Reset

When I walked out of the hospital with MAD I was 25 lbs lighter then when I got pregnant.  My body reacts to pregnancy in a different way then most women’s bodies do.  I don’t get crazy cravings.  Ice cream holds no appeal.  I forget to eat.  Sweets sound gross.  As a result, during both pregnancies my net has been a pretty good weight loss.

However, once the baby is out and nursing begins my sugar cravings go through the roof.  I can’t get enough sweets.  I don’t have to fight to get the baby weight off.  I have to fight to keep the nursing weight off.  Which is where I am right now.  Luckily during this time of year I can usually satisfy these cravings with fresh fruit.  Every night I have a big bowl of fresh, local berries and milk. But it’s so easy to make up a batch of homemade shortcake to go with the strawberries, or sprinkle my blueberries with sugar.

With M I exercised throughout my pregnancy.  I walked almost daily and took a weekly prenatal yoga class.  With MAD, I barely did anything.  A cardio class here and there.  A few dates with a treadmill and that was it.  I might have been down in weight but I was completely out of shape.

So a couple of weeks ago, when a neighborhood girl dropped off a flyer about her babysitting services I called her the next day.  After 2 days of me staying home while she was a “mother’s helper” for a few hours, I was confident MAD was ready for me to leave him in the sitter’s care.  The next day I looked at the class offerings at my gym and attended one.

Last week I went to five classes.  I went to Total Conditioning with Pauline and got my ass kicked several times over.  I tried a boxing class using weighted gloves.  A barbell strength class that should be renamed “do squats for an hour while lifting” was awesome.  And Zumba had me laughing at myself the entire hour (I am SO not a dancer!).  I feel great.  I’m sore and tired but it’s such a good feeling, one I haven’t had in awhile. The squats are getting easier.  I feel strong again.

This week it’s the same thing.  And I’ve already booked the sitter for next week, too.  Then I go back to work.

My gym only offers one late evening class a week (something I am really trying to get them to change).  I’m bummed because I love classes.  I love mixing it up and pushing through an hour of moves.  I challenge myself much more in a class then I would on my own.  I did burpees today!! I would NEVER do those on my own. But, I’m trying to come up with a plan to keep me motivated after I return to work.

I think I will start the C25k program which I can do outside or on our treadmill after the kids are in bed.  I’m going to try to make it to that Monday night class.  My office has yoga on Thursdays which I will start again. Maybe I’ll do the 30 Day Shred or Power 90 a couple of times a week.  Or head to the gym after the kids are in bet to use the weights.  I have to do something to keep the nursing weight off.

Now, if I can only kick this insane sugar craving. I’m reading about AndreAnna‘s journey with great interest. I know that’s the next step, but one I’m not quite ready to make.  Yet.

By kakaty on 29 June 2010

Prego, general musings

My Girl

As we barrel towards the arrival of our new family addition (arriving 4/17 via induction, in case you haven’t heard) I find myself marveling at our first born.  All of a sudden she seems so grown up and I know this feeling will intensify when the baby arrives.  But, this kid, I just love her so much.

For spring break her daycare/preschool was shut down for a week and a half.  We swapped days with another family so no one had to take more then 2 days off.  But having 2 days to spend with this amazing child was just what I needed.  In keeping with my motto “if kids aren’t IN the house, they can’t mess it up” we had lots of excursions.  We went to Preston’s Hope Playground, made brownies for snack, hiked at Shaker Nature Center, traveled out to Playground World for the morning and spent a glorious afternoon at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Her partner in crime was a friend’s son who attends the same school is about 6 months older then her – they’ve known each other since birth.

What was so fascinating about these couple of days was just watching how M interacts with other kids.  We don’t do many playdates (with the whole full-time-working, crazy weekend thing) around here, so watching and listening as I waddled my pregnant self after them was eye opening.  Seeing her adjust and change on a dime, negotiate who got to do what first, when she decided to play by herself rather then play with him, the painful twinge in seeing my own shyness manifest itself in her around unknown children… it was all just really cool to see it unfold in front of me.

Back at home she’s been so attentive and cuddly.  She’s prone to crawl in my lap and proclaim me the “best mama in the world” at any moment.  She’ll stop what she’s doing just to tell me she loves me.  She’ll run over to me mid-dance to give me a kiss and will then kiss my belly.  I get gifts of dandelions and pretty leaves every evening and each morning she lifts up my shirt and tells the baby ‘good morning’.  This is not to say that she is some magical perfect child – oh, no way! She still has her tantrums, doesn’t listen and tends to ignore you if she doesn’t like what you are saying.  But the good is far outweighing the bad right now.

With spring here we spend a lot of times outside and she’s so interested in everything around us: “What kind of tree is that?” “What’s the name of that flower?” “What kind of bird is singing?”  She comes home from school and retells elaborate, detailed stories about her day. She can spell her name and write the letters (more or less). At her swim lessons she plunges fearlessly into the water and is getting quite good at propelling herself underwater.  Her memory is amazing and she will randomly compare something she sees/hears to something that happened over a year ago.  Every night, after an epic and sometimes comedic period of stalling her bedtime, she will lay in her bed and talk or sing to herself for up to an hour.  While I can get a tad annoying when she’s still up at 9:00, I also can’t help but giggle a little at everything I hear. 

There is truth to the saying “every age is the best age” and I have certainly felt that myself.  She’s getting so grown up so fast. But right now there are several moments each day that my heart just feels like it will burst with love and pride for this girl and I want to remember every second.

By kakaty on 14 April 2010

Prego, magpie

M’s Birth Story

I swear this isn’t going to be an all-birth/pregnancy-stories-all-the-time blog, but I’ve been revisiting things I wrote in the last weeks of my previous pregnancy and first weeks of being a parent.  It’s what’s on my mind right now, so bare with me as I remember and share some of these stories.

M was due on 9/18.  My midwife, Abby, was a bit concerned about the amount of amniotic fluid (I had too much).  That along with a period of days with no midwife on-call at the hospital and already being dilated several cm prompted me to have my membranes stripped on 9/15 in the hopes of jump starting labor.  We went into the office early on Friday morning for the procedure and came home, hoping to head to the hospital at anytime.  By late afternoon, with not one contraction, we figured it wouldn’t happen.  I returned to work on Monday, trying to work as much as possible in an attempt to extend my maternity leave to the holiday shut down in December.  We returned to the midwife on the afternoon of 9/22 and decided to have my water broken the next day.  An ultrasound said that “Baby D” was just over 8 pounds and the amniotic fluid had reduced to a more normal level.  Abby tried stripping the membranes again, in the hopes of getting things started (it failed, again).

Saturday morning arrived and we went to iHop for a big breakfast.  I was admitted to the hospital very close to our house in Toledo around 8:15 and we were lucky to get the birthing suite with the labor tub as we requested.  We settled in while our nurse, Velma, asked all sorts of questions and took my vitals.  I even requested for the TV to be on so we could watch college football – Michigan vs. Wisconsin (yes, I’m that much of an awesome wife)!

Abby broke my water at 10:15 AM and I was immediately happy this had not happened at home and that I was in a place equipped to deal with the mess.  Mild contractions started within 15 minutes.  I felt better while I was up and about so Mark and I spent a lot of time walking up and down the hallway of the labor and delivery ward, having mild contractions and hoping things would get moving.  Every time I laid back down, contractions stopped.  Around 12:30 I laid down and rolled to my right side and I was struck with severe light headed-ness and nausea.  Mark helped me to the bathroom and I got sick and felt better, but realized I was very hungry.  I had some crackers, jell-o and ginger ale to get my blood sugar back up.  After I was feeling better, Velma filled the tub and I got in.  It was very relaxing and the contractions, which had been getting stronger, felt so much easier but came faster in the warm water.  After about 20 minutes in the warm water, I got the urge to push and things got moving.

Again, lying down on my back felt uncomfortable and stopped the contractions, so Mark helped support me as I semi-squatted and pushed while standing.  Abby suggested that I labor on my knees and adjusted the bed so I could kneel on the end and support my upper body on the top of the bed.  I was an odd position, but it worked very well for me.  Contractions started coming faster and the pushing, while it hurt, was not nearly as bad as I expected.  Mark was great, getting me water when I needed it, keeping a cold washcloth on my neck and encouraging me to keep going.  Abby was great, explaining to me what was happening and what I needed to do.  After about 30 minutes, Baby D started to crown and I lost my will to go drug-free, saying “I can’t do this” and  “This needs to be over”.  The pain was intense, but between contractions was all calm.  Abby, Velma & Mark were all very positive and encouraging as I proceeded.  Abby worked me through the crowing and I felt the head come out.  Two pushes later and I heard Mark say “it’s a girl!”.  It was 3:03 PM.  I was shaking and disoriented as they placed M on the bed between my arms.  I was scared to hold her as my hands were shaking and my arms were half-asleep from leaning on them.  Mark helped wipe her down and he cut the cord.  Velma and Mark took her to the warming table while Abby helped my turn over and lie down.  I started shaking again and Velma brought me M.  I was overwhelmed – tired and excited all at once.  I couldn’t believe I had just birthed this little baby, all without any drugs and it happened so fast.  It all seemed a blur.

All of a sudden I felt the need to push again and out came the placenta.  Velma and Mark took M to weigh her while Abby gave me three stitches. They brought me M and I tried nursing but she wouldn’t latch on.  She finally did but only stayed on for a short time.   Mark, M and I hung out for awhile while we continued to try to nurse.  Mark made phone calls to family and friends announcing the news and we just kept staring at this tiny baby, who weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz.

About an hour and a half after the birth M and I were wheeled down to the postpartum rooms.  M went to the nursery with Mark for her first bath and I went to the room.  I settled into the room, took a shower and tuned into the OSU game while the nurse brought me dinner.  Mark came back and M followed about 30 minutes later, after being under the warmer post-bath.

My parents, who were at a BGSU football game, came to meet their granddaughter and stayed for a short time.  That night, Mark stayed at the hospital with me after running home to let Mac out.  Although I had been adamant pre-birth that M stay in my room all night, I finally did have a nurse take her down to the nursery since every tiny move and noise she made kept me awake.  Other then being a little tired I was fine – no pain or anything and M became a champion nurser in no time.  My sister and brother visited the next day and we all just sat around the small hospital room chatting and staring at M.  I insisted Mark go home that night so he would get one last night of good sleep while I again sent M to the nursery and a nurse brought her to me for feedings.

The next morning, exactly 48 hours after my water was broken we arrived home as a family of 3.

By kakaty on 18 February 2010

Prego, magpie

Labor Rant

With my due date 10 weeks away, I’ve obviously been thinking a bit about labor and delivery.  Of all the things that can go wrong, the scary stuff, my hopes and our fears.  But I’m healthy, the baby is healthy, I’m having a good pregnancy and there is no reason to plan for any medical interventions.  They are there if necessary, but given my history with M there is little reason to believe I will need them.

So, yesterday I got a bit riled up when not one but 2 birth-related things surfaced on my interwebs.  The first was a link to this People Magazine article about Gisele Bundchen’s birth experience and the reaction was to lash out at her for being awful. I’m the first to admit it’s totally over the top to believe that she felt no pain.  But to assume she’s a liar-McLiarface because she had a low pain and easy birth experience? I just don’t understand.  I did much of my labor in the water with M and, as Mark can attest, while in the tub my pain level went way down.  It’s not much of a jump for me to see how a water birth would have been pretty low pain for Gisele. (Okay, okay I will call her a Liarface on her quote that says she does her own dishes – riiiight).

Then later in the day an old high school friend posed on Facebook asking other mothers about birthing classes. Within just a manner of minutes, there were a dozen comments all basically chanting “Forget the classes, get the epidural! Get it before your water breaks! All you need to know is E-P-I-D-U-R-A-L!”  So I posted the following:
“…And you don’t need an epidural, I opted to try without one (always having the option to get one if I wanted) and found I didn’t need/want it. Everyone’s different and you never know what you can handle until you’re there.”
And of course that was followed by a chorus of “you must be superwoman!” and “you’re a superstar for trying” and the like. Those comments, while said with good intentions drive me nuts because I just know that while they are saying it they are thinking “what a crunchy-granola-eating-hemp-wearing hippie freak”. I’m not a superwoman or a hippie – I’m just a woman who trusted the medical staff with whom I had worked with for 7 months and my own body to do what needed to be done and react to things as they happened, not before they happened.

Was my labor with M any less truthful or real or gritty because I was able to do it without any medication? Is it less meaningful because I didn’t have any intervention or last minute scares that I could share with everyone in the months after her birth? Why should I feel like I have to whisper that I enjoyed her birth and it really didn’t hurt all that much?

I went into having M with my eyes wide open and I know I was lucky in that it went so well.  I knew the risks and possibilities involved, but I also knew that it was an experience I had never had before so there was no medical reason for me to take measures to prevent something that we weren’t sure would even happen (i.e. intolerable pain). I don’t get up every morning and take a Tylenol “just in case” I get a headache later, why would I take medication in at the start of labor before I knew how bad the pain was?

Look, I totally understand that everyone has their own tolerance for pain and has their own medical history and assorted fears/issues they bring with them to a labor ward.  But I really and truly don’t understand the condescending backlash and accusations of being a liar against woman who admit that 1) labor wasn’t all that hard/painful for them or 2) was actually kind of wonderful and not at all as scary and harsh as they had anticipated? And yes, asserting that someone is a “superwoman” or saying “I could never do that” is condescending to all involved.  How do you know you could never do it until you tried?

Just so we are all clear I am far from an earth-mama hippie. Yes, I had a medication-free birth with M by choice/luck/effort/education and hope to do the same again.  I also have eaten sushi, soft cheese and had an occasional glass of wine while prego and sometimes let the TV babysit the girl.  Yes, we use cloth diapers, breastfeed, use non-toxic cleaning products and recycle.  But I will also drive to the grocery store 3 blocks away instead of walk if it’s cold or I’m tired. I also use probably highly toxic extra-strength deodorant, not a rock, and hate the smell of patchouli.

By kakaty on 03 February 2010

Prego, general musings

Looking Ahead

There is no doubt that 2010 is going to be life altering in many ways. The arrival of baby 2.0 will make sure of that. But right now, I’m having a hard time looking even that far into the future. Just taking a look at my/our January calendar is making me tired – excited but tired.

We will be heading to Disney on Ice in just over a week and I predict M will loose her mind when she sees princesses! and ice skating! together in one show. Then my mom is coming up for the long (for her, not schmucks like me who have to work) MLK weekend to help paint the baby’s room (and maybe M’s room, too – if we hustle) and this will make it official – our guest room will become the baby’s room and then there is no denying the impending arrival.

After that comes a jam-packed week of a Cavs game followed by yet another 36-hour trip to Las Vegas for work. I don’t mean to sound whiney but these biannual trips lost their luster after the 2nd one – now they are just exhausting. It’s nice to go to a warmer place even for a few days, but I really do find Vegas kind of gross and dirty. The hotels are nice, but I’m not a big gambler and when you’re only in town for about 27 hours which is book-ended by 4 ½ hour flights it gets old really fast. And Vegas while pregnant? Yippee! At least I will get to see my college friend who is due with her first baby just a few weeks before I am.

Looking past January my eyes go out of focus as all I see are days whipping past at break-neck speed until mid-April and my due date. February and March are hectic times at work and are the dreaded never-ending grey winter months of NE Ohio where you feel like you are doomed to never see the sun again.

And all I can think about is “OMG, are we really doing this again? What were we thinking?” There are 3 things that my mind is dwelling on at the moment: 1) I will never sleep again after 04.2010 and this makes me very grumpy. 2) The great fear of my water breaking in public has returned – this gets me more freaked out then any other part of the birth process. And 3) I had better get a private hospital room. If I have to share a post-partum room I’m going to be livid.

So there you have it – my excitement and fears for 2010. Well, the first quarter of 2010 anyway. The rest of the year is up in the air.

By Kate on 29 December 2009

Prego, general musings, magpie

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