6 Weeks Post-Partum

Hi everyone! It’s a cloudy Saturday afternoon and I have sweet baby Avery snoozing her little dreams away on my bed right next to me. It’s calm, peaceful, and the only moment I’ve had to hop on here to jot down a short update! It’s been 6 weeks since this baby girl has made me a mama of 4. I get asked all the time what that’s been like. Well, it’s been crazy, fun, chaotic, sweet, and exhausting. I basically have no clue what I’m doing! We still haven’t reached the milestone of having a solid daily routine because I am 100% winging it each day. And that’s when I realize it’s pretty great not having a handbook to parenting so that I don’t have to feel like I’m butchering this motherhood gig. The kids have embraced having a little sister and that’s made my world go round.

Avery is a sleepy little thing all day long. Nursing became considerably easier around 4 weeks. I figured out what works for her and her latches became a lot more comfortable. Initially, she was popping on and off like a wood-pecker! Avery would initiate my milk let-down and then she’d suddenly pop off.  Our breastfeeding sessions looked as though I had hosed her body down! A few nights were super frustrating and I couldn’t understand how to help her. We kept on trying and then the lightbulb suddenly went off for her! My nipple tenderness slowly lessened and then all was right in the feeding world! It’s certainly a labor of love. This crazy girl and I have figured it out together and that’s become a HUGE blessing.

Right now, she seems to cluster feed by nursing every hour from 6-11pm. Before midnight, I crawl into bed super drained (pun intended 😉 ) and feel exhausted during the day. Since I’ve been so tired, I’ve been exercising maybe 1-2x/week. The sad part for me is that I don’t like exercising any more. Yesterday, I told my gym partner while we were exercising for the first time this week that I’ve lost my mojo, my love, my passion for working out. A huge driving factor for me continuing to exercise throughout my pregnancy was that it was simply a habit. Morning sickness lasted until 32 weeks and I occasionally vomited at the gym. Or, I’d be sick and restless all night but still get my little family dressed and to the gym. Or I’d vomit after breakfast, refuel, and then take all of the kids to the gym. I understood that the endorphins from exercising would help with my nausea and help me feel a little better for just the 1-2 hours I was getting my heart rate up. I exercised simply because I was committed. NOT because I was motivated or had energy to work out.

At this point since I’ve needed to let my body heal, I’m no longer committed to the habit and I’m definitely not motivated. Double whammy to my efforts at maintaining any level of fitness. It’s also a vicious cycle of feeling too tired to exercise and in turn I end up feeling even more sluggish each day because I choose not to. After I delivered my twins, I began going to group exercise classes at the gym. I’d have sleepless nights nursing them, inhale my breakfast, nurse/burp/change them and then load up my 3 babes into the car and drive 20 minutes to the gym. I began to notice that exercising helped me deal with the broken sleep and pure exhaustion. The days where I was so tired and in the worst mood were the days I knew that I needed to get my heart rate up the most. The endorphins made my body feel a bit more normal! It was my own therapy session. I guarantee it helped me not feel post-partum blues and depression which can be especially common after twin pregnancies.

Friends! I’m starting over in my fitness journey and I’ll be updating my experience right here on my blog. I’ll share the steps I use to make exercising become a habit as a busy new mama of 4 kids under 5. What works for you to commit to exercising when you find yourself in a slump?! Send allllll the ideas. Happy Weekend, y’all!