It has been nine weeks since I birthed my daughter at home into a pool of water with the assistance of my amazing nurse midwife. After my daughter’s birth, I wondered how quickly my body would heal. Now that I have had nine weeks to heal and reflect, I can say that with confidence that I healed much more quickly with my second pregnancy than with my first.
At nine weeks my body seems to be entirely healed aside from the extra pounds that I still need to shed. My post partum efforts continue to focus on loosing the weight accrued during my pregnancy. While healing seamed to happen really fast, losing those stubborn pounds seem to be taking forever. In an effort to encourage my body to shed those pounds in a more timely fashion, I have added a more challenging, more hard core cardio workout to my exercising feats this week. This fifty minute cardio workout keeps my heart rate up and induces a good sweat while toning the larger muscles. By the end of the workout my body is fatigued and after a hot shower, I seem to have more energy than I did before the workout, which is very welcomed with two small children.
I am continuing to take my prenatal vitamins and other supplements. I will continue to do this most certainly for the duration of my time breastfeeding my daughter, I will most likely continue taking supplements indefinitely to guarantee that I am getting all the nutrients my body needs to be optimally healthy.
While I have put a lot of effort in to my workouts, I have not put a lot of thought (beyond good habit) into my post partum diet. I feel like most of my extra calories are coming from my insatiable sweet tooth, so I need to start restricting the amount of chocolate and baked goods that I am eating. Thankfully there are not any birthdays or holidays in the near future so the temptation to bake should be almost eliminated!