This is me. Two days ago at about 11 days post partum. As you can see I no longer look five months pregnant which is how I looked after giving birth this time around. I still have a little pooch hanging off my front but it's nothing like I had now two weeks ago. I am amazed at how quickly my stomach has went down and am looking forward to being thin again. Those who have been following me for a long time remember that last summer I worked hard to lose weight during deployment. I lost almost 35lbs and was down to 153 wearing a size 8. I wore a size 8 maternity jeans throughout my pregnancy but now that I've given birth I can't even get my size 10 pre-pregnancy jeans to button. I know I will be able to soon. I have also cut out drinking anything but water since giving birth which should help. I give all my thanks for my belly going down so fast to Breastfeeding.
When Little Man was born I held him right away and got to breastfeed. Breastfeeding just didn't work with Little Miss because I was uneducated and not as motivated. It was painful and I spent most nights crying as she ate because the pain was so severe. I gave up way too soon with Little Miss and still regret it to this day. With Little Man I knew I wanted to breastfeed from the time I read that positive pregnancy test. In his first couple day's of life I struggled to get him to latch correctly. The nurses helped and the day after we left the hospital(on his third day of life) I went to a La Leche League meeting and got tons of help there as well. Things got better and I attended yet another LLL meeting a week later. Thanks to the ladies at LLL and my wonderful nurses in the hospital breastfeeding is going pretty well. I'm not going to lie to you and tell you it's all rainbows and butterflies because it's not. Breastfeeding is hard and it's a skill like most things. You have to work on getting a proper latch and teach your baby what that proper latch is. It's not easy and is painful when you're learning but it is so rewarding. Knowing that I am feeding my son with the best and most natural milk I can give him...is amazing. This milk is made in my body especially for him. I am his sole provider of nutrients. It's an amazing feeling.
It's been two weeks to the day since Little Man joined this world and we began our breastfeeding journey. It's hardest at night when he and I are both tired. He almost never latches correctly at night which leaves me in pain. Nights are long since I am the only one who can feed him meaning I am the one up every couple hours. Getting up with Little Miss at 7am after only getting about 6 hours of interrupted sleep...is hard to say the least. Most days I can hardly keep my eyes open. I keep pressing on though knowing that breastfeeding is what I want to do and he won't wake up every couple hours forever(or in some cases me waking him up).
When I nurse Little Man during the day Little Miss gets jealous and tries to get me to do something I can't do while nursing. She then throws a tantrum. Times like that I feel almost guilty for taking time away from her but regardless I will not stop breastfeeding.
The bottom line is breastfeeding is HARD. It's time consuming. It's exhausting and sometimes painful. BUT it is the most rewarding way to feed your baby. It is so good for the mother as well as the baby. The bonding is unlike any other. It's not weird or gross. It is the reason we all have boobies:) They were made to feed babies.
I totally agree breastfeeding rocks! It's an amazing thing to be able to do. I have 3 babies and was not able to breast feed my 1st born I was young and like u uneducated I was disappointed but with my other 2 they breast feed like champs. I'm back down to A prepregancy weight. I loved it. Had to stop breast feeding because of medical issues but we made it almost 6 months. New follower love ur blog!!
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