Life after delivery...

During the last few months of pregnancy I found myself wondering (like most women) how in the heck I would ever look like myself again! You look down at the massive bump you used to call your abs and fear for what they will look like when there is no longer a baby underneath them!

I tried hard during my pregnancy to remain as healthy as possible and only gained 15lbs. Now before everyone starts hating me I have to give the disclaimer that I was sick sick sick for the first 20+ weeks and lost a good amount of weight so once I started to gain I had a decent ways to go before actually "adding" the lbs! I didn't actually get into the positive numbers until I hit 26-27wks. That aside I did still try to eat healthy and not allow myself the excuse of "eating for two". I let myself enjoy some pregnancy cravings (ice cream & donuts in the last month!)....though I limited it to only a few times a week and kept it to one scoop (instead of the whole gallon) or just 2 donuts (vs. the dozen I wanted!!) ;)

The one thing I was pretty bad about was excercising during these last 9 months. I did a little prenatal yoga but most of my exercise was walking and lots of pelvic tilts (great for back pain and keeping abs in function!). Everytime I thought about increasing the excercise something would start hurting and keep me from really doing it!

Once Harper was born I was a little grossed out with how my midsection felt. The best way to describe it is "jelly belly". The entire abdominal region literally feels like jelly to the touch! Yuck! I expected to still be pregnant looking.....but the feeling of the "jelly" was unexpected! It is honestly a feeling you can't really explain or imagine until you have it!

Since all the "bumpies" always ask for postpartum pics I decided to swallow my pride and take some. It will be nice to look back and see what I've accomplished (once excercise is allowed!). I'm actually pretty happy with how I look BUT looks are deceiving and it is totally still jello to the touch!! :( I am able to do sit-ups though (although my OB said not to for another 2 weeks) so that suprised me. I guess my abs didn't take as bad of a beating as I thought!

Here is my belly at 13wks (my first belly picture):

Here is my belly at 38wks 3days (2 days before I delivered):

And the front view (scary huh?! No stretch marks though!)

Here is my belly pics 1 week after delivery:

At 1 week I was actually down to the exact weight I was when I found out I was pregnant.....but as you can see it definately doesn't look the same!! I wasn't able to fit into any pre-pg jeans at this point! My hips have definitly spread out a bit! haha!

Here is my belly at 2 weeks after delivery:

At this point I can actually fit into my jeans but the shape of me has changed. I'm actually kinda liking my new hips......give me a little more of a curvy figure! ;) We shall see if it stays that way! Thanks to breastfeeding I am actually about 3lbs under my pre-pg weight! I would love to go down a little more since I was about 6lbs over what I wanted to be when I got pregnant.....we had just gotten back from a month of vacation so what do you expect?! ;)

This week I am going to start adding in daily walks (if it is cool enough!) and my OB has ok'd light excercise after the 3wk mark so hopefully I can add in some yoga or pilates. We shall see how it goes!

Time to get rid of the jello!!!! ;)