I just got back from my 6 week follow up appointment. There's something about that appointment that is just so...FINAL. I mean, that's it. I no longer see those people. These women that I saw every three days for so many months and who helped me through one of the toughest times of my life, I no longer go and see them. That's it. You're good. See you in a year. I'm a little bit sad. I feel used and left behind... :)
But seriously, even if I didn't have a little mini-crush on nurse fabulous, it is kinda weird to just be done. I know, I know...I had the damn baby. That was their entire point in my life, but still. Okay, I will get over it. But I would like to go on record as saying that I will miss my OB's office and all the fabulous people there who took such good care of me and had a HUGE part in getting my daughter here healthy. So thanks.
In terms of my body and such, things are back to normal. Uterus was where it was supposed to be (which I had to find out through a very unfortunate pelvic exam...). And fortunately the ONE thing I am apparently good at with pregnancy is getting back to "normal" afterwards. I hesitated to post about this because there are lots of women who will probably hate me, but I was back at my pre-pregnancy weight when The Girl was about 3 weeks old (but in my defense I only gained about 20 pounds total). I have been back in all of my old clothes for about 2 weeks probably. In fact last weekend I completely went through my wardrobe and purged all things maternity. And man, did that feel good. As history shows, I am not good at pregnancy and I am thrilled to be done with it. And take those damn clothes with you! Bring back my jeans. Bring back my regular clothes. Thank the lord that is over.
The one lovely thing that stayed with me after having this baby was the high blood pressure. It went back down after The Boy was born, but not so much this time. It isn't horrifically high, but it is high enough that they want me to stay on medication. Which does NOT thrill me. I was so happy to be off of all medications (I was on anti depressants prior to getting pregnant with The Girl) and I really wanted to rock that feeling for a while. But it was not in the cards. Apparently being medication free isn't better when there is a possibility of having a stroke and dying with young children. So I am on the damn blood pressure medication. I have only been taking it once a day instead of twice a day like when I was pregnant and I was told today that I need to up it back up to twice a day. I batted my eyelashes and tried to look cute and begged and pleaded, but they didn't so much care. Take the damn pills. Twice a day.
Fine. You win. I will take the damn pills.
My friend sent me pictures today from my shower/brunch with good friends. It was bizarre to see myself so huge and pregnant. It took me back to see those pics. Those pictures were taken during the roughest weekend of that entire end-of-pregnancy drama. And it sure made me happy to be sitting where I am sitting now. I have a healthy daughter who is 6 weeks old. And even though she has been a crying fool lately, it is still one thousand times better than where I was back then.
So thank you 6 week follow up for the finality. Thank you for reminding me that I don't ever want to go through that again. And thank you for letting me say goodbye to the women who took such great care of me, and who I genuinely like. And thank you for allowing the best possible outcome of a healthy little girl. The last 10 months were quite a journey. And I am glad to be done with it and moving on to the next journey of raising two young kids by myself.
Here's a flashback photo of me right before I gave birth:
And here's a photo of the lovely outcome. My mother told me that the last pictures I posted of her (you know the one in the "cutielicious" onesie with the white skirt?) made her look HUGE and ROUND and very unattractive. She said I should screen the photos before I put them out there for the world to see. So I tried to scroll through all of my pics of her to find one that was flattering to her. It's hard to take a flattering picture of a newborn baby. But I decided that given the nature of this post and that I am comparing this picture to the picture of her still inside my belly, I would go au natural and give you a bath shot. I think it's only appropriate...
2 comments:
Congratulations on finishing with the pregnancy, and also, for getting back into shape so quickly! I'm sure genetics has a lot to do with it, but so does the fact that you kept weight gain pretty minimal.
If you don't mind my asking, how tall are you? I'm 6' tall so to try to compare what a 20 lb weight gain is for someone else I always have to resort to BMI machinations. I'm sometimes anxious about the effects pregnancy will have, since I lost 75 lbs a few years ago and have kept it off, and want to make sure my weight gain during pregnancy does not undo all that hard work. Your story gives me a lot of hope that even if it's not as easy for me, I might be able to emerge from pregnancy without bidding permanent farewell to my wardrobe!
Sorry about the continuing need for medication. And, FWIW, I think all the baby pics you've posted have been super-cute. :)
Jenny, to answer your question, I am quite short. :) I am 5' 3" tall, so no where near your fun 6 feet. I couldn't tell you what my BMI is or anything fancy like that and I know I don't really post pictures of myself on my blog so it's hard to tell. I would say I am average/slim. I am not super skinny by any stretch of the imagination, but I am also not heavy either. If you are interested, email me and I will send you a pic of myself for you to judge.
In terms of eating while pregnant, my theory is that as long as you don't go crazy and eat pretty healthy, you shouldn't gain more than your body will easily lose after the baby is born. I have been pretty lucky with both of my pregnancies. Email me if you want more info!
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