Our baby was born on December 18th, 2011 at 10:31pm and weighed 8lbs and 3oz. It was an incredible day. It was painful – it was fast and it was miraculous.

I was induced at close to 40 weeks because of my history of high risk and fast labors. Luckily I was because it took a long time to get my blood clotting medications in me. Of course, it was very painful because inductions typically are. I was in active labor for a full 4 hours and after three good pushes, the baby was out! He was a big boy too! I cannot imagine if he came out naturally a week or two later and weighed 9 or 10 pounds! I can tell though, that he really enjoyed being inside of me, so I’m sure it would’ve taken a while. I probably would be pregnant right now!

My body felt automatically good right after birth. I was able to walk, I didn’t have any tears and I wasn’t sore anywhere. Of course, I have the natural bleeding and some fatigue, but I think my body is recovering fairly well…especially compared to past labors when it took weeks to heal because of what I endured in the aftermath.

The baby is wonderful. He is nursing a lot, sleeping a lot and digesting a lot…all the things you can expect in a newborn. With the holidays, all I’ve been doing is laying in bed, nursing, sleeping when I can, greeting visitors and attending mandatory holiday parties. Today is Monday and I was hoping to finally get out today and visit my care homes and possibly stop by a couple stores. We will see though because it’s all dependent on the baby and how I feel. For a person who can’t stand still for a long period of time, I don’t mind laying in bed all day with the baby for at least another week.

The boys are loving their new brother. I can’t wait to see them all grow up together. Christian and Nicholas love each other so much. They play together all the time and our house is full of love and joy.

So – I took a picture today of my tummy. I have to admit…I miss my tummy. I always do when my baby departs my body. But now that he is out, I still can’t really ‘activate’ any muscles in my abdomen. My uterus is still going down (which is why women often look pregnant after they give birth) but I’ve always had an easier time bringing down my belly than most woman.

I haven’t been changing my diet much. I still eat what I want. I probably drink more tea and water to keep up my milk supply. I don’t plan on working out for at least six weeks. I may start at 4 weeks this time because my body feels a lot better this go-around.