3 Months Postpartum

Yes, switching to months because the math is just easier.

She’s three months old! She’s definitely not a teeny tiny newborn anymore (I packed up those clothes today), and in the past month I feel like she’s become a little fireball of development. She surprises us with something new every day. I read that babies can develop 700 synapses a second, and over the past month you can definitely see that she’s not simply reacting, but considering the things she does, or reacting to stimuli more thoughtfully. It’s amazing to see her expressions change when she sees us or simply the sound of our voices. Here are two videos, one from the end of 11 weeks, and the other at 14 weeks that illustrates it perfectly:

11 weeks

14 weeks

No one gets those smiles and coos more than Neil. He has definitely become her entertainment parent.

I on the other hand, am the comfort parent. I can get her consoled, comforted, and to sleep in record time. I guess it comes with having the milk card to play.

Even with all this exciting change, I love that she still cuddles like a newborn, and even though I get nothing done, I love rocking and holding her while she gets sleepy every night. We’re still working on sleeping solo at night, and I think it’s mostly my fault because I want to hold her so badly during the day when I’m at work.

Other notables:

1. She can now exist in a contented non-seeking state for almost 20 minutes. There is a lot less crying transition. She broke out in a big cry the other day and we were shocked to realize we hadn’t heard an all-out cry in some time. We hear mostly whimpers and some light crying or vocalizations when she wants something.
2. Neck control is amazing, we’re almost to the point of very little wobbling! Back time is getting better with the help of her activity gym, and while tummy time sessions last no more than 5-7 minutes, we’re getting there…
3. Bottles pumped per day: around 5.5 5-oz bottles.
4. I hate to even utter the words, but she is sleeping through the night randomly. The first half of her third month we were down to one wake-up consistently, and for the past week she has been sleeping through, and it is amaaaazing. Naps are getting really consistent too. We’re still co-sleeping at night. I know, I really need to break this, it’s really hard though — for me more so than her probably.

I think the key to enjoying this parenting thing is going in with no expectations and no comparison games. Just enjoy the ride.

Physical Recovery

Feeling back to normal. Endurance leaves something to be desired, but I can say confidently that all my max weights are within 10 lbs of what they were pre-pregnancy (well until my little incident this past weekend). I didn’t go into this month thinking I’d be maxing yet, but I feel good, and I’ve been taking each movement, WOD, and week as it comes. I’ve kind of now set my sights on 15% improvement from my pre-pregnancy maxes by the Open. I don’t know how ambitious that is, time will tell. I really want to compete again, but I feel like I still have so long to go — just by looking around even my small community.

Weight Loss

No weight gained or lost on my end despite feeling like I’m gaining muscle and strength back — but the Beeb has crossed 13lbs! So much leg chunk, and the arms are chunking out nicely as well.

How I’m Feeling Mentally

Good! Neil and I both agree that the newborn phase was not our favorite, but as she becomes more engaged and aware, we are having a better time and are feeling more comfortable in our role as parents. Her cries now have distinguishable sounds for specific needs, and honestly, they make us laugh sometimes. Not in an evil way, but the way she throws her head back and wails like the world is ending — you have to laugh, you do. I think a lot of it has to do with mindset too. A bout of gas or a cranky night doesn’t mean the sky is falling anymore.

I think she’s getting more comfortable too, and kind of figuring out that the outside is a cool place to be. She can just “be” and observe her surroundings, and this month she discovered the dogs and LOVES them, especially Clive. She likes the background noise of TV, and prefers to be on her activity mat in the middle of wherever the action is in the house.

Isn’t it insane how different she is at 15 weeks from 11 weeks. Blows my mind! Anyway. I really like that we’re in a good groove too — our weeks have a solid routine, and we trade-off well to get enough “me” time.

All in all, the third month has been a really good month around here (other than those three days we ate chili — done with that until breastfeeding is over). She’s getting really close to achieving a few new skills like holding her own bottle and rolling over, so we hope for some exciting changes in the 4th month!