Let's Talk Postpartum and Hospital Recovery

First let’s talk postpartum… y’all I birthed a 9lb 8.2oz baby vaginaly (with an epidural, GET THE EPIDURAL! Because Surprise! - you don’t get an award if you don’t so you might as well enjoy your birthing process. However it is your body and your choice so just do you boo, nobody is here to judge especially not this mama). Any who, nobody prepares you for birth/postpartum - you got a glimpse of the birth in the previous blog! You go through sex ed, you talk about how babies are born, you know what happens… but nobody can prepare you for when it actually happens. Plus everyone is completely different – there are no rules! I was continuously told “oh you workout, that’s going to help your delivery and recovery so much” so my naïve mind thought it’d be a piece of cake since I was taking such good care of myself – let me tell you THEY LIED – ok maybe not, I’m sure it did help, but it didn’t make it a piece of cake! I thought I’d walk into the hospital after laboring at home for hours and be at an 8 ready to just relax and push a kid out a couple of hours after being at the hospital… so when I went in and got told I was only a 3 and cried like a baby for my epidural I knew I was in for a long ride. (I know, I know, you experienced mamas and nurses can go ahead and laugh at me now... I get it hah!)

Speaking of crying, then there were the hormones. I did pretty well during pregnancy so I thought postpartum would be pretty chill. WRONG AGAIN. I have never cried more in my entire life and for no good reason at all and for multiple times a day for weeks. Husband looks at me? Cry. Nurse asks how I’m doing? Cry. Food tastes ok? Cry. Think about crying? Cry. I was a HOT MESS. Guess what? That’s normal… let it happen, cry it out girl, you got this mama!! Hell I'm even crying now writing this blog because it's been a long day of nonstop fussy crying for Brooklyn, it's so hard on that mama heart!

So hospital recovery – they tell you to soak and take advantage of the Jacuzzi tub while you’re there and you have nursing staff, TAKE ADVANTAGE. I did not and I thoroughly regret it. I only took two the entire time we were there – which yes seems like a lot if you’ve never been in that situation (which is why I thought I was doing a good job with two), but you need more! Girl you birthed a whole human, relax and recover in that Jacuzzi tub. I brought my own sitz bath salts too which I am so thankful for, bring what you feel comfortable relaxing with because it will help you actually relax and feel good about yourself. I also brought my own toiletries so I could wash my hair and feel like ME again – thank you to my nurse friends who told me to do this. I also prepped a ton of postpartum care stuff for home (type A personality remember) and was told not to bring it to the hospital because they would have stuff for you – again I’m glad I listened. I liked the hospitals peri bottle better, and the postpartum underwear and pads were better than the ones I got at home. Don’t forget to TAKE IT ALL WITH YOU - they're charging you for that in your bill - TAKE IT. Now, don’t get me wrong some of the stuff I got was useful once I was home, but some stuff I didn’t use. I also ended up buying more of things I didn’t get that I should have (which seems to be the story of my life for all things pregnancy/postpartum/baby related – we can talk more about that later when I do a whole blog on what to get and what's a waste).

The nursing staff was absolutely fabulous to us and we are so grateful. My husband threw his back out on the dreaded hospital couch bed and tried getting attention for the pain, sorry babe I know it hurt but I also just birthed a human ;) They did around the clock care, making sure to check on my pain levels and get my meds on time. They made sure to answer any and all questions we had about the baby - which trust me was PLENTY! Showed us diaper changes, how to breastfeed, how to bathe her. They also made sure to stress the importance of me taking care of myself which I appreciated because clearly everyone is focused on the baby, not the mama. Was I eating enough, drinking enough water, soaking in the tub, and had a plan for recovery at home. Recovery is no joke and I was not prepared!

Then you're home. Nobody to administer meds, no night nurses to give you a break, you have to find time to do it all and take care of you and baby. My husband is fabulous about making sure I would soak, take my meds, relax and recover... get you one of them, just not him he's taken!

I could go in and on in this section but I'll leave it at that for now. It's been a long day! 

Picture below to remind yourself to take time for YOU Mama!