I like the 2 weeks blocks approach! It’s a palatable size chunk, but allowing for the continuation.
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I got the 2 weeks idea from the recommended medication weaning schedule for HG 
2 weeks of NO symptoms, reduce a little, stay at that level until no symptoms, repeat. Getting better as fast as possible means taking time to go as slowly as needed.
I am desperate to do real activities again (even sitting upright so I can paint!) so I gotta make sure my bruises and stitches heal well.
Ice is my best friend right now.
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First fortnight is almost complete. Inflammation/ bruising is down, and stitches are more noticeable. I can actually sit now, mostly on very soft cushions, but long enough to eat a meal.
This fortnight is much of the same (lying down with intermittent sitting and standing), with a focus on correct posture. I used pillows liberally to be as comfortable as possible the past fortnight but now I have a lot of little twinges because I had to use odd positions to sit upright before.
The physio I saw suggested using kegels a few times a day as a way to encourage good blood flow and healing into the relevant areas. So that will be the addition this week, plus a few very light stretches that don’t affect my stitches.
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My 5.5 month update: All my back/wrist problems are gone. Foot is still dodgy. I can allow myself one moderate-length walk or hike a week now. The next day, my foot/leg will feel very tired, but usually not painful. I sometimes walk around the house without support shoes!
Last week my PT said “so you’re already ready to wrap up, maybe next week?” which threw me into a tailspin. After all, I was doing a core & strength workout with a friend on video and had to make tons of modifications. Then I remembered that my initial PT goals were pretty modest compared to my prior life. We reviewed them at yesterday’s appointment (walk 1 mile without pain, no back pain or wrist pain when caring for baby or doing household chores, resume sport without pain) and they’re all complete!
I still have to be mindful but it seem like I’m almost out of Stage 2! It’s been a real privilege to have the time, support, and health coverage to rest and do PT; I think it has made a ton of difference in my physical healing and mental health.
I was in such a fog of pain at the time (~2 months pp) that those goals seemed like a dream. Now that I feel like much more of a whole person I want to do things I did before giving birth — jump off rocks, burpees, occasionally burst into a run. So we set new goals and I’m not kicked out of PT yet.
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It’s awesome that you met your initial PT goals!
My first goal is to walk to my 6 week OB appointment. I went to every single one in a wheelchair during pregnancy. Pumpkin is helping by requiring me to walk her around a lot to help her fall asleep.
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Just about 4 weeks. Last 2 weeks were good. My vulva and such is still very tender and I’m not entirely pleased with the shape of healing, but it seems to be otherwise healing very well.
I can move around my house, in and out of bed and sit on most chairs, just nothing too hard. I can get up and down the step to our loungeroom easily now too.
As of yesterday, I’ve started a daily walk down our driveway. It’s about 40 metres front door to the road (thanks Google maps), so that’s an 80m walk at an “outdoor” pace. I walk slower inside the house, but have been doing a lot of pacing while holding Pumpkin to get her to sleep. I’m hoping to be doing it a few times a day by 6 weeks. So that’s the next fortnight, adding walking around the outside of my house and driveway to the pelvic floor exercises and practicing my posture.
Also hand exercises and stretches, because my joints all feel stiff.
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So, I have done a lot of pelvic floor work, but I read in my handout from the hospital’s physios something about “abdominal bracing”. I’ve looked it up and am adding it to my ad hoc micro workouts. It seems to be practicing using the lower abdominal muscles. Very useful and easy to do once I get the hang of it.
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Ooooh that’s very exciting!
One that I really liked doing (because it was simple - not easy, but easy to figure out - and not as exhausting) was to lay on my back, put my fingertips on my lowest abs, then “turn them on” just enough to feel them contract and learn which surrounding structures move - I had to practice contracting only those muscles without using other belly or low back muscles. And then again for the next higher up set of abs where my incisions were, and then higher still. Eventual goal was to raise legs using only lower ab contractions and raise ribs/shoulders using only higher ab contractions but for my body that is high expert level 
I am at a point of general abdominal weakness and mayhem, I totally wish I’d done belly dancing when I was younger, to have better awareness of what all those muscles can do!
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I love an exercise that can be done in bed 
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6 weeks!
To the tune of “Catch my disease” by Ben Folds:
Woke up this morning
Suddenly realised
My abs are back together 
Maybe not completely but as of a couple of days ago, everything is actually working together instead of being a bowl of jelly that I have to compensate for. I don’t have my appointments until next week because my OB wasn’t available, so I’m doing the same exercises for another week until the physio can give me new ones. I’m considering paying $150USD for the Expecting&Empowered postpartum guide to give me extra things to do. I am looking forward to being shown how to massage my scarring, I am having some strange nerve feelings so we might have mucked up some of that.
I can fill or stack the dishwasher once a day, hang out in my garden, and walk 150km back and forth in the bedroom to get the baby to sleep. I can also make it down the driveway and back comfortably, so this week I start walking a little way down the street, too. Sitting on a hard floor is OK for a while but padding is preferred. It actually feels like all the padding from my butt is gone, so I guess I need to build back butt muscles and fat too.
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I think you would be more than recovered at this stage 
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That number may be slightly exaggerated…
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Almost 8 weeks postpartum. I had my checkup with my women’s health physiotherapist. She was extremely validating, and gave me a thorough check over. I am doing pretty well for someone who lost significant muscle tone during pregnancy! Almost no separation left, very few signs of potential for prolapse, but plenty of scar tissue to work on. Thanks to remembering my kegels a few times a day, my pelvic floor is in excellent shape.
I have a big list of exercises to try. I’m to try a different one each day, for 5-10 minutes, while baby is awake and playing. Then when I can manage that, I can do 2 sessions a day. A very slow build, so that I don’t go backwards in some other area (like mental health). She thought my goals (5km walks, bike rides and Tai Chi) were great ones, and not too ambitious. Right now they feel extremely ambitious, but in 8 weeks I’ve gone from stick in bed to filling the dishwasher every other day!
Also my OB refused to do a visual check on my scarring and now I’m on a mini mission to find out why women across my state are suddenly not getting proper postpartum checks.
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I forgot! I totally nailed this! Walked the whole way myself, and walked to the paediatrician appointment too!
I’m in “Phase 2” now:
My new goals are go bike riding, 5km walks, group Pilates and 1 hour Tai Chi classes. These will take me at least the rest of the year to achieve. I’m going to make a fitness notebook, I think, because journalling a bit about my fitness every few weeks is useful for me.
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Woohoo! I can hear the elation in your words, I’m so glad all seems to be progressing swimmingly.
From months 2-4 the baby found it fascinating to watch me move (whether it was exercises or laundry) while hanging out in tummy time, which he otherwise hated!
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I’m struggling mentally with still not being able to workout. We are on week 19 and baby is still refusing bottles of formula and every time I workout my supply drops, so I’m stuck until she stops nursing. Even doing a lot of manual labor around the house or going for long walks seems to cause a slight decrease in supply. However, I am using my standing desk for work and trying to get in at least one walk per day, plus lots of manual labor type things so I’m staying somewhat active.
Yesterday I tackled our monthly Costco trip alone with TE on my back. By the end I had a 30# on my back and I was pushing a cart that felt like 100#. This morning my glutes are pleasantly sore so I am counting that as a workout.
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I did some stretches and forgot my body is probably still full of Extra Bendy Hormone and now have mucked up the nerves in my left hip a little. Note to self: don’t overstretch. Just little short stretches.
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Well last weekend I did a group training session at sports venue for the first time in 3 years. I was a hot mess just getting all the equipment ready. At one point I went so hard that I threw up. This tends to happen if I’m pushing hard but lacking the right specifics of fitness. I guess my legs were writing checks that my lungs couldn’t cash. There’s a lot of work to do before I am competition-ready again, but I was pleased that the instincts came back quickly in mock races.
PT is going alright but while it’s helping heal and strengthen prior issues especially in my left foot, I have been developing new injuries or weaknesses. After an appointment with a wonderful massage therapist we concluded that the mega support shoes I’ve been wearing have actually been cramping parts of my right foot (the one that was fine) by never allowing it to experience movement. I switched to wearing them for extended standing only, and that seems to help a bunch. I am taking a pause from new PT appointments - I feel like I’ve hit a plateau and want to spend the time working or relaxing or doing my exercises at home.
So, two steps forward one step back.
Working full-time again is definitely interfering with my personal goals & downtime. Who’d have thunk?
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It’s a bit 2 forward 1 back here, too! I’ve been trying to maintain an activity level where I’m active but my heartrate doesn’t rise, no heavier breathing etc. I’m not being wiped by fatigue for days anymore! Or I wasn’t until I got a cold, which wiped me out for a week. I seem to be a little slower to recover than I usually am and am back to “1 piece of housework per day”. I was almost at the point of adding a 2 minute block of exercise. Given my hip’s been painful, I think I will start that now anyway and keep housework at 1 item a day, and add in iron which might be my current limiting factor in recovery.
I hope everyone else’s recovery journeys are going well!
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