All about Emmett

Today: walked 4.5 miles!

We interrupt this reguarly scheduled broadcast on whining about not running to update you on Emmett.

Emmett is 3 weeks old! Even though it's only be 3 weeks, I feel like he has lived with us forever. Emmett continues to be a very easy going baby. He is definitely hitting his 3 week growth spurt and has been cluster feeding like a champ, but I think that's harder on me than on him. Yesterday, I felt like I had a leech on my body. But, I can't complain...even though he's hungry all the time right now, my body is keeping up with his demand and he latches well. We have mastered the breastfeeding in public too which is usually a big hurdle. (I think it helps when you are not a modest person. Heck, I used to run 10K races in underwear. Well, OK, I may have done a few naked runs in college as well.) So, I don't really care about feeding my kid wherever....I use the nursing cover more for other people's comfort.

The little tyke has been sleeping well (except for these last 2 nights). Normally, we just swaddle him and toss him in bed and he's good to go. He's been a little fussy for the past 2 nights, but again, nothing too killer. We can usually get him settled down within the hour. The kid is definitely used to lots of motion (courtesy of all my pregnant running.) He settles down right away if you walk with him or he rides in the stroller/car.

Emmett is porking up like a champ. I am a little concerned about his double chin......(kidding!)

Emmett was quite the little soccer player when he was in my tummy...and he continues to thrash his legs now. Most newborns stay curled up when they are sleeping or hanging out...but Emmett always stretches his legs all the way out. And he likes to be upright, even though he has zero head control.

Emmett is still rocking out newborn size diapers and newborn clothes. He really is too tall for his newborn outfits, but not quite fat enough for 0-3 months clothes. I think he will be able to wear them in a few more weeks.

Huge milestone!!!

I have been walking almost every day, probably averaging a mile to 2 miles. Well, today, I went 3 miles!!! This is a huge victory for me. I feel almost like a normal person walking around. Almost.

I took Emmett in his BOB and Charley on her leash. Emmett loves the stroller and falls asleep right away in it...at least I am gifted that small pleasure for all the running I did when he was in my tummy. It will still be a long, long time before I can run...but for now, I am thankful I can walk some amount of mileage. My tailbone still feels sore, but it is much better than last week. I am concluding that I did NOT break it (which is reassuring).

I did all the post-partum ab exercises from Dr. Oz's "You Having a Baby" book. Despite the fact that I'm not losing weight, my stomach is getting flatter. Still holding strong at 13lbs over pre-pregnancy weight.

Don't let it get to your head

I feel vindicated in my complaining about my long, painful recovery. Today, at Emmett's 2 week checkup, the doctor confirmed that his head is in the 93 percentile!! (Height and weight are very average). So, yes, the kid has a HUGE head....15.5 inches to be exact. That explains so much...

Small victory

I made it 3 times around the block today! This is the first time I haven't feel crazy pain when walking. I still feel sore in my pelvis area...especially in/around the tailbone. But the soreness is not too bad. My legs still aren't quite moving the way they usually do...maybe my pelvis is still stretched out or out of whack?

Little Baby Cakes didn't allow me to do any of my ab exercises so I will do them and detail those tomorrow.

I'm still 13 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight. I imagine that number is not going to budge until I can reasonably move my body again.

New theme for the blog

The theme of this blog previously was "Running while pregnant". I am annoucing a new theme today for the blog...."Not running and no longer pregnant". Critics predict it will be an exciting read.

I'm 9 days post-partum over here and still not moving real well. I have a new theory on my pain though. I HOPE it's not true, and maybe by writing it, it will represent my worst fears and then be totally unfounded. I believe I may have broken/bruised/dislocated my tailbone during Emmett's delivery! Yikes! I didn't even know you could do that...but the more I read, the more my symptoms line up. Also, it might explain why Emmett's delivery was so dang tough and why he got stuck a few times.

It seems like the only plausible reason for my lingering pain. At first, I assumed the pain was just from....well....birthing a 7lb baby. But all "that" pain seems to be healing and disappearing and I'm left with a serious pain in my butt. I can only stand for about 5 minutes before it starts to get pretty bad. And walking? Yeah, that's not really happening either. We went to Babies R Us yesterday for some essentials. Riding in the car was TERRIBLE. And I only made it a few minutes walking around the store before I was literally hanging over the stroller.

Oh well, another day of sitting around and eating bon-bons.

New Plan

I have a new plan for my recovery. The new plan is to do nothing for 2-3 days. I really have just felt trashed after my shuffle around the block...so I decided maybe THAT is even too much. So, I plan to lay on the couch as much as possible today and tomorrow and see how it goes.

Emmett is still a very mellow baby. He eats, we change him, we swaddle him and then he sleeps for about 3 hours. And that's it. He is very quiet. He only gets a little aggravated during diaper changes.

Breastfeeding is going really well. I'm so thankful that after my rough delivery, the feeding is clicking. I'm not sure I could handle my own recovery and a fussy baby. Emmett seems to have been breastfeeding for years. He likes to do things himself and does not want my help latching on. He tries so hard that he almost "over tries". He will open his mouth so wide and just hold it there even though I'm ready to go. I just laugh and let him figure it out. I feel like he thinks I'm inept sometimes.

Recovery

I NEVER, not in a million years, exepected postpartum recovery to be this difficult. It's really hard for me to decide if this is "normal" or if I am just especially broken and beat up. It's been 6 days since Emmett was born and I still feel trashed.

Yesterday, Eric and I took Emmett is his BOB stroller and walked a very slow mile to our friends' house. We hung out there for a while and then, eventually, shuffled our way back home.

Today, I forced myself out of the house for 2 big laps around the block (they were very short blocks but just seemed big to me). It's very depressing to me to feel overwhelmed by the distance of a block. I literally shuffled my way around today (with Charley). I would say I'm moving at 1/2 speed of my usual walking pace. Yes, it's that slow. And, yes, it hurts. Did I mention it hurts? I feel like I will never get back to my normal self.

So far I have yet to feel like all the running/walking I did while I was pregnant has paid off on my road to recovery.

My hips feel really wierd and even my legs don't seem to be moving in their usual way. I really have to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other.

When I got home today, I did a series of post partum exercises from a book I have. I definitely have a bit of abdominal separation...but I don't think it's too bad. So, I did some stretches and ab exercises. It's funny, the ab exercises feel fine. It's really just the walking around that's killing me at the moment.

On the baby news front, I'm thankful to report that Emmett is doing really well. As beat up as I am, he is just the opposite. He is eating really well (taken to breast feeding like he's been doing it for years) and he is sleeping really well. Knock on wood, but he has been a supremely easy baby. He almost never fusses and he's already going 4 hour stretches at night. (Even though he's sleeping 4 hours, I'm not...I get too nervous and check on him all the time!)

The long road to recovery

Emmett Michael arrived Thursday morning, July 8th at 9:05am. It was a very long, hard labor. I am still piecing together his birth story through the fog of my memory. I will post it soon.

Anyway, I'm a physically wrecked. I never anticipated my body would feel quite this bad. Every muscle in my body feels like it's "pulled". I'm not really standing up too straight right now either.

Today, I put Emmett in the stroller and shuffled one time around the block. It's unreal how slow I am moving...my feet just barely scraping along the sidewalk. It took a lot of effort just to move forward. I felt like I had to get out there to prove that I am still alive. I was spent by the time I made it back to the house. I think it's going to be a long slow road to recovery.

Come out and play Emmett

No matter how much your logical side tries to prepare you that your baby might be overdue, you are always going to be disappointed when your due date comes and goes. The 4th of July (Emmett's due date) was a tough one for me. I didn't have any labor signs so it was the first day that I truly realized "I might have a ways to go".

Workout-wise....I took the 4th of July off.

Yesterday, I walked 4.33 miles with Pup. I just plain didn't feel like running....so I didn't. My hips have been hurting a little bit and I have pain down my thighs as well. I don't think it hurts enough to stop me from running...mostly it just feels wierd.

I'm still contemplating today's workout. Intervals? Hill repeats? Kidding! (maybe).

Also, I fear I may be one of those women who have long long drawn out labors. I've been noticing contractions since late Sunday night. But they are nothing I would count as "real". Just annoying.

39 weeks and 5 days

(Yesterday's log)
Yep....still here. No signs of baby.

It was WAY too hot and humid for me today but I was feeling a little restless. Eric volunteered to accompany me on my excursion. Thank you, Eric. We did 3 miles. I have to classify this one as a walk/run. All in all, I probably managed to run at least 1.5 miles. We took it about 1/2 mile at a time. Eric was really encouraging and kept picking out landmarks for me to make it to (the next corner, the stop sign). I walked all the up hills today.

My left hip is feeling wierd....like it's coming out of joint. But, it didn't really get worse along the run either. I definitely had a lot of Braxton Hicks on today's run but they settled down after the run once I got something to eat and drink.