It's been another month somehow. I really don't know how... It's so weird. Some days seem to go on FOREVER but for the most part I'm sitting here baffled that we've lived through another month. I had no idea what my body was going to do this month and quite honestly, I didn't care. My main goal was survival. The baby has had green poops since, well, he started pooping (minus the first sticky meconium poops). Green poops mean that there is an imbalance in the foremilk/hindmilk of breast milk or that he is reacting to something in my diet that he is not tolerating. We ruled out the foremilk/hindmilk imbalance and determined that it was more than likely a food intolerance so I have spent the better part of this month on a severe elimination diet. It's been interesting.
Some weeks I ate nothing but buckets of rice, turkey and sweet potatoes. When that didn't work, I cut out rice and ate buckets of quinoa instead with turkey and sweet potatoes. When that didn't work, I said "to hell with it" and ate whatever I wanted (just an apple, almonds, spinach and maybe a protein shake, PLEASE), only to find that something in the whtaever I wanted category REALLY pissed Owen's tummy off (think pesto green poops with spots of blood). So here we sit today, still on a bit of elimination diet with some good Owen poops, some not so great. We think that my gut got pretty destroyed as a result of all of the antibiotics I took for my breast infection. As such, my body is not tolerating and digesting food as well as it should which translates into what Owen's gut is doing. So, we journey on... I'm eating hemp oil basically by the jar as it is one of my only sources of fat (combined with avocados, the other sole source of fat) so I'm trying to cram as much in as possible to keep my calories up. Other than that, there are about 7 other foods that we THINK are ok so we're experimenting to see what's going to work. I've pulled about everything else- most fruit, most vegetables, all supplements (except digestive enzymes), most proteins, most grains, all dairy, all soy, all gluten. So, yeah, when you boil it down there's really not a whole lot of options out there. BUT, we are trying.
Needless to say, I've been doing everything I can with my diet to a) keep breastfeeding which means keeping my supply up by eating enough calories, fat and protein and b) eating a diet that agrees with Owen's stomach to try to figure out his green poops. I'm not super worried about his green poops as he seems to be growing and thriving and generally a happy baby. It doesn't seem to bother him at all but it would be nice to see a more "normal" color as the green does indicate that he is not digesting something well.
In addition to all of this madness which pretty much ruled our world all month, Owen went through a MAJOR growth spurt this month (or possibly multiple growth spurts), so I spent the better part of the month as a zombie. People say that you are tired once you have a baby but I did not quite realize what kind of tired they were referring to. This is a tired unlike any tired I have ever known. Cliche, maybe, but oh so very true.
All of this basically means that I did not eat what I wanted to AT ALL (I have never eaten so many carbs in my life) and I did not exercise like I would have liked to...SO, I had no idea how my body was going to respond to this diet and lack of exercise and how that would translate to what the numbers were going to look like this month. They were basically going to reflect just my body's natural transition back to normal as I wasn't doing much to help facilitate it.
Here are the pictures:
Month 2
Month 1
Month 2
Month 1
Month 2
Month 1
Measurements:
Month 1 post partum
Belly- 32 inches (-9.5 lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Waist- 34.75 inches (-5.25 lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Waist- 34.75 inches (-5.25 lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Hips- 37.75 inches (-2.25 lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Thigh- 19 inches (-2.00 lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Boob - 36.5 inches (.5 gain from week 38 of pregnancy)
Thigh- 19 inches (-2.00 lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Boob - 36.5 inches (.5 gain from week 38 of pregnancy)
Bicep- 10 inches (0 change from week 38 of pregnancy)
Month 2 post partum
Belly- 31 inches (-1)
Waist- 33.5 (-1.25)
Hips- 37 (-.75)
Thigh- 18.25 (-.75)
Boob- 35 (-1.5)
Bicep- 10 (0 change)
Weight, month 1 post baby- 129.4 (-22.10 pounds lost from week 38 of pregnancy)
Weight, month 2 post partum- 126.4 (-3.00)
I was surprisingly pleased with my measurements in month 2. I did not anticipate much change but am glad to see that my body is still changing and slowly getting back to its normal (and thank the good lord that my boobs are starting to be less ginormous... I have decided that I do not like big boobies. Part of that is how difficult it is to run with them bouncing all around...different post entirely). I am about 10 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight but I don't expect to get back there until probably 6 months post partum. I think I really need to keep 8-10 pounds excess on while I am breast feeding to maintain my supply and to have enough fat to support both Owen and myself. Overall, we're getting there! Hopefully next month will yield a return to a more normal diet (fingers crossed) and maybe, just maybe, sleep which will equate to more consistent workouts (a mom can dream, right?)
