The Truth About Postpartum Recovery
How to survive your postpartum recovery.
There’s a lot of general knowledge about postpartum recovery BUT there’s also A LOT that “They” don’t tell you. I had a basic idea of what postpartum was going to be like. There would be a constant “period” for weeks and going to the bathroom would probably hurt you know the common knowledge. But oh boy was I in for a shock! There’s so much other stuff that they don’t tell you! So let ME tell you the postpartum recovery truth!
1. The Bathroom.
The bathroom will become a scary place where you won’t want to go. You’ll get this lovely little squirt bottle that you’ll have to use every time you go to the bathroom. This squirt bottle WILL help but that’s not the scary part the scary part is ACTUALLY going to the bathroom. Number 1 or 2 will become painful especially if you had an episiotomy. A stool softener is a postpartum recovery must! They will save you! Make sure to take them BEFORE your first bowel movement or it’ll be like giving childbirth all over again.
2. Bleeding.
So you know that period you were so lucky not to have for 10 months? Yeah, you don’t get away from it that easy. Mother nature comes back full force and you’ll bleed for about 3+ weeks straight( as if childbirth wasn’t punishment enough ). Oh, and to top it off you get to join to diaper team because you can’t even use a tampon!
3. Breastfeeding.
If you end up breastfeeding then you’ll be lucky enough to experience labour like symptoms all over again! This was a shock to me that no one told me would happen! I was able to breastfeed my son and I am very thankful for that, but in the beginning, the cramping while breastfeeding was painful and very uncomfortable. It’ll pass and breastfeeding will get easier but in the beginning, it’s not so fun.
Breastfeeding helps your uterus go back to its normal size and it does this by contracting. Nursing your baby helps triggers this.
4. Baby Blues.
My husband and I knew about postpartum depression and the signs to look out for just in case. But no one told me about the baby blues. I guess around day 3 or 4 after having a baby your hormones just go crazy and all that adrenaline and endorphins just crash and you get very sad and “blue”. It can last a couple days but will pass. I remember just crying for no reason and begging my husband not to go to work. It just hit me like a brick wall and was very scary. It gave me a little taste of what postpartum depression might be like and I praise all the women who fight it and deal will it on a daily! You are strong and you are an amazing mother!
5. Sweating.
This one is weird and I had no clue about it! Sweating. You’ll sweat profusely. I would wake up with my bed sheets soaked in sweat. It was gross and there was no stopping it until my hormones regulated. I felt like I was in menopause. I wouldn’t necessarily sweat because I was hot, I would just sweat because my body and mother nature thought that would be a fun thing to add into the postpartum recovery journey.
6. Shaking.
Some women shake after giving birth it’s completely normal but can be a little alarming if you aren’t aware that could happen. It can happen whether you have a vaginal birth or a c-section birth and normally occurs within 2 hours after delivery and can last a few minutes. This happens because of all the immediate hormone shift in the mother’s body.
7. Episiotomy.
About 25% of woman will have an episiotomy during childbirth. Most women know this and will go into delivery expecting this can happen. What you may not know is that it’ll hurt for weeks and can take up to 3+ weeks to heal. This makes sitting on hard surfaces very uncomfortable. Sits baths and that lovely squirt bottle they give you will help you through those weeks. I also used witch hazel on a pad and an ice pack to relieve some of the pain, also like I mentioned above I highly recommend a stool softener if you had an episiotomy you don’t want to add any more strain to that area if you don’t have to.
These are just some of my pointers on surviving postpartum recovery. I hope you can take something away from this and it makes your recovery just a little easier 🙂 Leave me a comment below on some of your tips and tricks for surviving your postpartum recovery! <3
