Baby Reese has arrived!

Reese Madelyn was born on August 13, 2013 at 10:02 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 2.9 oz. and was 21 inches long! She was eleven days past her due date, so that does make some sense :).

Length of labor: 11 hours after they broke my water

Medicine (pitocin, epidural, etc.): None!

Method of birth: Water birth

The worst aspects of labor were the awful back labor, transition as contractions became closer together, exhaustion, and pushing. I wouldn't trade my experience for anything because our baby girl came out so healthy and alert. 

She is nine days old and doing great! She is almost back to her birth weight. 

Reese at about 12 hours old.

Day 6 post partum and I feel really good!

Day 7 - First family walk (we even took Jack) and her contented sleeping afterwards :)

I hope to update the blog regularly regarding post partum recovery, getting back to fitness and just life in general. 

I do attribute my overall feeling after birth to a healthy lifestyle of eating well and exercising regularly. Even though I slowed down my workouts in the last six weeks (+ those extra days!), I still continued to walk the dog with Ryan, do elliptical workouts a few times a week and strength train two to three times per week. In total, I gained 28 pounds during this pregnancy and as of today I'm down 20 already. I have been trying to eat healthy since having her but I indulge too and haven't been very vigilant on my food. More to come on this though soon!

From one sleepy mama...

P.S. I love being able to write that I'm a mama now!