POSTPARTUM UPDATE + PRETTY MINIMAL NECESSITIES
I can hardly believe it’s been almost three months since I gave birth.
If you want to read our birth story you can click here. I didn’t track any birth stories while I was pregnant but now I love reading them! I started postpartum, while I was stuck in the labor and delivery wing. The hospital considered ours a “dirty birth” so their pediatrician would not clear my daughter to be released for two whole days. Those two days were SO slow, I felt trapped and somehow stunted at the same time.
I just wanted to get home and “start” being a mommy.
When we finally did get home I spent my time in our master bedroom with Baby Brown the majority of the day and night. She slept a lot, as newborns do, and I tried to remember to sleep when she did.
My husband and the family that visited were really great about making certain I was getting plenty of water postpartum. I am notoriously bad at drinking water so I bought this bottle while I was pregnant and the oversized straw seemed to help a lot. If anyone in the house noticed the bottle was empty they refilled it and brought it over to me, exceptionally helpful.
Since we were in the thick of summer I tried to drink even more liquids than were recommended. I ate lots of cucumber and watermelon, and anything else that could help hydrate me while I snacked.I had cooked and prepared about a month’s worth of frozen meals while I was pregnant. They come in handy on the days that I messed around and forget to eat, or just can’t catch the time to cook a well-rounded meal.
I regularly took ibuprofen until my milk came in, because it had been prescribed for my almost-skid mark. (If you’d appreciate a separate post on how I prepared for labor let me know.) Since I didn’t have any real postpartum tearing I started healing pretty immediately. I used the peri bottle trick with warm water and it helped immensely.
My tummy jiggling was bothersome but nice snug nursing tank tops helped with those strange sensations.
DRESSING FOR COMFORT
Those tank tops were basically all I ever wore out of the house. Couple them with the shorts I wore while pregnant and I had my daily postpartum uniform. I had planned on trying maxi dresses but they allowed for too much movement. At home I had a couple sets of these super soft pajamas to wear. They were roomy, looked presentable enough, and covered me up, but also allowed me to breastfeed without too much fuss. I sized up on full coverage underwear and ordered nursing bras from Amazon and was always comfortable.
PRIORITIZING BABY
Priorities really had to shift for the fourth trimester. For us: baby came first, then me and my postpartum recovery, then the home.Our house gets a little messy from time to time, and the laundry gets backed up, but those can get taken care of later. We focused on the family and it’s serving us well so far. Nothing that would interfere was welcome during this adjustment period. I even took maternity leave from blogging so that I could stay completely focused.
My husband and I went on our first date post-baby while my mother-in-law was in town and it was…strange. We both were relieved to have the alone time but also found ourselves thinking about our baby girl. I assume we’ll learn how to date again with time.
At this age and stage, babies are no longer even considered newborns, how are we here already?! If anyone has postpartum tips on slowing down and fully soaking up every drop of new baby goodness, leave them in the comments.
