2 months back at work: Life/Work Balance Advice

Well, I don’t know about you all out there but October has flown by! Tomorrow is November! Already!! Soon December will be here and Max will no longer be a ‘baby’ but move to the toddler category. If I was still on Mat leave I would be approaching my last 4 weeks of paid leave. But alas, I went back early. Today will be the 2 month mark of going back to work and leaving Max in daycare.

So – what has life been like? Well, re-read my first sentence and you will get the main idea – time goes by quickly! Every day seems like a big blur and before I know it, it is time to pick up Max. By the time I blink again, boom – Max’s bedtime. On a daily basis I feel as if I don’t have enough time. The blurriness in my day tends to stem from the fact that I feel rushed all the time. I rush in the morning, rush in my classes, rush home, rush dinner, rush rush rush! Talking to my daycare provider this afternoon, I realized that once Max starts ‘evening activities’ I will be rushed more and more.

However, in saying all that part of the reason why I feel so rushed all the time is the nature of my job. So for only a brief moment, I will talk about my job for a bit. I do not work a typical 9-5 job. Although it may appear that I only work from say 9-3:15, those are the hours that I am in front of the classroom. I actually work from 8:15-4pm and I try really really hard to get most of my work done in that time period. But, there are times when I need to do extra work. One of the most commented ‘myths of teaching’ is that I can mark/prep while teaching in the classroom. Well, whoever said that has not seen my class! It is go, go, go for the entire period. Therefore stuff like marking and prepping for the next class(es) happens during my prep period, or at home. Somedays I have to do work at home, sometimes I don’t.

Anyhoo – the point of all this, is it isn’t easy to hold a professional job and have a baby at the same time. I very rarely have time for myself and small things like watching Parenthood or Grey’s is a “pretty big deal”. Talking to some parents on twitter however, has made me realize I am not the only one that thinks watching TV is a treat But in the last few months I have thought about how my life at home has changed.

There are some suggestions that I have for every parent who is struggling with the “Life/Work” balance:

1. Set a Routine: Routines are key in my life. I have a pretty set morning routine that gets myself and Max out of the house by 7:45 at the very latest. We also have a pretty set evening routine as well. Having a predictable routine makes these rushed times a bit easier!

2. If you can reduce your work hours: I currently only teach two classes (full-time teachers in high school teach 3). This has helped me out significantly over the past two months. I have one less class to prep and mark for, and it gives me that extra 1 hour and a bit to get ready for the next day. This set-up has saved my butt! However, I should note that about 2 times a week I do substitute for other teachers (tomorrow is one of those days), but when I sub, I don’t have to mark! (oh thank goodness!)

3. When at home, spend time with baby: My students have asked what I do at night. Well, from the hours of 4pm-7:30pm it is all about Max. I don’t do much other than play blocks and cars! I think this helps him out a bit. If I ignored him he would have a crying fit (which is common apparently). It is important that you bond and play with your child while they are young.

4. Just say no – People will always be asking you to go to things, to do something for them, or to try the next so and so. Seriously, do yourself a favour and if you are feeling stressed – Just say no! Leave some time for yourself and to get regular family and household things done. If you are stopping at McD’s too many times in the week for dinner (and not just because you have a hankering for a Big Mac) – you may be better off reducing some of your commitments and staying at home.

5. When in doubt, get off that couch! Exercise is important! So many of us get caught in that trap of sitting in front of the TV or Computer for hours. Sometimes all it takes for me to have a better day is to go for a run. So, if you are feeling sluggish – go for a walk, yoga class, toboggan ride, whatever! Just get off that couch! Note: dance parties would be fine as well!

By Rebecca|Baby, Max, school|0 Comments

Preparing to go back to work

Today marks the two week mark before I throw Max into daycare and I make the return back to work. I am returning a week before classes starts because I need to get my act together before the students arrive (I am teaching new-to-me courses and have loads of prep to get ready for that).

For many of us, the return to work may be a bit bittersweet. One may look forward to getting back out there (I am), but you may feel guilty about leaving baby behind and you will face new challenges. On top of all the school-related work that has to be completed, I still have to do all the Mommy-stuff too! Another reason why I’m going back before classes starts is to develop my routine.

I’ve started to think about what I am doing in order to prepare myself for going back, and will share my ‘Shared Ideas for Going back to Work’

1. Put baby in daycare before you go back to work.

We are both going back a bit early, so Max will be in daycare starting August 27th. I will only be 10 minutes away if he acts wackadoodle and don’t plan on working a full-day. Try to schedule your daycare starts a bit earlier so that you can gradually expose your baby to his/her new day-time digs before you fully go back to work. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to work: go grocery shopping, clean the house, go get a massage, whatever. This will not only help baby, but you will also get used to your new routine as well.

2. If you can, go back part-time

I am not going back full-time right away. Right now I am scheduled to teach 2 classes (I usually teach 3). I am slightly unaware of my schedule; but it could be all morning or afternoon, or a big gap in between having a morning and afternoon class. For me, this works out because I will be using that time to do everything that I need to do before 4pm hits so that when I go home, I don’t have as much work to do. Like practicing your new routine, having a reduced work schedule may help with the work/home balance.

3. If you plan on weaning, start early!

Max is only BF first thing in the morning. We have been bottle feeding for quite some time, but really only started the weaning process in May. Once I found out I was teaching summer school back in May, we started phasing out BFing sessions and replacing with a bottle at lunch time. Then we moved on to the morning snack bottle, and then finally replaced the afternoon snack and dinner. Max has always had a bottle for bedtime, but I usually pumped. I have recently stopped that as well. So yes, it has been a four month process to wean him. This helped prevent engorgment and any feelings of discomfort. If your baby doesn’t like bottles, you will need to work through that as well. You may wish to continue to pump at work, but for me that wouldn’t really be ideal because I go hours without a break at school. If you have questions/concerns, this is when you should hit up your friendly lactation consultant for sure!

4. Have other people hold baby.

If baby is only comforted by you, start giving him/her to others if they are upset. Max doesn’t care one bit who holds him, but not all babies are like that. Hire a babysitter, let grandma/grandpa/husband/whoever put squirt down for a nap, anything you can think of. It will help with the transition!

5. Make sure your pants fit!

Yup, I said it – make sure your work clothes fit before you head back. Let’s face it, we have all been in gym clothes since baby was born (LuLuLemon says “that’s right!”), but unless you are a personal trainer (Fitnessista I’m lookin at you!), you can’t work yoga pants to work. I do not fit into my pre-pregnancy pants even though I actually weigh less than I did before. My hips have changed, so I can get my pants past them. Also, if you are still nursing, your bra size is still probably off and your tops may not fit. Take an inventory of what you have and make sure you have enough outfits. If you are planning on pumping – have ‘easy access’ choices in mind.

6. Go get a haircut/massage/pedicure/manicure

To help relieve some going back to work stress – go get pampered! I would also encourage a haircut (just like wearing yoga pants, we have all probably had our hair up for months as well) to get back in the mood of work.

7. Have a discussion about household responsibilities

Unlike the pre-feminist movement times, women usually go back to work once mat leave is up. With both parents at work, some juggling of the housework needs to happen. Your significant other may have gotten used to supper being made, house being clean, laundry being done all by whoever is staying at home. However, if Mom/Dad goes back to work, time is going to get tight! Have a discussion about how housework is going to get down on a realistic schedule. Our schedule is a bit more challenging since both of us have been off for the past two months. One thing we have decided is that dinners will be planned as to elevate some of the stress that I will have when I get home around 5pm. Max will also be on a bit more strict routine.

So, try to not be too stressed about going back to work. I am looking forward to it a bit, but know that I will be busy,busy.busy all day!

By Rebecca|Baby|0 Comments

Carrier Debate

While browsing my twitter followers the other day, I noticed a tweet that focused on babies being bored in strollers and how the person wanted to had each parent who she saw with a stroller a carrier.

Although I do get the sentiment behind the message (that maybe parents don’t know about the carriers out there), I did point out that not every baby likes carriers. Max is one of those baby. When ‘baby shopping’ and making registry lists, I asked for a Moby (wrap-style carrier). When Max grew out of that, I purchased a Beco Gemini Carrier. We were also gifted an MEC ‘Happy Trails’ backpack. Although the Moby was great for the first 2-3 months, he ended up hating it. He lasts about 15 minutes in the Beco before he starts screaming. He isn’t big enough for the Happy Trails one, but I’m hoping that he likes it so we can go hiking one of these days. But the main idea is – Max does not like to be carried, especially in public.

For those of you who have met Max, you know that unless he is hungry/tired, he is a very well-mannered baby. However, put him in a carrier and he will scream bloody murder. Two of his epic public meltdowns have been when he was being carried. I cannot for the life of my figure out why. I do think it is a combo of being ‘tied down’ and not being able to fully see everything (especially in the Moby). Also, after the first 3-4 weeks, Max was not able to fall asleep in any carrier. Once he became ‘self-aware’ (which was really early in his case), he pretty much wanted out.

I was able to wear him on a bus and around school a couple of times. If I wanted to sit down and do work or something – never! I think he just doesn’t like to be carried as simple as that

The comment irked me because the tweeter assumed that all babies are bored in a stroller. Max loves his chariot rides and it calms him down. He loves to look around and see the world. Other than the first initial ‘buckling in’, he doesn’t make a peep. Unless he is hungry….

All babies are different, we are told over and over again. So why is it that people think that babies should/shouldn’t do certain things? There is a difference between information sharing and judging someone. I would honestly be annoyed if someone handed me a carrier thinking that I don’t have 3.

Anyways that is just my thoughts on that. I love carriers and really wish that Max liked them a bit more. It would make things a little bit more easy and fun!

By Rebecca|Baby|4 Comments

The attraction of Mommy-blogs

Yesterday I was cruising around Facebook and pretty much realizing that I do not really use it the way that I used to use it back when Facebook first started. I barely post anything nowadays except the occasional bit about running, maybe sharing a funny photo and posting the occasional Max picture. What I do use it for are the discussion groups. Primarily the ones I use are related to teaching and babies. The ‘Babies of 2011′ has been a great resource to ask other new Mom’s about things and discuss experiences. Topics of interest that keep popping up are breast-feeding, starting solids, weird poop colours, change in behaviours (especially sleeping) and the sharing of resources like lactation consultants, sleep doulas and that sort of thing.

It could be around 2am and you might ask a question – odds are, someone might answer as you probably are not the only one up!

Mommy-blogs are something a little different though. This blog isn’t too ‘Mommy-oriented’ as I feel like I don’t have too much to say about the whole thing. I just post the occasional update because there are some people interested, but more importantly I am writing things down! When you have a baby you think you will remember everything – well, you don’t! Plus, babies change so fast that it is really neat to read about what poopy-face was doing at 8 weeks.

I have about 15 or so blogs on my ‘reader list’, almost all revolve around fitness/running and parenting stuff. A few have the same kind of focus that I have: running and parenting. It has been really great to be able to read other people’s experiences with their babies who are roughly the same age as Max. Heather’s Zoey is 2 months older than Max, and through her posts/tweets I can see what to look forward to in the future. Fitnessista, and Runner’s Trials babies are very close to Max’s age. I think Runner’s Trials had the same due-date that I had, and Fitnessista’s Livi shares a birthday with the world’s coolest person (me! hehe). Both have blogged about their struggles, and offered suggestions/insight based on their experiences. Fitnessista (obviously) shares fitness information – but she also posts food posts and some of her food ideas have made me drool on more than one occasion.

There are also Mommy blogs that share information or review products. Personally, I am not really into the whole product review blogs, but I like the information sharing (there is a difference). A Little bit of Momsense is a great ‘info sharing’ blog, and the big thing for me is that Rebecca is from Ottawa (actually I think she lives literally 5 minutes away from me). It has been great to get some information about local ‘things to do’

Then there is the ‘funny blogs’. The biggest one to hit the blogosphere is Honest Toddler. If you have a young baby/toddler you NEED to check out the blog, but more importantly the twitter feed. Absolutely hilarious!

Those are the blogs I am for sure checking out almost daily. You should browse them if interested! I know I have enjoyed reading them and feel as if I have some internet-friends out there.

This cracks me up

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Today is commencement day – Congrats to the Grads of 2012!

By Rebecca|Baby, Max|2 Comments

Mom Post: Used or New…My Take

Having a baby can be pretty expensive. There is quite a bit that you need to get before the little one arrives, and as all my older friends/parents/relative say, there are so many things that exist now that didn’t before. Personally, I didn’t spend that much on Max’s things. Quite a few things I did need I got used, and some things I bought new. Garage Sales, Kijiji, Craig’s List and other ‘used forums’ make it really easy to pretty much get anything you need used for a much cheaper price. Some people are just giving stuff away. Case in point: my Chariot. They retail for over $600 just for the chassis. I got mine for $200 and it is (was?) in fantastic shape, even with the tire nibs still on.

However you still have to be cautious about what you buy used. Here are my top 3 “yay for used” , “nay for used”, and “think about it”

Yay for Used:

1) Change Table

I’ve heard that many people don’t actually use the change table much. Max is still fine getting changed on it, but those days are coming to an end. I use mine to store all my cloth diapers! My change table is stocked ready to go of all baby bumbum needs! You can also get a dresser if you want, which you can also get used!

2) Bumbo’s

Max is finally getting into his bumbo! I see these on kijiji all the time. I think because babies tend not to be in them for very long. Safety wise, there is nothing wrong with a used bumbo. They can be pretty pricey for a new one: around $60!

3) Baby Bullet

Holy Baloney do I ever see tons of baby bullets for sale on kijiji. So many are unopened. Do yourself a favour and check kijiji before going to the store to buy one, you can save yourself some $$ by taking one off someone’s hands.

Nay for Used

1) Cribs

Not only for safety reasons (regulations change!), but because of bed-bugs too. Ask P, although I would freak out if I had mice in the house or cockroaches….bedbugs would make me go nuts!! They are so hard to get rid of. Personally, I just would not get a used crib unless I knew the previous owner

Good website for you to bookmark: Health Canada Consumer Product Safety

2) Car Seats

Safety: Car seat regulations change. In Canada they have just changed! Kijiji has asked that people no longer post car seat ads because of this reason. Also, even though seats have expiration dates on them, you have no idea whether it has been in an accident or not. It is recommended that car seats get changed if you have been even in the smallest of accidents. Don’t risk it! Also, Do NOT buy car seats in the States if you are from Canada. They do not have the same regulations

Good Website to check out: Transport Canada Child Restraint and Booster Seat Notices

3) Open cans of formula.

I have seen these ads on kijiji. I would have no problem with sealed cans, infact I’ve done tradsies with a few Ottawa Moms, but opened cans are a big no no. You just never know…..

Think About it (you could go either way)

1) Baby Carriers/Wrap

Baby carrier shopping is a personal thing. Some love Moby’s, some don’t. Babies can also have a preference as well. Although there is really nothing wrong with purchasing a used carrier/wrap, you may want to try some on before you purchase. I received my Moby as a gift and used it until Max was 3 months. I then felt too uncomfortable with it on and felt I needed more support. I went to a store in Montreal (just happened to be there) where they helped me try on several different kinds with Max in the carrier. I ended up with the Beco Gemini after trying on 5 different carriers. Do your research first. If you find one you like: then buy it online.

2) Jogging Strollers

Do your research before. You also want to make sure you look for any defects or general wear and tear. Buying a used jogging stroller can save you tons of $$. Depending on the one you want, you may also have to take some time to find a used one. It took me months to find a Chariot for a decent price that wasn’t too worn down. I really lucked out with my purchase! Also, don’t spend the $$ if you don’t jog already: especially with a stroller like the chariot. The chariot is not a mall stroller! There are cheaper brands out there that have the rubberized ‘big wheels’ that people are looking for.

3) Breast Pumps

Once the box is opened you can not return a breast pump. Therefore you see LOTS of breast pumps for sale on kijiji. Medela has stated that you should not purchase a used pump for sanitary reasons. Personally I would buy a used motor, but would replace the parts that touch my ‘mommy milk areas’. Again, do your research before purchasing a pump. Also, I would probably wait until after baby is born before purchasing one. Some people just don’t do breastfeeding for various reasons, even though they planned on it. Because of the limited return policy of breast pumps, make sure you are 100% certain you will be partaking in BFing. You can also rent breast pumps as well! Lots of options available!

By Rebecca|Baby, Max, Uncategorized|2 Comments

Max @ 5 Months

Was supposed to post this yesterday, but I kinda forgot. Oppsies!

Anyways, here is a Max update at 5 months. Don’t like baby-talk? You don’t have to read

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Routine:

Pretty much the same as last month, except we have returned to waking up between 5am-6am for breakfast. However, this varies: today we woke up at 5am, Sunday we woke up at 7am. If he wakes up stupidly early (like today), we stay in bed for a Mommy and Max nap until 8:30 or so. He also goes to bed earlier now too: around 9pm. Yesterday he was so tired that he literally went to sleep as soon as I put him down, no giggle party required.

In terms of sleep, please don’t hate me, but he still goes to bed without much hassle. Only a few months this month did he have to actually be rocked to sleep (or something like that). Half the time he is having a freakin giggle party in bed playing with his feet or turning on his ‘fishy tv’. I can’t really explain it…..

What can Max do?

He can finally roll over, yay! He can only go from front to back. He is *this close* to doing it from back to front, but he stops himself from going all the way over. He is able to shuffle around on the ground and literally do a 360 on the floor.

Talking wise: he does make some new noises from time to time. He loves to laugh and talk to his toys. Sometimes if you are lucky, he will respond to you if you ask him something. One time the girls at track were giggling about something, and then out of the blue he starts giggling too. Super funny!

He is starting to become a little bit more shy with people. He also starts looking for me when I go out for a bit. He does recognize his Mommy and Daddy. I think he also recognizes some of the kids at school, my parents and my co-Coach. Not too sure though.

We have started feeding him some oatmeal mixed with breast milk. I don’t feed him oatmeal everyday and if I do it is only a small amount for one meal a day. All the super fun stuff comes after. I am just using store bought oatmeal for now, but once we start fruits and veg, I am making my own.

Other than that, nothing too super new this month. Coming up: crawling, sitting up on his own and starting the ‘good stuff’ in terms of solids….YAY

By Rebecca|Baby, Max|0 Comments

Disposables vs. Cloth Diapers

I am writing this post ahead of time since I am not bring the Macbook to my parents house. I will write my 5K race report on Tuesday or Wednesday.

In discussions with my friends who have babies we have come to realize that cloth diapers are making a bit of a comeback. Before disposables were all the rage and cloth diapers were thought of as something from the past. I had cloth diapers when I was a baby! Now, it seems that almost everyone is using cloth diapers at some point. Some are using them, exclusively while some (like myself) are using a combo of the two.

What I do:

- I have a cloth diaper service provided by a family-run business here in Ottawa called Sweet Peach. They provide a very affordable and reliable service. For the fitted diapers, it costs $24.95 per week which includes diapers, soakers for long periods and bamboo cloth wipes. If you pre-pay and pre-book for a year you get a pretty good discount. I use the cloth diapers at home and sometimes on the road if we go out somewhere quick.

- We use disposables at night since Max sleeps upwards of 10 hours at a time (don’t hate me). We have *just* started doing this in the past month because I was sick of him being literally soaked by 3am. Once I stopped the 3am feedings, we started disposables at night.

- We also use disposables when traveling and when I am out for longer stretches (for example Track practice)

Pro’s of Cloth Diapering

- No diaper rash. Max has had nothing weird on his bumbum yet.

- Cute diaper covers. Can’t wait for the summer when he gets to ‘roam free’

- I believe that my diaper service is VERY cost effective. I pay roughly $23 bucks for my service after my discount. That includes diapers and wipes. Diapers at the store are bloody expensive. So are wipes.

- Apparently it helps potty training. I will get back to you on that one. However, Max doesn’t really care if his diaper is wet or not. Some kids do mind!

- Less trash! And disposables give off a powerful smell…yuck

- Less Blow-outs. This is a ‘my opinion’ thing. I find that when Max has a super duper pooper, and is in a disposable, it gets everywhere. In the cloth diapers it seems to get contained a bit better. I have had a few incidents with the disposables, including one epic one last night where I got covered in it, as well as the bouncy chair (he was wearing a dark shirt and didn’t notice the poop stains)

- No chemicals on the diapers. There is some talk about diaper services that use harsh chemicals to wash the diapers though.

Cons of Cloth Diapers

- You have to change baby, ALOT. I change Max’s diaper once every hour. If he pee’s a few times he will start soaking through

- They don’t adjust the same way as disposables. You also really need to make sure (if you have a boy) that his peepee is pointing down….

- Cloth service: can be expensive in the long run compared to buying a lot of them yourself. Our hydro is really expensive and we had to figure how much it would cost just to launder the damn things.

- As mentioned above, the nighttime thing. This can result in more laundry. When I was doing the cloth at night thing, Max went through at least two sleepers a night. Not to mention the sleep sack reeked.

That is all I can think of for now! Obviously it is your choice on what diapers to use and every experience will be different. Just one of those things you have to consider when having a baby!

By Rebecca|Baby, Max|2 Comments

Needles and a track meet

Had our last indoor meet yesterday with the track team. We did a bit better this round. However, not as many schools were there this round. It will be better when we get to our big invitational meets in two weeks.

So we ran a 4x100m boys team yesterday without practicing it first. We got 2nd place out of 8 teams! A little work on the 2nd exchange zone and some speed work and we will be up there. I am also going to try and fill a 4×400 senior team as well. You never know what is going to happen! We are not on break for meets until May. Next week will be focusing on practices and getting ready for the competitive meets.

In terms of my own training. Did nothing yesterday. Today it is raining outside, and I have a few errands to run, so I doubt that we are going to be able to do anything today. Might try though! I just don’t want it to start pouring buckets with Max in the chariot. I don’t really trust the ‘rain shield’ on it…

Yesterday was Max’s four month check up (yes, I was crazy enough to have a track meet and a doctors visit in the same day). He has met all the necessary developmental milestones, has a good sized head, is tall enough but is still skinny mini. He hasn’t been gaining as much weight as he used to, but apparently that is a bit normal in the 3-4 month range. He will probably have another growth spurt in a month and zoom back up. I’m not sure why though. His bottle meals are over 5oz now and he doesn’t seem super hungry. But, it doesn’t really matter.

He had his next set of immunizations and they went fine. He didn’t even budge for the first one, but cried for all of 10 second on the second one. He was in a bit of a weird mood last night and had a borderline low-grade fever, but he is fine now. When he was on the examination table, he went nuts. Why? Because they line the table with that crinkle paper. He was having the time of his life making the paper make the crinkle noise.

By Rebecca|Baby, Max, running, school|0 Comments

Tuesday Baby Post

Max is sleeping on my lap right now, so I figured I have a few moments to post today. Tonight’s dinner is in the slow cooker: new recipe of chicken pot pie. Will let you know how it turns out!

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Someone posted a video on this FB Mom group that I read. It is another one of those spoofs on ‘S*** Girls Say’. This one is ‘S*** Natural Mamas Say’. Most of the stuff I get, but I don’t say most of it. Only ones really are related to: cloth diapering (who knew I would be washing out crap on a daily basis), “big pharma”, pumping breast milk (I will so be pumping in a washroom or something if I go back to school in September…yay?), and my fave “We chose not to mutilate his genitals” (so said that quite a few times, and yes we chose that route).

Anyways, the parents of this video have a pretty good blog where they post videos twice a week on the newest things in Natural parenting. Their son looks a bit like Max which is cute.

On the site they gave a list of things you can do to be a ‘crunchy’ parent. I hate the saying crunchy, so I substitute the word ‘natural’ (even though I don’t think it is the correct word because there is nothing ‘natural’ about diapers).

*Taken from: www.mamanatural.com, check it out!*

Ten steps to be all the crunchy you can be:

1. Change your diet, change your life
2. Shoot for a natural childbirth
3. (Forgive yourself if it doesn’t work out)
4. Register for natural baby products
5. Avoid circumcision
6. Cloth diaper
7. Breastfeed! (Forgive yourself if it doesn’t work out)
8. Feed your children well
9. Be intentional about vaccines
10. Stay informed and spread the word!

What do I do??

1. I do not buy frozen processed food except ice cream. It hurts me

2+3. I did want a natural birth, but once inducement came in the picture and the fact that Max was not cooperating I changed my birth plan the week before he was born. In the end I had an induced-epidural-forceps-episiotomy birth. The only thing that really pissed me off was the episiotomy, but oh well.

4. Not in to that yet.

5. No problems with Max’s peepee yet and for those who might say “what will the boys in the locker room say?’ (which is what my OB said)…all the baby boys I know that have been born in the last two years have un-touched penises.

6. Cloth diaper: We do not wash our own diapers (yay diaper service), but the service we use does it in an environmentally friendly way. They are also a family run business. Cloth diapering is costing us about the same amount, and so far no diaper rash at all.

7. Breast feed: Doing that and will be doing that for awhile. Supplementing with some formula though still, but less than 3oz a day

8. Not feeding Max yet, but our focus will be on foods we prepare ourselves. Some things we do organic, some we don’t.

9. Vaccines: Max will be getting the standard ones (anything required by the school board and anything that P or I could bring home from a student). I am still undecided about Chicken Pox (I don’t see the big deal about chicken pox) and I do not like the flu shot (don’t get it myself).

10. Trying to stay informed as much as possible!

By Rebecca|Baby, Max|2 Comments

Post-Pregnancy

Had my 6-week follow-up last Friday (even though 6 weeks is today), and I am all healed up from labour/delivery and can now resume working out, maybe even go for a run (when it isn’t too icy). After going through the standard questions (how are things going, are you sad, any pain, etc) my OB asks about birth control and I gave him a blank stare and said “ya, like I have time for that, buddy!”. Anyways, one thing I didn’t know about breast-feeding until I became pregnant was that when you are breast-feeding exclusively, you may not get your period. However, you might still ovulate and get pregnant (which has happened to a few people I know). So doc’s want you to resume some sort of birth control with the stern warning that breast-feeding is not birth control. So I have a prescription for bc pills again….yay?

Eventually I do need to start doing some form of work-out as I need to develop some ab muscles again. I have almost lost all my pregnancy weight, but still have about 7 pounds to go, which we all know are the toughest to lose. I have this stupid looking pouch in my belly-button region of my tummy. It looks stupid because the rest of me (minus the boobs) is skinny. So my problemo is that I am at a very ackward stage when it comes to clothes: normal clothes don’t fit yet, and my pregnancy clothes are a bit too bit now. *sigh*

During pregnancy I had almost no stretch marks, minus the couple of weird ones in the middle of my butt-area and around my surgery scar. I have a few around my belly-button, but they are not that noticeable and will probably fade eventually. As the case with most Moms, my boobs look weird as well, but that is unavoidable if you wish to breastfeed and really, I have no plans on showing my boobs in Playboy or anything. My pelvis area/lower back still hurts if I sit too long. When driving back from Oshawa last week, I had to get Paul to drive after only 1.5hrs of me driving because I was in too much pain.

Other than that, I feel pretty much back to normal. I am very surprised at how well I felt a couple of days after giving birth (minus the whole open wound thing). I know the first time I go running will be a bit of a struggle, but honestly I usually take a break from running from November to the spring anyways (I don’t mind the cold, but I hate the icy streets). Which reminds me….time to sign up for some races!!!

By Rebecca|2012 Goals, Baby|0 Comments