Pregnancy Pack-up

I wasn't going to pack up my pregnancy clothes until I reached my target weight, but I got motivated yesterday and got it done.  I was mostly motivated because I had to get running shoes and running outfits for the training program I foolishly signed up to do with my friend.  It was also time to find the summer clothing that fits, and mentally switch from pants to shorts.  With all that going on in my head, it seemed like a good time to pack up the pregnancy-specific clothes.

It's really nice to be able to pull things out of the closet, shelves and drawers and free up space.  It was even nicer when I tried on some of the shorts I had from pre-pregnancy to find they fit.  My closet rule in general is a new thing can't be brought in and hung up unless something old is removed.   I usually have some extra hangers available so I can expand for a while, and then do a nice purge of old or worn out things.  In this case, it was so easy.  I didn't have to decide if I was or wasn't going to wear the item again or if I liked it enough to keep it.  All the pregnancy items just don't fit a non-pregnant body so I put them all in a big bin and stuck it in the attic.  Now the closet looks so nice.  And I'm ready to be in spring clothes again.

I'm getting closer to my weight target.  People keep telling me, "you look so thin."  And it's true, I do look thin.  But it's a comparative "thin."  I now weigh 32 pounds less than I did four-and-a-half months ago when I went to the hospital to deliver my daughter.  But I still can't fit into the pants I wore for years.  So I'm trying not to let the comments affect my resolve to lose weight in any way.  And hopefully I won't feel the need to explain what my goals are and justify them with, "No, I'm not losing too much weight.  You've just seen a relative change over the past several months and it's making me look more thin than I might otherwise look."

On the topic of clothes, I have the two pair of interim pants I'm still wearing until I get back into my main wardrobe.  I have one belt I move between the two.  I was on the second hold of the belt when I started losing weight.  Today I moved to the fifth hole.  I'm going to celebrate by eating a lot of broccoli, I think.  Pants aside, it's mostly spring and I'm really looking forward to flip flops and shorts weather.   And also retiring these two pair of pants until fall.

I'm hoping my shape will shape up as well.  There are some droopy areas that weren't there pre-baby.  There's the baby feeding devices.  They weren't droopy at all while I was pregnant and nursing.  Now they're (thankfully) back down to regular size, but they're a bit stretched out.  They weren't that large to begin with, so there's a good chance they'll shape up as I get in shape over the next months. I hope.

Then there's the baby growing region.  Pregnancy stretches your belly way out.  And with a Cesarean Section, there is an incision that needs to heal as well.  At one point, it looked like bits of my stomach were like melting icing drooping down into the incision area.  When I asked the doctor if I was suppose to look like that, he said it was normal.  Unattractive normal, but normal.  It's not melty looking now, but it's still flabby.  It takes a while for the skin to pull back into place.  I hope it will, because I'm fond of two-piece bathing suits and I don't want to frighten the other beach-goers.

The last body thing I've got on my mind—or have in my list of body topics I want to write about—is the "touching thighs" issue.  I didn't own a scale until I was over thirty.  I was very fortunate to have a metabolism that kept me thin and an appetite that didn't want more food than my body needed.  When I started gaining baby weight, I noticed the inside of my thighs were touching when I walked.  It was a strange sensation.  My thighs are one of the areas in which I still need to lose weight so I can get back into my old pants.  I am eagerly looking forward to non-touching thighs in the coming weeks. 

Okay okay, no more weight loss, body stuff tomorrow.  I've packed in a few little things I wanted to get down in this post so I can move on to something hopefully more interesting tomorrow.  Losing weight is on my mind a lot right now and it is something I'm proud I've been able to accomplish. 

The Big Boy Update:  Healing.  Some of the sores are healing over and he's got flaking skin on his hands.  I don't think more sores are appearing, but it's hard to tell, he has so many.  His nose is another issue.  Initially, I took him into the doctor to have his sinuses looked at and determine if he's got an infection or is having some allergies to the clouds of pollen floating around.  While the virus is running its course, his nose has gotten worse and he has terrible circles under his eyes, which may be a sign of sinus issues.  There is no correlation to nasal issues with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, nor has his sister had any nose problems either, now or in the recent past.  We're seeing our favorite doctor today and hopefully she can address his terrible, red, raw, crusty, drippy, gross nose.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  She got the pox.  She has it, but so far, she's not exhibiting the higher fever my son had.  She even ate extra breakfast this morning.  I'm hoping the sores in the back of her throat won't be too much of a problem.  She's too young to reason with and explain that she has to drink so she won't get dehydrated.  We'll know in a few days how she fares.

Right-size Countdown:  6.9 pounds to go