37. My healing 2.5 weeks in.

We are 2 and a half weeks post-partum now and  I can't believe how quickly I seem to be recovering. I am barely taking painkillers, and when I do, it's for headaches and the sensitivity on my tummy where I've been doing the jabs. Rarely for the pain from the massive scar on my belly. 

I need to give myself a daily injection of a blood thinner. It's really unpleasant but fine. A couple of days after getting home, we went for a little walk and I was wearing some maternity trousers which sat very loosely on my scar. I didn't think it aggravated it but I started to notice my tummy was feeling quite tender. The swelling around the scar is still pretty numb, but above it was sore. I realised it could be the injections. I had been told I needed to do the jab in quite a specific area. About 2 inches below and to the left or right of my belly button. It is all of that section of my tummy that is sore. It sort of stings if anything is pressing on it. I asked my midwife when she visited if this is normal and she said yes. She also told me I can do the jabs anywhere, including my thighs, as long as it is into fatty flesh. I have done the 3 since in the side of my tummy and all have been less painful than in the tender strip at the front.

Puncture wounds.

The weapon.

Sweats

This is gross. I seem to remember getting a little sweaty when I was breastfeeding Jack. I've not been sweaty at all during the day, while I pump, or when I breastfeed. But apparently, in my sleep, it all comes out! I wake up absolutely soaked. My hair is wet and the t-shirt I have slept in is drenched. When I have the early sleep upstairs, James told me he needs to flip the duvet because the bed is so damp. It's not hot sweat either, I wake up freezing and soggy. It's so weird and gross, but I guess it's all the retained water that needs to leave my body. My legs have shrunk back down to skinnier than they were before I got pregnant. Baring in mind I haven't actually seen much of my legs for a very long time now. I will have lost muscle and strength, but I wasn't expecting my pins to be quite so skinny. I'm not complaining or worried about it as I know I will be strong again, and it actually fills me with a bit more confidence that my tummy will go down to nearly normal. Its shrinking pretty quickly to be fair.

How my tummy healing feels.

For the first 10/15 days, it felt like I had been doing 150+ situps a day. It was that sort of muscle ache, feeling tired and like the muscles have been working really hard. Which, of course, they had been! This morning, when I was sitting up to get up out of bed, the pain resembles slight bruising along the area of the scar. During the section, they will have used a lot of force to hold the skin open to pull the babies out, then stitch up all the layers of skin they had to cut through. So the feeling of bruising also makes perfect sense. The only real niggle I'm having is if my underwear or trousers rub or sit directly on top of the cut. So I really am very happy with how well I am healing. 

20 days postpartum 

Headaches

I am someone who gets headaches anyway. Its usually the first sign for lots of things. Not drinking enough water being the most obvious one. The headaches I am getting is mainly because I'm not drinking enough, I keep forgetting to! I'm regularly getting to the afternoon and start to notice a horrible headache starting, then realise I have had a brew and half a pint of water all day. On a normal day I would have a brew and a pint of water before I even start the day and seem to drink like a fish throughout. Something that becomes an issue at work if I forget my water bottle and my customer brings me a thimble full of water. Anyway, it's an easy cure but I keep realising I'm not looking after myself particularly well, simply because there's always something that needs doing before I notice that I've not had a drink or anything to eat for quite a few hours. James is doing the same. We are eating well because of all the fabulous food people keep bringing, but I often forget lunch, mainly because that's key nap time. 

On that note, I'm going to get some water for this headache. 

Sleep

Speaking of naps and sleep, we are actually doing really well. We are doing shifts at night. One of us will go to bed when Jack is down, usually around 8pm, they will get up at 2.30 for the 3am feed and early shift, and the other will sleep. It's great as we both get a block of sleep, plus the opportunity to sleep during the day when Jack is asleep or out if we need a top up. The person who has the early sleep usually needs a top up nap during the day as they are then up until the early hours of the morning otherwise, we tend to be fine with the 5 hour block.

My appetite.

I have days of not thinking about food and not needing loads, and others where I am ravenous all day and all night. 

The most practical time for me to eat is when I'm expressing, because I am sat down and can't go anywhere for half an hour. The problem with this is that I can be starving until the moment I start pumping, then I just don't want to eat. I don't know why, but it's really frustrating and I force the food down but I don't enjoy the meal. 

Expressing.

I'm starting to question my need to express at the moment. I pump for about 30 minutes at a time if I can, but when James isn't around, I am usually interrupted by a child so have to stop and start a lot. I probably pump between every other feed, but during the night is tricky if the babies are unsettled, but they often go on boob to settle them anyway. I'm managing just over 100ml per pump at the moment. Each feed they are averaging about 80ml each, so I am nowhere near what they need yet.

So is it worth my effort? Time I could be spending with Jack, cuddling the babies, sleeping, or doing jobs. It's very handy when they are unsettled being able to put them on boob as it is an instant calm for everybody involved, but there's lots of ways to calm a crying baby. It's something I need to think about. I have the pump until Tuesday, and will probably keep it for another 2 weeks, but I will try the hands free one to see how much I get with that. If that works well enough, I can at least move around and not be connected with wires for that 30 minutes. 

I loved the convenience of breastfeeding with Jack. We could go anywhere for as long as we wanted and I had all the food he needed. I'm starting to doubt that I will ever have enough for these rapidly growing babies. Unless of course, I do start to pump every 3 hours without fail. 

I am still on Iron tablets for the next 4 weeks. I'm assuming this is because of my blood loss and the transfusion.