Body After Baby

Before I got pregnant with Gabrielle I decided that if I couldn't get pregnant, I'd get fit. I cleaned up my diet and started devoting time to the gym. I wouldn't have considered myself to be a "gym rat" but I was definitely there a lot. I enjoyed it. One of my best friends also went to the same gym. We would chat it up while on the treadmill and them hit the weights. It was fun. Honestly, I think that it was the first steps to getting out of the depression that I had quickly fallen into. Excercise saved my life. 

This was me, the morning after getting a positive pregnancy test. I was proud of how far I had come. Abs were starting to form. My hips were slimming down. I was definitely headed in the right direction. I vowed that I was going to keep going to the gym, and I did, until morning sickness and sciatic pain took me out (22weeks). My excercise came to a halt. By that point, I was willing to take a break. I still had to take care of Jordan and it seemed that with every run on the treadmill came awful pain. 

Throughout my pregnancy I gained 35lbs. I gained 30 with Jordan. I felt pretty good about that number. This was my last pregnancy and I felt like I enjoyed it. 

So...almost 16 weeks after giving birth, where am I at? I'm about 10lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight. There are no abs coming through. I have skin that may be loose for the rest of my life. My hips are the widest that they've ever been. Some days it's depressing. Some days I don't notice it. When I get down on myself I look back at that picture. I got my body to look like that. There wasn't a magic pill. I didn't starve myself. I was determined. I did it once, I can do it again! This body has now given birth to two babies. These hips and thighs are strong enough to pace the floors and flights of stairs with a fussy baby. The flabby belly is Jordan's favorite part about his mommy and that makes me feel good. My breasts are flabby because I'm still feeding a baby. The body is an incredible thing. And, for that, I am proud of mine! 

I am going to periodically blog about my weight loss journey. Help keep me accountable! 

Oh! Hey!

Apparently I wrote this back in January and never published it! I was sleep deprived at that time, forgive me! Here are a couple pics highlighting my life from Oct-Dec.!

October:

My 1st baby shower thrown the ladies in my small group. 

Jordan was IronMan for Halloween! 

Last Pumpkin Patch as a family of 3

My 2nd baby shower thrown by my mom and two of my great friends!

November:

We finally finished Jordan and Gabrielle's bedroom. I am very happy with how it turned out! We still have her newborn pictures to hang on the wall above her crib but we are done! 

My 3rd, and final, shower thrown by some of my closest girlfriends! 

I got my maternity pictures taken.

 We took Jordan to see Santa before Gabrielle arrived! 

December:

Last picture as a family of three! There is always someone with their eyes closed.

Headed to have a baby! 

Gabrielle Amara Patel born December 5, 2013 at 9:54am.

 

Life After Baby #2

Hello? Is anyone out there? No? Okay!

I don't really expect to still have many, if any, followers left. I know that I kind of left everyone hanging back in September. Truth is, life got busy. I was showered by my amazing friends and family. The holiday season got into full swing and before you know it, it was Thanksgiving. We were really hoping that Ms. Gabrielle would make her appearance at Thanksgiving but no such luck. Instead, she decided to grace us with her presence on December 5th! My labor and delivery was quick. They started the induction at 7:00am and she was born, epidural free, at 9:54am. She weighed 6lbs 14oz. She is perfect.

 

So, what is life with two children like? Busy! Gabrielle is a diva (that's code for high maintenance). We got off to a rough start with breast feeding. She wanted no part of latching but took a bottle like a champ. Because she wouldn't latch well, and when she did it wasn't for very long, I was exclusively pumping. Breastfeeding alone is difficult. Pumping exclusively is that much harder. There is a schedule. There is a pump to lug around...

Side note: For those of you that are thinking of having children (or more children), breastfeeding does not come naturally to everyone. It wasn't natural with Jordan and it wasn't natural with Gabrielle. Don't beat yourself up over it. Being a mom for the first time, second time, tenth time, is hard enough, don't stress yourself out if you can't get the hang of it initially. If you're the ambassador of the "breast is best" committee, don't leave me any nasty comments. I wish someone would have told me that from the beginning. But, now I know and I'm passing on the information.

Anyway, I exclusively pumped for the first month. We found a groove and we were rolling with it. That was until she decided that she needed more milk than I was producing. We talked to our pediatrician about the best thing to do, given that we were having a latch problem. He suggested that instead of feeding her breast milk for every bottle to supplement every other bottle. We were okay with that. My motto is "happy mommy, happy baby." And that's where we are currently. I'm still pumping but still offering her the breast. Some days she feeds like a pro. Other days, she wants no part of it.

Sleep: Surprisingly, she has been sleeping through the night since about 4 weeks old. It isn't anything that we did. I don't know the secret. What I do know is that I woke up in a panic one night because my breasts were full and I hadn't heard her crying. Well, she was still sleeping. She typically sleeps from 10:00-6:30. Again, I don't know what the secret is but we are rolling with it!

Brotherly Love: I've had a lot of people ask me how Jordan was adjusting to having a sister. Honestly, he loves it. I was very nervous and carried a lot of mommy guilt over bringing a new child into the home. Jordan is a very sweet and caring person but I didn't know how he would react. It's been just the three of us for close to five years. He has all of my attention at home. I have to say though, I am very proud of him. He doesn't show any signs of jealousy. He loves to hold Gabrielle and give her kisses. We are working on him being a bit more "gentle" but overall, I can't complain.


We are so blessed and so excited to see what God has in store for us next. I am going to try and blog at least once a month to keep everything/everyone updated. I'm on Instagram (daniellepatel) if you want to be more up to date on the happenings of my life!

Until next time...