So before getting pregnant I was in pretty good shape. About a year prior to pregnancy, I started doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. That was the best. I lost like 17 lbs in a month by doing it every day. I was hooked after that. I tracked what I ate on MyFitnessPal at the same time which I know contributed. You have no idea how quickly calories add up, even with "healthy" foods, until you start tracking it. I'd eat between 900-1300 calories a day, which is pretty low, and I'm sure was a big part of rapidly using weight. After a few months, I had definable abs. Jillian worked your abs hardcore. I also would go running around my mom's neighborhood, and over to the outdoor track at the high school. I'd stick some earbuds into my iphone and go.
I kept this up in one way or another for about a year. I made it into size 6-8 gap jeans (which always ran small on me) and was feeling pretty good. I had strength and stamina. I had just bought a bunch of jeans at the gap outlet... and then became pregnant.
I immediately bloated up. By 6 weeks (that would be 4 weeks of having an actual baby in there) nothing fit. For awhile though my belly wasn't that big and i didn't even gain that much weight. Maybe 5-7 pounds? Then around 20 weeks everything got bigger. I started gaining weight more rapidly and my belly POPPED out. People would say "you're all belly" and maybe i was, but it felt like extra fat was there too (which, women DO store extra fat during pregnancy, which i didn't even know at the time really).
One time I went to the obgyn, and I had gained 5 lbs in a month, instead of the 4 lbs (1 lb a week) that they want and was told to watch my weight gain. I cried. Over 1 lb. Looking back that doctor (NOT my own dr) was kinda an a$$...really, it's 1 pound. And I had a late afternoon appt, you weigh more as the day goes on. As a nurse I would never think anything of that. So that MD sucked. But I was still mad about it.
Around the 3rd trimester, or at some point anyway, it was like no matter what I did I'd gain weight. I remember really restricting what I ate (what? who does that while pregnant? This was still the downfall of that stupid comment by that stupid dr) and I know I was not eating enough. Oh then I failed my 1 hr glucose screen (which they shouldnt even bother doing. Many women fail who do not have GD so it just creates undue worry). I cried at my desk at work when they called me with that news. Which gestational diabetes is NOT type 2 diabetes (which is tied to being overweight) but it still made me feel fat. I went on to pass my 3 hour glucose test, so I did NOT have GB but it still upset me.
So then the last month when I was miserable and huge and hurting and nervous and exhausted, I just said screw it and ate what I wanted. Not that I could even eat a lot, since your stomach is pushed up so small.
I gained 26 lbs officially by the doctor records (but more like 30 unofficially because by the time I went to the dr's at 6 weeks for my 1st weigh-in, I had already gained a few pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight.)
Initially the weight fell off, when I was breastfeeding LITERALLY about 16 hours a day. Callum nursed so dang much, probably d/t my low supply. But then it came back, and kind of quickly. I've actually read that this is a "thing" that many women actually GAIN while breastfeeding, not loose like the propaganda tells you. So teh first 2 weeks I was almost back to my pre-preg weight (but with a messed up, deflated stomach). But by 1 month I had already started gainning.
So the past 2 weeks or so, I have started tracking what I eat on MyFitnessPal, eating less, and TRYING to work out more. I've lost maybe like 6 lbs so far, but man it's hard. So much harder than before. And yes, I'll blame it on the baby because he is #1 and his needs come first...not my want of working out. Hopefully I can push myself slowly though. I packed away my skinny clothes this weekend because I was tired of them cluttering things up and making me depressed. But I want to wear them again!!
Monday, August 25, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
8 months, milk, feeding, mortgage, all that jazz
So my child will be 8 months old in 5 days. Lately I've been kind of sad about my baby growing so much. He is still a baby, and I MISS my baby. I miss when he was a teeny tiny little bundle, I miss when he would let me just hold him like a baby, when he would just lie there and give me a smile from time to time. At the time I couldn't wait for him to get bigger so that things would be easier (which they are... but NOT easy by any means!) I just have nostalgia for my newborn Callum. I see why people get the baby bug to have another but I feel like, even if I had another baby, that baby won't be Callum though. Callum will never be a newborn again! And then I get sad all over again.
Stats:
We weighed him last week and he was 19.2 lbs. No idea his height and head circumference but I think he's at least 27.5 inches tall. That makes him 81st percentile for weight and at least 79th for height. He doesn't really look that big, like, he doesn't have big fat rolls or anything. He's just so proportional. He's in 9 month clothes...and 12 month clothes...and a few 18 month? Size 4 diapers but he can still wear size 3, the 4s just fit a little better. He eats about 7 oz bottles now...like 1000 times a day. He should only be eating like 4-5x a day I feel like but he definitely eats more than that. I really need to keep track but he eats so often, I just forget. I'd say at 6 but probably 7 bottles a day? Callum has been a BIG eater since day 1 though.
Speaking of bottles... I started taking domperidone, which is a drug for nausea/vomiting/indigestion. However it has 1 big side effect. And that is lactation. As I have well documented, I had a ton of issues with my milk supply, I could never keep up. He'd nurse for 1.5 hrs every 40 mins, etc. He stopped nursing around 4 months, literally overnight he just refused. Never pumped more than 2 oz at a time and my supply had dipped to 0.5 oz a DAY. Well since 7/15 my supply has increased to 3-4 oz a day... which seems like nothing to many women but is like, 4-8x as much as I was getting! I'm on the lowest dose that most women take and it can take weeks to get the full effect. I've been pumping 4-5x a day which isnt even that much, so if I was stricter i'd get more milk but I dont have the time for that! And now with being back to work, it's gonna be harder because pumping at work is so hard.
I actually bought a hospital grade pump, a Spectra Dew 350. I got it on ebay for relatively cheap. It works sooo much better than my stupid Medela pump in style advanced. which I really should sell but I have but I have a strange attachment to lol. I plan on just using my manual pump at school though, it's just easier to whip out than having to set up all the shenanigans involved with the electric pump. A manual is just more discreet and easier to stop in the middle of pumping (since anyone can come in at any time).
My new goal is to pump until 12 months. I originally wanted to breastfeed till then... and then I started actually BFing and had so many issues. It's world breastfeeding awareness week. Which is a great thing, but let me tell you, in the non BFing mother world, a lot of mom's are annoyed/bitching/etc about it. I mean... it IS a little self congratulatory, like oh hey look at me I feed my kid, BUT BFing awareness IS important for 3rd world countries where it honestly is safer d/t contamination of formula and drinking water. I belong to an exclusive pumper group and a formula feeding group and the pumpers are like "well my baby gets breastmilk but no one cares about me" and there's tons of hurt feelings about it. And of course formula feeders are like "whateverrrr, you are no better than me." There's been many posts this week in those groups, about how annoyed/sad/upset they are. I see their point, but also see how Bfing mom's are happy to be BFing. Although maybe they should have a world pumpers and world formula week too lol. Mommy wars are for real ya'll, and it's ridiculous. I just think, however you feed your kid is fine. As long as they're fed. I wish things were more inclusionary and less judgemental or polarizing. And I've said before, I believe breastmilk benefits are overstated (especially in 1st world countries) and much of it is propoganda based on shaky, incorrect, or statistically irrelevant studies and "facts." I just want to keep giving whatever BM i can because I think it helps with his eczema. I do not believe his IQ will be higher or he will get less sick. That is just NOT true. I'm an out of the box feeder anyway...don't totally formula feed and don't totally breastfeed. Lol that blows the minds of many mommy war moms since so many see things in black or white. Whatever my kid is 80th percentile, never been sick, developmentally on target, and just awesome. So who cares how they are fed really?
In other news, the other day I received a letter in the mail from our mortgage company saying that my monthly payment is going to be lowered almost 200$ a month starting 9/1!! I couldn't believe it. Back in May and June I went through a bunch of hoops to get the house reassessed. I got our assessment lowered by about $15,000, which was a significant amt. I had called the mortgage company twice about it and they said they wouldn't change my escrow amt until the new tax bill came out in September. Whatever ( i worked for a mortgage company for 3 years and we updated accruals based on assessments if the homeowner wanted). Then out of the blue I get this letter AND a hefty check for the overage amt in my escrow account. What a blessing, seeing as how I don't get paid over the summer.
I'm back to work today, at the high school. I'm just workeing today and tomorrow. Then like 2-3 days a week the rest of August, not that bad and I love extra money! Can't believe school starts back up in a month though! Of course I'm exhausted because I have to be at work at 7am, and do you think I get in bed early? Lol hell no, this is me, the night owl over here. Good think for baby cuddle naps after work.
Stats:
We weighed him last week and he was 19.2 lbs. No idea his height and head circumference but I think he's at least 27.5 inches tall. That makes him 81st percentile for weight and at least 79th for height. He doesn't really look that big, like, he doesn't have big fat rolls or anything. He's just so proportional. He's in 9 month clothes...and 12 month clothes...and a few 18 month? Size 4 diapers but he can still wear size 3, the 4s just fit a little better. He eats about 7 oz bottles now...like 1000 times a day. He should only be eating like 4-5x a day I feel like but he definitely eats more than that. I really need to keep track but he eats so often, I just forget. I'd say at 6 but probably 7 bottles a day? Callum has been a BIG eater since day 1 though.
Speaking of bottles... I started taking domperidone, which is a drug for nausea/vomiting/indigestion. However it has 1 big side effect. And that is lactation. As I have well documented, I had a ton of issues with my milk supply, I could never keep up. He'd nurse for 1.5 hrs every 40 mins, etc. He stopped nursing around 4 months, literally overnight he just refused. Never pumped more than 2 oz at a time and my supply had dipped to 0.5 oz a DAY. Well since 7/15 my supply has increased to 3-4 oz a day... which seems like nothing to many women but is like, 4-8x as much as I was getting! I'm on the lowest dose that most women take and it can take weeks to get the full effect. I've been pumping 4-5x a day which isnt even that much, so if I was stricter i'd get more milk but I dont have the time for that! And now with being back to work, it's gonna be harder because pumping at work is so hard.
I actually bought a hospital grade pump, a Spectra Dew 350. I got it on ebay for relatively cheap. It works sooo much better than my stupid Medela pump in style advanced. which I really should sell but I have but I have a strange attachment to lol. I plan on just using my manual pump at school though, it's just easier to whip out than having to set up all the shenanigans involved with the electric pump. A manual is just more discreet and easier to stop in the middle of pumping (since anyone can come in at any time).
My new goal is to pump until 12 months. I originally wanted to breastfeed till then... and then I started actually BFing and had so many issues. It's world breastfeeding awareness week. Which is a great thing, but let me tell you, in the non BFing mother world, a lot of mom's are annoyed/bitching/etc about it. I mean... it IS a little self congratulatory, like oh hey look at me I feed my kid, BUT BFing awareness IS important for 3rd world countries where it honestly is safer d/t contamination of formula and drinking water. I belong to an exclusive pumper group and a formula feeding group and the pumpers are like "well my baby gets breastmilk but no one cares about me" and there's tons of hurt feelings about it. And of course formula feeders are like "whateverrrr, you are no better than me." There's been many posts this week in those groups, about how annoyed/sad/upset they are. I see their point, but also see how Bfing mom's are happy to be BFing. Although maybe they should have a world pumpers and world formula week too lol. Mommy wars are for real ya'll, and it's ridiculous. I just think, however you feed your kid is fine. As long as they're fed. I wish things were more inclusionary and less judgemental or polarizing. And I've said before, I believe breastmilk benefits are overstated (especially in 1st world countries) and much of it is propoganda based on shaky, incorrect, or statistically irrelevant studies and "facts." I just want to keep giving whatever BM i can because I think it helps with his eczema. I do not believe his IQ will be higher or he will get less sick. That is just NOT true. I'm an out of the box feeder anyway...don't totally formula feed and don't totally breastfeed. Lol that blows the minds of many mommy war moms since so many see things in black or white. Whatever my kid is 80th percentile, never been sick, developmentally on target, and just awesome. So who cares how they are fed really?
In other news, the other day I received a letter in the mail from our mortgage company saying that my monthly payment is going to be lowered almost 200$ a month starting 9/1!! I couldn't believe it. Back in May and June I went through a bunch of hoops to get the house reassessed. I got our assessment lowered by about $15,000, which was a significant amt. I had called the mortgage company twice about it and they said they wouldn't change my escrow amt until the new tax bill came out in September. Whatever ( i worked for a mortgage company for 3 years and we updated accruals based on assessments if the homeowner wanted). Then out of the blue I get this letter AND a hefty check for the overage amt in my escrow account. What a blessing, seeing as how I don't get paid over the summer.
I'm back to work today, at the high school. I'm just workeing today and tomorrow. Then like 2-3 days a week the rest of August, not that bad and I love extra money! Can't believe school starts back up in a month though! Of course I'm exhausted because I have to be at work at 7am, and do you think I get in bed early? Lol hell no, this is me, the night owl over here. Good think for baby cuddle naps after work.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)