The road to recovery (second time around)

I have come to greatly dislike abdominal surgery recovery, but have to admit that the recovery from this c-section has been, by far, the easiest. (you can read about my recovery from my first c-section here, or about my appendectomy here)

Day 1 - Sunday, May 12th, Mother's Day (Hospital/Home)
They always get you up and walking right away. The nurses came in early and told me I needed to get up and try to go to the bathroom at 11am. My first time out of bed was very difficult (as to be expected), but I was able to stand up and sit down again without passing out. The second time out (a bit later in the day) I was able to get to the bathroom and back looking a bit like a huddle over old woman.We had lots of visitors today, which was wonderful! Kesh got to meet her sister, and we were home by around 6:00pm. 

The night was hard since Arturo slept in the other room with Kesh. Getting up to use the bathroom required yelling from my room to theirs to have him come help me out of bed. Same with getting Kalah out of her bed to breastfeed her. 

Day 2- Monday, May 13th (Home)
I was able to get out of bed alone a couple of times, managed my shower, and walked a little bit, but not much. No night time help needed.

Day 3 - Tuesday, May 14th (Home)
Out of bed all on my own all the time, showered, walked to/from the kitchen (on the other side of our apartment) several times, got the baby out of her bed on my own many times. Managed a diaper change all on my own.

By day 4 and 5 I was pretty much doing most everything on my own. I was really sore, but capable. I stayed alone with the girls for a couple of hours on Thursday so Arturo could go to the gym. We didn't do much, but we survived.

I began doing light household chores over the weekend (at the 1 week mark) and spent most of Sunday alone with the girls. We did extremely well! I even got both girls to take an 1.5 hour nap at the same time, bathed Kesha, and cooked dinner (even though I over-salted and over-roasted our roast... whoops!).

One week before giving birth

A couple of days postpartum

9 days postpartum (stitch removal day!)

Although my body is bouncing back faster as far as how I feel and what I can do, it is most certainly taking longer for my uterus to shrink back to a normal size (they also say you swell more when you get a tubal ligation, so that could be part of the longer-lasting swelling) and for me to lose the weight. I gained more weight with this pregnancy than I did with Kesha and was much less mobile due to the modified bed rest, so that's not a really fair comparison to make. But I feel that baby #2 has taken a greater toll on my body than baby #1.

Several people have commented on how I am heavier now that I was after having Kesha and how much bigger my belly is now. Thank you for the helpful supportive comments people! That's just what a woman 9 days postpartum wants to hear. So, just for fun, here are my post Kesha pictures right after birth and one week out.

Immediately following Kesha's birth

About 1 week out from Kesha's delivery

Today I had my stitches taken out and was given permission to begin slowly walking again outside and building up my endurance.

I still have about 20 more pounds to lose, but as a post delivery present Arturo has a personal trainer coming to the house to work with me once a week until I have permission to workout again. He provides me with recovery appropriate exercises I can do by myself at home. He will continue to work with me in the gym and at the pool for one month following my 6 week appointment. So my ability to now walk outside of my home, combined with my trainer, and a return to home cooking and careful nutrition, those additional 20 will hopefully come right off!



Because I know everyone is curious, here are the stats...
Pre delivery weight: 78 kilos (172 pounds)
Post delivery weight (taken at home on day 2): 72 kilos (159 pounds)
9 days post delivery (stitch removal day): 70 kilos (154 pounds)