1 month tomorrow!

Katie is one month old and I'm one month post-surgery tomorrow. To celebrate, I shaved my legs. Wooo! My leg hair was seriously long enough to spin into yarn and make something. Sexy, huh? On that note, Bobby and I have had sex twice. It was also not sexy, since I was petrified it would hurt and super tense the whole time. It did hurt a little, but I think it was more because I was tense and not exactly into it than any unhealed internal stuffish.

Saturday I developed a breast infection. It wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been; I've heard horrible stories. I have a low fever Sunday, but was feeling better Monday and pretty much fine Tuesday. Hopefully I don't get another one. They're both a little sore, but I think it's mostly just the new stresses of being filled and emptied constantly. Breastfeeding is no joke, people.

I need to go to the grocery store, but I was supposed to go with my mom. However, the later it gets, the crazier the store is going to be. I went at noon on Monday, and it was already pretty busy. Normally, no big deal, but I am kind of paranoid about the baby around a lot of strangers because of the flu (hell, I'd flip if she caught a cold right now). Also, she can be a little unpredictable on outings, especially the kind involving long lines. Screaming one month old in a crowd of impatient people? Ugh.

So what fills my days now? Bones, What Not to Wear, and NCIS. I've never watched so much television in my life. I could read, but I have a hard time focusing/staying awake. TV is just easier.

I had more to say, but it's already taken me most of the day to write this much and now it's Katie's fussy time. So.. yeah. I'm going to go spend the next 3 hours rocking and humming and bouncing and swinging and intermittently breastfeeding. Woohoo.

Eat better... or else?

More about breastfeeding.. I'm very one track mind these days. Apparently, if mom is lacking a nutrient in her diet, her body won't just make milk lacking that nutrient. It will make as much high quality milk as it has supplies for, and then not make more. So, I guess I have to start making sure I'm eating a balanced diet? I'm not sure I know what one looks like. I'll have to remember to ask my doctor if my prenatal vitamin can help with that.

Breastfeeding

It seems like a lot of people make a very big deal about breastfeeding. There's lots of pamphlets and information in books and specialists to help women learn to breastfeed, and it's a little alarming. I always kind of took it for granted that breastfeeding was natural and instinctive and (dare I say?) easy. To find that it apparently isn't is a little disconcerting. I have me fingers crossed that I won't have such a difficult time as a lot of women seem to.

In doing all this reading, however, I have found that breast milk is totally amazing. It's different if you give birth prematurely than if you go full term. As the baby grows, the content evolves to meet the changing needs of the baby. If mom sweats a lot, her body assumes the baby is too and adjusts to replace salts lost, basically making gatorade milk. Isn't that just.. wow? It does so much. And that's saying nothing of the apparent health benefits (and not just for baby, for mom, too).

With all of that in mind, I feel bad for women who can't breastfeed. It must be very difficult knowing how much better it is than formula and not be able to provide in that way. I hope I am able to breastfeed my baby. I hope other women realize that while not as good, formula is still a perfectly good option and shouldn't beat themselves (or each other) up if it's not happening on the natural feeding front.

Also, my book says that my weight gain should start to taper off. I haven't completely gained back the 16 lbs I lost, so I'm beginning to feel very hopeful about how much weight I will ultimately reclaim.

I feel the baby move all the time now, which is very cool. Some days she's more active than others, but I almost always feel her moving around at night when I'd really like to go to sleep.