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Outfit | Postpartum

Kowtow Organic cotton Wandering dress (seen at 28 weeks here)
Birkenstock Arizona sandals

So, I’ve been writing this post for two days.  Three days – interrupted again!! Turns out it’s not easy typing with one hand LOL.

As you can see, Hawk Alexander Reiter arrived on 8/15 at 3:08 AM. He’s almost a week old, whoa. We had a doctor’s appointment today, and I wore clothes, so here is documentation.  Also, please behold the postpartum belly.

We are both doing well.  I had a vaginal delivery, after being 30 minutes away from scheduling a c-section.  I think I’ll write more about that later, but it was quite a roller coaster.  I did end up with an epidural and at the end of the day, I’m actually conflicted about it.  On the one hand, it was “nice” not feeling anything during the pushing phase (which was only about an hour), on the other, for the 10 hours prior to that I was in intense pain, mostly in my back, right side, and couldn’t move myself or do anything about it, which was miserable.

I didn’t feel most of the pain of the actual contractions anymore though, so….

Hawk was born at 6 lbs 7 ounces – a lot smaller than we thought he’d be given that he was 40 weeks 6 days.   He had to have his blood sugar tested about a million times in the hospital, and that ended up being fine.  He’s had his bilirubin levels tested a few times (one more on Friday), but they are going down, so that’s looking promising as well.  He did lose 16% of his body weight after birth though, so we’re having to supplement with formula for now.  At his doctor’s appointment today he was back up to 6 pounds, so that’s great, but we need to continue supplementing and I need to eat a lot more than I am currently to produce more milk.

Phew.

It’s all been a whirlwind.  I cried when he was born, I cried all the way home from the hospital, and then I cried again on our way to his first doctor’s appointment.  I am healing well I think (feeling better every day) and want to rave about the new Frida Mom stuff for perineal care.  I’ll also write more about that later, but if you’re expecting, I recommend getting all the Frida Mom stuff you can get your hands on.  The free stuff from the hospital didn’t last me long enough anyway. I am still wearing the mesh undies; you’ll probably have to pry them off of me LOL.

Anyway, more later, but I thought you deserved a quick update and a few pictures other than what I’ve posted on Instagram 🙂

Filed Under: Outfits, postpartum

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Comments

  2. 2

    Congratulations Grechen, and you look wonderful! Baby is gorgeous too. Glad you are settling in at home and he is gaining weight.

  5. 5

    Congratulations and welcome to Hawk! So glad to read that everyone is doing well. My favorite postpartum accessory was that delightful squirt bottle for the bathroom 😉

  10. 10

    Congratulations!!!! You look radiant and lovely…Hawk is a beautiful little boy! Sending you so much love. Oatmeal has always helped me amp up milk production…oatmeal in any form…cookies, overnight oats, etc. So good that he is gaining weight! What a little lovely miracle.

  11. 11

    Congratulations and thanks for the update. It’s so fun to finally see the little guy! You’re probably getting a lot of breastfeeding advice, but in my experience, the only way to produce more is to nurse more. Great job so far!

  16. 16

    He’s absolutely lovely Grechen. I am glad you didn’t have to have a C-section after all that labor pain, and sorry it hurt so much. Both my labors were excruciating, no pain relief, and FWIW after the second one I vowed that if I had another baby I’d go for the epidural.

    Good luck with the breast feeding. I am sure you know that the best way to get more milk is to drink a lot of fluid and eat well and most of all nurse as often as possible. I hope you’re not having a lot of chapping etc, to make it harder. I remember nights of 10 minutes on 10 minutes off, to increase milk supply, that could last an hour and a half. Anyway, I am sure you are doing a great job. The tears seem perfectly appropriate to me. I hope you have lots of support for anything that feels more difficult than you expected.

    If you ever want advice/support/comforting words based on an experience I last had 29 years ago just let me know;). All the love.

  17. 17

    Beautiful Baby! Now, about that crying:
    You will cry first time he says Mama
    You will cry openly his first day of playgroup, school, baseball game, first date, first car, first prom, need I go on?
    You will cry when you see him from a distance as a young man and say, wow, he looks familiar…..
    You will cry when he truly cries, as a team effort to help him with life’s heartaches
    You will cry when he leaves you to join the world out there…….
    Cry with joy.

  18. 18

    Huge congratulations, Grechen! Hawk is beautiful and we’re all so happy he’s here! You look amazing! Just continue to rest and love that sweet baby. Lots of love!

    (I loved the mesh underwear and washed and reused a few pairs as period underwear later. I also quit applying mascara to my lower lashes because I cried all the time. It will get better.)

  24. 24

    Congratulations and best wishes! So glad everything went well and you have a beautiful, healthy baby. Thanks for keeping us updated and please know we all love you and you should take as much time from blogging as you need! We’ll still be here when you get back.

  25. 25

    Congrats, Grechen. How did Hawk get his distinctive name? Sorry if it’s nosy, but we were wondering as regular readers.

  26. 26

    Over the moon happy for all three of you! He is perfect and you look radiant! Big hugs

  27. 27

    Congratulations!!! He’s gorgeous and you look great.
    My baby turned 3 months old yesterday and I still cry at the drop of a hat. 🙂
    Mine also lost a lot right after birth and we supplemented; his facial muscles weren’t really strong enough to nurse for a long time, so I just pumped my life away. Thank GOD for formula; I am so grateful to have it. Eventually (like several weeks after birth) I got kinda close to catching up with demand, but it was a PITA and I’m not going to lose even more sleep just for breastfeeding purity. He still gives me googoo eyes whether he’s getting formula or breastmilk.
    Drink drink drink, sleep when you can, put your feet up as much as possible!

  28. 28

    Hawk is just beautiful, Grechen! I LOVE his name! You did so great at being healthy throughout this whole pregnancy, and now, just look at the result: This perfect baby boy is a part of you. I’m just beyond thrilled for you guys. Thanks for posting the pics – all of that hair!!!

  30. 30

    What a beautiful baby! Enjoy these sweet newborn days.

    You probably know this already but just a note on breastfeeding. I’m assuming you had an IV since you had an epidural. IV fluids given during labor can inflate a baby’s birthweight and lead to a sort of “false” loss of birthweight as they shed that water weight–Evidence Based Birth describes it really well here: https://evidencebasedbirth.com/iv-fluids-during-labor/. It might be something to bring up with your pediatrician or a lactation consultant, if you have one.

    Congratulations!

  34. 34

    Congratulations!!! How exciting, emotional and just plain crazy! He is absolutely beautiful, and you look wonderful. Just a quick word of advice, do not spend too much time ruminating on his birth, the epidural, whether it was the right thing, etc, because you will only drive yourself crazy! It is what it is, you have a beautiful baby boy to enjoy life with. I’m saying this because I have been there, it’s an emotional time (love those hormones!!) and having a baby is a huge adjustment. Be gentle with yourself!!

  35. 35

    Mazel Tov to you and Leo! Hawk is absolutely beautiful, and so are you. I’m so very happy for you! Enjoy this magical time and go easy on yourselves. xoxox

  36. 36

    Congratulations Grechen! You both look great. Enjoy the bonding time, and please don’t be too hard on yourself during this very emotional time (been there).

  37. 37

    You look radiant! Love that dress on you. He’s adorable! I remember so well many of the things you mentioned – blood sugar levels, biliruben, mesh undies, etc. Sending you best wishes!! I can’t wait to hear more.

  40. 40

    Oh Grechen, Hawk is adorable – congratulations to the whole little family! I must admit, when I read that you cried, I had the exact same thoughts as Susie! But it’s all worth it!

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