8 Weeks Postpartum

Today is Ada is 8 weeks old. I haven't done a postpartum update in a few weeks, so I thought I'd focus on myself. Ada is trying a schedule for the first time this morning. I'm listening to her over the monitor now. We're attempting an hour-long nap after 15 minutes of eating and and hour and 45 minutes of play. I'm hoping she'll give me some time to type this out!

Now that Ada is sleeping longer stretches -- usually a 5 or 6-hour one followed by a 3 or 4-hour one -- I'm feeling refreshed. We head up to bed sometime between 8:30 and 9:00 PM with the goal of being asleep by 9:30 or 10:00 PM. It's working for us, though I certainly miss watching TV shows like Portlandia. We don't really know what's "normal" for a nighttime routine, and we'd like to get more comfortable leaving Ada alone to sleep so we could spend some more time together in the evenings. We're getting closer by giving her naps in the day in her nursery. Thankfully, I haven't had any more sleep paralysis episodes.

If you follow the main site, you know that I ran my first post-baby race this past weekend. Physically, I'm feeling great. I got to the point this week where 4 miles no longer feels like a grueling workout. Instead, it's just an easy run.

As a result, I'll need to rework my original post-baby training schedule (below). My ultimate goal this spring is to run a half marathon at the beginning of May. Before that race, I have several more 10Ks, a 4-miler, and a 15K planned. Looking back, I deliberately chose a conservative training approach because I had no idea what I'd feel like after Ada was born. Flexibility has been the key with everything during and after pregnancy.


Yes. My body continues to heal and rebound. I have only lost a pound or two since I last wrote about my weight. I'm still not dieting, but I've given my daily meals a makeover, and I'm feeling much more energetic and healthy as a result. It's hard to find times to sit down and eat a meal . . . and then register that I've actually eaten it.

My goal at this point is to ultimately lose another 9 or 10 pounds to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm thinking when my running gets more back to normal, the weight will come off faster. For now, I'm focusing less on the numbers and much more on getting back to my pre-baby speed and mileage. I've always been more focused on my athletic ability than the number on the scale. Sadly, it's easy to get caught in the comparison trap between the before-and-after -- especially when it seems like others slim down more quickly -- so I'm working to not let it get me down.


Breastfeeding is still going well. I mentioned how Ada is sleeping longer stretches, but it isn't coming without a price. It seems like every other day, she has taken to massively annoying cluster-feeding sessions in the afternoons and evenings. It's gotten so bad that getting in my runs (cooking dinner, relaxing, spending time with Stephen, etc., etc., etc.) is difficult. I'll skip upstairs to get ready only to come back downstairs to a hungry baby. That's me feeding her before my run last night. I got back after 35 minutes and she needed to eat again not long after we finished dinner.

Also: I guess this counts as my first time breastfeeding in public?


My current struggle is scheduling my life. I know there are many schools of thought on scheduling the day. Or not. I've always been a planner, so it's been difficult to live day-to-day only having a loose understanding of what I'll be able to get done. Yesterday, for example, I had a few things on my to-do list: Post on both blogs, cook dinner, do the diaper and bedding laundry, clean the family room, and weed through my clothing. From the items on that list, I accomplished doing the diaper laundry and washing the sheets (they are still in the washing machine!), I half-cleaned the family room, I cooked dinner . . . but left the kitchen a disaster in its wake. And I hardly got online for more than a few minutes here and there.

I realize I'm being hard on myself. But now that Ada is almost two months old, I feel like I should have at least some control over my days. Not just for my own mental satisfaction, but also for the good of the household. I'm home. I should be able to get at least a few things done! At the suggestion of several blog friends (thanks, ladies!), we're trying the 3-hour baby schedule. As I mentioned above, it's roughly 15 minutes of eating, 2 hours of play (though, I think Ada is still a bit young and needs more sleep), and then a 45 minute nap. We're only in the first cycle of it, but so far so good.

I finished this post, at least! Thanks for all of your thoughtful comments and emails in response to the Falling in Love with Ada post. I'm glad many of you found you could relate or that it was helpful in some way.

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