Postpartum Hell

I know. I swore. Kind of. It happens a lot lately.

Two weeks after Richie was born were the hardest almost of my entire life. Justin was trying to do everything he could to help me, study for his stupid Pharmacology class, and work. He almost never slept.

I was in a ton of pain from the C-section and all of a sudden I got severely ill. I couldn't eat or drink anything without vomiting. I lost 26 pounds in 2 weeks after only gaining 15 from my pregnancy. I was trying to breastfeed and take care of a colicky baby. It was miserable. Our family and ward stepped in and helped a ton. So, to all of you that helped us out, you guys rock. We were provided with meals, some people watched Richie for a few hours so I could sleep, others helped me around the house, mowed the lawn, etc. We were the beneficiaries of so much service. It was truly humbling.

Richie didn't sleep well. He was colicky. Woke up every 2 hours. Six weeks later he was still colicky and woke up constantly and cried non-stop from about 5 pm til midnight every night. We had no idea what to do. Then we all got sick and had a terrible cough.

Our poor dogs became so neglected. They were depressed. I was frustrated, sleep deprived, and ill. Justin was doing everything he could to hold us all together. It was SO hard.

But somehow we got through it. I have no idea how. We managed to survive the summer. Meanwhile, we grew our first legitimate garden. It was so fun for me. We had a huge yield of carrots, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, squash, and kale. I loved it.