My daughter is precious. I am sure every mom can say this about their child…But, I like to think that Emma is the exception.
She is exceptional at eating, pooping and making those great grunting noises. She even dances to AC/DC; or at least that is what her father tells me. I am sure she is always smiling at me when I hold her (it has nothing to do with the giant crap she is taking). Emma is wonderful!
Life as a parent does not get much better than this. And I mean it! Days are filled with eat, burp, poo…and sometimes sleep (our daughter gets her sleeping habits from her father) and I love every minute of it. The thing that amazes me is how quickly our little monster is growing. It is amazing to see the little changes every day. There are outfits she has outgrown even before wearing them!
Now, I could go on and on about how perfect Emma is, but then it would get boring. I am going to talk a bit about me, the post-partums and life moving forward after a munchkin enters your world.
First, the post-partums…in my opinion it is just a hormonal flux mixed in with sleep deprivation, feeling overwhelmed and life as you know it will never be the same (which it won’t, but it won’t always be waking up every hour to feed your baby). AND, although this may be graphic, what woman would not struggle with a new baby, on a handful of hours of sleep a night whose boobs are ready to explode every 3 hours and needs to keep in mind that it is not only a new baby to take care of, but herself (umm, there is a bit of physical maintenance that needs to be done after you squeezed a watermelon out of you and that might have involved stitches etc…let alone the trauma of a c-section for others) This all hit me last week; you would think going from a jaundiced baby (Emma had to go back to the hospital after 4 days to sun-tan because she was badly jaundiced..but is FINE now) who had to eat every hour to a healthy one who eats every 2-3 hours would be refreshing and a positive change for the mentality. Well, that extra time was enough to remind me what lies outside in the real world and what my life has been like for the past 2 weeks. I had a few mini-breakdowns, had Gregory have to wake me up for feeds because I was dead to the world asleep, but it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be in terms of the post-partum stories people tell you. So, there you have it, that is my sob-story, I am over it, I feel better…. I am not going to dwell, because honestly, I think I have filled my time with some positive events I would prefer to write about.
First and foremost, I went for dinner with my husband. Last Wednesday was our anniversary and we headed out for some good eats and time away from “baby.” Thank goodness for Claude and Joelle who have allowed Gregory and I a LOT of freedom these past few weeks and are AWESOME babysitters. This marked the first time G and I were away from Emma for our “couple time”. All I can say is “FREEDOM”..we had a long dinner, went for a walk..I had to walk off the “drink” I had with dinnerJ (one word pump-n-dump) and we actually had time to experience life outside of a child. It was heaven…but let me tell you, the mother-child separation anxiety is a killer. Once a mom, you will always NEED your child.
Second, “Ladies Night”!! Friday I went out with a bunch of my girlfriends. Gregory, Claude and Joelle had a mini party of their own with Emma. I had such a refreshing time catching up with my girlfriends and feeling not so “mom-like”….what happens, or is consumed on ladies night will remain under strict confidentiality (actually, I was rather disappointed in myself!)…but, let’s just say I made it home to tuck my baby into bed. My friends are awesome! Throughout the past 10 months I have gone from the athlete/friend to “mom” and my friends have been there for me through thick and thin…I am one of the first to pop out a child so it is a change for the whole social-scene dynamic, but the ladies I hang out with make it work and make me feel awesome. Thanks ladies!
Finally, and I know most of you are wondering, “What about the workouts?” Well, I will be honest and say that I am not sitting on my butt and doing nothing. Today marks 3 weeks since Emma was born. That is 3 more weeks before I am allowed to swim…..darn, I am SO upset! Actually, I will just say it as it is and many can call me crazy and many will applaud me for keeping active etc…but, after 1.5 weeks I started back on the elliptical. I do 30 minutes with no resistance and do keigals at the same time. Yup, the most important thing to me is to keep my uterus intact and make sure I never pee myself. I do my abdominal exercises every day and I make sure to do SOMETHING every day. Why would I torture myself like this being sleep deprived and only a few weeks out from giving birth??? Because it makes me feel better! T rust me, when you need toothpicks to pry open your eyes in the morning and a triple shot espresso won’t help either, getting the blood pumping does wonders! AND, I get a chance to watch the news on the TV down in the clubhouse. That is my morning time that Gregory so kindly lets/enforces I have. We have a great schedule worked out such that I get the morning shift of feeding while he sleeps and then he will take Emma so I can have some “me time.” Having a kid/marriage etc..is compromise and every day I am reminded what a wonderful, generous and understanding husband I have. However, I may have to put a stop to these rendezvous because when I come back, AC/DC is blasting and both husband and child are dancing around the apartment..hmmmm….
So, there you have it, a real blog entry!! There is more exciting stuff happening that you should stay tuned in for (AKA…I am getting my crap together and freeing up time to blog so this blog will become more interesting!)…
