Post-Partum fun

Child-birthing and labor get such a bad rap that people never seem to discuss the whole postpartum recovery period. For me, the worst part was while I was in the hospital, once I got home I was pretty much over the hump as far as pain and soreness went.

I'd have to say that the worst part of PP recovery was being straight-cathed, TWICE. For any one not in the know, this is when the nice nurse shoves a tube up your urethra without any numbing or foreplay. It's a temporary cath that they remove once the bladder is empty. I was cathed about 2 1/2 hours after Amelia was born and then again about 12 hours later. The second time was so so much worse because by then the epi was LONG gone and everything down there was swollen and bruised and torn, but I will say that the relief of fully emptying my bladder after only being able to piddle pathetic amounts was awesome. Hands down, one of the best feelings ever, or at least I though so at the time. If you want to prevent this horror from happening to you I highly, HIGHLY recommend icing your area pretty much constantly as this will help to keep the swelling down.

If women talk about the PP recovery at all, most of them address hemorrhoids and the dreaded post-baby bowel movements. I won't lie and say I didn't have any hemorrhoids or discomfort from them, but they were far away more painful prior to baby than after and they went away pretty quickly, probably within the first week. Just take your colace religiously and don't skimp on the tucks and everything will be fine.

The only other thing I have to say about the postpartum period was that I was exhausted and extremely hormonal. My mom came to stay with us for the first week home and she helped out a lot. She was always telling me to nap with the baby and while I would try my best to do this, most of the time it didn't really work out very well. Either I couldn't fall asleep, or somebody would call/text me, or Amelia would wake up just as I was about to nod off.

I think with people about to have babies, or with new babies the number one concern is when will they get sleep again. Trust me, you will get used to waking up when your baby wakes up. Often I would wake up a few minutes before Amelia would and just lay there waiting for her to demand food. And eventually your baby will sleep longer and longer chunks. I know that not all babies are easy to get to sleep and not all of them learn to sleep better on their own, but you are a parent now, time to develop those parenting skills. Thankfully, Amelia seems to be pretty independent and has led the way as far as sleep goes. She went from being up 2 times a night at 2 months to once a night at 3 months to straight through the night just after 4 months. We used to be a co-sleeping family because the only way she would sleep was near/on me, but after some dedication and persistence she sleeps in her own room in her own crib, at night. We are still working on crib sleeping during naps.

I do have one more tidbit to share about the postpartum period and it involves retaining placenta, but Amelia is calling.