Baby #2: Four Months Postpartum Recovery

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The day Zoey turned three months old, I remember feeling a distinctive change. It was as if new air came into our life as we emerged from the newborn fog.

William turning three months old has felt exactly the same. I do not know if it is finally getting used to the lack of sleep, my hormones regulating out, or just the adaptation of having a new person in our family, but I finally feel like an almost normal person. Or, at least as normal as you can get as a mom of two young kids.

It has been both the longest and simultaneously quickest four months to the point that I can picture exactly what life was like before William arrived and I also cannot bear the thought of what life would be like without him. The boy has just integrated himself so well into our family and seems to be rolling with the punches (sometimes literally as Zoey loves on him too hard) of this family he came into.

Since I am four months postpartum and have had a lot of questions about how we are doing, I wanted to put all the information into one big blog post. I know that as much as I loved reading birth stories, I also love reading postpartum stories since everyone does the recovery in their own unique way.

A few baby and toddler related posts you might also be interested are:

• Pregnancy Update: First and Second Trimesters
• Pregnancy Update: Weeks 30-35
• William’s Birth Story 
• Zoey’s Birth Story 
• Zoey Turns Two!

Getting to Know William
Our son (still so weird and fun to say) is proving himself to be a genuinely happy kid. Since his arrival, he has been a calm, mellow little boy who only gets upset with a mildly wet diaper or when Zoey accidentally steps on him or plays too rough (as anyone would). William is quick to smile at everyone and absolutely adores his sister Zoey. He even just started giggling when he is tickled and has now opened himself up to regular tickle torture sessions in order for us to hear that sweet sound.

Since the beginning, William has not been a great napper (just like his mom) and would max out around an hour at a time during the day in his first three months. Thankfully, daycare is working to get him on a bit more of a schedule with a longer morning nap, but William still does not want to miss anything and would rather play hard than sleep.

To go along with his size (9.1 pounds and 22 inches at birth), William has never been shy about his food. He breastfed like a champ (so much better than Zoey ever did) and ate more often than I would have liked. Now that he is on bottles, he averages about six ounces of formula every two and a half to three hours. He has little wristlets and chubby thighs, but really is just long and lean with a solid double chin.

Because of his positioning in the womb, or maybe because of how quickly he came into the world, William does have a touch of Torticollis and favors turning his head to only his right side. With a bit of physical therapy both from a real therapist and my father shaking morracas and banging on pots to keep his attention in the leftward direction, William’s neck is getting so much stronger. Our goal is to avoid him having to wear a helmet!

How Zoey is Adjusting
No sugarcoating: Our first week as a family of four was hard. Not just from the lack of sleep, but Zoey was not happy during that time. She and I had just spent a full month together as the two of us while my summer vacation began. Suddenly, William was in our lives, taking a lot of my time away from her and taking up space that was previously only hers (laps, arms, toys, play areas). She became whiney, needy, and we had to start implementing time outs. There was one morning where we had three time outs before 6 am. I really did not think we were going to make it.

Thankfully, Zoey got used to the new system of things after that week with periodic freak outs here and there over the past three months. Rob and I are basically chopped liver with her as her sole focus is on William. Holding him, changing his diapers (she does the straps), seeing him in the mornings, laying down next to him, and doing whatever she can to make him feel better when he is fussy.

I am so excited for the day when they can actually play together!

Do not forget to check out the list of activities I used to keep her busy this summer while I tended to William.

My Body and Workouts
Even though I felt super large almost the entire time, I had a really easy pregnancy with William and an even easier birth. The night they moved us to the mom and baby wing of the hospital, I felt so good that I was asking the nurses for the earliest time I could head home and did not feel like I needed to stay there for the recommended 48 hours. I stayed that long anyway, but was itching to get out of there.

I put on about 25 pounds with William, but am down around 15 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. While that might seem like a positive, I lost a straight 15 pounds of muscle, which has me feeling weak and not as confident as I normally am. My body needed more than the required six weeks before I was able to start working out, so I gave myself the time and grace and waited to do anything serious (running and lifting) until eight weeks. Then, I took it very easy until 10 weeks and finally felt somewhat like my hips were back in place, my back was not in pain, and like I could lift other things than just the kids.

This is two months after William’s birth.

The longest run I have done so far is 30 minutes (about 3.5 miles), and I have a done a few strength and conditioning workouts. My main focus has been on strengthening my pelvic floor and core. While I am itching to run longer distances and lift heavier weights, I am not willing to put my body at risk to do those things. It has taken a lot of patience and reminders that I will get there soon to not get too frustrated with the state of my weakness right now.

William was an excellent breastfeeder and actually did not take a bottle until he started at daycare at exactly three months. With how much William eats, I was ravenous throughout my three months of breastfeeding him to the point where I could eat more than Rob (unheard of). A week after William started daycare and became only formula fed, my hunger leveled out. It feels so good to be eating normal portions again and to not be constantly looking for food! (Though I still think about food for the majority of my day.)

About six weeks into breastfeeding William, I posted on Instagram how I did not think I could keep going. My goal was to make it to three months, right up until I went back to work, and I am proud to say that I did that. I was sad to end breastfeeding for about a week as I was really ready to have my body back, to not worry about where I would be when William got hungry, and to wear a regular comfortable bra again.

Working Full Time
Going back to work was hard. While I do not want to be a full time stay at home mom, getting back into the teaching schedule has been tough. I think most of that is because I missed the first six weeks of the school year and have been playing catch up for the past three weeks. In addition, I was in New York with my family for 10 days right before I went back to work, so a few things I had left to the last minute did not get done before I started back and I felt like I hit the ground at a full sprint.

My co-teachers and students were very happy to have me back and it was a much welcomed return, but my heart was definitely still at home with Zoey and William. What I miss most is spending a large portion of our days outside and not having any type of strict schedule. I am so thankful that the kids love their daycare and we have the utmost trust and respect for their teachers.

Rob As A Dad
Anyone who meets Rob can just feel that he is a good man to the point where you do not even wonder about his parenting skills. Seeing him as a father of two has been incredible. He is a natural father and just adores that role. He is not afraid to roll around on the floor with Zoey, deal with the blowouts from William, and be up at all hours of the night with either kid.

Rob is so good at being a dad and husband that he does not even have to ask if I feel overwhelmed at certain times, but instead simply asks, “What do you need me to do?” It is seriously the best question that every husband and father should have at the tip of their tongue for their wife.

I am regularly in awe of Rob and how easily he has adapted to being a father. He is truly my partner in all of this and I cannot imagine how I would handle any of this without him especially when I need to trade off at night (we call it tapping out), get grossed out (so much poop), or just need to step out and breathe. His patience is beyond what I have, especially during those toddler tantrums.

Being Parents of Two
Right before Rob and I pass out at night, we often joke about how long our days and nights feel by saying, “Let the continuous day continue.” With two kids who do not sleep through the night, it is a true statement to how this season of life feels.

That being said, we are honestly having so much fun. Even with the house being a mess 98% of the time, the kids mostly clean on any given day, sleep being limited, and our time not truly being our own, we are loving just about every minute of this crazy parenting journey. We regularly look at each other and marvel at this little family we have created. We laugh, we put our phones away, we slow down, we give countless hugs, and we let the laundry wait so we can listen to Zoey tell us a somewhat coherent story about her school day. Regardless of the hardships that this parenting life brings right now, neither one of us want to go back to our pre-parenting days.

Newborn Items We Love

These are the items that we love and have used every day with William since his birth. You can also check out my list of breastfeeding essentials here.

• Baby Bjorn Bouncer
• Bebe Au Lait Nursing Cover
• Ring Sling 
• High Absorbency Burp Cloths
• iPlay Baby Hats 
• Glider and Ottoman
• Play Mat
• Boppy 
• Bottle Drying Rack
• Freezer Meals