One Month!

Baby Girl turned one month old on Thursday! I wish I could say that I can't believe it has been a month...but I can....the weeks run into each other because every day is so similar. I've finally figured out a sleep situation that allows me to function as a half-intelligent human.

Nursing

Baby Girl is a CHOW HOUND! She went from 5 lbs 15 oz at birth (the 3rd percentile) to 8 lbs 10 oz at one month (the 50th percentile). Mama's milk is doing its job!! She cluster-feeds every 1-2 hours from 7:30 to 9:00 am, then eats about every 3 hours until 6 pm, and then cluster-feeds every 1-2 hours in the evening (6pm to 9 pm) and then will occasionally go 4-6 hour stretches during the night. I've been waking up with sore breasts before she wakes up during the night. I'm hopeful that the 2 6-hour stretches without feeding that we've had so far are a sign of things to come. We just started to try and introduce Baby Girl to the bottle this week. It is amazing to me that she hasn't even had ONE bottle yet. Nugget was drinking from a bottle and receiving supplements from the beginning, so I feel really lucky that breastfeeding has gone so well. Also, I have a MASSIVE breast milk collection in the freezer: 55 bags with 5-6 oz in them! I am pumping 10-15 oz of additional breast milk to store every day!

Sleeping

Generally, I've been going to bed around 10 when Baby Girl finally stops cluster feeding and/or falls asleep. Some nights are great and she'll sleep until 3:30. Other nights, she's up at 12:30, 3:30, and 7:30. We generally stay in bed until 9/10 am so that I can catch up on my ZZZZZZZZZZs. My husband has been taking Nugget to preschool, which has helped. I've been reading "12 Hours' Sleep by 12 Weeks" in hopes that I can successfully sleep train Baby Girl. I didn't have any luck with Nugget...but since everything has been different with Baby Girl, I am optimistic that this will be different as well. The only issue is that it seems like you have to pump instead of nurse to really implement sleep training. I'm ambivalent about stopping nursing. I want to sleep, but at the same time...I love the sweetness of nursing and don't want to do anything that might jeopardize this special time with my Baby Girl. I'm hoping that she'll just magically start sleeping through the night by 6 weeks and I won't have to sleep train...but I know the likelihood of that happening is near nil.

My Post Partum Body

In my last post, I mentioned that I had been lacking in motivation to exercise. Well, I've found it. Once over the amazement of going from a round tummy to a relatively flat tummy, I realized I have a LONG way to go in terms of regaining my pre-pregnancy AND pre-IVF body. I haven't seen as much progress in my ability to fit in any clothes in the past few weeks and I've decided that I'm probably going to have to exercise and be much better about my eating habits if I want to lose any weight and/or fit into my clothes anytime this year. So, I've been running consistently since 10 days post partum. My ability to run longer distances has improved...I treated myself to a 10.5 mile run yesterday...albeit at a 9 minute pace. If everything goes as planned this week, I might get in my first 50 mile week. I have a babysitter that comes 3 times during the work week so I can run outside and I have been running on the treadmill the other two days during the work week. I also signed up for Crossfit Foundations class so that I can start attending Crossfit Workouts 1-2 times a week. My plan for the next two months is to run 5-6 days a week, go to Crossfit 2 days a week, and fit in a little yoga at home. I'm hoping that is all I will need to do to lose the rest of the baby weight. I have to admit that I find my post-partum body a little depressing and am discouraged that I'm not magically thin, even though I know this is an unrealistic expectation. I guess I feel a lot of pressure to lose all the weight quickly so that if we decide to do IVF again I can start at a weight similar to my pre-pregnancy/pre-IVF weight.