It's been such an amazing past 7 days with her. She's a different baby every day, keeping it fun for us - whether it's a new sound she makes, a new cry, or facial expression. I'm falling in love with her more and more each day.
How is it going being first time parents?
Addie is overall a pretty good baby. The toughest thing for us this week was realizing she had her days and nights confused. Makes sense as she was a VERY active baby at night during the last month of pregnancy. We've been focused on trying to get her to understand what time of day it is for the past few days and I think it's working... I think. It's so hard to tell when something seems to be working or not because she changes so much within a 24 hour period. We just have to be persistent and see what works over time.
Andy has been an amazing dad and husband this week. He's been so great about taking over when I'm not feeding Addie - diaper changes, getting her to sleep, changing her clothes, laundry, making food for me, etc. He even sent me off to get a massage yesterday!! What a way to celebrate her one week! My back has been killing me from breastfeeding. Yes, I know how lucky I am!
How am I recovering?
I'm actually doing MUCH better than I imagined. I think I heard too many nightmare stories of labor and postpartum prior to having Addie so I was preparing for the worst. I didn't have to get too many stitches (which I believe is totally because I had the best OB possible to prevent severe tearing) so it should only take a couple weeks for it to all heal.
I do still have swelling in my hands and feet - my joints seem to be swollen. Can't wear my rings yet.
The most surprising thing to me is my body overall. I was a little afraid what my body would be like after baby and I've been pleasantly surprised at how things are looking. My stomach is probably looking 2-3 months pregnant(?) at 1 week - more so a small gut. I can almost fit back into my regular pants! This is with me eating like I'm still pregnant too - I've been such a pig.
I haven't weighed myself and don't plan to for a little while. Why put myself through that?! I just want to wear normal clothes again and then from there I'll work on getting fit again. One step at a time.
Addie is getting stronger and stronger each day. The most incredible thing is her hands. Even right after birth, she had the ability to open her hands and do so much with her fingers, which apparently is advanced for a newborn. Not reading into it too much at all but it's fun to watch what she does. Her neck is getting much stronger too. Her facial expressions are the most entertaining. She'll be smiling one second and giving a grimace another for no reason at all. I wonder what she's dreaming about...
Here are some photos from this week!