Body After Baby

Babble.com posted some pictures of Celebrity Moms In Bikinis.  I know that it has only been seven and a half weeks since giving birth to my little bundle of joy, but I don't know if I'll ever look like any of these moms in bikinis. 

1. I admit, I was a little overweight when I first got pregnant. Even though I was little overweight, I still weigh ten pounds more now than I did when I first found out I was pregnant.  It seems like no matter what I do, I can't lose the last ten pounds.   And, the unfortunate thing is that I've lost a lot of my muscle and now those extra pounds are pure fat :-(  Yes, I know that because I'm breastfeeding I might be carrying a little more weight in my chest area, but everything else is a little bigger (and more jiggly) than before too.  
2. Stretch marks!  Will they ever go away?  Throughout my whole pregnancy I religiously put coco butter on my stomach and did not see any stretch marks at all.  However, they started appearing the last month of my pregnancy and they just kept growing.  Seven and a half weeks after giving birth my stretch marks are still visible and seem like they are not fading at all even those I've been putting on Mederma religiously. 

I know that I need to just give myself more time.  Again, it has only been seven and a half weeks since I gave birth.  Maybe in a few more months I'll feel a little better about myself and maybe, just maybe, I'll feel comfortable being in a bathing suit again.  I don't need to look like all of the women in the story from Babble.com.  I know that I will never look like most of them because I am realistic... I'm curvy.  I'm hoping that my body will start looking like the picture below of Britney Spears.  I think that she looks great even though she takes a lot of flack in the media for now being curvy.  I think she looks amazing for having kids! 

Photo from Babble.com story on Celebrity Moms in Bikinis!

After writing what I did above about Britney Spears, I must put it out there.  I am not a Britney Spears fan at all.  I only put her up as an example because she was the only curvy woman that the Babble website had as an example of a good looking mom in a bikini. 

Anyway, here's to getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight and fitting into my pre-pregnancy clothing.  Although the maternity pants are comfortable, I really need to start wearing regular clothes again!  Any tips?

90th percentile!

Today we had Maddy's one month doctor appointment (a few days late) and the doctor was very happy with her growth!  When she was born, she weighed 7lbs, 1oz and she weighed 6lbs, 8ozs when we left the hospital two days later.  Today, at five weeks old, she weighed 9lbs, 3.5oz - in the 50th percentile.  But, what surprised me was her height.  When she was born, she was 20.5 inches.  Today, at five weeks old, she is 22 inches - in the 90th percentile.  The reason this is so surprising is because my husband and I are not all that tall.  I am average height at 5'6", but my husband is on the shorter side at 5'3".  I guess Maddy is taking after my side of the family.

On a scarier note, the doctor referred us to Pediatric Ophthalmology.  My poor baby has a birth mark that started showing at about three weeks old.  She has a strawberry hemangiomas below her right eye.  Actually, it starts at the inside corner of her right eye and is about half an inch long.  As of right now it is not raised - just a bright red mark.  However, hemangiomas are known to grow within the first year.  So, because it is so close to her eye, they want us to see a specialist to make sure that it won't effect her vision or eyes in any way.  I just pray that everything is okay and it doesn't grow any more.

Below is a picture of her strawberry birthmark taken a few days ago.  Hopefully I don't have to show any other pictures of it until it starts fading (which they always do) - I don't want to have to take any more pictures because it's getting bigger.

She's still adorable :)