I know I have been quiet these past few weeks, but I have been adjusting to life with my new baby boy, Esa. I thought I would break my silence with an update of my first three weeks as a rookie mom.
Esa arrived on Friday 7 April 2017 at 1:05pm. I gave birth naturally, I decided to manage my pain with an epidural.
The reason for this being – at some point in the early hours of Friday morning – this lady in the delivery room next to me gave birth naturally without any pain medication. The way she screamed and shrieked totally put me off a totally natural experience, as I didn’t feel like bringing my baby into such an intense, stressful environment like that and I didn’t want to give birth like that screaming (and possibly cursing!).
I could not have made a better choice, as my delivery went so smoothly and was even rather pleasant. My son Esa, was born into a calm, happy environment.
As for the dreaded episiotomy I was so nervous about? – well, I didn’t feel a thing when it was done, due to the epidural and it healed really fast, thanks to some salt baths and my body just responding well.
Three weeks later and I still find myself staring at him in total awe. We cannot believe he’s ours.
It has been quite a rollercoaster ride of emotions though – but they say this is normal. One thing I did not anticipate was how challenging breastfeeding would be. I always thought I would have no problem doing it, however, it turned out to be quite hard for both of us.
What everyone kept reminding me of was – we were both new at it (breastfeeding) so we were both learning. It was only after some help from a lactation specialist and three weeks of trying that we have finally got it down.
I think my advice I would give any new mom would be not to beat oneself up about it, do the best you can, as long as your baby is happy and healthy and fed – you are doing a good job! That could mean ‘exclusively breastfeeding your child’ – which I am not doing, I still supplement with formula, or whether breastfeeding didn’t work out for you, and you decide to only feed your baby formula. No one has the right to judge you, it’s your choice.
I miss training and gym so much, I cannot wait to get back into it. I am seeing my doctor this week after four weeks post partum and hopefully get the green light to start training.
You will notice this falls under a new section on my blog – ‘FABUFIT MOM’ – FABUFIT.CO.ZA is a reflection of my passions and my life – with me now being a mom – I wanted to incorporate that into the blog – so the website will cover not only, fitness, health but will extend to lifestyle and mamahood/parenting from a new mom’s perspective.
I hope you enjoy the journey with me!
Wardah
Happy Healthy Fabulous
