Month 4 - Heidi

Month 4: Baby!

Age: 4 months

Weight: 15 lbs. 9 oz. 

Major calendar events:  Heidi's first Baylor football game, her first overnight away from home, first wedding and first run!

Milestones:  If she hears my voice but doesn't see me she will look around and try to figure out where I am!  I love this!

Sleep: Sleeping through the night at this point although sometimes it takes a little work to get her to go down.  She is still sleeping in her pack n play in our room and still swaddled - although her arms are out at this point bc that startle reflex seems to have finally disappeared.

Likes:  Hanging out in here mamaroo "pod", laughing at mommy working out, shopping, sleeping during mommy's runs, chewing on Sophie the giraffe's face and watching her mobile in her room

Dislikes:  Long-ish car rides, napping by herself

Best moment:  Heidi did SO great when we stayed overnight at a hotel in Waco for the game.  Went right to sleep, no waking up and no crying yay!  She also hardly complained during the drive up there - which was a surprise!  She usually gets VERY mad if she has been in her car seat for too long.

Worst moment:  Screamed ALL the way home from Sugarland to our house.  Yikes that was rough.

Eating:  100% breastmilk - every 4 hours!  It feels SO different having that extra hour between nursing Heidi.  Before it felt like all I did was nurse her.  Once one feeding ended it was almost time to start the next.   I feel like I can do so much more between feeding her - it's amazing how crazy different it!  It's awesome!

Month 4: Mama

Overall this was a good month.  It finally feels like we are getting into the swing of things.  I do still struggle some during the day, because Heidi REALLY does not like to be put down for naps by herself.  We typically take all of our naps together (which - let's be honest - isn't the WORST thing in the world) but if I NEED to get something done it is impossible at this point for me to move her or put her down while she is asleep without her waking up and getting mad.  And forget about putting her down while she is awake!

Heidi and I went on our very first run together since she has been on the outside and it was so good to have my running buddy back with me!  I definitely thought running with a stroller would be harder than it actually is, however it will take some getting used to.  I also started doing some circuit work, but I'm trying not to do too much too suddenly and mess with my milk supply.

TMI update: I also think *I think* I got my period.  I was quite surprised because I am exclusively breastfeeding. so I assumed that it would hold off a little bit longer but we'll see I guess... (I think Heidi sleeping through the night has something to do with this... not waking up for that middle of the night feeding could possibly be giving my body just enough time to reset those hormones!)  If that's what it was then I got a whole year off exactly, which was SO nice... however I do have friends that got almost 2 full years of no cycles!!  Oh well.  As nice as it is to not have to worry about having a period once a month, I feel like I don't really know my body.  It definitely makes natural family planning difficult (although typically if you are exclusively breastfeeding you're covered for at least the first 6 months [and YES there IS science to back this up it isn't just an old wives tale] which maybe I will post about later) and I really miss the confidence I used to have in knowing my own body.  Things are still out of whack and I hope my body is still adjusting to not being pregnant... and hopefully getting back to normal! 

Just a few pics from Heidi's 4th month with us!

Great Grandma with Heidi.

Church!  Heidi is pumped.

Mornings :)

Visiting the Great-grandparents Kresta at their farm - their first time to meet Heidi!

#LongCarRides

Baylor game!

Hotel sink baths.

Awww they fell asleep holding hands!

The morning that I was in labor, we picked some bluebonnet seed pods on our walk.  We decided to plant them in the backyard!

Heidi is participating.

She's just so strong!  Knockin her toys down...

Galleria time!

Wedding time.

Me and my man fixin to tear up that dance floor!

Month 3 - Heidi

Month 3: Baby!

Age:  3 months

Weight:  14ish lbs.

Major calendar events:  2 month shots :(, first church service at Ecclesia and first few nights without Dad home

Milestones:  Standing (when supported), smiling, laughing, recognizing faces and voices, will look up at you when you enter the room

Sleep:  Safe to say that we're consistently sleeping from 10:00 p.m. - 7:00 a.m. at this point.  She is still sleeping in her pack n play in our room; she rarely naps by herself during the day. 

Likes:  Watching TV... okay looking at ANY screen!  She's obsessed!  I try not to let her though...Bath time is also something that she likes.  No matter how hungry or fussy she is, she is always happy in the bath (and always likes to lick the water!  She laps it up like a dog when Ryan sprays the shower head near her face).

Dislikes:  There isn't too much that Heidi doesn't like right now...

Best moment:  I suppose our best moments this month mostly include successfully doing things on our own such as galleria trips, lunching with friends and going to the grocery store.  It was also a pretty sweet moment when Ryan came home a night early from a work trip :)

Worst moment:  By far the number one worst moment happened during one of our grocery store trips. I always wear Heidi in the Boba wrap, and am very cautious when moving around and bending over, etc.  Well, we had finished our shopping went out to the parking lot to load up the groceries.  It was the middle of the day and hot as heck!  I was in a hurry and squatted down to grab the water out from underneath the back of the cart.  I stood straight up and RAMMED her head SO hard on the handlebars.  Poor poor baby had been sleeping and woke up and started crying (I'm surprised she wasn't screaming!  She was really hardly even crying).  I KNOW this is a first for every parent, whether its a door frame, car door, whatever it is... and I knew that one day I would accidentally do something like this, but that doesn't change how bad and how guilty you feel when it happens!  I could see a big white spot with a little scrape in the middle of it.  I immediately called Ryan and told him what happened.  Heidi wasn't crying and she appeared alert.  I then called my mom and started sobbing haha.  She recommended I call the pediatrician just to make sure.  I half expected them to tell me to bring her in right away. (I tried very hard not to sound like a crazed panicky new mom haha.) They basically said to look out for vomiting, refusing to eat and acting lethargic (but since babies sleep all the time sleeping is not a symptom you can really count on.)  I expected her to have a HUGE knot on her head by the time we got home, however no knot appeared and it didn't appear to be swollen or have any fluid around it.  Baby girl took it like a champ and must get her thick skull from her mom.  Thank goodness everything was okay and she didn't even have much of a mark - just a little red spot for a day or two.  I'm so sorry baby Heidi! 

Eating:  100% breastmilk, every 3 hours

Things I want to remember:  Not that there wasn't anything memorable that happened, but nothing specific comes to mind...

Month 3: Mama

I can honestly say, weeks 8-12 have been SO different for me.  I feel like a normal human being again.  Don't get me wrong, we are still a ways off from knowing any sort of "normal", but as far as how I feel...emotionally...I don't feel like a complete hormonal basket case anymore.  I am able to function.  Go to the grocery store, go to the mall... and sleep longer than just a few hours at a time!  (One night, I fell asleep on my stomach AND slept for longer than 5 hours.  OH MY GOSH.  9 months ago I thought neither of those things would ever ever happen again!!)  

However, there are of course still plenty of stressful/overwhelming/difficult moments... Although this is laughable now, I was NOT laughing at the time this happened.  I had gone to Target to buy a new swimsuit because these jumbawumbas don't fit into anything these days.  I tried on a few and wasn't super pleased with how they were fitting.  Regardless, I snapped a few pics to get my mom, sister and Ryan's opinions (I can't make a single fashion decision on my own - it's a problem!)  Well, I hit send and glanced for a millisecond at the photo of my chest as it was sending.  OH $#!%!! I felt my milk starting to let down.  Just LOOKING at the picture of my own boobs in a bikini top is all it takes people.  I knew I had literally 5-7 seconds to get that swimsuit top off before it was too late..."Get it off!! Get it off!!  Get it off!!" I was about 1 second too late.  I yanked that thing off so fast, but just as I tore it off, my milk started spraying EVERYWHERE!  I felt like a Fembot from Austin Powers... I had no idea where to even aim those babies and my bra and boobiepads were buried underneath my shirt on the bench.  I got some breast milk on the swimsuit, some on my leg/foot and the rest was shot onto the carpet.  Sorry bout that Target... I probably would have bought the swimsuit just to have in case I didn't have time to find something else... but regardless I ended up buying the swimsuit anyway.  Once I had found one I liked better from Victoria's Secret, I carefully washed the breastmilk-y Target swimsuit in the sink while holding the tag out of the water and then returned it.  That's all it takes to make that milk start flowing!  NEW MOM PROBS YALL.  

Me in Target.  Well... all the time really.

The last month has been amazing, and I feel like we have finally been able to truly enjoy our time with this sweet angel baby (now that we are normal humans again).  It's not always perfect, but we're learning.  I wouldn't change a thing.  Here are some pictures from Heidi's 3rd month with us!

Ainsley giving Heidi a hug when they met for the first time.

First grocery store trip on our own!

Lamp table that Heidi's Poppy made for her.

Heidi meets Curtis and Stephanie!

First church service on the outside.

Girls lunch!!

Heidi loves to nap on Aunt Carrie - yes she was sleeping.

Hi Hazel!

One day it was ONLY 98 degrees with 95% humidity - so pleasant! ;)  So we went on a walk.

Heidi tries to figure this thing out...

Meeting some special friends.

Free yoga at Discovery Green (BONUS:  It's taught by our doula, Michelle!!)

Hanging out with her GUB (Great Uncle Bill)!!

Postpartum BELLY!

Postpartum body: one of the things I was MOST curious about prior to getting pregnant/giving birth!  What does an after-baby belly LOOK like???  How does recovery work?  How HARD is it really to get back down to pre-pregnancy weight?  How different IS your body after having a baby?? Well, if you were wondering about these things too, I am here to help you out!  When I found out I was pregnant, I truly thought that I would be able to control how much weight I gained.  "I will work out and eat healthy and be one of those people who only gains 25 pounds!"  HAH.  Good one Stephanie.... I ended up gaining OVER 40 pounds.  40 POUNDS!  (I say over 40 pounds because my starting weight is a little fuzzy.  It really varied by 5 - 6 lbs. depending on the day, so I don't have an EXACT starting number.)  I was even still running consistently up until I was 38 weeks pregnant.  (I am clearly not the one in control here - and He needed to show me that!)  I truly believe that how much weight we gain during pregnancy is 99% out of our control.  I mean, don't go crazy and eat 17 donuts and 5 Big Macs every day or anything, but I believe that our bodies know what it takes to support a tiny little life and we don't really have a say about that.  (Perhaps some of that is genetic as well - my mom gained over 40 lbs. with both my sister and I and shes tiny!!)  With all of that being said...Let's take a little picture journey together!  

Let's start off with some of the BEFORE the before pictures, shall we?

4 weeks pregnant!

9 weeks pregnant.

9 weeks pregnant... pretty much looking what is my "normal", although I remember thinking I was already showing a little pregnancy-bloating when I took this picture. 

Fast forward 30 weeks or so...

Front view, taken 5 days prior to giving birth.

Taken 2 days before I gave birth...yikes!

This photo was taken while I was in labor, between contractions.
So this is me + 7 lb. 12 oz. Heidi and 35 some odd extra pounds.

And now for the after pictures...

Taken in the hospital, approx. 36 hours after giving birth.
I hope you are loving my sexy sexy disposable hospital underwear as well.

Side view.  What a freaky shape!

Front view of my gross deflated belly button.  Looks like the end of a tied off balloon.  Yuck!

In the above pictures, I was 12.5 pounds down from what I weighed the day I delivered (36 hours prior), and still around 30ish pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. One week later... 

7 Days After Delivery

7 days after giving birth.  25.5 lbs. down from delivery date weight and around 15ish pounds or so away from pre-pregnancy weight.

Side view.

Front view... still gross belly button.

This picture was taken the very next day... (8 days after delivery).
SO crazy how it naturally shrinks so much every day!  Thank you boobs for burning so many calories for me!

14 Days After Delivery

14 days after giving birth.  28.5 lbs. down from delivery date weight and around 12ish pounds or so away from pre-pregnancy weight 

Front view.

Things really seemed to level off after the first 2 weeks.  After those first 14 days, I MAYBE lost about a pound a week for the next couple of weeks.

4 Weeks After Delivery (No picture)

- 29.5 lbs. down from delivery date and 10 or 12 lbs. away from pre-pregnancy weight.

6 Weeks After Delivery

6 weeks after giving birth - 30.5 lbs. down from delivery date and 10ish lbs. away from pre-pregnancy weight.

Front view.  (Linea nigra is starting to disappear!  I am honestly a LITTLE sad about it... one of the last physical signs that there was at one point a baby in me.)

12 Weeks After Delivery

12 weeks after giving birth - 33.5 lbs. down from delivery date and less than 10 lbs. away from pre-pregnancy weight.

Front view.

So there you have it!  12 weeks of recovery, because that's truly what it is!  Things seem to have slowed way down and leveled off at the weight I am currently at.  While I still have a little bit of work to do, I sincerely hope that staying fit throughout my pregnancy has helped me to "bounce back" easier.  Since getting the all-clear from my doctor at 6 weeks postpartum, I have gone on 4 runs and done a little bit of yoga.  So probably 99% of my progress has been ALL mother nature (and breastfeeding WOO!)  I would like to start eating less and working out more, but I won't even consider this until I am done breastfeeding.  I don't want to do anything to mess with my supply!  However, I will start training for another half-marathon in September (about a month from now) and I will need to increase the number of calories I am consuming even MORE!  ("Would you like whipped cream on your mocha?"  "Yes, please!")

I am so grateful to God that HE has allowed me to maintain an active lifestyle throughout pregnancy and beyond.  I have even MORE respect for my body after seeing everything that it has gone through and watching this amazing recovery process.  Praise be to God for blessing women with such an incredible GIFT - the ability to grow and birth babies into this world.  Our bodies are INCREDIBLE!!  And it is more important to me than ever to thank HIM for this by taking care of myself and continuing to live a healthy lifestyle (which might include just a little bit of chocolate too)!

Kresta Fiesta - Backyard Family Edition!

Well my crazy-talented sister is at it again!  While she was in town in July, we took the opportunity to have a little mini photo-sesh in the backyard.  She is a phenomenal wedding photographer and we are so lucky that she likes us enough to take pictures of us as well :)  Here are some of my favorites!  (P.S.  Check out her photography business: Something Gold Photography! She rocks!!)