Mama Status

I had my six week post partum appointment with Dr. S last Monday morning. As I expected, I am fully healed and under no restrictions. I can pick Riley up, I can sleep on my stomach, and I can eat sushi again. Hallelujah!

The recovery period wasn’t nearly as bad as it was with Riley, which was really nice, especially with two boys to take care of. Most of my pregnancy symptoms (heartburn, hip pain, headaches, etc.) went away the instant I had Rory and haven’t come back. The only exception was my swelling, which actually got worse before it got better. But even that was manageable within a few days.

I did develop lumps under both of my armpits about a week and a half after delivery. They turned out to be excess breast tissue filled with milk that had nowhere to drain. I was in a bit of pain for a few days, but they eventually went away and haven’t come back.

There is, however, one major difference in my post partum state this time around. When Rory was about four weeks old, I was hit with depression. I would cry at the drop of a hat and had a hard time getting through each day without help. (God bless Nola, Nopsi, and Grandma. Seriously.)

I’m finding it very difficult being responsible for two boys at the same time, one of whom is totally reliant on me and one of whom is crying out for attention that I can’t always give. Deciding to exclusively breastfeed was also really hard on me, even though I knew that’s what I wanted for Rory. And the fact that Rory is not the good napper that his brother was also stressed me out.

It got bad enough that Nola made me call Dr. S, who called me back personally and decided to put me on Zoloft. She started me out on half the normal dosage but increased it to the full strength when I started crying in the examination room at my appointment last week. She wants me to stay on it for six months to make sure it doesn’t come back. I hate having to rely on pills to make me feel better, but it does seem to be helping.

I continued to breastfeed Rory until he hit 6 weeks, when I started cutting back a bit to taper him off. I did that for about another week until I stopped completely on Saturday the 4th. He is getting the gentle infant formula now, and I am so relieved that I am not the only person who can feed him anymore. That lessened some of the depression but not all.

Rory is proving to be a challenge. He just never seems to settle and remain content for any decent period of time. He doesn’t full out cry very often, but he is just so squirmy and fidgety. And he’s still spitting up a lot of the time. Kenny and I wonder if there’s something wrong with his tummy, and I’ll definitely talk to Dr. N about his issues when we see her for his 2-month well-visit next week.

I still get butterflies in my stomach when I wake up on weekdays and remember that Kenny has to go to work, but it’s getting better. He is actually in Houston for work all this week, but Grandma is here to help me out while he’s gone. I’m just trying to take the days one at a time as they come and hope things continue to get better and better.

So send some positive thoughts my way, please. I need them right now!