I’m Shrinking
October 12, 2011 at 1:59 AM | Posted in Crochet | 2 CommentsTags: Baby, crochet, fashion, hats, post partum, pre-pregnancy, weight
Today a co-worker stopped me in the cafeteria and asked, “Jamie, you had a baby, right?” I responded in the true braggy mom way, “Yup, in 4 days he will be 7 months.” I was SO ready to show him a picture of the kid. Then, I got the question I get at least once a week…and it was meant as an absolute compliment. “How is it possible that you are smaller now than you were before you got pregnant?”
To the other April mommies who still follow along with my story, (or anyone else for that matter) please do not hate me for this. I’m not entirely complaining…but I’m wasting away. I am still nursing and do my very best to eat my extra 500 calories daily. I’m ALWAYS starving. The part of nursing I find the most annoying is that I eat like a teenage boy going through a growth spurt. Today I finished a humongous lunch (fried chicken, corn, green beans and black beans) and was still hungry…yesterday too. I weigh over 10 lbs less than I was pre-pregnancy. Some of the weight difference I know is from nursing, the rest I know is due to the fact that I spent 12 weeks in the hospital, mostly inactive, laid up in a bed. A good portion of my muscle mass has atrophied and I’m sure we’ve all heard that muscle weighs more than fat. I’m a bit self conscious that I look sickly. I have always been on the small side but certainly haven’t been this small since high school…and that wasn’t just yesterday. My fear when I was pregnant was that I’d turn into a house and really struggle to lose the weight. That didn’t happen but I’m having a hard time with it just the same.
So how do I answer a male co-worker (who doesn’t read my blog, or at least I don’t think he does) who knows nothing of my hospital stay, hardly even knew I was pregnant to begin with and to whom I certainly don’t want to say, “I’m nursing”? “Mother Nature’s miracle, I suppose.” Then, I walk back to my desk entirely self conscious because, really…my clothes are way too big.
I don’t know where my weight will finally settle so I’m really not buying a lot in the way of clothes right now. It doesn’t make sense to. Kayvan absolutely insisted that I buy new jeans two weeks ago. I’m kind of thankful he did because I was starting to look like I should be sporting a pimp walk and boxers in addition to my low rider jeans. They were just so saggy everywhere. I’m looking forward to the time when I am comfortable enough with where my weight sits to start in on a new wardrobe.
Until I get to that point I can window shop. I often read through a blog that belongs to a Texas friend for fun fashion finds. No, not you, Kim. It’s Girls On The Style, a blog by Amanda Hail and her sister Rebekah. I’m not so great at clothes. But these gals love fashion so much they write about it. As a matter of fact, they included one of my hats in their blog last Friday. http://girlsonthestyle.com/fashion/15-for-20/.
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The Romaezis 
want some of my fluff? :oP just be happy your one of the lucky ones! when Kam starts eatting foods you might put some on.. MOST do.
Comment by Terri— October 12, 2011 #
I gained over 60 lbs while pregnant- and have now lost it all. And I’m still losing- I’m going to wind up like you, below my pre-pregnancy weight, from breastfeeding.
I’m not shy- I tell people who ask how I managed to lose so much weight, so fast (my baby is right at 7 months too)- “I’m nursing my baby.” I don’t use the word “Breastfeeding” and I’ve found that even the dumbest men tend to cope well with “I’m nursing my baby.” Most people then ask me, “That really works?” as if they weren’t already nosy enough! In the rare cases where I feel uncomfortable telling the truth- I just say, “Hard work!” Which is 100% true- breastfeeding is very hard work for your body!
As far as clothes go- I was a size I won’t even admit to at first! I’ve lost 4 sizes just since I returned to work 4 months ago, and at first I resorted to going to the Goodwill store to get a few very inexpensive items in the larger sizes- no way was I buying full-priced, new clothes in those sizes!
Honestly, the first tiem I shopped at Goodwill- I was mortified by it- I thought only poor people shopped there. What if someone I knew saw me??? Then it occurred to me- the only way anyone I knew would see me, was if they were shopping there, too! I’ve also now realized that not only should I not be embarassed to shop at Goodwill- I now like it- I got all kinds of very nice, new-looking, name-brand stuff for a tiny fraction of new price- brands I would normally never even try on because of their high price. I’ve never been a big spender on my wardrobe.
So check out your local Goodwill clothing store- you can buy items that fit you NOW for very cheap and then donate them back if you change sizes again. Although I’d hang onto them if I were you until a while after you stop breastfeeding- we get into this habit of eating more because of the baby- then when the baby stops nursing- if you don’t immediately change your eating habits, you will gain weight back!
Comment by Melissa— October 13, 2011 #