve been slowly adding more protein and nutritious foods to my diet, while enjoying way too many amazingly delicious meals brought by friends and family. Water intake: OUT OF CONTROL. Since I’m nursing full-time I’m chugging water like a part-time job. I’m SO thirsty, which is keeping me hydrated. When he’s home, my hubs is keeping my hospital tumbler topped off.
By the end of my second week, I started venturing out and finally gave in to my favorite exercise buddy and went to the gym for the first time for a light workout. Stair climber 10 minute warm-up, followed by a full body light-resistance weight training session. I finished with an additional 10 minutes on the stair climber. It honestly felt great to get my heart rate up without a baby in my belly. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be avoiding any high impact exercises like running and jumping until my pelvic floor is ready. Since I had diastasis recti (DR) with my twin pregnancy, I’ve been incredibly careful throughout this pregnancy and am still planning on avoiding sit-ups, crunches, planks, push-ups, etc because they widen the gap and shouldn’t be done until the transverse abdominal muscles are strengthened and tightened again. For now, until my gap is fully healed, I’m doing simple breathing exercises. Future blog post focusing on DR coming at you soon 🙂 Let’s be friends! Go ahead and scroll down and get posts sent directly to your email by subscribing. And please, please I would love for you to add your comments and experiences, and any suggestions of future posts you’d like me to share!
I’m new to your instagram and can’t wait to read your post concerning DR. This is my third baby is less than three years and I’m scared what that means for my current DR!
Btw, what are the age difference in your kids if you don’t mind me asking 🙂
Ops, sorry. Just read the age difference on your other kids. Never mind!
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haha, of course! xo
I’m so excited your doing this! Keep the nutritional and exercising posts coming. I’m all about learning how to do this strong body after birthing thing!
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Aww, Thanks Michelle for the sweet encouragement! You definitely are a rock star with your cute kiddos. xo
You are a great role-model! Thanks! Please do post about your breathing exercises that you do! I googled them and don’t quite understand them! You have a beautiful family!
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Hi Christina!! You are SO sweet and that was so kind of you to say. Thank you! Hope that you got a chance to see the exercises I posted in my Diastasis Recti + Pregnancy post. And i agree, theres not a lot of great information on google. Let me know if you need anything clarified and how it goes for you! Keep in touch! xo
Also I know you probably haven’t even thought about it yet… but how big of a family do you want? Anymore babies?!
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Avery is my 4th and final baby. It’s certainly a bitter-sweet experience having a newborn for 1 last time 🙂
Congrats! You did it! I don’t know how you manage mom of four AND a flawless looking blog and Instagram…but you somehow pull it off!
Would love to see some light exercise ideas for the 3rd trimester. I mentioned to you before that I was so sick for 5 months that I completely gave up working out. Now I find myself 10 weeks away from meeting this babe and terrified to start something new.
Enjoy that precious newborn stage. Can’t wait…but trying to savor every moment I have left here.
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HAHAHA! Thanks Mimi, thats so sweet of you to say! I’m nursing SO often and so i have a lot of time on my hands. well, kind of 😉 I’ll definitely have to post a few of my favorite prenatal exercises soon. Thanks for mentioning that! For now, i’d start doing bodyweight squats at home. My husband does them every night when he brushes his teeth. haha! Doing those simple exercises every day will make a huge difference and will help prepare your body for birth. Let me know how that works out for you! xo
I would LOVE to hear more on DR exercises. I had it after my B/G twins! I’ve been focusing on certain exercises I saw online….but don’t know if I’m doing it right. It’s been 2.5 years since they were born, and I’m ready to be fully healed. I haven’t avoided running (I ran a marathon a few months ago) and I’m hoping I didn’t make it worse. Looking forward to hearing more about DR, and everything else you care to share!
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Hey Kathy!! I LOVE meeting other twin mamas! And CONGRATULATIONS on your marathon! Holy moly, that’s fantastic! The reason I’m avoiding running is just because of my weakened pelvic floor from birthing 4 weeks ago. And so i’m specifically not doing high-impact exercises. Hope you get a chance to check to see the exercises i posted on my blog post. Let me know if you need anything clarified. Looking forward to keeping in touch 🙂 xo
If you love your hospital band, might I recommend Bellefit.com. I had a C-section, so these really helped me, but they were ahh-mazing! I wore mine for my first 6 weeks PP.
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Thanks so much for that suggestion! The hospital band is incredibly bulky and so I really only wore it for maybe 1.5 weeks. I might’ve last longer in a different pp wrap, ha!
Love you, Nene!
–mom 🙂