milestones and 3 months postpartum.

Ah, developmental milestones. More stuff for parents to stress out about. While Luka does seem "normal" as far as I know, there is always a risk of issues down the road because of his rough beginning. They just kept telling us, "make sure he meets his milestones" whenever I would ask how likely it will be for him to be delayed or challenged in some way. But the thing about milestones is that every baby is different, and they are just basic guidelines for development. Still, it's hard not to take it seriously when Lu went for his two month well visit and the nurse asked if he was smiling at us yet. He wasn't really then, but at three months he's been smiling up a storm!



And several times now we have put him to sleep on his back (per usual), only to find him on his side a little later. Little boy doing big boy things!



He's holding his neck up really strong now, and occasionally popping me in the mouth with his forehead. Overall, we are happy with his milestones so far. A little slow with some, faster with others. I'm sure it will all even out.

Since this started out as a pregnancy blog, I should probably mention how things are now at three months postpartum. For the most part, it's like nothing even happened. The c-section pain has been completely gone since about 6-8 weeks after the surgery. The hip pain and carpal tunnel pain I had while pregnant went away almost immediately after giving birth. My blood sugar went back to normal within only a few days after the birth, too. The lochia lasted almost a full six weeks, gross. But I haven't had a normal cycle yet, interestingly. I'm still about nine pounds heavier than I was before the pregnancy, which isn't too bad I guess. But my abdomen muscles are loose and flabbier than before, so that's unsightly and annoying. and I didn't really get any stretch marks until a few weeks after giving birth. No fair! I'm sure they happened because of the loose belly all flopping around when walking. I should have bought one of those abdominal support bands way sooner than I did. Not only did it help the c-section pain tremendously, I bet it would have cut down on the stretch marks, too. I didn't get one until about four weeks after the surgery. If you ever have a c-section or any other abdominal surgery, get yourself one of these! It really helped so much.

My self esteem isn't at it's highest right now, like many new moms, I guess. I don't have many pictures of me and the boy yet because I just feel like I look like shit. Still kind of heavy, barely showered with spit up stains on all my shirts. And I'm in desperate need of a haircut! With all the medical bills piling up, I can't even afford a haircut or color. Not that hair maintenance is important in the grand scheme of things, but yeah, BLAH.
My friend Malia took a picture of me and General Fussypants that I don't totally hate: