Day 18 - Environmental Changes

Last night my friend C slept over for the last time in a while (because she has her own family responsibilities and life :) ) and we are so appreciative of her staying with us and helping out! But given we know it will go from 3 adult hands to 2 from later today - I am making the most of her being here by making some environmental changes.

Environmental change - changes to our home that make it easier for us to operate in our living space (our environment). And I say I am making the changes, but mostly C is helping while I sit on the couch with baby M.

I knew I should have organized and decluttered the space in pregnancy, but realistically my energy took a dive at the end there and I focused what energy I have on projects that seemed more important (sewing cloth diapers and things).

Our house is not very organized - for a few reasons. 1 - I like to thrift. So, we have things for different phases of life, but we have it now already. and 2 - We spend a lot of time indoors in winter so there is a lot of toys, arts & crafts, and climbing, jumping, musical, ball things, etc for Elba. and 3 - we are still acquiring the art of less things and organizing what we have better. It is a goal. Maybe having 2 kids will get us there. oh and 4 - I DIY so I have lots of supplies and things all over the place.

And wonderful - many toys went to our local BUY NOTHING GROUP (given away) and a box went to the garage for future use (for baby M). Things are a bit more organized in this space and easier to clean up the end of the day.

I also cleared some floor space in other areas of our house. We have a robot vacuum that goes every morning before we go downstairs - the less stuff on the floor, the better it cleans or the less things we need to pick up at the end of the day (and then put back down).

We have an iRobot Roomba (self emptying) for downstairs - it wasn't cheap, but it has been so worth it! We have a less fancy one upstairs that doesn't map so we just drop it in the room and close the door and let it go until it runs out. The downstairs one maps and does specific area and then goes back to base to empty and charge.

Breast problems

I went to sleep last night feeling pain in my left breast and it being very heavy. I took a bath, massaged it, but today it is still quite painful. Essentially it feels like a clogged duct / hard heavy lump in my breast from breastfeeding but it is quit deep inside the breast so not easy to feel with fingers.

While mastitis is very serious and concerning, I don't panic when this happens (it happened with breastfeeding Elba as well) - most clogged ducts do not turn into mastitis. I applied some arnica topically and took some of the pellets - just because it is quite painful. And made sure to nurse on that side more than the other side and gently massage the breast when M was nursing and also with a warm cloth in the bath.

Now I give it time to improve.

General Update

While I am technically still bleeding - I am now down wearing underwear at home or when sleeping. I know - bold choice, but my downstairs bits do not feel fantastic when I wear underwear a lot.

But also... I realized that I haven't been using my peri bottle. Last time I used it for 6 weeks every single time I used the bathroom. This time I have not used it as much - I think because the basin to fill it is further from the toilet than in our previous place (I filled it from the toilet), but also two kids means a little less time for some things that I did last time. BUT I think not using it + wearing period underwear all day every day is leaving my bits feeling not fantastic. Not bad, just the skin feels a bit raw.

Bringing in pearl powder

I have brought in pearl powder into my morning coffee to increase my calcium intake. But also pearl powder is contains other minerals and is traditionally used for general wellbeing.

We're also adding in eggshells (boiled, baked and ground) into our milky cacao as another calcium source (much cheaper than pearl powder since we make it using the eggshells from eggs we eat).

More on nourishing

Still enjoying the rusks Ian made with some organic rooibos tea.

But something that is a real challenge in this time is - how to eat and drink and hold baby. Because I am essentially holding baby all day.

Here is me listening to Ian talking while taking a selfie while holding baby - a very usual look for me (minus the taking a selfie).

And our dinner - pasta Ian made with cheese, broth and a raw carrot salad.

But now in order to eat this warm and potentially messy meal -

Ian takes baby then I eat. I take baby back and Ian eats. In between we also tend to Elba and chat (reflecting a lot on life and changes we might want to make).

I kind of forgot how busy our arms will be in this time, and the challenge of consuming warm foods. Right now, it just means dinner takes longer, but we are making sure we are all well-nourished. It is the foundation of us having energy and being well.

I have shared a few times my weight loss just out of interest - because it is my body deflating from pregnancy, and not like actual weight loss (if that is a way of describing it). But something I do need to be mindful of is that I did have dramatic weight loss after Elba. I struggled in the first 1.5 years of parenting to consume enough and regularly to keep up with breastfeeding and other parenting responsibilities. It was also when Ian was ill, so it was easy to lose focus of my own health. I want to make sure that this time I continue to nourish well for breastfeeding and parenting (and my general wellbeing). And then build strength when the time comes for that (not now - now is rest and recovery time).

And that is day 18 - the start of environmental challenges, and last day for a while that we will have additional help - so let's start the week feeling energized and ready to take it on :) (It's a Sunday today).

P.s. Comments are welcome below.

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