11 months postpartum

I'm always doing updates on Grant's progress, but I thought it might be nice to give a little update on me for a change and to highlight what it feels like to be 11 months (almost a year!) postpartum.

First off, here's a picture from the week before I had a positive pregnancy test.

The week before my positive pregnancy test

Little did I know that I would retain SO MUCH WATER 9 months later!  This picture is from the week that I had Grant.  Man... It's hard to even look back at pictures from that month. 

9 months pregnant with Grant... oh the swelling!

 Here is a picture from a couple of weekends ago at the zoo.  I am SO happy with my weight loss progress.

11 months postpartum!

 So how much did I gain/lose?  Well I gained a total of 65 pounds during my pregnancy and I've lost 70 to date.  I blame the majority of the weight gain to water retention to be honest.  My ankles and legs were so incredibly swollen the last few weeks and the day I came home from the hospital I was already down almost 35 lbs.

I credit my weight loss 100% to breastfeeding.  I haven't had any spare time to go to the gym although I have been pretty consistent about getting out and taking Grant on walks around our neighborhood.  I haven't dieted at all and breastfeeding actually makes me pretty hungry! In the beginning I was an overproducer.  Since I exclusively pump, this meant I was making 50oz of milk a day which calculates to around 1000 calories burned.  I'm now down to around 30oz a day, but that's still 600 calories being burned a day.

I was also very lucky that I didn't get any stretch marks.  I'm not sure if it was due to good genes or just all of the product I slathered on my belly every night.  If you're interested I used:

Erbaorganics Mommy-To-Be Stretch Mark Oil

DreamBelly Stretch Mark Butter

 The DreamBelly smells DELICIOUS.  I'd alternate using regular cocoa butter lotion and mixing it with the oil and then using the Dream Belly.  Like I said, it could just be good genes, but I didn't get 1 stretch mark and my belly was BIG!

It's hard to tell if I'm back to normal hormonally since I'm still pumping.  I'm down to twice a day as of this week.  My goal is to be totally done with the pump by Grant's first birthday.  I have so much milk frozen, that I plan on weaning myself slowly now that he's 11 months old and using frozen if I don't pump enough in those 2 pumps. I'm so ready to be done worrying about where I'll be during my pump times and having to tote my pump when we go out of town.  I'm very thankful that I was able to give him 100% breastmilk and that my supply was enough to make it to his first birthday.

I've noticed that I've been having hot flashes lately.  I've wondered if this is due to weaning and my hormones attempting to regulate. They aren't too bad or too often though, and coming off of pregnancy hot flashes, these aren't even much of a bother!

I feel like I'm almost back to my normal self by this point and I'm so glad.  I feel comfortable in my own skin and like how clothes fit me again which is a relief.  Pregnancy really takes a toll on your body (and self-esteem) and it doesn't immediately improve after you give birth.  I honestly think that now, almost a year after giving birth, that I feel pretty close to the way I did pre-pregnancy.

So there's my pitiful attempt at an update on where things stand with me right now.  I'm busy with work and planning Grant's birthday party, so be on the lookout for his birthday post next month :)