Our first week home was a little rough, to be honest. Mostly for me I guess, because recovering from a c-section is a whole different ball game than it was recovering from Drew's birth. With Andrew, I was up and at 'em a couple days later and felt great. This time around...not so much. I was pretty much warned by my doctor to take it easy (despite my millions of questions of just what I was allowed to do!). This includes sitting a lot the first week, walking s-l-o-w-l-y up the stairs, not lifting a thing or even really twisting, bending down, or reaching up for that first week. In my fear of ripping a stitch, I followed the doctor's orders:)
Luckily, Nate's parents were here and Nate had the whole week off. Dee Dee and Darryl should be given a medal or at least a vacation for what all they did for us. They cleaned our house, made dinner, chased a rowdy Andrew around, took him to the park, the grocery, and just "out" of the house so we could have some time with Harper. They ran errands whenever we needed something, took care of meals, and basically didn't let me lift a finger the whole time! I don't know how we would have managed without them.
Secondly, Nate has had to do so much as well...it's a little tough having to rely on your husband for all sorts of things that you used to be able to do yourself. But Nate has been so helpful to me this whole time. Since I basically couldn't even sit up in bed on my own to feed Harper, each night he'd pull me up to the sitting position (that's humbling!), bring Harper to me, change her and put her back down after I fed her. He also has been doing lots for Andrew....giving him a bath, doing the whole bedtime routine, etc. each night. He even took him to the grocery this morning (which is no small feat!).
Lastly, (is anyone still reading?) my parents have been wonderful as well. They took Sadie off our hands the last 2 weeks, and have likewise watched Andrew, let him nap at their house during loud construction afternoons, brought us dinner, done our laundry and allowed me, Harper and Andrew to invade their house numerous times during times when construction didn't allow us to stay at our own house (electricity was off once, breaking through the roof to install ductwork, etc.) I honestly don't know how we would have survived without the help of family!
All in all, it's been a long couple weeks but we're on the upswing. I feel a thousand times better physically (my friend Amanda assured me that I needed to give it a week and I would feel like myself again and she was right!) and Nate no longer has to pull me up to a sitting position just so I can feed Harper:) It amazes me how fast your body can heal itself and recover from pregnancy and surgery!
