One month after baby - how I'm doing

I didn't do many posts about how I was doing after I had the older girls, but looking back I wish I would have. There are so many changes happening with the kids, but I also am all over the place and want to note it before I forget it.

This time, recovery was tougher. With all of the blood loss from Amelia's birth, I was weaker and much more tired longer. I distinctly remember bouncing back pretty quickly (within two days) after Audrey was born. I had more energy than I knew what to do with and was in great spirits. This time, my mood was good but my energy level was nonexistent. Walking around the house was enough for me. After about two weeks, I could really feel my energy levels returning to normal. I was napping every day when the girls napped (if the girls napped). Finally, four weeks later, I am at the point where I don't need a nap every day. I don't have any desire to nap, which is how I felt after the older girls were born. I haven't felt like that since before I was pregnant with Amelia. It's so nice to have that time back in the middle of the day. Sure, I spend most of it attending to one of the kids and not necessarily getting much else done, but it's time that I have back. It's valuable.

I started out this pregnancy weighing about ten pounds more and then also gained an additional five to ten pounds. This left me with about fifteen pounds more to lose than last time. Honestly, though, I need to lose a lot more than fifteen pounds. That is the first goal, to get back to my pre pregnancy weight, but after that it's just to keep losing weight and toning up. 

I spent a lot of time while pregnant researching what I could do to accomplish this. What else did I have to do? I've yoyo'd in the past and have actually learned a lot, but now it's time to actually apply it. I've learned what I like and dislike with exercise. Running is a favorite, but I have to be careful to not overdue it since my weight is still high. I do not want another stress fracture. I love kickboxing for cardio and BodyPump for weight lifting. I love pilates so I'm going to try to fit PiYo into my workout routine. 

That's a lot to squeeze in, but it'll keep things interesting and hopefully prevent me from getting bored and conveniently "not having time" for exercise. Finding time for it all is an issue. I was hoping that I would be able to get up in the morning before everyone else, 5:30 or 6:00, and get it in before the day started. So far, that hasn't been possible (I'm not cleared for exercise but I could do pilates or stretches, etc) because a certain baby doesn't sleep awesome from 5:00 til morning. As she gets older we'll hopefully be able to get in a routine that works better for this, but it's not an option right now. I can't just leave her upstairs crying and fussing with a daddy that needs to get to work. I can't bring her with me because our basement is freezing and she'd probably freak out. That leaves either exercising when the girls are up, which is hard and I hate doing it, or waiting until naptime, which is when I typically need a break as well. Some days I feel like I could be up to it, and other days I need to catch up on sleep. It's just a weird place right now.

But I still have about four weeks left before I am cleared to workout. So there is time to figure it out. 

As far as eating, I have started working on this already. About two weeks ago, I started eating according to my macros. This means that I am eating foods to fit within a set limit for carbs, fats, and mostly proteins. It is a huge adjustment to eat a lot more protein. But amazingly I have already seen results so I will stick with it. I am able to eat a lot more food than the average diet as long as I'm choosing wisely with the foods I eat. Protein protein protein! It helps so much. 

Again, mentally I'm doing pretty good. Three kids three and under is a lot to juggle but I haven't felt too overwhelmed (other than naptime, seriously I just hate starting naptime every day! Necessary, but no fun.) I've been able to keep up on laundry, general tidiness, and getting us out of the house. That's all I wanted to accomplish at this point. I will start cooking supper for us again now that our friends have all brought us food and that is done. (So so wonderful; it made the transition from two to three so much easier.) Let's hope that doesn't overwhelm me! Amelia likes to be worn in a sling, and I'm banking on that to help with the chaos/late afternoon crying that sometimes happens.