Finding Johanna

I am sure it is quite normal postpartum to feel really gross and ugly- at least I hope it is.  I have been having a rough time feeling beautiful in my new body. Even though I was gaining weight while pregnant I felt beautiful because I was carrying life inside me! You hear stories of pregnant women feeling fat and gross but really I loved being pregnant and every time I see a pregnant woman I get a little jealous! It is the post pregnant nursing body that is bumming me out. I am constantly hungry so I am constantly eating. I leak breast milk so I always feel a little gross and sometimes smell faintly of yogurt or cheese. (You're welcome!) I don't get out much so many days I never get out of my PJs and my hair never gets brushed! I have a love hate relationship with my hair too. I like that it is fast to just spray water on it dry it in 10 seconds and I am done but sometimes I feel slightly manish. I have a nasty incision thats still not quite healed and it grosses me out. I

Today felt like a pink lipstick kind of day!  With my sassy lips I headed off to Longview to buy a new breast pump. The one that I had was a hand me down from my sister-in-law that had also been a hand me down for her! I have no idea how old it is and it worked great at first but now its starting to wear out and have a few issues. I ended up decided on a pretty cool breast pump that also happens to be the same bottles we already use anyway. Its a First Years Breastflow MemoryPump. I haven't started using it yet but it has a neat digital system that remembers your settings and looks pretty awesome. It also has a handle that allows for one hand holding. I am pretty much PUMPED (womp womp) to use it.   After leaving Target I forced my husband to take me to the Granary and get some dairy free items to help me easily transition to this new lifestyle. I found a ton of great things... With carob chips in h

In my last post I talked about trying to start getting active. I asked my doctor about milk supply problems with exercise and she said that light to moderate exercise shouldn't hurt just to make sure I am drinking plenty of water. I did a little research online and found this to be helpful.  "Moderate exercise improves a mother’s health and has a positive effect on her emotional well-being. Some of the benefits include: Higher level of cardiovascular fitness Improved blood lipid profiles and insulin response A feeling of well-being from improved energy and reduced stress levels Enhanced maternal-infant relationship Alleviation of depression symptoms in those with major depressive disorders Research has shown that moderate exercise does not affect milk supply, milk composition, or baby’s growth. Exercising to exhaustion may have a short-term effect on lactic acid content of a mother’s milk." The last few days the weather has been absolutely perfect

Today was my 6 weeks postpartum visit and everything looked good! I won't go back to the OBGYN for a whole year which honestly feels REALLY weird after seeing her so much over the past 9 months. On the way out the door my doctor gave me a diet plan called "Eat To Live" which is essentially a vegan diet. I can eat unlimited raw veggies, cooked greens, beans, and fresh fruit but a limited amount of soy milk, flax, nuts, seeds and absolutely NO dairy, animal meat, salt, or sugar and no snacking! I personally think that you can be healthy without a vegan diet and I think that healthy snacks are important. My doctor is a vegan and really likes to push that belief but I think that a healthy well balanced diet that doesn't eliminate any food totally is a much better way to go. My eating plan would look more like  UNLIMITED: veggies and fruit  LIMITED: Everything else  Now that being said I am doing a no dairy diet for th