What's My Life Like at 7 Weeks Postpartum?

Today Calvin is seven weeks old. Unbelievable. I hear parents say it all the time, "time flies, they grow up so fast!". I can definitely say the same. Other than the nightmarish bout with reflux, Calvin is still a very healthy, growing boy at 10lb. 4+ oz. I really think that discovering his reflux was a turning point for us, especially myself. The first six weeks were probably the most difficult weeks of my life, sprinkled with joy. Calvin was getting progressively fussy. His nap-times were becoming cry-times, instead. It all culminated last Thursday, the day before he turned 6 weeks old. He slept for a grand total of 20 minutes all day long, and if he wasn't eating he was screaming. By 10:00 that night I was in a ball of sobs (literally sobbing!), so frustrated and hanging by a thread. I truly didn't believe I could survive it...I wanted to walk out on it all. I silently vowed no more kids. Scott encouraged me to call the pediatrician the next morning. She was able to see us that afternoon and quickly diagnosed him with reflux...a very common problem with a simple solution-Zantac and Mylanta. HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders. I now knew why he was crying so bad and I had some tools to fix it. As soon as we started giving him some medication and using simple techniques like elevation, he became much happier, started sleeping better, and I kept all my hair. The lesson in all this was that God allowed me to go right to the edge, nearly dangling over it, and then His amazing grace swooped in to console me and give me hope. I just might like being a mom.

Furthermore, I am happy to announce that I already have my body back, for the most part (other than feeling like a bovine eight+ times a day). I am back to all my normal workouts. Last Thursday I got the go-ahead from my doctor to resume all normal activity. Mwah-ha-ha. So what did I do? I went sprinting!!! Oh, it felt so good to stretch my legs out and run as fast as I could. Granted, this was so much slower than I used to be able to run. But, hey, I'm running! I am still very weak, especially my hips, which caused my ankle, calf, and knee to buckle up and cramp on me during my run. (My hips weren't doing as much work as they should have been doing, thus the pain down the rest of my leg.) The funny thing was that when I slowed down and jogged, this hurt way worse. So I sprinted to relieve the pain, go figure. My job is to continue to strengthen my legs and core and keep phasing in the sprinting/running about once a week to be able to run pain free.

So here is what my workouts look like at seven weeks postpartum:

• Working out every other day during Calvin's morning nap. (The baby monitor is really helpful for this.)
• One plyometric workout each week consisting of rapid response jumping drills, hurdle hops, lunge jumps, jumping push-ups, full body power exercise, box jumps, etc.
• One traditional strength training workout with free weights/bodyweight. This workout finishes with some sprints on the spinning bike (which, by the way, is not as painful as I thought it would be!).
• One TRX strength training workout, moving as quickly as possible from exercise to exercise. I sometimes incorporate spinning, jumping, etc. into this workout to get more cardio benefit. Gotta sweat!!
• One sprinting workout on the weekend when Calvin can stay with daddy. These will probably be 15-30 second sprints with rest periods twice as long. The whole workout lasts approximately 25-30 minutes.

This is my workout plan for now. The every other day model seems to work really well. I don't have to think too hard. If I didn't workout yesterday, I have to workout today, and vice versa. I'll keep you up to date on how I'm doing, but so far so good. Now if I can just get rid of this little pooch in front and not have to wear two bras that would be great!