This week I’ve started to lose my hair again. If you followed me from the beginning, you’ll know that my hair remaining on my head was one of the symptoms that lead me to believe I was pregnant. (I was right.)
It took me about fifteen years to realize I had great hair. Mostly, I just had no idea how to manage it. It’s wavy. That means I can straighten it without too much of an issue, and it holds a curl without hair spray. In fact I never used hair spray unless I was in a play. Now that they make hairspray to handle frizzing (that I can’t feel while it’s in my head), I use it occasionally. Regardless, I finally figured out how my hair “worked.” I manipulated it and used it. Sometimes great hair got me the attention I needed to get hired. Weird, I know, but that’s showbiz.
But I hated my hair while I was pregnant.
I know a ton of women who LOVE the hair they get when pregnant. I am super happy for them. (Although it’s a bummer that they have to be pregnant in the exchange.) I was not a fan. I think it might be because I have the hair those women get when their pregnant when I’m not pregnant. (Don’t worry, I’ve got a ton of items in the “con” column to balance everything out.) When I’m pregnant…at least this time when I was pregnant…I had far too much of my far too thick hair coming out of my head. I didn’t know what to do with it, or how to make it do what I needed it to do. It was not good. When I was pregnant I had moments when I wanted to be extra pretty. I needed my hair, but there was nothing I could do to get it back.
Now it’s falling out again. It’s starting to fall like it used to. I feel, in possibly the weirdest way, like I’ve got a bit of myself back. I think this is how “normal” women feel when they are able to fit into their pre-pregnancy skinny jeans.
Chloé is almost 10 weeks old. She’s been sleeping through the night for about 5 weeks. That also does amazing things for me. (Although I guess I’m superficial enough to say I’m not sure whether I’m happier about the sleep or the normal hair. Then again, if I wasn’t getting sleep…well, maybe I can appreciate my hair because both of my eyes are all the way open. :p)
I’ve completely thrown out all external information about babies and sleep. I don’t even think about getting Clo ready for bed before 9. This is working for us. Clo feeds a couple times, gets bounced a bit, and falls asleep. It is a very rare night when she’s down later than 10:30p. There’s no real fighting. She rarely wakes before 6am. I get 8 hours, plus or minus, of straight sleep and we don’t fight any more.
This schedule also means that I have a different diaper for day and night. Pampers Swaddlers for day and Pampers Baby Dry for night. Why the two? Well, Baby Dry works so, so well at absorbing lots of nighttime wetness. What it doesn’t do well (IMHO) is dealing with non-wettness diaper issues. Lot’s of poops up the back doesn’t work for anyone. For me, it meant I went about three days before buying Swaddlers for the daytime. If your questioning why Pampers at all, that’s easy. They worked for me. I had free newborn Swaddlers and free newborn Huggies Little Snugglers. I’ll spare you the details, but I still have about 40 newborn Huggies hiding at the back of my change table.
Also this week I went to see OB-R about family planning. I’d more or less decided on an IUD, but I wanted her opinions (both on the option itself and the differences between IUD options themselves). Given my history and the possible future situation of having another little one, we went with the hormonal IUD. I had the typical side-effects of cramping (although those waited until I was about a block away from her office before starting) and spotting. There’s a 99.9% chance that I will not get pregnant. Unless I take it out. Then my changes of getting pregnant go back to normal. OB-R specifically asked me to “tell all [my] friends” about IUDs and their easy/awesomeness. And now I have. 🙂
Last but not least, we’ve started using a pacifier. I didn’t even want to start, but she was having fits of inconsolable crying for over a week. I had a sample of a silicone NUK, so I tried. She had it in her mouth for two minutes, and for the next four hours she was happy and content. It also makes outings and car rides super easy. I don’t know if she’s teething (or pre-teething) or what, but during the day, while it helps her I’ll use it. (She’s still sleeping fine without it.) As my grandmother said, “You can control it. And if it helps, it helps.”
So there we are. I’m about to put Clo in her Easter finery while we go off to our families’ gathering. I’ll tell you all about it later.
Finally smiling after days of crankering.
Made in Toronto 