The Ugly
So over the last week I had been feeling really exhausted, irritable and generally off. I assumed it was to do with trying to lose weight, exercising more and coping with minimal sleep... I also had been experiencing a fair bit of pain while feeding Ethan (and in between feeds as well).
On Friday night my joints were aching and my skin was incredibly sensitive, I thought I had a fever but when I took my temperature it was normal even though I was alternating between shivering and being really hot... So off to bed I went at 7.30pm.
Ethan was kind to me that night, with just one night time wakeup (at 3am) but unfortunately I woke up feeling worse on Saturday morning. So I found an after hours clinic and off we went... My blood pressure was pretty low at 90 over 70 and my temperature was high at 38.9 degrees! The doctor confirmed that I had mastitis and prescribed a huge amount of anti biotics for me- 12 a day for a week!!! He did say that I would start to feel better after the first few doses and he was right.
The Bad
Sleep - or lack of it (and the associated side effects of limited sleep)!
For the last 6 or so weeks Ethan's sleeping has been unpredictable to say the least... for a while there he would wake at 3am every night and then sleep through to around 7am. Well now I have no idea at all when he will wake, he is very unpredictable... some nights (few and very far between) he will wake just once but generally I am up 2 - 4 times a night at the moment (the worst night had wake ups at 11pm, 1.30am, 3.30am, 5am and 7am up for good). He has also become a little harder to settle during the nights now... one night Jason and I tag-teamed for 3 hours trying to get him to sleep. On top of this his daytime sleeps are short and sometimes non existant! This has contributed to very tired (and sometimes very cranky) parents.
But no matter how tired we get, we can't stay cranky for long given this darling sweet boy of ours!
We thought that introducing solids may help with Ethan's sleeping... we started with baby rice cereal (Ethan wasn't a fan) and moved to carrot which Ethan prefers. There has been no discernable difference in Ethan's sleep (positive or negative) and really all we have is more mess from the solids right now hahaha.
As Ethan doesn't sleep much during the day at all there is a lot of time to fill in. He has recently become bored with his regular toys and very clingy, which was making it really hard for me to get anything done at all. I was getting all worked up about not getting anything done during the day... so we got an exersaucer and it has transformed my days... I can put Ethan in this and it gives me back around 45 minutes to do some chores around the house. Ethan LOVES it!
Vomit and teething drool (and associated washing piles)
Over the past couple of weeks Ethan has become a very vomity (is that a word) baby. It has caught me by surprise sooooo many times and I had been changing my outfits just as often as changing Ethan's outfits! Must remember the muslin! One day I was vomited on aroud 5 times and I rang Jason crying about it.... I was just so tired and just couldn't cope with it at the time!
As well as the increased incidence of vomit, Ethan has been teething (his first two teeth popped out about a week before he turned 4 months old!!), with the teething has come a massive amount of drool. So much so that I have been going through 4 - 5 bibs a day and sometimes 2 outfits!
The good
Now onto some of the good stuff (there is so much of it I can't list it all!!!).
Weather - Lately we have had some wonderful weather and Ethan enjoys the outdoors as much as I do so we have been spending a lot time outside enjoying the garden. Recently Jason set up this little outdoor activity centre for Ethan!
Smiles and giggles - Ethan has really started to smile and giggle a lot lately. It brings such joy to our hearts to see and hear this. It starts with a shy smile when he first wakes up, followed by a big grin when we take him from his wrap me up and he has his first morning stretch. Ethan loves raspberries on his neck and tummy and also giggles like crazy when we dance!
Ethan has also started to respond to peek a boo, check out this video:Development
Its amazing watching a baby develop, things change each and every day! Ethan now reaches for toys and holds them in both hands, he has found his feet (and his voice), and is really close to rolling - he twists himself almost to the point of rolling but is not quite there yet.
Health and wellbeing
Apart from the mastitis my health and wellbeing kick has been going really well. I have lost over 5kg and can now run over 10km (with the pram) in a single session. I have been going to a Thai Kickboxing gym twice a week with a group of mums (we can take our babies with us). The instructor takes us through a bootcamp style session for over an hour and I feel shattered at the end of it. I have also been running regularly with a mum from my Mothers Group. Its great to be out and active again!
Jason has also been losing weight as he is following my eating plan! A new favourite meal is chargrilled beef served with an avocado, corn and capsicum salsa! Yummo!
So all in all the good far outweighs the bad and the ugly!!
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