Jill, 30 years

Since, I do monthly updates on the blog for our kids, I thought it would be good to update you on me.  I've spent 39 weeks, twice in two years, to update you all on pregnancies week by week, that I feel like we need a re-cap on how and what I'm doing.

Just for reference... Emie is 5 months old today and Coen turned 19 months just 14 days ago.

BTW, I cannot believe that I'm 30 years old. Without really being able to celebrate my birthday with an adult beverage for the last two years... it almost feels like I'm still 28.  I'm not kidding either.  Guess that means that 31 is going to be a big year!  Yahooo!

Hair Loss: Right now, I'm in the prime of hair loss.  I remembered this being bad with Coen, but it's here in full force again with Emie and like Julia, it started right at 4 months, like clock work.  Can I just say how dang annoying this is?  I wash my hair, every day and after about a month, our drain is clogged and won't drain right.  When I brush out my hair before drying it, I have about a handful or two of hair that I throw away.  And after drying, I usually have to sweep the floor with my hand to clean up afterwards because I lose so much hair during the drying process.  And the sink, it's just as bad.  Probably the most annoying thing about having a baby.  And unfortunately, it doesn't stop there.  Throughout the day, I almost always pull 10 hairs off of me that have fallen into my shirt, or on my desk or whatever... it's annoying, but with time it will pass.

And, if she's anything like Coen, she'll start playing with my hair about the time that it stops falling out and then it will be her just pulling it out verses it just falling out.  Coen is still a hair player, so I'm just doomed.  I've thought about cutting my hair off and I think in about 6 months, I'll actually do it, but for now, I'm still trying to get it to the length that I was hoping to reach and then I'll do the drastic cut.  My kids will probably hate it and my husband will groan too, but after two kids that pull and play with my hair, I will have so many baby hairs that will be growing back that I will probably have no choice.

Birth Control: Currently I'm/we're still depending on the depo from December.  I have a week until I make the switch to the Nuva Ring.  I'm excited and scared about this switch, but I'm hoping it just clicks.  And as for the Zoloft, it seems to be working.  The last week or more has actually felt pretty normal.  With that amazing weight lifted it's made us all feel like new people. Better people.  I'm hoping that with time, I can leave Zoloft off my daily regimen, but my dr. said that I have to feel good for 3 months and then it will take about 3 months to come off of it.  We'll worry about that process when it's here.

And since we're talking about preventing, so far we have talked about preventing for about 2 or 3 years before we try again.  While this postpartum diagnosis has been a bit of a blow, it's not hindering us from building our family to its full potential.  We still would love to have three children and in 2 to 3 years, we're going to bring that topic back to the table and we'll start that plan then.  By then, Coen will be almost 5 and Emie will be 4 and they will be FABULOUS helpers.... More on that later.

Weight: I'm currently standing very still at six pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight.  I started this pregnancy at 179lbs (from my home scale and 182lbs from the dr. office scale), and I'm not budging from 185lbs.  It's not much fun, but it is what it is.  I've got to keep eating right and well, for Emie, but I've also realized that I need a balance.  I'm starting to work out a bit... in the mornings, before I shower.  This has proven to be fairly easy and yet hard at the same time.  Usually, I'm fairly uncomfortable doing this before I nurse Emie, but I push through because if I get her up before I shower, it messes my whole morning routine up.  So, I usually find myself supporting myself a little more, just to power through.  I do 50 jumping jacks, 5 to 10 push ups (depending on how many I can get out), 20 crunches, 30 mountain climbers and 30 seconds of a plank.  It's a comfortable amount of working out, my heart rate gets raised enough and I feel pretty good afterward. I know that I could do more, but at this point, when it's bitter cold outside, I just don't have any interest.  I'd love to go to a gym, but that's just not in the cards, right now.  Plus, I just don't have kind of time.

Co-Sleeping: With Emie, I've not done near as much co-sleeping as I had done with Coen.  She's in a pretty good rhythm.  She eats at about 9pm, falls asleep nursing or shortly after, we hang out for a minute and then I put her in bed.  Some nights, when she falls asleep, I do too, which is okay, but then literally get nothing done after 9pm.  If that doesn't work and she wakes up again around 10pm, I usually take her to bed with me to have her relax and we co-sleep a bit before taking her to her room.  She's such a great sleeper that we haven't have to do this very much and while I loved it with Coen, I'm glad that Emie is good on her own.  It makes more sleep for everyone involved.

Baby-wearing: With Emie born in August, we basically went right into the colder months and never really got around to baby-wearing much.  I still would love to do it, but haven't had the right opportunity.  I've thought about baby wearing her at church, but so far, that hasn't become an issue.  She pretty much sleeps through the whole service and is only awake for the last 30 minutes.  I'm hoping with spring approaching, that I'll get to wear her more... especially when we go one walks.  It's a great little workout!

C-Section: My scar hurts less than it did the first time I had my c-section with Coen.  It's not really sensitive, I can touch it without and pain and the area around it still feels numb.  Very strange, but it's a huge incision, or at least the biggest one I have ever had on my body... twice.  Healing this time around was a little rough, only because I wanted to do more, faster and in turn hurt myself doing that.  I suppose that happens with you have a 1 year old at home that you still have to care for, even though you have just had a surgery.  My dr. thought I had an infection two different times and both ended up clearing up before taking any further steps to help them heal.  All in all, it wasn't that bad this time.  Probably because I knew what to expect, but either way... still glad that my lady parts are still in tact.  As much as I would love to have a natural birth, I'm still happy about this. 

Breastfeeding:  This is still going great.  Emie is a great eater, she nurses well and we have a great BF relationship.  I'm much more comfortable this time around, about nursing.  I mean, I was fairly comfortable last time too, but much more this time around.  I'm less and less likely to use a cover when I'm in public, but do when my husband is around because he prefers it that way.  Sometimes it's just more comfortable for everyone else around if I do... other times, it's the most uncomfortable thing for me and then I just don't.  If I can't see, then it just doesn't work...  I do what works and from time to time, it's just what works for me.  All in all, it's another great breastfeeding experience.  I pump at work and she takes a bottle during the day which has never been a fight.  We just bumped her up to the next level of flow on the nipple for the bottle (which I didn't know existed the first time around) and she seems to appreciate that more.  She's only had breast-milk since she's been born and we hope to keep it that way until she's about 6 months old.  I also still plan to nurse her until she's 12 months old and this will be without any formula supplement this time.