My son was born on September 14.
He was 8lbs, 4oz and 21.25 inches long.
He is beautiful and perfect
And he has also had an impact on my body.
Let's talk about that.
The weight gain and loss
When I got pregnant, I was a whopping 103 lbs.
On my 5'5" frame, that weight was unhealthy.
My healthy weight was always around 120, give or take a few pounds.
2017 was just so stressful that I had stopped eating much
while I was working a temporary retail job that had me running around
like a maniac all the time.
When 2018 began, I had just traded
all of my size 2 and even size 0 pants
for 00.
That's how skinny I was.
My curvy butt and hips were bony.
My husband actually didn't like it as much.
So naturally, when I missed a period in January,
I assumed I'd gone and "broke my uterus".
I'd heard that anorexia and stress both can result
in a hormone change that causes the period to stop.
I worried and wondered how many more I'd miss
before I'd be able to rectify my "stressorexia".
I gave it that title because I wasn't trying to eat too little on purpose.
I just wasn't trying to eat enough because my mind was other places.
Instead, I would come to find out that the period stopped
because I had a baby inside.
And within 5 days of that discovery,
I was really making the effort to eat 3 square meals again.
Once queasiness set in,
all day every day,
I was making the effort to eat even more
because constant snacking was about the only way to stop it.
Miraculously,
from February to August,
I gained 42 lbs.
They say an underweight woman
should gain 30-45 lbs.
I did so by simply snacking all day,
limiting my exercise time,
and getting extra sleep.
Obtaining a desk job again was a major help.
Once the baby was born
and his weight and all the water and extra blood left my body,
I was dropped off at 128lbs.
This is just 5 lbs more than I want to be.
Underneath a layer of "jelly belly", my core is still firm.
All I have to do is shed the layer of jelly.
The shape of my body
I had always had a nice curvy butt
on a thin frame.
When I was underweight, I had a flat butt.
Now it's curvy again,
and complete with soft, rounded thighs.
They fill out my now size 2 pants
(up 2 sizes from the 00 in January)
in a pleasant way.
What irks me, however,
is that "jelly belly."
It tries to pour itself over the top.
Now jeans that once fit well appear to be too tight at the top.
Shorter crop-top shirts are out of the question.
Higher cut pants and yoga banded pants are my friends.
I can't wait to tighten it.
The bleeding
TMI warning: When you have a baby,
all that blood doesn't just gush out in that moment.
Instead, it's more like a period on crack.
Unneeded uterine lining is trying to shed,
like a normal period,
but it's a giant uterus.
So it can take up to six weeks to stop.
For me, it was three.
Breastfeeding
My milk came in on day 4.
He'd been born on Friday
and I woke up tuesday with hard, painful C-cups.
I am normally an A cup or a small B.
Breastfeeding hasn't worked out well for me,
unfortunately.
While I got that situation resolved,
I seemingly never made enough to keep up with his huge appetite.
He'd nurse until he wanted to stop
and it was painful
but he'd cry for more just a few minutes later.
to help with the pain and to help me still get some sleep,
I started giving him some formula in between.
Now, at nearly 7 weeks,
he takes bottles and bottles of formula,
and the breast milk is more like dessert.
My supply has gone down, even though I pump.
And I only pump a little.
But it was always like that.
*sigh*
Next baby, I'm going to tough it out more.
Hormones and mood swings
The mood swings were vicious.
After the first few weeks of broken sleep,
I was too easy to incite.
Little things set me off,
And I would get over the top angry with my husband.
I'd cry and cry.
And silly things made me paranoid.
I'm glad that's evening out.
Unfortunately,
since I 'm too delicate about my sleep
(losing sleep is my kryptonite)
My husband has had to tow my weight.
He's better at only having 3 or 4 hours
and he can stay awake very late
and take naps during the day
(I can't seem to sleep when it's daytime unless I'm very sick).
So he would help get baby to sleep,
then feed him a bottle at midnight or one when he woke up.
I would get up at 4:00am to do breastfeeding
and we would all go back to sleep for awhile.
Some nights, however, he was fussy all night
and those were the days that I felt groggy,
exhausted, sad, and easily angered.
At almost 7 weeks, I now only have a few moments like that.
Changes in constitution
back in 2014, it was determined I was allergic to gluten.
Over time it improved.
I was able to eat it in small doses.
During pregnancy, around week 10,
I ate some and wound up with excurciating
intestinal cramping for three days.
I had the same reaction to dairy around that time.
Throughout my life, I've gone through seasons
where dairy intake hurt me.
For the rest of my pregnancy,
I had to avoid gluten faithfully
and take lactaid pills with the dairy.
(I always craved ice cream).
Now that he's been on the outside of me for several weeks
and the hormones are ceasing
and I'm getting my body back,
I can eat both gluten and dairy with seemingly little or no reaction.
But my metabolism seems to have slowed down.
I still get hungry all of the time for little snacks,
but now they seem to add weight.
I was 128 and now I'm 131.
I guess I finally reached that age where
if I chow down on fatty food
or too much starch
I will see it right away.
He was 8lbs, 4oz and 21.25 inches long.
He is beautiful and perfect
And he has also had an impact on my body.
Let's talk about that.
The weight gain and loss
When I got pregnant, I was a whopping 103 lbs.
On my 5'5" frame, that weight was unhealthy.
My healthy weight was always around 120, give or take a few pounds.
2017 was just so stressful that I had stopped eating much
while I was working a temporary retail job that had me running around
like a maniac all the time.
When 2018 began, I had just traded
all of my size 2 and even size 0 pants
for 00.
That's how skinny I was.
My curvy butt and hips were bony.
My husband actually didn't like it as much.
So naturally, when I missed a period in January,
I assumed I'd gone and "broke my uterus".
I'd heard that anorexia and stress both can result
in a hormone change that causes the period to stop.
I worried and wondered how many more I'd miss
before I'd be able to rectify my "stressorexia".
I gave it that title because I wasn't trying to eat too little on purpose.
I just wasn't trying to eat enough because my mind was other places.
Instead, I would come to find out that the period stopped
because I had a baby inside.
And within 5 days of that discovery,
I was really making the effort to eat 3 square meals again.
Once queasiness set in,
all day every day,
I was making the effort to eat even more
because constant snacking was about the only way to stop it.
Miraculously,
from February to August,
I gained 42 lbs.
They say an underweight woman
should gain 30-45 lbs.
I did so by simply snacking all day,
limiting my exercise time,
and getting extra sleep.
Obtaining a desk job again was a major help.
Once the baby was born
and his weight and all the water and extra blood left my body,
I was dropped off at 128lbs.
This is just 5 lbs more than I want to be.
Underneath a layer of "jelly belly", my core is still firm.
All I have to do is shed the layer of jelly.
The shape of my body
I had always had a nice curvy butt
on a thin frame.
When I was underweight, I had a flat butt.
Now it's curvy again,
and complete with soft, rounded thighs.
They fill out my now size 2 pants
(up 2 sizes from the 00 in January)
in a pleasant way.
What irks me, however,
is that "jelly belly."
It tries to pour itself over the top.
Now jeans that once fit well appear to be too tight at the top.
Shorter crop-top shirts are out of the question.
Higher cut pants and yoga banded pants are my friends.
I can't wait to tighten it.
The bleeding
TMI warning: When you have a baby,
all that blood doesn't just gush out in that moment.
Instead, it's more like a period on crack.
Unneeded uterine lining is trying to shed,
like a normal period,
but it's a giant uterus.
So it can take up to six weeks to stop.
For me, it was three.
Breastfeeding
My milk came in on day 4.
He'd been born on Friday
and I woke up tuesday with hard, painful C-cups.
I am normally an A cup or a small B.
Breastfeeding hasn't worked out well for me,
unfortunately.
While I got that situation resolved,
I seemingly never made enough to keep up with his huge appetite.
He'd nurse until he wanted to stop
and it was painful
but he'd cry for more just a few minutes later.
to help with the pain and to help me still get some sleep,
I started giving him some formula in between.
Now, at nearly 7 weeks,
he takes bottles and bottles of formula,
and the breast milk is more like dessert.
My supply has gone down, even though I pump.
And I only pump a little.
But it was always like that.
*sigh*
Next baby, I'm going to tough it out more.
Hormones and mood swings
The mood swings were vicious.
After the first few weeks of broken sleep,
I was too easy to incite.
Little things set me off,
And I would get over the top angry with my husband.
I'd cry and cry.
And silly things made me paranoid.
I'm glad that's evening out.
Unfortunately,
since I 'm too delicate about my sleep
(losing sleep is my kryptonite)
My husband has had to tow my weight.
He's better at only having 3 or 4 hours
and he can stay awake very late
and take naps during the day
(I can't seem to sleep when it's daytime unless I'm very sick).
So he would help get baby to sleep,
then feed him a bottle at midnight or one when he woke up.
I would get up at 4:00am to do breastfeeding
and we would all go back to sleep for awhile.
Some nights, however, he was fussy all night
and those were the days that I felt groggy,
exhausted, sad, and easily angered.
At almost 7 weeks, I now only have a few moments like that.
Changes in constitution
back in 2014, it was determined I was allergic to gluten.
Over time it improved.
I was able to eat it in small doses.
During pregnancy, around week 10,
I ate some and wound up with excurciating
intestinal cramping for three days.
I had the same reaction to dairy around that time.
Throughout my life, I've gone through seasons
where dairy intake hurt me.
For the rest of my pregnancy,
I had to avoid gluten faithfully
and take lactaid pills with the dairy.
(I always craved ice cream).
Now that he's been on the outside of me for several weeks
and the hormones are ceasing
and I'm getting my body back,
I can eat both gluten and dairy with seemingly little or no reaction.
But my metabolism seems to have slowed down.
I still get hungry all of the time for little snacks,
but now they seem to add weight.
I was 128 and now I'm 131.
I guess I finally reached that age where
if I chow down on fatty food
or too much starch
I will see it right away.
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