Tuesday, June 21, 2016

BumpMoves Blog Post

This is an interesting, to-the-point, understandable blog post about PSD. I found it very helpful (although lacking in great English grammar/spelling) when I was trying to understand what had happened to me, and what my doctor might suggest by way of treatment.


http://bumpmoves.com/pregnancy/diastasis-symphysis-pubis/

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Rolling Over, Starting Therapy, Etc.

Time for an update (again, as R snoozes).

This marks the 6th week of outpatient PT for me, and nearly 4 months since my injury. I'm still out of the pool (although my nipples are finally better - hooray for steriod/anti-fungal cream!), but am making some progress. During my sessions, I now practice rolling over (from my back to my sides), with a pillow between my knees. This was the move that I absolutely COULD NOT do without excruciating pain a mere month ago. With the blessing of my PT, I tried laying on my side for 10 minutes in my own bed here at home three days ago. It was easy-peasy, but I've suffered bad SI joint pain since then... whoops. I have PT again today, so I plan on mentioning that... seems like I should practice for less time, the next time I attempt that particular move. As it turns out, little R can roll over, too! Only from back to belly consistently, but... he's definitely better at it than I am at this point!

I've decided to see a therapist. Now that R is under control (as much control as a 4 month old can be, hah!) and my physical recovery seems stable, I feel like I have the energy to put into my mental health. I'm not doom-and-gloom 24/7, but - hands-down, this has been the most difficult time in my life to date. Life with baby has been nothing like I expected, thanks to my pubic symphysis rupture. The simple act of walking around the house with R in my arms is one I long for. I'd love to load R in the car and go for a stroll in the park, browse around TJ Maxx, etc, but that's not something I can do alone yet. I know I'm making progress to that elusive full-recovery, but I definitely need to take some time and learn some more coping mechanisms for myself.

I've also stopped breastfeeding - log this under "another unplanned event in life with an infant". It was a hard decision to make, but so far it's been a good one. R has been weaning for over a month, unintentionally: my supply has always been low (thanks to my injury), and R's demand has recently sky rocketed. I would breastfeed him, he would empty them, cry, and then either myself or my hubby would offer him a bottle of formula, from which he would happily drain at least 4oz. R hasn't skipped a beat since I stopped offering him the breast, and (no surprise here!) by body seems to be easily slowing its milk production. I would guess that it'll take me 2 weeks max to dry up completely (it's been nearly a week now). A definite bonus to stopping breastfeeding is that my body will stop producing the hormones that relax my pelvic region, which should make it easier for my symphysis to stitch itself back together. It's pretty crazy how the female body makes all of these insane changes while becoming/once becoming a mother. Speaking of mothering - baby boy is awake! Later -