Mostly Awesome

So, the little man is seventeen days old. No, I will not be measuring his life in days for the duration, don’t worry. But it has flown by. They say it will and you don’t believe them. While you’re in labor, the nurses (and your mom) reminds you that this will be a distant memory once he’s born. Well, they were right, labor seems like forever ago, but it’s still a very vivid distant memory. I still remember that it was largely unenjoyable. But the end result has been the best experience of my life. And I feel like I’ve had some pretty great experiences.

People say you don’t get any sleep. Some days this is true, but not every day. And honestly, I was probably sleeping too much as it was. Owen sleeps about 6-7 hours a night and usually snoozes a bit during the day as well. The 6-7 hours aren’t ever at one time, but it doesn’t really matter. At least not right now while I’m still on maternity leave. I don’t have anywhere to be or go and I can sleep any time of day. And Jon is working part time from home right now, so no one is checking his punch in time either. Today we slept until 9:30. Why? We were up from 3-6:30. So you take it when you can get it I guess. Hopefully he’ll be on more of a schedule when I go back to work in May.

We survived the two-week check up on Friday. He’s doing great. Up to 6 pounds 14 ounces. We’re dealing with the usual crabbiness that apparently comes at the two week mark, and it sounds like there’s a growth spurt involved at this stage as well. Which would explain his need to nurse like every hour. He clearly does not understand how long it takes to recharge.

Here’s a run down of my not so favorite things about the first two weeks and things I’ve thought have been sweet about the first two weeks. Let’s start with not so favorite:

C-section recovery: This is a drag. Aside from feedings, I was pretty useless for the first week. Everything hurts. You use your lower abdominal muscles for everything. Getting out of bed? Hurt. Sneezing? Felt like I might die. Rolling over? Hurt. I’ve just started to get out for longer walks this week, but they’re slow and deliberate. It takes me forever just to walk a mile. But every day I feel a little bit better. My OB said it’ll be 6-8 weeks. Normally I recover pretty quickly from things, but this might actually take that long. I’m resigning myself to a long recovery. But it’s not so bad. The snow is horrible, the weather is conducive to walking, and Owen can’t exactly go out and shred the gnar anyway.

Belly pooch: I knew this was going to be annoying. And thanks to my c-section, I can’t do a whole lot about it for a while. Compared to being pregnant it’s nothing, but compared to me 42 weeks ago, It’s annoying. But that’s all it is. I know that this too shall pass. I’m just wearing a lot of black. And yoga pants. Although, the yoga pants are also because my incision still hurts and I can’t fathom putting jeans on right now. I haven’t gotten on a scale in a while as I feel it will be demoralizing. I’m just watching what I eat and trying to be patient. I have an Athleta gift card sitting on my bed side table awaiting my return to normalcy in the belly department. I’m looking forward to using it, but I may be shopping the summer collection…

Other miscellaneous body changes: I’m not going to go into crazy detail on this one, but no matter how you do it, being pregnant and giving birth is a big deal. It pushes your body in ways that nothing else in your life does or ever will. And there are ramifications. Nothing you can’t deal with, but man, it’s weird. Your belly is like a jellyfish you poked with a stick on the beach. You know your abs are in there somewhere because you were once vaguely acquainted. And there are other unfortunate side effects that I’ll leave out, but I’m hoping they go away soon.

But here’s why you do this. At least once:
Baby fuzz: Owen is just loosing his baby fuzz. It’s like the fuzz on a peach. Soft blonde baby fuzz.

Sleeping baby squeaks: Owen squeaks in his sleep. It’s hilarious. I love it.

Everything is new: Every day we discover something new about our world. Like hands, baths, and anything within 15 inches of our face.

Snuggling: Nothing beats nap time snuggling. Sleeping babies are adorable.

Ridiculous faces: Babies are not known for their awesome muscle control. This leads to some awesome faces. And then you laugh.

Knowing that everything cool you do will be a part of this guy’s life and it will be awesome: We’re pumped about that. We’ve got the ski and bike attachments for the chariot and are scoping out the Osprey kid carrier at REI. And I’m working on my on the fly nursing skills. We’ll need to get used to backcountry nursing. 🙂 And if that’s not a thing, we’re making it a thing.