Baby is here ! Back to HA recovery...

The moment we have waited for is here ! For almost 10 months of pregnancy bliss, I finally got to meet my Baby Boy. The picture on the left was my little guy in the hospital, 4 days old. Yes, I was one of those woman who LOVED being pregnant. Aside from the unsettled first trimester with pregnancy worries and illness, I felt like I could be pregnant forever. I knew I wanted more kids and would love to be pregnant again, but after all of the work of fertility treatments I wasn't so sure I wanted to go through that again. 

We arrived home after almost five days in the hospital. My Son and I both had fevers post delivery, so he immediately went to the special care nursery and I started on IV antibiotics. They think this was related to my water breaking and delivering past the 24 hour mark in which they recommend to get baby out. Anyway, it was a LONG 5 days in the hospital and the sleep deprivation was making me feel like I should be in the psychiatric ward, not the maternity ward. I had a blissful pregnancy but I can't say the same about the first few weeks as a Mom. Learning a new role plus learning how to breastfeed was not easy ! 

Flash forward to six months post baby. I started to wonder, will I ever get my period back? A lot of research supports your body "resetting" after baby. I went back and forth thinking about how long should I nurse for to see if my period would come back. I wasn't in any rush to have another baby but I was curious to see if AF would come. I decided to nurse as long as Baby and I wanted. We both really enjoyed nursing and I didn't want to stop nursing just to see if I would cycle. 

Around 10 month PP still nursing, I started noticing changes in my body with CM, dips in supply, pimples, etc. At the time I had no idea what my body was doing because I never had your typical fertile signs/period signs. As I approached 1 year of nursing, I started to think more about getting my period back. Throughout post partum, I continued my usual of eating whatever (intuitive eating) I wanted (that didn't upset the baby through my milk) and exercised when I felt like it (usually yoga and walking). 

So was Aunt Flow coming? I remember the day like it was yesterday. I was a little over 13 months PP still nursing twice a day and went to the bathroom. There she was !! My period had returned. I could not believe it!! I haven't had a natural period in YEARS!! Like I'm talking since I was a teen (I was on birth control for 10+ years due to "cysts on my ovaries"). Its like I finally felt complete, I had my miracle baby and my period. After years and years of searching for Aunt Flow. She was here. I crossed my fingers she was here to stay. 

So my period first came back at the end of September 2017, I was a little over 13 months PP and still nursing. I am grateful I listened to my gut and stuck with nursing because both baby and I enjoyed it and didn't end it because I was curious to see if my period would come back. Granted, if your in a hurry to conceive again, cutting back/stopping nursing may help bring AF quicker. However, you must still make sure your fueling your body with enough food, decreasing stress and careful on what types of exercise you engage in. 

My cycles ranged from 32-36 days. Heck, I'd take it ! I know this might sound silly to those that don't/didn't have HA. But OMG it was SO exciting to experience all the hormonal changes during the month and even go to the store to buy pads/tampons ! 

At a little over 16 months, my period didn't come. Oh no! What did I do different?! 

Nothing. I was pregnant !! 

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