4 Week Postpartum Update

Today marks Week 4 of my postpartum progress and I wanted to share what the last few weeks have been like since delivering our sweet little girl.  I’m about to get pretty real with my fellow mommies out there about the not-so-great things that happened and a few tips I wish someone would have told me!  This is definitely not meant to scare or discourage anyone – just keeping it real with my experience for those who have gone (or are going) through the same challenges as me – you are not alone mama!

LABOR / HOSPITAL STAY
If you didn’t already know, I had to have a c-section with Matea because she was frank breeched.  Let’s just put this out there – c-sections are NO JOKE!  Holy pain!  I have a high tolerance for pain (I mean, I had a natural drug-free birth with my 1st baby and it was glorious), but I don’t think I was mentally prepared for what the recovery would be like with this delivery.

POST-SURGERY: After the surgery, I wasn’t able to walk for almost 10 hours until the anesthesia wore off, but getting out of bed was painful.  I was so scared I was going to rip my incision and my organ parts would fall out. (Haha – seriously, that’s how it felt.)   After the 1st go around, I made myself get up every few hours for at least 10-15 minutes.  As painful as it was, it felt good to be mobile, even if I was walking as slow as a snail.  I knew this would help me heal faster.
***MY TIP – Get up and get moving.  The sooner & more often you move, the quicker you’ll heal.
Also, bring a pillow for that ride home!  Every little bump will hurt so use it to hold against your tummy.***

WEEK 1
SWOLLEN FEET: After 3 days in the hospital, I was able to go home. YAY!  It felt so good to sleep in my own bed.  After my 1st night at home, I woke up the next day with  GINORMOUS SWOLLEN FEET!  My toes looked like smokey sausages and you couldn’t even see my ankles or knee caps because my entire leg was swollen with fluids from the IV.  I couldn’t bend my legs or fit into my shoes/sandals. And to make matters worse, I started weeping because the fluids were trying to exit my body. After almost a week, it finally went away.
**MY TIP – If this happens to you, drink A TON of water, rest when you can and elevate those legs, and AVOID salt!***

BREASTFEEDING: Matea was already born small (5 lbs 15 oz), but she lost some weight while in the hospital and that made me so nervous.  I was breastfeeding at the hospital and at home, but because my milk didn’t come in on the 4th day like it should have, I had to supplement.  I felt so discouraged and after a little breakdown and consoling from my sweet hubby, I calmed my nerves and kept pumping to work up my supply.  Luckily, it finally came in almost a week later.
***MY TIP – Don’t stress or feel discouraged – this will only make it worse.  Be patient and consistent. And make sure you’re staying hydrated and eating right to help you produce milk!***

WEIGHT:  Before the delivery, my final pregnancy weight was 163lbs.  (I gained 30 lbs during my pregnancy.) After my 1st week post baby, I stepped on the scale and was mortified to find that I was STILL 163lbs!  I knew a lot of it was due to all of what fluid inside me, and in retrospect, I shouldn’t have cared, but I did.  I am now down to 145lbs and still have a little less than 15lbs to lose, but my main focus is to continue working on my milk supply so I’ve been eating healthy round the clock and staying really hydrated.
***MY TIP – The weight WILL come off, but it doesn’t happen overnight so stop stressing about those numbers. You just had a baby!  Give yourself a break.***

WEEK 2
Ahh…finally some normalcy,  The swelling was gone, my milk came in, and the weight started coming off (a little).  Finally I was starting to catch a break, right? Wrong.

GAS PAINS: I’m not even sure what to say here except have some Tums and/or Gas-X on standby.  Because of the surgery, air and gas can become trapped in the abdomen causing some to feel bloated and gassy.  The sharp pains I encountered were excruciating and releasing it even hurt! (Sorry, not really any other way to say it.)
***MY TIP – Getting up and moving around helps a lot.  Also, try not to eat foods that will cause gas and take an anti-gas OTC medicine if needed to help.

WEEK 3 
POSTPARTUM CHECKUP:  Everything went pretty well except for a small infected blister right by my incision (which was probably caused by the weeping when I was swollen and irritation from the bandages).  Thank God it wasn’t the actual incision itself; otherwise, I could have had some complications. I’ve been applying Neosporin twice a day to clear it up.

EXERCISE:  Per doctor’s orders, I have to revisit with him at my 6 week mark for the green light to start working out again.  In the mean time, easy walks are OK and no lifting anything heavier than 10 lbs.

WEEK 4
I am FINALLY starting to feel like myself again. Matea has a pretty consistent schedule down which helps a ton especially for those night feedings.  My parents have been such a tremendous help with meals and taking care of Marli (including driving her to/from school).  And my husband has been so dang amazing!

POST BABY BODY: As far as my body, everything is slowly (and I mean slowly) recovering, but my legs, butt, and tummy area jiggle like crazy.  I ordered this corset from Bellefit and started wearing it yesterday for the first time to help my abdomen stay intact because the jiggling actually hurt.  I wore it for a couple hours and today I wore it for almost 6 hours.  It takes some getting used to, but overall, I love it. I love how structured it is and it keeps everything in place.  It’s a little pricey, but if you visit their site, you can get $20 off your purchase. I’ve only used it a couple times, but can already tell a difference in my stomach and would definitely recommend this product.​​

I can’t wait to start working out again! In the mean time, I’m taking it easy and allowing my body to heal.  Hope this post was helpful for you mommies! Remember not be so hard on yourself and DON’T compare yourself to others or even your past pregnancies.  Our bodies are all different and each pregnancy is different – I should know because I went from one extreme to the next.  Your body just did something AMAZING so dwell on that for a minute and forget the rest. You are beautiful and wonderful and imperfectly perfect 🙂