Friday, June 7, 2013

Lifesavers

I wanted to share a little list of a few items that hubby and I have found to be rather indispensable over these past months. There are many, many items that we use on a daily basis. I mean c'mon, babies require a lot of stuff! But these items are particularly useful. At least for us!

Lifesavers



1. Dreft Laundry Stain Remover. One of my very best friends (and Camden's Godmother!) gave me a bottle of this as part of my baby shower gifts. She told me that it's the best stain remover ever. And she was absolutely right! I discovered this for myself when I found a white onsie covered in bright yellow baby poo. I sprayed it down, let it sit a few minutes, then washed it and voila! It looked just like new. I'm not even kidding! I'll never buy a different stain remover again!

2. Palmer's Tummy Butter. This one comes from my pregnancy days but it's definitely worth a mention. I slathered this thick, somewhat waxy, tummy butter on my growing baby bump ever night. Every. Single. Night. And guess what? Not a single stretch mark! I know everyone says that stretch marks are genetic (if your momma had 'em, so will you) but I figured I would do everything I could to prevent them instead of leaving it to fate. Yet I wasn't about to spend an arm and a leg on the more expensive stretch mark creams. This one was affordable and worked like a charm!

3. Little Tummys Gas Drops. Since he was born, Camden has had a difficult time with gas. He'd get bubbles in his belly (even with lots of burping, changing my diet, and keeping him upright after feedings) and he would just scream and scream over them. It was reallllly rough. His pediatrician told us that it was because he was such a big eater. He'd get so much milk in his system that his little body would have a hard time processing it all. He recommended gas drops around the clock and it made a huuuuge difference! Camden has gotten much better with his gas and doesn't need the drops around the clock anymore but when we hear his gas bubbles cry we're quick to give him a dose of these to ease his pain. I think every momma should have these on hand just in case!

4. Brice Day & Night Light Musical Mirror. I'm the type who freaks out if I can't see my baby so a mirror for the backseat of the car was a "must have" for us. I particularly love this mirror because it has a little light and it plays a couple jingles. We found the light to be especially useful when we were on a little road trip when Camden was 6 weeks old. It was nice to be able to push a button, have the light come on, and make sure that Camden was okay. Admittedly, the mirror can be very distracting- who doesn't want to peek at their little cutie nonstop?! Haha. But I wouldn't want to do without it! Plus, the musical feature has come in handy when Camden gets fussy and the country radio station just isn't doing it for him ;]

5. Moby Wrap. If you have a baby who loves to be held and you ever plan on doing things around the house again, get a sling/wrap/carrier. I love the Moby because it's nice and snuggly and, once you get the hang of it, really easy to use. No buckling things behind your back or fumbling with rings. Camden seems to love being cozied up close to me while I get some chores done. And I love keeping him close to me instead of leaving him alone in his pack 'n play. 

6. JJ Cole Pacifier Pod. You know what stinks? Losing pacifiers. You know what's perfect for preventing that from happening? This little gadget. We have one snapped onto Camden's carseat with one binkie with a clip and one binkie without a clip inside. This way we are NEVER without a binkie when we're out of the house. And we always know where to find one! No searching through my diaper bag or wondering where to find one. They're always right there, not getting lost. It's such a simple thing but we really love it.

7. Disposable Multi Use Pads. As I've mentioned before, I'm somewhat of a germaphobe. I'm not about to put Camden on a public changing table without one of these. I don't care if the plastic is "anti-microbial", they gross me out. I keep some of these in my diaper bag and use them whenever I change him in a public space. I've heard other moms say that these are useful to put on your lap when holding baby to avoid being soaked in case of leakage. But who really does that? Haha. I use them strictly for diaper changes. I even put them on his changing pad at home sometimes (mostly to avoid having to wash his changing pad cover multiple times a day, haha). If you're overly concerned about hygiene like me, do yourself a favor and get a box or two or three of these.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Unexpected things

I've been meaning to write this post for awhile. Oh, the unexpected things. Jacob and I were planning and trying to get pregnant so Camden wasn't unexpected. At all. If you've been following my blog since the beginning you know that I was almost entirely convinced that baby was a boy before we found out for sure so that wasn't unexpected either. But there were a few things along the way that I did not expect. I want to blog them here for any of my momma-to-be friends who might find this info useful. Remember, every pregnancy and labor is different, so your experience might be nothing like mine. But here's a heads up incase you encounter these things!

I can't really think of anything during pregnancy that threw me for a loop. I had a textbook pregnancy- no complications and no real surprises. The one thing I can think of that I didn't expect was the shooting hip pains I experienced at the end. They were spontaneous and startling. The only thing I found to alleviate them was squatting down with my knees wide (which ended up being useful to get used to doing since I did this a bit during labor to help ease my back pain too). Other than that, I felt very well prepared for all that I encountered during my pregnancy.

Most of my surprises came during labor and postpartum. Some of it no one could have predicted- like the fact that l&d would be super busy and I'd be stuck in a triage room for awhile, haha. Or that I would have grueling back labor. But other things I think I could've been prepared for...

  • I did not expect that I would reach a point in labor when I literally wouldn't be able to talk. This happened sometime around transition for me. When I was on my second dose of penicillin, my IV/entire arm was burning and stinging. At this point, I was laboring on all fours hoping to relieve my back labor and flip Camden if he was OP as we suspected. I remember staring at my arm and thinking about how much it burned and wanting to say something. But my mouth just couldn't form the words! By the time I was able to say something and have the drip turned down I was almost done the bag. A little later I was sipping on some water with Emergen-C in it (for a little boost) but the flavor started making me nauseous. I didn't want anything flavored at that point but I wanted to keep drinking water. Again, I couldn't seem to get the words out so I continued drinking that until I could finally request plain water. Even now I don't remember what I said in either of these situations but I can imagine it was short and caveman-esque ("no flavor! Plain!" Hahaha). Then, when I was ready to push, I lost all ability to form words. I couldn't muster up a single word. Jake sat beside me nomming a protein bar while the nurse set everything up for me to start pushing. The smell was making me feel soooo sick but I couldn't say anything. I tried. No words would come out. Luckily when I was ready to start pushing I was able to just look at Jake and he knew that I felt another contraction coming on and needed to push. It was awesome that he was so tuned into me at that point that I didn't even need words. Good thing because I couldn't have talked if I wanted to! I suppose my inability to talk came from my intense concentration on each contraction. My mind was so preoccupied with my labor that it literally wasn't able to do anything else! I guess I should've suspected that this would happen since I went completely drug free. But, for whatever reason, I didn't and it surprised me.
  • I did not expect my butt to hurt so much. Sorry if this is TMI. I know everyone says that you'll feel pressure in your bottom when you're ready to push. But what they don't tell you is that the pressure will be so intense that it might actually distract you from your contractions (for a few seconds, haha)! Granted, that isn't a bad thing. I just didn't know that I'd feel so much of my labor in my bottom. It's hard to explain this feeling unless you've experienced it. I understand the anatomical explanation and I did expect the pressure, just not the intensity. And on the same note, I didn't expect that my butt would be so sore for the two days after delivery! Now I didn't tear so the pain wasn't from that. My whole butt was just sore to the touch. And it felt all loosey goosey. Seriously, I was a sore wiggle bottom, haha. Strange stuff.
  • I did not expect to shake uncontrollably after delivering Camden. I'm not talking the I'm-overwhelmed-with-emotions-and-trembling kind of shaking. I'm talking intense, uncontrollable shaking throughout my legs. It was so bad that it really looked like I was doing it on purpose! The shaking didn't hurt, it was just a little startling and annoying. I don't know if it was because of hormones or due to all my blood loss but I didn't expect this to happen. It was kind of weird and freaked me out at first but it went away after a couple hours. I remember asking the nurse what was wrong with me and she said the shaking was normal. I didn't know that! 
  • I did not expect to spike a fever my first night home. I don't know if this is normal or it was one of those things no one could've predicted. But my first night home I ran a fever of 100.4 (if it got higher than that I was supposed to call my doctor). I know everyone says the first night home is a doozy. And it was with Camden cluster-feeding every 45 minutes to an hour and barely sleeping in-between. But aside from that I was feeling like total crapppp. It was basically miserable. Again, this might not be normal, but then again there has to be a reason the going home paperwork says to call if you get a fever over 100.4. Maybe this low-grade fever is common a few days after labor. Either way, I didn't expect it. On the bright side, every night after this I could tell myself, "it won't be worse than the first night home!" and so far that has held true, haha.
  • I did not expect to feel sharp pains in my lower stomach every time I peed for the first month. Obviously you expect to have pain *ahem* down there. Duh. A baby just passed through. Torn or not, that sucker is gonna hurt for awhile. Duh. However, I had no idea that I would have shooting pains in my lower stomach from peeing! They started happening maybe a week after birth and lasted until I was about a month postpartum. They weren't unbearable but they did make me cringe and not look forward to peeing (which was a lot thanks to extra fluid and my copious water drinking!). I'm still not sure if this is normal but I assumed so since they went away and I haven't had any complications. I guess it's safe to expect all sorts of weird aches and pains for the first few weeks/months postpartum. It comes with the territory. 
  • I did not expect to retain my keen sense of smell from pregnancy. I know it's common for your sense of smell to heighten drastically during pregnancy. And that definitely happened to me. What I didn't know is that my sharpened sniffer would stick around way postpartum. I still have the nose of a bloodhound. Maybe it'll go away eventually. Hopefully before the stench of real food diapers arrives! But for now, I smell everythingggg.
That's all I can think of right now. There are probably a few other things. Oh well this is one right here- I didn't expect my memory to suddenly become awful after I had Camden! Haha. But for real, I can hardly remember much of anything these days. I guess pregnancy brain just evolves into mom brain. Even with all of these things that caught me off guard, every single one is worth it to have my little man. He's the most incredible blessing I have every received! I'd gladly endure (and I'm sure I will) many more unexpected things for Camden! :]

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Fitness update

I am 22 days into my Pretty Fierce Lean Out program! Yesterday my schedule had me retake my measurements and fit test. Even though I was only 1/3 of the way through the program it was the moment of truth. I won't be taking my measurements and fit test again until I am finished the program. I think it was a good time to check on progress and get a little extra motivation to continue working hard! I know I haven't blogged since my first "operation lose the baby weight" post (and I promise I'll get better with the blogging! Eventually ;) but I want to record these now so I don't forget to later. Here we goooo! 

Measurements Day 21 (Day 0)
Shoulders: 39" (37")
Dominant arm: 10.5" (10.25")
Chest: 36.5" (37.75")
1" above navel: 28" (29.5")
1" below navel: 32" (34.75")
Hips: 33.5" (35")
Dominant thigh: 22.5" (22.5" ugh!!)
1" above dominant knee: 15.25" (15")
Weight: 126-127lbs (128-129lbs)

Fit Test Day 21 (Day 0)
Push-ups: 48 (30)
Squat jacks: 68 (40)
V-ups: 42 (24)
Switch kicks: 60 R&L (45 R&L)

I'm very proud of my progress so far!! I've lost 7 inches total around my body! (Although I'm not really sure I should count the 1.25" from my chest since that fluctuates a lot due to milk). I am most excited that I've lost 2.75" from my lower stomach!! Obviously, that's the most troublesome area postpartum. I'm so glad to see my momma pooch shrinking, haha! I'm most disappointed to see that I haven't lost even a fraction of an inch from my thighs :[. That's definitely the spot I lose fat from last. Unfortunately. But I am certainly working hard to lose it!! And luckily my legs are pretty strong so that is mostly muscle. But still. I want to trim down my thighs a bit. Like I mentioned in my previous post, I don't have much actual weight to lose to get back down to my pre-pregnancy weight of 124. But I did lose 2ish pounds in these past three weeks! I say "2ish" because it really depends on when I weigh myself, since weight fluctuates so much depending on time of the day, hydration, etc. I would like to get down to my goal weight of 117 but right now I'm just aiming at getting back to my pre-preggo weight. I'm pretty confident that will happen in the last six weeks of this program. Even though I haven't lost much weight so far my fit test results definitely show that I have improved my strength and endurance! I'm happy with my increases in every exercise of the fit test. I've really been busting my butt with this endurance section! The first week was rough- I had to do a total body endurance routine three times and I hated it. The routine made it blatantly obvious that I was not in the best shape ;] haha. I liked weeks two and three much better. Those weeks had me doing "endurance splits"- upper body endurance (twice a week), lower body endurance (twice a week), core endurance (three times a week), aerobic capacity, anaerobic capacity and yoga. I was on a 6 days on 1 day off rotation. I liked these workouts because they challenged me in a new way. I'm not used to doing the endurance thing with weight training- lifting maximum weight, doing all the reps, and going as fast as possible without compromising form. It was a little frustrating at times but I stuck with it! Anaerobic capacity was definitely the most difficult for me. It's 36 minutes of HIIT, which doesn't sound bad but man, is it killer! Granted, I go into beast mode and seriously push as hard as I can during the intervals. But, in my book, there's no other way to do it. I actually got my heart rate up to 204 on my anaerobic capacity workout on week 2! I felt like I was going to die. Technically my max hr should be 196, buuut I proved that I can go beyond that and still finish my workout. That might be dangerous, though, haha. 

Overall, I'm enjoying this program so far and I'm happy with the results I'm starting to see! I feel more fit and energized. I sleep better (that is when Camden allows me to, aha). I'm motivated to eat healthy all the time. It's just an all-around win. I'm excited to take this next week to rest and recover before hitting it hard again with strength portion! Can't wait to see what these next six weeks will bring! :D