Postpartum Care Thread

[Laila619]

For me, the endless bleeding was the worst part. It was just ridiculous, and wearing pads 24/7 for so long made me so chafed and irritated down there. Plus it took SO damn long just to go pee, because I had to do the peri squirt bottle, change the pad, use Tucks pads, wash hands, etc. How the heck does anyone have time to do all that with a newborn crying for you?!?!

 

[monkeyprincess]

For me, the endless bleeding was the worst part. It was just ridiculous, and wearing pads 24/7 for so long made me so chafed and irritated down there. Plus it took SO damn long just to go pee, because I had to do the peri squirt bottle, change the pad, use Tucks pads, wash hands, etc. How the heck does anyone have time to do all that with a newborn crying for you?!?!

So true! Going to the bathroom was such a chore in those early days. It was such a process to use the restroom, and I ended up just feeling gross and depressed every time. I had kind of repressed that part of the recovery until just now. As much as I can't wait to have another little one, I could really do without going through all of that again!

 

[Laila619]

For me, the endless bleeding was the worst part. It was just ridiculous, and wearing pads 24/7 for so long made me so chafed and irritated down there. Plus it took SO damn long just to go pee, because I had to do the peri squirt bottle, change the pad, use Tucks pads, wash hands, etc. How the heck does anyone have time to do all that with a newborn crying for you?!?!

So true! Going to the bathroom was such a chore in those early days. It was such a process to use the restroom, and I ended up just feeling gross and depressed every time. I had kind of repressed that part of the recovery until just now. As much as I can't wait to have another little one, I could really do without going through all of that again!

Yeah, MP, and it's even worse when you have both a toddler and a newborn! Fun times! I had to practically schedule when I could use the bathroom, lol.

 

[amc80]

I'm really thankful for this thread. I had my girls via scheduled c/s (breech, then forced to have my 2nd as cs by the hospital). I'd been waffling about trying for a VBAC because I had this fairytale expectation that a vaginal delivery = back to normal within a week vs. the 4-6wk recovery from the C/S.

It's just eye opening to read everyone's experiences and gives me a lot to consider re: whether to try for a VBAC or do a repeat c/s with this baby. So again, thank you all for sharing and for starting the thread to begin with!

I'm jealous of those with the 4-6 week recovery. It took a good 6 weeks for me not to need Advil all day. And a good 5 months (and pelvic floor therapy for me not to pee my pants all the time :-/

 

[CurlySue]

I am 9 days post-partum and wanted to hop on here to share my experience and also to say thanks for this thread. It really helped me to prepare and have appropriate expectations for what things would/might be like after delivery. It also helped me prepare my DH for what I would need from him over the first few weeks, which was HUGE!

I delivered vaginally - pushed for about 40 minutes and had a 2nd degree tear. My thoughts/observations based on my experience thus far (with details below):

-Ice packs are amazing.
-Get out of bed and walk (for short periods of time) when you can... but know it's important to find the right balance between pushing yourself and overdoing it. That line is different for everyone. As they say, listen to your body.
-Pain meds and colace are your friends. Take them!
-Ensure you have some form of help for the first week so you can take it easy and not overdo it.
-Talk to your SO in advance about the reality of the Baby Blues.
-Post-partum compression garments (I'm using a Belly Bandit) are helpful.

Details:

I did not have a tremendous amount of swelling - it seemed fairly minor (to me) given the circumstances. Still, I used ice packs pretty much around the clock for my first three days post-partum. Those were life savers, and I was lucky enough to snag a bunch of them from the hospital and didn't need to make my own. I had purchased Tucks pads in advance of delivery to be prepared but haven't used them.

I think I was up and walking around fairly regularly the day after delivery. For me, it actually had more to do with the fact that I was really uncomfortable lying in bed 24/7. Very brief walks around the post-partum floor were usually just enough to give me some relief from lying down. And mentally, it was nice to be out of my room for a little while!

9 days out, I am feeling much better than I anticipated. I didn't use the prescription for the narcotic - I have just taken 600 mg of Advil every 6 hours, and that's been enough for me to manage the soreness. I have also been religious about taking Colace. My first post-partum BM was about 4 days after delivery, and while it scared the bejeezus out of me, it was OK. I just took my time and didn't force it. Pretty sure that without the Colace, it would have been a difficult situation. I have actually stopped taking my pre-natal vitamin, b/c it seems to counteract the Colace.

I am lucky to have my DH home with me for 2 weeks, and he's been awesome. He takes care of lunch and dinner for me, runs errands, and obviously helps with the baby to give me breaks. That's allowed me to take it easy, for the most part. I have been keeping up with laundry and other little "to dos," but other than that, my focus has been on breastfeeding and snuggling our little girl. Not sure I would have been able to manage that without having him (or someone as helpful as him) with me for the first week or so. So huge kudos and respect to those who do it on their own (or have other kids to manage as well!).

Baby blues are definitely REAL! I think mine are tapering off, but holy cow - I have been an emotional wreck. The littlest things have made me cry. Sometimes tears of joy, sometimes tears of frustration, sometimes tears that I can't really identify. This was something my DH and I talked about before delivery, and I would highly recommend setting expectations with your SO prior to delivery. I'm not typically an emotional person, so if I hadn't told him to expect it, I am pretty sure he would have thought I had lost it or was ready to walk out on him and the baby. He still gets concerned when he sees me cry, because he wants to "fix it" for me, but he at least knows it's normal.

One thing I have found helpful that I am not sure anyone else mentioned is a Belly Bandit (or something similar). I had seen mixed reviews on these types of things, so I thought I'd mention it. My sister gave me hers, and I started wearing it for a large majority of the days and overnight about 4 days PP. I saw a significant change in the size of my belly after just a day or two, but more importantly, using it has given me a lot of abdominal support. So I feel more confident getting up out of bed, out of deep chairs, etc. I know some of these can be expensive, but if you can find one second-hand, it might be worth it.

I did end up with a bladder infection. Monday night, I had insane chills and needed two heavy blankets draped over me to stay warm. Took my temperature, and it was up over 100.5. Ended up going in to my doctor the next day to be checked out (from head to toe - and the pelvic exam, while done gently, was not pleasant and caused increased bleeding and soreness, unsurprisingly) and was put on an antibiotic to manage that.

So that's that. Hoping that recovery continues on a positive path over the next several weeks, but you never know! I'll come back and update this with any significant changes as time goes on.

 

[monarch64]

CurlySue, I'm glad you found the thread helpful and I hope that you are continuing to recover well! Thank you (and everyone else) for sharing your story.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I am 5 days out from a vacuum assisted vaginal delivery with a tiny episiotomy (equivalent of first degree tear--skin only, no muscle involved )

My midwife was AMAZING and totally saved me from having a c-section but I was in labor at the hospital for nearly 40 hours and there were a lot of complications (group B strep, meconium, posterior and tilted baby, weak contractions, hyperemises...) I had taken a comprehesive childbirth education class, and read a ton of books, but still didn't feel prepared! The postpartum nurses at the hospital were useless and I was thrilled to get home.

-lasinoh start using on your nipples right away to help keep them from cracking, also rub in any colostrom or breast milk that drips out
-the peri bottle (little squirt bottle) is AMAZING!!! use it to spray off your lady parts instead of wiping. only use lukewarm water...anything else will hurt...trust me
-witch hazel pads are ok to blot yourself with, or you can put some in the peri bottle and spray yourself (much more effective IMHO)
-I didn't find dermaplast spray to help much
-make "padsicles" by soaking thick hospital pads with witch hazel and freezing--heavenly, and way easier to use than the ice pack plus plain pad that the hospital recommended
-I only took motrin for pain, but stay on top of it! I missed 2 doses in the hospital b/c of the nurses not bringing it and the pain crept up on me. Otherwise, I pretty much felt fine.
-day 4 my stitches stated bothering me, a lot. I wished I had a donut pillow but I don't. Day 5 was much better b/c I remembered this...
-http://www.earthmamaangelbaby.com/pregnancy/mama-bottom-balm.html put this in the fridge and spread gently on your lady parts, stitches, hemroids, etc. from day 1!!!!
-I am not bleeding much at all which surprised me
-I was terrified to poop, but it happened today and was not bad at all--thank you colace, prunes, and prune juice!

Breast feeding hasn't been super hard for us as E is a great latcher so far, but he was more than 2 weeks early and we had a hard labor, so he's tired. He's been cluster feeding since birth so I have not slept...at all. Somehow, I missed the memo that there is 0 recovery time. You go straight from labor into breast feeding boot camp.

The hard parts of breast feeding for us have been the no sleep (literally he's been eating like 10 minutes every 30 minutes), the constant leaking (I have lots of milk), and my constantly being worried about: uric acid crystals in his urine possibly from dehydration (these are gone now, yay!), his mild jaundice (which hopefully is getting better and the ped will reevaluate next Friday), is he eating enough, am I feeding him right...

Today we went to see a lactaction consultant just to go over some of those things. She gave me some other positions to try, including side lying to help with the lack of sleep, plus she weighed him and he's already 2 oz above birth weight and taking in lots of milk in his short feedings! So, I am trying not to worry so much. He's also been sleeping better today which gives me some hope.

All in all, Postpartum recovery has been way easier than I thought it would be, but breast feeding and lack of sleep have been much harder/all encompassing.

DH is doing a great job taking care of us, and we had planned specific strategies to help our 5 year old adjust which seem to be working well so far (knock on wood!)