Baby's first cold and Mama's sacroiliac pain

Last week I got a cold, and just as I was afraid, I passed it on to Cayden. I just knew that no matter how much hand washing and sanitizing I did (and I did a TON), there was probably no avoiding it. So he has the sniffles. My cold moved from my throat to my nose and now to my chest, so let's hope it stops in Chicken Wing's nose.

Last night I wanted so badly to make him blow his nose so he could breathe easier, but alas -- you can't make a baby do that. But Mary advised today that we can make him sneeze by tickling under his nose, and sometimes that works to get the snot out. That, and a humidifier. Beyond that, though, we have to let the cold run its course and rely on the fact that all the great antibodies he's getting from my breastmilk will take care of things on their own.

And I learned two things when I went to the doc this morning.

First, (drumroll and fanfare, please...) at six weeks post-partum, I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight!! Yay!! My midsection doesn't quite look the same as it did last September -- I don't know that my navel piercing will ever look like it did, I still have a stripe down my belly and things just look a little "softer" now -- but in today's group I learned some neat tummy excercises using baby as added resistance!

And secondly (and the reason I went to the doc), the pain I thought was in my right hip or lower back since somewhere in the third trimester of pregnancy was diagnosed as sacroiliac joint inflammation or injury. Apparently the pelvis has some joints in it, and the natural joint expansion of pregnancy irritated one of them for me. Continually lifting Cayden and twisting and bending with him has aggravated the joint, causing the resurgence of pain.

My body is still in the process of physically and hormonally returning to its pre-pregnancy ways, so the condition will likely fix itself in a matter of weeks or months. However, the pain got pretty bad earlier this week, and it will likely only get worse considering I can't really avoid lifting Cayden and this boy is still gaining about 2 ounces a day. So Dr. Saacks reccommended physical therapy and ultrasound treatment for me in lieu of the drugs I can't take while breastfeeding. Waiting for a call from the referral scheduler.

And thanks for all the good wishes and words of encouragement earlier this week. Mimi took Chicken Wing for much of yesterday to let me get some sleep and get caught up, and today has been a good day, so far. Just another one of those ups and downs that I keep hearing will continue for at least another month or so. I'm OK (even chipper and positive!) most of the time, but exhaustion and hormones have pushed me to the limit two or three times so far. Early Wednesday morning was one of them.