Last week after talking with my running friends over a drink one night, I was convinced that I could try running again. I also consulted the internet where plenty of women who had had c-sections started running again as early as two weeks, post-op. Since it had been over five weeks, I gave it a go last Thursday on a treadmill at the YMCA. I warmed up with a brisk mile walk and then tried out my running legs for a very slow mile and then finished with another mile walking. I also lifted weights with my arms: triceps, biceps and military press. I felt good and didn’t feel like I had screwed anything up. I posted my accomplishment on facebook and quickly got much positive feedback as well as one person saying I should be careful as too much too soon after labor can lead to a prolapsed vagina….hmmm that sounds bad. I will have to ask my doctor about that being a concern with women who had c-sections as most of the references I find on the web occur with vaginal birth.
When I talked with my mom later in the day, I said, “don’t tell Dad but I ran a mile today.” Turns out I was on speaker phone and he was in the room so I quickly received a cautionary message, no actually, scolding from him. I agreed to wait until six weeks until I run again.
It seems like we kept ourselves pretty busy last week with social engagements and other things going on. My friend Sage and her daughter Maite came over from Nissa, OR again and we went for a walk and then lunch at Smoky Mountain Pizza and Pasta. It was my first time taking Belén to a restaurant by myself without Andy and it turned out okay. She fussed a little bit in her car seat so I took her out and held her on my chest for the entire meal while she slept. We sat outside so as to not annoy other restaurant patrons if she did fuss, but it turned out to be a non-issue for the most part. In the evenings we had some nice dinners with friends including a dinner with three different baby guests at Edenn and Jerad’s house where Miss Belén slept the entire evening away.
Friday night our friends Scott and Laura made dinner and brought it to our house with their son Aiden who has grown a lot! It was really nice to see them and swap stories and learn what we have in store for us in the future (Aiden is almost nine months old). I was a little bit preoccupied with my clogged milk duct (see TMI for more info) especially since I really didn’t want it to develop into mastitis and cause me to miss my sister’s wedding reception the following day. It is getting to that point in my maternity leave where I am starting to miss adult conversation so the dinners were especially nice even if we did discuss baby-related topics a fair amount.
I bet you thought that Anna’s wedding was all said and done. Wrong. As I pointed out in my toast to the happy couple on Saturday night, for not wanting a wedding, the wedding-related festivities have sure gone on for a long time. Bachelorette shower in January, wedding in Fiji in February, shower in April, reception #1 in June and reception #2 (in Idaho Falls where Derik is from) in July. Count them…seven months of wedding. I am mostly just joking around, but it is ironic.
My parents have been working hard planning a very nice reception for Anna and Derik in Boise in the backyard of their home. They planted loads of beautiful flowers, rented a large white tent with tables and chairs, found a caterer and someone to serve the booze and coordinated the entire shin-dig. It turned out to be a happening party that I think most people enjoyed, most importantly Anna and Derik.
I spent time on Saturday getting ready for the reception. I had to figure out which dress to wear given the different weather scenarios, get my hair cut and highlighted (which took 3 hours, ridiculous!!), etc. This gave Andy an opportunity to spend most of the day with Belén, which I think he enjoyed. We also had to get Belén ready for the reception. She was in need of a bath which we were both dreading giving her since she despises them so much. I am not sure if she was just in a good mood or that we put more water in the bathtub or that we introduced her to the water more slowly, but she actually did not cry at all throughout the entire bath. Hooray! We dressed her in an adorable brown and pink dress that my friend Adair sent us last week and she looked smashing. Because of the unending nature of my hair appointment and Belén’s long leche binge for dinner, we were a half hour late for the reception. I know that sounds horrible but I will tell you that I confirmed with both my sister and mom that they didn’t need help setting up before I accepted the hair appointment since I knew it had the potential to make us late.
When we got to the reception at my parents house, I packed Belén into the Baby Bjorn and Andy went outside to start taking pictures. As I walked through the sliding glass doors to enter the party, Belén and I were absolutely swarmed, it was crazy! So many friends and relatives who I had not seen for awhile and who had not yet seen the baby were thrilled to have an opportunity to meet Belén. Some of them were bummed that I had her in the Baby Bjorn which precluded them from holding her, but honestly I think 100 people would have held her if she would have been fair game for holding at that point. While I do not think this is such a bad thing, it just seemed like the right thing to do to keep her in the Bjorn at the beginning of the party.
Later on when Andy and I had to give toasts, we passed her off to the grandparents and others were able to hold her. The reception was fairly traditional. Hawaiian-themed food was served including a roasted pig. Derik got one keg of Kokanee and then two pony kegs, one with Black Butte Porter and another with Sam Adams Summer Ale. My parents supplied New Age and Ménage à Trois wines (two of Anna and my favorites). There were three outstanding cakes from Costco. After people had eaten dinner, there were toasts and then dancing. The dancing was a lot of fun except for this one wedding crasher’s son was a complete jack ass and kept changing the music to “hip” modern music which is impossible to dance to. A few of us confronted him but he kept doing it anyway. When his drunk mother came up to me later in the night, slurring her words and telling me that the baby years go so quickly, I understood why the boy behaved as he did. Seriously people, if you are going to go to a wedding you were not invited to, don’t ass out and bring your 12 year old son who very publicly asses out and doesn’t know better apparently (he did the caterpillar multiple times on the dance floor and told all of us the music we liked was lame.)
As a side note, it is funny that young kids these days know a lot of the older rock music from Guitar Hero, so occasionally one of those songs was acceptable to be played by the delinquent.
All week, we feared rain for the party. The rain did make quite an appearance, but since they were prepared with the large tent, it didn’t turn out to be a big deal. All in all it was a great party and Belén was a huge hit.
Sunday morning we met our friends Paul and Lindsay and their kids along with Becca and Ryan and their baby girl to hike Corrals trail. Andy carried Belén in the Baby Bjorn. It was a great hike and again it was wonderful to have over an hour of interesting adult conversation including getting caught up on what is going on with our good friends. Even though we hiked longer than what I did when I was pregnant, I felt great with no pressure on the internal incision. Later on Sunday we met my parents and their friends for breakfast at a nice French restaurant that I didn’t know existed. Then that evening, Andy and I had date night while Ray and Eileen watched Belén for a couple of hours. We went to Angells for dinner and very much enjoyed spending time together as a couple and eating a meal uninterrupted by a cute, crying baby.
On Monday, Belén started acting quite fussy…I am not sure if she is going through a growth spurt or what? Hopefully this is short-lived as it made for a long day. Even with the fussiness, there were plenty of nice smiles .
Too Much Information
Remember, this is the section you should not read if you do not want to know the gross parts of pregnancy and child birth…. Starting Thursday evening, my right breast became tender in one area. I thought it would go away and when it didn’t I started reading in my breastfeeding book to see what it could be and what I should do. The most likely culprit was a clogged milk duct. I followed the instructions to massage the area and put warm compresses on it. My friend Becca recommended massaging really hard as they can be a bugger to alleviate. My friend Laura said to apply as much heat as possible. The books said to nurse as often as possible on that breast so the baby will suck it out. I tried it all and ended up with a bruised, scalded breast that was still tender.
By Saturday, I started to wonder if it was muscular from when I lifted weights on Thursday as it is sometimes difficult to distinguish breast issues from chest muscle issues. The problem area began to feel better Sunday and by Monday it was clearly gone. I am thrilled that it didn’t result in mastitis which would have knocked me out like the flu. Hopefully I can avoid future clogged ducts as this was not fun.
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