One of my lovely friends came to visit this week who was 9 months preggers (she had a gorgeous boy on the weekend – so congratulations!) and we were having a chat about the highs and lows of being a new mum – and aside from the obvious tiredness I really think one of the toughest things for me is trying to manage the constant stream of cleaning the house and tidying up (which is a full time job in itself as it now seems to descend into a mad chaotic mess in 5 minutes), clothes washing, clothes drying, changing nappies, cuddling Kai, taking my dog out for a walk, feeding Kai, expressing milk, trying to give myself a shower, exercise, eating properly and running my business Lose Baby Weight – all when he is quiet or asleep for 5 minutes!
And if I did what everyone keeps telling me to do which is “sleep when he sleeps” then I would be living in a bomb site, would have no clean clothes or wraps for Kai, would not have any milk expressed, would not eat, would look like I had been dragged through a hedge backwards and would not have a business!
So my advice to my friend was not to worry about the birth – just get organized so when you get home you know the best way to cope with everything and if you can rope some family in with helping with the cooking and cleaning then do it – as then you can just focus on your little one.
We had our 6 week check up with the midwife this week and she was most impressed with little Kai’s development saying he was a “perfect little specimen” (maybe she said this to everyone!) and that he was extremely strong so whatever we were doing keep doing it! That was great news and we were all very happy with that visit – and Kai was so happy he peed on the midwife just as the check up was all done!
I am super excited about next week as Kai is having his whooping cough jab which means I can actually go walking with Kai for my daily exercise as opposed to doing my daily walks on my own when my hubby is home and I am really looking forward to starting a Lose baby weight walking group in Centennial Park Sydney – it will be great to meet lots of new mums(email me at [email protected] if you are keen).
The reason I have not taken him out yet is that there is apparently a lot of cases of whooping cough in Sydney due to a lot of mums choosing not to get their babies immunized which has led to a lot of cases of the devastating disease so my pediatrician advised that we stay away from public places until he had his jab to be safe. This may seem a little extreme but I just don’t want to take the risk so would rather be safe than sorry, but I do have severe case of cabin fever when my hubby is at work so can’t wait to be able to get out and about!
Diet wise things have been tough this week (but I have lost 500g) as the sleep has been so broken and I have been exhausted but as always my Smoothies have been a lifesaver and I am continuing to have them twice a day – I always have one for breakfast and then either have my second one for lunch or dinner. My favourite one this week was a Black cherry and chocolate smoothie which was super super tasty! The recipe was;
- 1 x tbsp of chai seeds
- 2 tbsp of smoothie mix
- Half a cup of frozen pitted black cherries
- 2 x tbsp of oatmeal
- 1 x tbsp of psyllium hulks
- 150ml of soymilk and 100 ml of water
- 8 ice cubes
All blended in my Breville Powermax blender
I was also having my tablespoon of cider vinegar 3 times a day before breakfast, lunch and dinner – the vinegar tasted absolutely vile but we have it on the Lose Baby Weight weight loss plans as it helps weight loss so I kept at it.
It is generally believed that the nutrients, enzymes, and organic acids in apple cider vinegar cause weight reduction by acting as an appetite suppressant, by increasing your body’s metabolic rate, by reducing water retention and by helping you maintain a feeling of well being. Recent medical research has also highlighted the connection between levels of insulin and weight loss.
That coupled with the fact that vinegar is known to slow the rise of blood sugar after a meal leads to the suggestion that the taking of apple cider vinegar with a meal reduces the amount of insulin required to process the meal resulting in weight loss. I buy my cider vinegar from Coles and it costs $2.50.
Exercise wise we created the Lose baby Weight exercise video this week with 5 easy to follow exercises for mums to do and true to my word I have done these exercises every day this week when I have had five minutes as well as going on my fabulous Power Plate vibrating machine for 10 minutes a day.
Exercises to lose your baby weight from losebabyweight on Vimeo.
So with week 6 down I am so excited about week 7 and getting out and about with my little bundle of joy an I have lots of outings planned!
