belated bump check: 1 week post partum

Obviously me blogging with a new baby hasn't gone so well. I'm working on that though... I meant to post this on Monday, and Tuesday... and well you get the picture. Here is my belly one week after birth.

I honestly can't believe how quickly my body has bounced back. Actually after they moved me to our mother/baby room in the hospital I went to the bathroom and could not believe how flat my stomach was already looking. Chris was rather surprised as well. As far as my blood pressure, back pain, hip pain and swelling were concerned, pregnancy didn't like my body very well. But when I look at how the birth went, and how I feel and look now, I am completely amazed at how well my body took the pregnancy. Currently I am actually two pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight. Not really sure how that happened, but hey, I'll take it.

This first week and a half as a mother has been quite the roller coaster. I have been blessed with an exceptionally good baby (in my opinion of course :o). Ryann rarely cries. Sometimes she wants to be awake in the middle of the night, but instead of being really fussy, she just lays there and 'talks'. She really is a Chatty Cathy.

Ryann had her first doctors appointment last Friday. That terrified me a bit. When she was born Ryann weighed 6lbs 4oz, when we were discharged on Wednesday she was down to 5lbs 15 oz, and by Friday she was only 5lbs 10oz. She was also a bit jaundiced. Neither was enough of a concern for the doctor to send us back to the hospital, but breastfeeding took a back seat to formula so that we could try and get Ryann to gain some weight. Thankfully by Monday the jaundice was gone and Ry was all the way back to her birth weight. Unfortunately she never really took back to nursing, so we are just on formula.

Ry amazes me a bit more every day. I can't believe how attentive and focused she can be. Sometimes when I am burping her, she lifts her head off my shoulder and just stares at me. If my mom is holding her and talking to her, and I start to say something, Ryann will stop and try to find me. Her strength also amazes me. I've never been around infants, but her ability to hold her head, and to grip a binky :o) are outstanding.

Some days I'm physically and emotionally exhausted, but at night when I look over at the sleeper next to me, and see my little peanut, it is all worth it.