My amazing daughter...

I'm going to be doing a lot of bragging in this post so be warned... I can't help it though:)

First of all... my recovery from my c-section has been awesome. I was off all pain meds as of the day after the surgery and I haven't needed anything since. I didn't even have a prescription written for the meds when I was sent home from the hospital since I was feeling that good, which shocked the nurses at the hospital. Thankfully, I haven't regretted that decision. The incision has healed so nicely and while I'll have a scar there, its a bikini line incision and it's not like anyone will see it. It was never gross or oozy or anything like that either which was nice. The staples were kind of off putting but they were removed 2 days after leaving the hospital and even that wasn't painful. Some days were worse than other pain wise but usually that was because I was pushing myself too much. I'd say that by 2 weeks out almost all pain was gone. Also, the bleeding has mostly stopped as well. I was not looking forward to weeks and weeks of heavy bleeding but as of a week ago I'm down to just a liner (sorry for the TMI). All in all, I've had an awesome c-section recovery experience.

Secondly, I'm down to my pre-pregnancy weight already! I lost about 10 lbs when I went to have my staples removed which was highly discouraging. However, by that weekend and 2 weeks post delivery, I had lost all 35lbs I'd gained during my pregnancy. I know a ton of it was water weight but it still feels amazing to have that all gone. I've never been so happy to see the veins in my feet before! Because I've lost all the weight, I fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans too! They're still a little snug initially and the fit a little differently than before (thanks to my jello tummy:P) but they fit! My shirts are a different story. For the most part I'm too self-conscious about how tight fitting my shirts seem to be at the moment but I have a few that fit. Most of my maternity clothes are way too big and even the "small" jeans fall off me so I'm kind of in an awkward stage clothes wise. I'm hoping I'll continue to lose some weight since I had gained a good 15lbs during all the treatment cycles. I'd love to lose at least that 15 but I'm happy with how I look now. It's amazing what a giant pregnant belly can do to put your weight/size into perspective. I hated how I looked before I got pregnant but now I'm like "whoa, so skinny!:P So that's one big hurray for me! And completely unexpected. I had a plan and timeline of when to start back with weight watchers and exercise (both of which I still might do- definitely the exercise though). I thought it would take a good year to lose all the weight.

Lastly, my baby is AMAZING. She seriously is the easiest, most content baby ever. I'm praying that by writing all this down I don't jinx myself but she is wonderful. I'm sure that a lot of it has to do with her size. I was kind of sad that I wouldn't have a "tiny" (7lbish) baby to take care of, especially when her newborn clothes didn't fit because of her size at birth but now I wouldn't have it any other way. Breastfeeding has gone extremely well. It took a good 2 weeks for us to figure it out together and for it to not hurt or not cause bleeding/cracked nipples but now it rarely hurts and when it does its because she's my "little barracuda" and she latches and unlatches all the time. She was back up to her birth weight and surpassed it by .5oz at her pediatrician appt at 1 week old. Needless to say, all my fears about having no supply or her not latching well or whatever have been erased. Thank you lord!

She sleeps for long stretches at night and has even slept through the night once already! She is by no means on any type of schedule but I'm usually only up to feed her once or twice a night (usually around 1a and 4a). For the most part she eats and falls right back to sleep too. Some nights I"m up longer than others with feeding her but usually it's around 45 minutes total, which includes a diaper change. For a few days she was up from 1-3am which was hard but it's nothing compared to what other mothers face with feedings every 2 hours or more. Again, I'm sure it's due to her size and I'm thankful that the pediatrician told me NOT to wake her up to feed. She's obviously gaining weight appropriately so she told me that it wasn't necessary and to sleep when she sleeps! So yay for not being sleep deprived most days.

She is SO content and so alert! Many days she'll spend hours awake and she is just content to look around and kick and flail her arms. She's fine if I put her in her bouncer (most of the time) and she loves when I just lay her on her back in bed or on her changing table to look around and kick away. She smiles and has the biggest blue eyes:) She cries when she needs something or doesn't like the position that she's in but she's easily consolable. It's also so nice to have a baby that doesn't have to be held 24/7. Many days that's all I want to do but to be able to take a shower and not have to rush through it is awesome, to eat breakfast/lunch and dinner with out a baby in my arms is completely unexpected and just to have her content being next to me and not on me is great:) She doesn't cry during diaper changes (in fact I think she enjoys them because she calms down when she's crying and I lay her down to change her diaper). She loves the bath. She only cries if she gets too cold, otherwise she's just looking around and enjoying it:) Another thing that is so nice about her is that I can put her down awake and she'll lay there content until she falls asleep (98% of the time). I feel bad doing that sometimes because she'll lay there for a good 20 minutes before dozing off but it's awesome not to have to rock her to sleep and worry that the second I put her down she'll wake up and start crying. Usually if I put her down asleep (like right after I feed her) she'll wake up within about 5 minutes. She'll look around and make some noises... and usually try to break out of her swaddle... but she'll fall asleep on her own and without me having to hold her again or rock her anymore. Again, I feel bad sometimes but I don't want to create that habit so I just go with it for now.

She is adorable! I know every mother thinks their kid is the cutest in the world and I'm no different but she is just so cute and has the most adorable facial expressions. She already has a "classic Piper" look (hard to explain) but I could just stare at her all day.

I LOVE being a mother and it was absolutely worth the 2ish years of trying, every single shot, pill, follie check and every single month of pain and disappointment. I'm so in love with this girl and it is amazing how much my world has changed having her in it.