I heard the first few months after you have a baby jokingly referred to as the fourth trimester, and boy was that accurate! Somehow in my head I had decided that once Javi was born, all of the hard stuff would be over. I mean, yeah, we were going to be adjusting to having a baby, but other than that, I would finally not be pregnant! I would be able to sleep normally, I wouldn’t constantly be in pain and uncomfortable, I’d be able to eat everything again… um, yeah, that totally did not happen.
I guess what I failed to realize is that I had just grown a human inside my body, and then pushed him out into the world. A big, healthy, baby. That’s bound to leave some lasting effects. Between the normal recovery after a birth and breastfeeding – I was uncomfortable and in pain. Between the babe waking every few hours, and my first time mom hormones and fears, I wasn’t sleeping much. And a new babe’s sensitive stomach and my absolutely shot digestion system meant that I had to be quite careful about what I ate.
Had I been more realistic about the fact that it was going to take a while for us to adjust to being three instead of two, that I had to heal from pregnancy and birth, and that I had to learn how to care for a newborn….maybe those first few months would have been easier. I know hindsight’s always 20/20, but I think it would have made a difference.
So, I’m telling you – remember that you’ve got a couple of months of adjustment and healing ahead of you. Be patient with yourself, and don’t try to rush back to normal life.
