ten

That is the number of days postpartum I am and the number of millions of things it feels like are going on around here. At this moment Stan has gone to the hospital to help get his mom checked out (more to come on that), Kirby is acting out what he wants to happen and the pool later this afternoon, Bennett is playing in the curtains (he must want a spanking), Judah is napping and Grommy and Poppy are on their way back to Gastonia. Here's a little more detail on everyone...

-Yesterday morning my Mother-in-law woke up and her leg was swollen and splotchy. Since they had just arrived on Monday night from FL and had been out for two days with their group (they are spending their first week working with some folks from our home church in FL and a good friends ministry here and week #2 is just for us) the biggest concern was that she had a DVT. Stan and his dad took her to the hospital to have her checked out. They admitted her so that they could run tests and monitor her closely. All tests came back normal and they are releasing her now. Huge praise!
-Judah is doing well. He's getting on a regular 3 hour schedule, the biggest concern right now is that he's still a sleepy head and sometimes falls asleep before he's finished eating. It's slowly getting better as he is more and more alert. This boy also has amazing neck control.
-Kirby and Bennett are still so in love with Judah. Kirby does this funny thing to love on him. He rubs his chin or cheek on Judah's face. This is because ever since Kirby and Bennett were babies Stan will tickle their faces with his facial hair. Kirby imitates Stan in so many ways so it just makes me laugh that he's doing that, even without having facial hair. Bennett is doing better than I thought but his hugs and kisses are just a little too rough, we're working on it.
-Grommy and Poppy flew out this morning. :( It was so nice to have them here. The boys soaked up every minute. I wish I had had more time with them. Of course the first few days I was so pregnant and miserable there wasn't much fun to be had and then it was hospital and newborn time. PTL parents excuse some grumpiness, I hope at least. I'm praying they will be able to make a trip to China so they can see our home and city...maybe they will win the lottery.
-Stan has been the MVP. This is the first time he's really been around for those postpartum days. Usually it's right back to work but now our job situation is different and allows us to have this time together as a family. So he has been running errands, keeping the boys entertained, he took my parents out a couple of times so they could see more of Bangkok than just the hotel and helping me in so many more ways. Unfortunately for him I don't feel the guilt of waking him in the middle of the night like I did with the other two. That's what you get when you don't have to be at work at 6 am anymore. He obviously can't help me feed Judah but he has helped with a few fussy times. Nice for me, not so much for him.


As far as things go for me, I'm feeling pretty well. I went to the doctor on Wednesday so she could take the plaster off my incision and check out the healing. I told her that I had been itching so much so I was worried there was a problem. Found out that the incision looked great but the itching was from a slight allergic type reaction to the plaster itself. Perfect. She gave me a little cream to put on it and after one day it was so much better. Only she said that bikini style underwear would irritate my incision so I needed to wear briefs (aka: granny panties). Since I don't own any I begged a couple pair off my mom--sorry to talk about your underwear mom--and have to just wash them constantly. I must say the doctor was completely right on that call, it's so much more comfortable. My pain level has been pretty minimal. I found out what I thought was such a great pain pill is really just slightly stronger version of Aleve. So I stopped taking that one every 12 hours and have just gone to taking two Extra Strength Tylonol. No I'm not a crazy person but I know the more pain meds I take the more like Superwoman I will feel and I will definitely over do it. If I take enough not to be miserable I can monitor my activity level much better and, hopefully, heal quicker. I did give in and took the Aleve before bed last night, but let's be real, there's no need not to sleep as comfortable as possible. Oh and speaking of sleep I have been able to sleep on the bed again. That has led to my leg and ankle swelling to go way down and a much better time of rest. I still don't get why I couldn't lay comfortably at first--I'm thinking cause they cheated me on the good pain killers.

I hate that I still look pregnant and that I'm so wiggly and jiggly. I lost 13 of the 35ish lbs gained in one week so hopefully by week 4 when I get checked before we leave I can be pretty close to pre-Judah weight. Wearing maternity clothes for weeks after giving birth is simply torture. I refuse to go anywhere without Judah because if I get asked when I'm due I'm pretty sure I would become violent. The day after Judah was born he was circumcised and here they watch them for 4 hours after the procedure to watch for excessive bleeding. During that time is when we got our daily visit from my parents and the boys. Since Kirby couldn't find baby Judah he looked at my tummy and asked me if they put him back in. Nice. Not to mention that I was about 40 lbs more than I would like to be anyway (moving to the other side of the world led to stress eating--don't judge) so I will be doing what I did after Bennett was born and working my butt off to lose the weight. I tried to convince my OB to do a c-tuck (tummy tuck done during a c-section) but she wasn't supportive. Something about complications could lead to not being able to care for my baby. OK, that might be a valid reason. Anyway, I am totally looking forward to some stress relieving runs at the lake when we get home and an end to my menopause-esque hot flashes. All in all I will enjoy my last few weeks of my time in Bangkok--my wiggly jigglyness will not keep me from getting some good food at Hard Rock and Outback--and look forward to getting home to a new normal for our family and good friends that I miss.

Disclaimer: Being ten days postpartum, I am in no way responsible for rambling and incoherent sentences. Thanks.