Post-Partum Realness: What people don’t talk about!

Becoming a mother has honestly been one of the best things EVER. I love everything about being Emma’s mom but there is some things that I don’t hear too many people talk about.

I will say that it is becoming more common to be more open about what we as women go through and it’s nice to hear others experiences. I knew that I wanted to share my experience because it’s important to be raw & transparent with my audience. Those first few weeks were really tough!

Now before you continue scrolling A LOT of stuff will be TMI, so I apologize in advance LOL.

1. Peeing for the first time is PAINFUL

Now if you have a vaginal birth and you tear at all in the process of pushing…it will BURN when you first pee. I was almost dreading the moment and I wanted to hold off as much as I could. I had a room full of family there and I had everyone exit the room just so I could be more comfortable. The nurses were very helpful and even let me know that it would be a little painful.

Your first pee also has to be collected to make sure you’re peeing enough so they place this plastic thing in the toilet to catch the pee. Now because I was holding it for so long I almost couldn’t hold it but I ended up making it on time. Sure enough it really did burn and it continued to burn until about 1.5-2 weeks!

2. Using the restroom is a whole new task & mission!

Whether in the hospital with help from nurses or at home…going to the restroom is just a mission. You have to change your pad often because it’s soaking in blood, you also apply some witch hazel pads to help alleviate some of the pain down there, you spray some Dermaplast to also help with pain, and you can’t wipe if you get stitches so you spray warm water down there. It’s no longer a regular trip to the restroom but something that involves so many different steps and not to mention the smell of all the blood is not very pleasant.

I remember I couldn’t wait for the nurse one time and Cesar had to help me…I apologized so many times to him because the smell is just so strong. Of course he was amazing about it and said I didn’t have to apologize. Even when I got home I remember crying one time after I used the restroom. Cesar asked me what was wrong and I told him I just wanted to feel normal again. I didn’t want to dread using the restroom anymore because it just burned so badly. Thankfully it didn’t last long and you just have to allow your body to heal.

When you’re at the hospital they provide everything for you but when you get home you should have your own stuff as well. You can always take stuff from the hospital but I purchased my own stuff ahead of time. I had a little caddy underneath the sink that had all of my stuff I needed. I want to say that the first 2 weeks at home I used the Depends diapers which was the most comfortable for me. I didn’t want to have to worry about ruining any underwear because I was still bleeding heavily. After that I transitioned to the overnight pads! Below are all the items I used once I got home!

3. Night Sweats are totally a thing

Night sweats had to be the me the most annoying thing EVER. I really had no idea this was going to start happening and I just remember waking up MOIST. Not only did I wake up covered in sweat but I was also freezing! The first couple of nights it happened I thought I was just really hot so I tried dressing lighter for bed. Well it kept happening so I looked it up and it’s definitely a thing LOL.

The reason why it happens is after giving birth your hormones are getting rid of excess fluids that supported your body and baby during pregnancy.

I ended up always having a set of clothes to change into during Emma’s night feedings and always had a sweater to put on. It definitely went away after a couple of weeks but it was certainly the most annoying thing to deal with.

4. Hemorrhoids & Stool Softener

Now doesn’t that sound like a sexy topic? Hemorrhoids is something that you can get during your pregnancy but you can also get it from pushing during labor. Hemorrhoids are basically swollen veins and can be very uncomfortable/painful. I got them from pushing during labor and because of this I needed to take a stool softener. I was also really afraid to poop for the first time because of this! In all honesty it wasn’t that bad at all and I was able to have my first bowel movement 3 days after having Emma.

I used a cold compress, took extra long warm showers, sat on a donut pillow when breastfeeding, and applied a special ointment to feel better. This also took some time to heal and felt better with time.

5. Baby Blues

I wanted to end with this as this is a heavier topic. Before I even talk about my experience I want to quickly explain what the baby blues are!

So the baby blues tend to happen 4-5 days after you give birth and it is caused by the imbalance of hormones. Baby blues can last a couple of weeks after giving birth. Some of the symptoms are: weepiness, impatience, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, sadness, insomnia, mood changes and poor concentration.

The baby blues hit me out of no where and I was seriously taken back. I remember just crying but not really being able to pinpoint what the reason was. It’s hard to explain but I just felt a certain sadness even though I was in love with being Emma’s mom. I talked to Cesar about how I felt and he just reassured me that he was there for me. I started to get scared thinking I had postpartum depression and I jumped on google to find out. Yes, I know I shouldn’t jump to google but I did. I found out that it was called baby blues since PPD was significantly different than what I was experiencing.

Once I talked to Cesar I felt so much better. I went to sleep and thought I would wake up feeling different. I remember the next day I was trying to hold back tears and still ended up crying at night. It mostly would happen when Cesar would ask how I was doing, and I would just breakdown. I knew that I needed to reach out and talk to someone. So I reached out to my sister-in-law and OMG best thing I could have done. She made me feel so much better and it was so nice to talk to another mom. I would go over and literally cry as she held me telling me that it was going to get better. She made feel like I wasn’t alone and it was healthy to have someone to talk to. I started to tell some of my close friends & family what I was going through and again it made me feel so much better. The more that I was open, it really helped make those weird feelings go away.

I had also looked up how to get rid of these baby blues because I just wanted to feel normal again. I read that getting sun was really important, which was funny because I literally had not been outside at all. Another thing was that I needed to take additional vitamins like fish oil and vitamin D. Of course these things would just help not necessarily make it go away completely.

So that’s exactly what I did! I started getting out for daily walks to get sun, took additional vitamins and consistently talked/vented to my inner circle. That feeling of sadness went away slowly and I started doing more normal things.

Now for my second baby I will definitely do things differently. Although I know you’re supposed to keep newborns indoors as much as possible, staying home didn’t help my baby blues. I was getting stir crazy just staying at home watching Netflix and doing the same thing over & over. As soon as I started getting out of the house more I instantly felt better. The baby blues hit me at about Day 6 after birth and lasted until about week 3/4. Now I was still extremely emotional and still am but at least I could identify why I was crying.

So if you’re pregnant, just gave birth, or thinking about getting pregnant, it’s so important to talk about how you’re feeling with someone you trust. I feel like if I didn’t talk to someone maybe it could have been worse. I also found a very helpful article that can help with signs to recognize if you have PPD, HERE.

One last thing…

Opening up about postpartum can be very difficult but it’s important to me to be transparent. On Instagram we tend to show the highlights and of course when I was going through these things the last thing I wanted to do was be on social media. I hope that by sharing my experience more women can relate and be open about what they’re going through. Yes some of these topics can be embarrassing but it’s something special to bond with other moms over hemorrhoids LOL.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I would love to hear your experiences. So don’t be afraid to reach out because I would love to be someone you can reach out to!

Well It’s been real.

XOXO,

Liz-Laugh-Love