Operation Fix my Baby: Step 1 (lactation consultant)

Once we got Chip a little more settled,  we were able to better see how sore our poor man was.  After experimenting with some fairly standard wind remedies, we hadn't had much luck, and I started to think something a bit bigger was wrong, as he was frequently in pain for long periods of time.  It was pretty devastating to see him like that, and frustrating spending hours trying to burp him, only to have him wake up crunched up in pain despite our efforts.  So I started looking for extra help.

 My first appointment in “mission: fix my baby” was with a lactation consultant.

Chip helped me out by putting on a great, grizzly show for her. Wailing his little head off and clearly in pain.  She managed to get a little relief for him with colic hold, which I am swiftly becoming accustomed to using!

Based on his symptoms (fussy all the time, clearly in pain, sore hard tum), she thinks he may have an allergy, so I’m on a strict, dairy free diet for the next two weeks.  I hope it works! We’re trying another couple of things too; a change in the way I feed him (one side only to address any potential hind/foremilk imbalance), a change in position (more upright, in case it’s reflux related) and giving warm gripe tea at each feed (which could help a number of digestive ills).

After the appointment, I had very mixed feelings:

• relieved that he is not just sad because he hates me or I suck
• devastated that the one thing I can do that makes him happy is making him hurt so bad
• hopeful that the dairy thing will fix it
• worried that it won’t
• guilty for taking 5 weeks to figure this out

We had a great day after the appointment- it can't have been the dairy, but the one sided feeding may have contributed, or it may have been a complete coincidence (as we've had some shockers since). But it will take most of the two weeks to see if there is any improvement from the dairy free thing, and we're happy to be patient if we end up with a happier baby.

Stay tuned for step 2: baby massage!

Starting from scratch

During my baby break yesterday (3 x 5 minutes walk/2 minutes jog), I realised I was running like an overweight newbie.  Jogging for 2 minutes at a time was about all I could handle.  My shorts were painfully tight.  It wasn't just my speed that was ploddy; my gait was too. The idea of flying through a 20km run like I was 10 months ago was, quite frankly, absurd.

I thought about my friend Ally, another new mama triathlete.  She'd mentioned that her comeback race would be the same as her first 10km race.  Because she did it when she was just starting out, she may beat her original time, despite being barely 2 months post cs when she does it.

And that made me realise that I never really started from scratch, the way a lot of athletes do.  I started walking at 16, and lost lots of weight doing that.  Then added some casual swimming, up to a k at a time.  Later, I joined a gym.  When I started running, I was rubbish at it and puffed like a puffer fish.  But I weighed 61kg or so, and I was fit.  My first half-marathon was a 1:54. Yeah, I took 12 minutes off in that first year of running. But I never got those massive improvements a lot of others get, partly because I started off fairly fit and fast.

But now I am (sort of*) starting from scratch.  I weigh god knows how much.  My abs have been decimated.  My muscles have forgotten what to do.  Jogging at 7:00/k pace for two minutes took it out of me.  That's much slower than my slowest half ironman pace.  It's slower than some of my steep offroad race paces!

Anyway, there's something I find freeing and exciting, rather than frustrating, about starting from scratch.  I get to return to the heady days of seeing results! Of setting and beating (post baby) PBs.  I've been doing this so long, I haven't felt like that in years!

Here's to starting from scratch!




*Of course, I'm still not REALLY starting from scratch.  Sure, it was tough on me to jog 7:00/ks for 2 minutes today, but if I were starting from scratch, I wouldn't have 7 years of running under my belt.  I wouldn't have those 20km runs I was doing a year ago.  But let me have it, ok?

3 weeks of Chip

After I gave birth, we (all three of us) were fortunate enough to be able to spend two days at the local Birth Centre (i.e. 4 star hotel with midwives).  It was a wonderful way to get the hang of things (ha!) and to spend some time with our wee dude.  After those two days, we drove nervously home on a heinously rainy day, and got ready to start "life with baby".

Two and a half weeks later, here I am.  Still alive, still functioning (thank god).  On the spectrum of babies, with one being "perfect, textbook, angel child" and ten being "screams all day every day and doesn't sleep", our Chip is about a 5, maybe a 6.  He likes to eat more frequently than most other babies (if you've heard of "cluster feeding", it's what my boy does all day), and he's got a healthy pair of lungs.  He's not great at putting himself to sleep, and during the day he's not all that keen on going to sleep at all.

So, basically- he's a newborn, though from what I can tell, there are newborns out there who are a lot nicer to their parents, and make it easier for their mums to get out and about during the day.  Seriously, the other babies at coffee group sleeps in their carseats, wake politely for feeding, burp easily, then go back to sleep, while Chip arrives, wakes up, screeches, insists on being fed again, looks around contentedly for a little, screeches, spits up, pretends to be ready to sleep, screeches and asks for food! Having said that , we usually get one good sleep during the day which gives me some time to do things (though this has been getting harder and harder recently), and at least two 2-3 hour stretches at night, so I realise my current complaining rights are lower than many (*knock wood*)!

We're both totally infatuated- especially Phil (I think it's easier to be smitten when you spend the nights asleep and most of the day somewhere other than stuck to the couch).  We're convinced that our baby is a genius (...who just can't get the hang of "close eyes... be asleep"), and we spend a lot of time marvelling at his cuteness, and at his neck strength (... I have to confess, I was a little gutted when I found out some of the other babies were rolling over already!)  He's not quite at the stage where he's really growing and changing every day or week- he's still very much a baby, but we are seeing peeks of his personality- and his "I want to eat NOW" faces and gestures just kill me!

I recovered pretty quickly from the birth- I like to think my fitness contributed to that, but really, it was probably luck, but have really struggled to get out of the house much with baby in tow, so am feeling pretty lumpy and sluggish.  Early on, I could get Chip into the pram and out the door for a walk, but at the moment he's not sleeping enough for me to risk waking him, and I'm still a bit nervous of being caught even 10 minutes from home with a screamer!  The last couple of days,we've ventured out for 20-30 minutes with Chip in my stretchy wrap.  Unfortunately, it seems a bit too warm for that still, and he's not quite ready for the mei tai carrier yet.  It's also difficult for me to get a baby break, given his feeding non-schedule- I can't just leave him with Phil, as he'll almost certainly want to eat as soon as I leave!  Plus, as Phil is being really great during the nights and during his non-working hours, I want to make sure he doesn't lose all of his workout time, especially since he's the one with a world champs to train for! The whole non-schedule thing is also making it a bit tougher to figure out how to express so that Phil can take care of him, but we'll get there eventually! That was basically a very long way of saying I've been for about 4 20 minute long walks in the past 3 weeks, and the couch is now molded to my back and backside!

I'm feeling the urge to run- or jog, at least.  I tried a few steps for kicks during my one baby break so far.  I found that my legs felt weird and heavy, that my natural pace was slooow (8.5kph), and that I need a new sports bra! I'm hoping to get a couple of baby breaks per week to get out for walks- and, once I'm cleared to exercise, little runs too.  And that will just have to do for now.

Right- sounds like Mr Eatalot is waking... again.  If you need me, I'll be on the couch.

Hot Potato Chip: Birth story!

I've finally started writing Chip's birth story, but I'm not sure I want to publish it here.  I've set up a separate password protected blog- please email or DM me if you'd like the details!