Easter has come and gone and tomorrow Andreas starts working half-time again. He's been home for 5 days, which probably saved me from an insane asylum.
Every day things are getting easier, I think.. Love is getting the hang of breastfeeding more and more, and I'm also finding my rythmn. It's going to be hard once Andreas starts work full time but my dad will be here for 2 weeks so I still have 3 weeks until I will be alone 8 hours a day. By then Love will be 5 weeks old; things should be easier.
We are trying to keep Love more awake during the day so that he sleeps more at night. So far - mixed results. You can only push a baby so far, and we have to respect his schedule to a certain degree. The worst is that he often makes noises when he is in a light sleep, so half the night he is bleating like a sheep and grunting.
Tomorrow we have another check-up for Love, where he will be weighed.
Goals for tomorrow:
Do my körkort teori for 30 minutes (review trafiksgrundregel, högerregel, and the classes of vehicles.) Write down new words and their definitions.
Practice Swedish from Språkportal for 30 minutes
Walk with Love for 20-30 minutes. Do kegels. Do some arm exercises
Practice napping with Love. (Try feeding on the bed when I want a nap).
10 minutes of belly time on the floor
Monday, April 21, 2014
Saturday, April 19, 2014
2 weeks old!
...And we got very little sleep last night. Andreas let me sleep 8:30 - 12:30 am, and then we snoozed together the rest of the night. Andreas is much more able to sleep through all of Love's noise than myself. Even still, it was a long night.
Thursday I met all my goals, yesterday I don't think I got my walking in, but I did clean the house for an hour while Andreas and Love napped. I laid with them for an hour and contemplated life, unable to sleep. Then I decided to get up and have some me time while I had the chance.
Today we are going to the grocery store. Then farmor and farfar are showing up to visit for a few hours. Busy day.
I think I'm slowly adjusting to less sleep, but its hard. I used to sleep 9 hours a night, and I found those 9 hours very important for keeping myself stable, especially with regards to anxiety. Daily exercise was also super important to me. Right now I'm not getting enough of either of these and its definitely affecting me. Hopefully these iron pills and my antibiotics will make me stronger soon so I can manage more.
Thursday I met all my goals, yesterday I don't think I got my walking in, but I did clean the house for an hour while Andreas and Love napped. I laid with them for an hour and contemplated life, unable to sleep. Then I decided to get up and have some me time while I had the chance.
Today we are going to the grocery store. Then farmor and farfar are showing up to visit for a few hours. Busy day.
I think I'm slowly adjusting to less sleep, but its hard. I used to sleep 9 hours a night, and I found those 9 hours very important for keeping myself stable, especially with regards to anxiety. Daily exercise was also super important to me. Right now I'm not getting enough of either of these and its definitely affecting me. Hopefully these iron pills and my antibiotics will make me stronger soon so I can manage more.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
First BVC visit
Yesterday a nurse from the BVC (child care clinic) came to check out Love for the first time. The first visit happens at the parents home, and after that we go in to the clinic. The visit was really pleasant, except that Love hadn't gained any weight in a week. I felt pretty awful about it, because I was so worried that he was over eating. This worry planted itself because my friend had that happen (her child was born 7 weeks before mine), and I felt like I was feeding so much already. But it turns out it wasn't enough, so we have to double up our efforts. I'm spending ~6 hours a day breastfeeding, another hour pumping, and then sometimes Andreas supplements with a bottle of pumped breast milk. A lot of work, in other words.
Love seems happier with the increased amount of food, and I'm confident he'll start to gain weight. I'm trying to not feel bad about the lack of weight gain, instead trying to look forward and how we can better it. But these are rational thoughts and I'm a new mom, so I'm not always successful.
Yesterday I managed a 20 minute walk with Love in the carrier. My abs hurt a bit afterwards so I need to be careful that I don't damage my abs. I also managed to read my driving license book for 30 minutes. I did not manage to do my pelvic floor and tummy/back exercises though, except for some simple squeezing of the pelvic floor exercises.
This morning we were up at 6 am, which was ok since we went to bed at 7pm. I just completed my exercises, and after blogging I'm going to read my driving theory book. I'll wait until it's warmer out to go for our walk. Another goal I want to add to the list is tummy time with Love. We are going to try to spend a bit more time on his tummy. He does get quite a bit of tummy time on mine and Andreas' stomach/chest, but I'd like to do a bit more on the floor. I have the play mat out today so we will see how that goes.
The house is clean after yesterday and I've decided I'm not doing any house work today. I need a break. I'm still getting very dizzy so I started on some iron pills - hopefully that helps. I'm trying to make sure I eat enough as well, but that can be challenging. I think we are getting quite a lot of sleep for being parents of newborns. I think we both got about 7-8 hours last night. Andreas napped a few times through feedings, and then I mostly slept through our 4am feeding (he got a bottle).
I'm enjoying this experience but I don't know that I could do it again. It is hard. I can't even imagine having a newborn with a toddler around.
Love seems happier with the increased amount of food, and I'm confident he'll start to gain weight. I'm trying to not feel bad about the lack of weight gain, instead trying to look forward and how we can better it. But these are rational thoughts and I'm a new mom, so I'm not always successful.
Yesterday I managed a 20 minute walk with Love in the carrier. My abs hurt a bit afterwards so I need to be careful that I don't damage my abs. I also managed to read my driving license book for 30 minutes. I did not manage to do my pelvic floor and tummy/back exercises though, except for some simple squeezing of the pelvic floor exercises.
This morning we were up at 6 am, which was ok since we went to bed at 7pm. I just completed my exercises, and after blogging I'm going to read my driving theory book. I'll wait until it's warmer out to go for our walk. Another goal I want to add to the list is tummy time with Love. We are going to try to spend a bit more time on his tummy. He does get quite a bit of tummy time on mine and Andreas' stomach/chest, but I'd like to do a bit more on the floor. I have the play mat out today so we will see how that goes.
The house is clean after yesterday and I've decided I'm not doing any house work today. I need a break. I'm still getting very dizzy so I started on some iron pills - hopefully that helps. I'm trying to make sure I eat enough as well, but that can be challenging. I think we are getting quite a lot of sleep for being parents of newborns. I think we both got about 7-8 hours last night. Andreas napped a few times through feedings, and then I mostly slept through our 4am feeding (he got a bottle).
I'm enjoying this experience but I don't know that I could do it again. It is hard. I can't even imagine having a newborn with a toddler around.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Need a place to post my thoughts
I'm going to start writing here again so that I can have a place to keep some thoughts, goals, and progress.
10 days ago I gave birth to my son, Love. I had a pretty bad infection after the birth, but my antibiotics are doing their job and I'm feeling much better already. Which means I want to start setting up a plan. A plan for how to keep myself from going stir-crazy out here on the torp. I'm a bit isolated with no car and a newborn, so I need to have some sort of goals and routine.
There are several important things I want to accomplish over the coming months. The single most important one is getting my driver's license. Getting a driver's license in Sweden is no joke - I have a 300 page theory book, and then there are all the lessons and other required bits. I want to start now by spending at least 30 minutes a day studying theory.
Another important thing for me personally is getting back into shape. I want to start slow and build up my body back to where it was. I've already lost 20 lbs at 10 days PP, with 4 pounds to go to my pre-pregnancy weight. The only thing is, I am much flabbier now than when I got pregnant. All my muscles have dissolved and my body is of a much different make up than it was before the pregnancy.
A list of daily goals for the coming week (April 15 - 20th):
- Spend 30 mins studying driving theory
- Go for at least a 20 minute walk
- Do pelvic floor and tummy exercises
I'm going to start with this small list of goals and go from there.
10 days ago I gave birth to my son, Love. I had a pretty bad infection after the birth, but my antibiotics are doing their job and I'm feeling much better already. Which means I want to start setting up a plan. A plan for how to keep myself from going stir-crazy out here on the torp. I'm a bit isolated with no car and a newborn, so I need to have some sort of goals and routine.
There are several important things I want to accomplish over the coming months. The single most important one is getting my driver's license. Getting a driver's license in Sweden is no joke - I have a 300 page theory book, and then there are all the lessons and other required bits. I want to start now by spending at least 30 minutes a day studying theory.
Another important thing for me personally is getting back into shape. I want to start slow and build up my body back to where it was. I've already lost 20 lbs at 10 days PP, with 4 pounds to go to my pre-pregnancy weight. The only thing is, I am much flabbier now than when I got pregnant. All my muscles have dissolved and my body is of a much different make up than it was before the pregnancy.
A list of daily goals for the coming week (April 15 - 20th):
- Spend 30 mins studying driving theory
- Go for at least a 20 minute walk
- Do pelvic floor and tummy exercises
I'm going to start with this small list of goals and go from there.
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