what's saving my life (postpartum edition)

tomorrow I'll be eight weeks postpartum with baby number five (which my eighteen-year-old self would find simultaneously unbelievable and also inevitable!).  while each baby, delivery, and postpartum experience is unique, there are some essential components to a smooth recovery. the way in which all of these things is accomplished may vary, but ultimately, you need to feed your baby, feed yourself, tickle your brain, and care for your body. here's how I've been doing all of that this time around! 

1) the Willow Go wearable pump. oh my goodness, you guys. this is such a game changer. I am pumping exclusively for George (minus the occasional bottle of ready-to-feed formula when we're out and about). there is absolutely no way I would still be pumping if I had to sit down with my trusty double electric Spectra four or five times a day. my insurance pays for a new breast pump every three years, so I decided to try out a wearable mostly because my sister had such a good experience with hers when she was pumping for twins (!). 

the marketing hype around wearables would have you believe that you can pump on the go and no one will be the wiser. well, considering that they are large plastic shells that sit inside your bra and that the pumps make an undeniable pump-like noise, you wouldn't be able to fool anyone with these and I don't wear them out in public (but they're great for pumping in the car!). each pumping session automatically lasts for 25 minutes and during those 25 minutes I can feed George a bottle, cook dinner, tidy up around the house, or ... write a blog post like I'm doing right now! that's one hundred minutes per day that I have hands-free when I otherwise would be tethered to my pump. hallelujah!

2) the Huckleberry app. I've had various baby tracking apps over the years but I like this one the best, and it's free! the download did come with a free trial of the premium version which includes a widget on your lock screen that automatically shows how long it's been since baby's last feeding whenever you pick up your phone. it's ideal for tracking wet and dirty diapers during the first weeks as well as pump output. and every once in a while, the app sends me a virtual high five! I didn't get a screen shot of the time it congratulated me on changing my 100th diaper when George was less than two weeks old.

3) a Meal Train. meal trains are just the best. thanks to the generosity of our friends, we've had them with every baby, and I've cooked and delivered countless meals to contribute to others. in this stage of my life, I don't volunteer anywhere, so I consider meal train cooking to be my main corporal work of mercy!

when George was a few days old, three of my friends messaged me separately to ask if they could set up a meal train for us! I asked the woman who runs the meal train ministry at our school to get it started. after the girls were born we had roughly eight to ten people sign up to bring us meals, which was awesome. this time around, fourteen (14!!!) people signed up! some of them are school families whom we had never met prior to this. I am so grateful for their generosity! because of them, we had meals delivered Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays for the last week of July and all of August. this is such a gift on multiple levels: the mental load of thinking about what's for dinner, the time and effort spent preparing and delivering the meal, the cost of groceries, etc, etc. 

one of my favourite parts about being a meal train recipient is the opportunity to find new recipes to add to our rotation! here are the meals we received: sausage tortellini, baked chicken thighs with Syrian rice, stuffed peppers, chef salad with buttered noodles, bang bang chicken with rice (sauce served on the side for my picky kiddos), lasagna, chicken stroganoff, baked ziti, Asian chicken with peppers and rice, roasted kielbasa and potatoes, penne a la vodka, Mexican chicken casserole, and pot roast with veggies. many meals included thoughtful side dishes like prepared salad with homemade lemon vinaigrette, pre-washed berries, chopped raw veggies, homemade sourdough bread (!), and lots of desserts. one family included a bag of Dot's seasoned pretzels and a container of Sarris chocolate-covered pretzels from our local candy distributor. some families dropped off food on the porch, some came in to visit for a few minutes, and some stayed for longer (including one friend who said, "would you like me to hold him so you can do things, or would you like to hold him and you tell me what to do?" THE BEST. I opted to let her hold him while I unloaded the dishwasher!). 

4) Hours upon hours of media entertainment. especially during those middle-of-the-night feeding sessions, you need something to keep you alert! I also take the opportunity in the wee hours to watch shows that are not safe for kids. 

lots and lots of e-books and audiobooks via Libby: Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan, I See You've Called in Dead by John Kenney, The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz, Under Water by Tara Menon, Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (on audio). The Instrumentalist by Harriet Constable, Good People by Patmeena Sabit, The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout, So Far Gone by Jess Walter, The Radiant Dark by Alexandra Oliva (ebook). regular books: Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson, Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult, The Clinic by Cate Quinn, More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova.

bingeable TV: Nurse Jackie, How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, Beef (on Netflix). Shrinking, Rooster, and Ted Lasso (on Apple TV). 

great movies: Glass Onion, Wake Up Dead Man, The Devil Wears Prada, Murder Mystery (on Netflix). I watched those last two with Greta. Cece and I also watched several episodes of the Amazing Race. 

gripping audio productions and serial podcasts: Homecoming, Case 63 (on Spotify). Burden of Guilt (on Apple podcasts). 

5) Postpartum exercise. I discovered the Nourish Move Love postpartum workout plan this time around and I am obsessed. all of her videos are available for free on Youtube, and the plan puts together a workout calendar so you don't have to spend any time deciding which one to do. many of her videos include a physical therapist coaching proper technique especially in regards to rebuilding core and pelvic floor strength. I started at six weeks postpartum and it feels so good to move again! 

I've also been going on stroller walks with George, around the neighborhood and on the paved path at our local park, taking full advantage of late summer weather. pretty soon I plan to start a couch to 5K program (probably using the Just Run app), using walk/run intervals to get back into running. running (slowly) is my exercise happy place, although, full disclosure, I'm not quite sure my sports bras can handle what's going on right now, so I may resort to wearing two of them for a while!   

and included under the heading of "caring for your body" is the best mouthwash ever for canker sores, Peroxyl! Cece had to rinse with this three times a day when she had her braces on and we still had some leftover in the cupboard. I developed a monster sore on the inside of my bottom lip at about a month postpartum. I don't remember getting canker sores postpartum with the other kids, but apparently it's common due to hormonal shifts, physical stress, and vitamin deficiencies that can occur with breastfeeding. at first it was painful to eat, then it was painful to talk, then it just hurt all the time no matter what! I started taking my prenatals more regularly (which every woman of childbearing age should do all the time, but especially during pregnancy and breastfeeding), took Motrin and used Orajel. nothing really helped much until I started swishing with Peroxyl. the pain lessened immediately. it took several more days for the sore to heal but at least it wasn't causing constant pain!

you know what's also saving my life? those delectable neck wrinkles and the downy tufts of hair on the back of his head. it must be a pheromone thing -- I bury my face in the back of his neck and just drink in his milky sweetness.