Almost Normal-My Recovery

Since I have nothing really new to update on, I figured I'd write a little bit about my recovery. As you know, I had an unexpected C-section which I didn't really want. Now of course after the fact, I didn't really care at the time-my labor was so brutal that I just wanted the kid out! And knowing how bad my labor was, I wouldn't mind having another c-section next time.

My recovery hasn't been too bad. I expected way way worse so to me, it hasn't been bad at all. The worst part was in the hospital-getting in and out of bed was a chore because you couldn't use your stomach muscles at all because it was sore. So it was a lot of lifting your weight with your arms and stuff. My pain wasn't too bad either. They had me on ibuprofen and percocet the first day in the hospital. The second day I didn't take any percocet at all. I pretty much took the ibuprofen as scheduled all of the days in the hospital. By the time I got home, I really didn't take anything-the pain wasn't bad at all. If I got sore, I would take an ibuprofen, but it was rare that I took it. The only discomfort I still have (2.5 weeks later) is wearing tight waistbands. I've been living in gym shorts/pants and maternity shorts just because they have a stretchy waist. The odd thing is that the incision itself isn't sore, it's the area above the incision that's sore-I'm assuming from the muscles being pulled, etc.

Of course I was restricted from doing things at first. For two weeks I couldn't drive or lift anything heavier than the baby. I could do stairs (some people can't) but was supposed to limit how frequently I used them. I basically would go upstairs once to shower and then try not to go up again until bed. Now I'm using them like normal and having no problems. Gabe and I have been going on some walks here and there-mainly around 1-2 blocks and that's it. Again, nothing too strenuous at this point. I feel pretty good walking so I'm sure we could go a little bit longer at this point. I'm not sure about working out and stuff like that. I suspended my gym membership until September so I won't be going anytime soon. I'm sure that'll be rough the first time I go though :)

The big surprise was how quickly I lost my pregnancy weight. Overall I gained 27 pounds which I was happy with. Within a week of her birth, I had dropped 16 pounds and now 2.5 weeks later, I'm down a total of 22 pounds. So I'm only 5 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I have no idea how that has happened but I'm thrilled with it! I'm sure breastfeeding has helped a ton! Of course my stomach looks completely different now-I have a nice flabby area that I never had. Who knows if it'll go away-it could be extra skin from my stomach stretching, or it could be the lack of ab exercises for the past 9 months! We'll see if it changes or not.

So overall, my recovery hasn't been too bad-like I said, I expected things to be way worse than they are so I'm very happy with how things are going at this point.