Bringing a new baby home is exciting and an amazing experience. What many women forget or don’t read enough about is the recovery after you’ve given birth. These Tips to Help you Recover from Labor are great Tips for a quicker postpartum recovery. This will help make this time easier for you after your brand new little one arrives.
Tips to Help you Recover from Labor: Tips for a quicker postpartum recovery
So you’ve read a lot about the actual labor and delivery. You’ve also read about pregnancy and the things to expect while you’re expecting. But do you know much about recovering once your baby arrives.
Having a baby is a beautiful gift, but it can really take a toll on your body! I remember when my first was born I was an encyclopedia of knowledge when it came to everything pregnancy. However, I was shocked to see some of the things happen to my body after the fact. Thankfully, with subsequent babies I was ready. That being said, my first postpartum experience was shocking.
Below I will share some tips on how to recover after labor and delivery.
Your body knows how to heal itself, but these tips will help make the process a little easier for you and hopefully less painful. The recovery process after baby arrives can be a little hard, and knowing some ways to make it easier is worth trying!
Getting Through First Few Weeks After Labor
Rest after giving birth
This can be an obvious tip, but sometimes moms don’t follow it. Make sure you rest, your body has went through so much, and it needs to recover. Make sure you rest when you can, let people help and don’t over do it.
Ask for Help:
This is a huge one, it won’t make you any less of a mom if you ask for help. Whether it is your spouse, mom, sister, a friend, just ask for help. If you are feeling wore out ask them for help. Even if they hold the baby while you take a shower, or have them vacuum the floors. Just make sure to ask if you feel you need help.
Lot of Emotions
Be prepared to be emotional. You might cry at the drop of a hat, feel sad and depressed or even angry. These are all emotions that women can experience after delivery. Postpartum depression is real, talk to a friend and see if that helps. If you find that things are getting really hard, go to the doctor, they can help.
Soreness Down There:
After a a vaginal birth, you’re going to feel broken down in your lady parts. Even after my last labor which was 30 minutes long, I didn’t even want to go to the bathroom because you feel broken. You will probably also wonder how long it will take for soreness to go away and your perineum to heal.
Recovery can take anywhere from three weeks if you didn’t tear to six weeks or more if you had a perineal tear or an episiotomy.
Wondering if your vagina will ever be the same after birth? Not exactly — though it will likely be very close.
If you are pretty sore after delivery, you might consider soaking a pad in witch hazel and then wearing it. This will help ease your pain, witch hazel is anti-inflammatory and can soothe the soreness.
Or you can take your pad, soak in witch hazel and then put in the freezer, let it thaw off for a bit before wearing it. The coldness will feel soothing and give you lots of relief.
Another good thing to do is ice yourself. Whether you put on the outside of pants or stick in your underwear, it will help soothe and relive the pain and throbbing.
Heavy Bleeding: Make sure to buy really big pads for after baby arrives. You will experience heavy bleeding for awhile, and regular pads won’t work that great. Most hospitals will send you home with a few but you will need to make sure to have them at home. You can find them at mass retailers or online. Another great option are depends. Yes, diaper it up baby because the first few days will be brutal.
No shame though, even Princess Kate may have looked fantastic after giving birth but she was probably diapered up under those dresses 🙂
Stool Softeners: Right after you have your baby and are able to start eating and drinking, they recommend taking stool softeners.
Most women can get a little constipated and taking stool softeners will make your first bowel movement after baby a lot easier. I’m warning you, your first bowel movement after giving birth is horrible and can be very painful, and you don’t want to be pushing hard right after you have a baby trying to go to the bathroom. That’s why stool softeners are crucial to help make that first time you go not so bad.
Hemorrhoids: Some women will experience hemorrhoids after giving birth. Make sure to have wipes and creams handy for them, and soak in the bath when you can.
Drink Lots of Fluids: It is very important to drink a lot of fluids after you have your baby. One it helps produce milk if you are breastfeeding and two, it helps keep you from getting super constipated. Make sure to drink more than normal, to ensure you stay hydrated.
Meal Prep: I can’t stress this one enough. I remember sitting down before each baby and coming up with a list of freezable meals. I made about 2-3 weeks worth of freezer meals to have on hand. You can also do meals that take little to no prep work, because you will be exhausted, and not have much time to cook. Lasagna, crock pot meals, soups, are all great freezer meals. Thaw and cook in oven or toss in the slow cooker. Since everyone has to eat every night having this done before baby gets here will be a huge help for your time and sanity.
Everyone’s labor and delivery is different and recovery will vary for everyone. After 6 kids each time the recovery varied, that being said these tips will help you be ahead of the curve.
I hope these tips help you recover quicker so you can spend more time snuggling with your new squish.
Looking for more tips? Check out Tips to Help you get ready for labor & delivery.
