My After Birth Story

 Since I wrote about my birth story, I felt you guys deserved to hear my recovery story too. WARNING: This blog post may contain triggers, graphic descriptions, and a little too much information. 

If you read my previous post, My Birth Story, then you know that my son was born via emergency c-section. Luckily I prepared to have him either via Vaginal or Cesarean. However, a lot of moms don’t, and they feel their birth plan is ruined when it doesn’t go the way they want it to. Now, I know you’ve probably heard this a million times (at least I did when pregnant), your birth plan isn’t going to go as planned. It’s such an unpredictable time and there is so much going on. When we left to the hospital we had to turn around cuz I forgot something, and then I still forgot my glasses! I was in such a dazed state too, it felt so surreal. Laying in a hospital, having an oxygen mask, the contractions, preparing for my c-section, holding my son. It felt so surreal and I couldn’t believe he was finally here in my arms. 

I think this surreal daze is what helped me recovery easier. Don’t get me wrong, it was still rough, but it wasn’t as bad as I had built it up in my head. And the nurses were very good about keeping me caught up on my medication to help with the pain. The first day was probably the hardest. I couldn’t eat anything until I passed gas, I had a IV & catheter in, my nipples were cracked, and I couldn’t get out of bed, So every time Wes cried I either needed Bryan to grab him for me, or a nurse to. It was very difficult for me to be at bed rest, but it definitely helped with my recovery. Around midnight, the nurse was checking on me (once again), and I still hadn’t passed gas. She listened and could hear my bowels moving, so she said I could nibble, but not eat a full meal. 

The day after Wes was born, I finally passed gas and was able to eat, I got IV out and my catheter out (which felt SUPER weird), I stood up and started practicing walking (yes, you read that right), and I was able to take my first shower. After I got my catheter out, my nurse helped me s l o w l y stand up. It was so difficult  and my entire body felt sore once I stood up. It was like I had just woken up the day after a full day at the gym. 

After I stood up on my own and practiced walking every couple hours, I finally got the okay to take a shower. It was so cold! Not the water, the room itself, so even the warm water didn’t warm you up. Then, I had to take my bandages off. Luckily my nurse was amazing and she told me to just slowly take them off in the shower. NEVER let your nurse or doctor just rip the bandage off! It was so painful doing it while in water, I couldn’t image having it pulled off dry!

After my shower I was able to get into my own clothes, which was so nice! We got Wes’ bili test results, he had slight jaundice. The nurse reassured me it would clear up easily, but he would need to be in the nursery most of the day. Every 3 hours I would have to walk to the nursery to feed him for 15 minutes on each breast and 2ML of formula. They said the formula would help clear his jaundice up. Which it did! His next bili test around 5pm that night, he passed it! 

Finally, we were going home! But that wasn’t the end of my recovery. My nipples were still cracked and bleeding for about another week. It didn’t hurt when he was feeding, but when he wasn’t, my nipples felt like chapped cracked lips. They were irritated, bleeding, dry, and itchy! Nipple cream was my best friend those first weeks! 

Due to my c-section I wasn’t able to lift anything heavier than Wes, I couldn’t even carry him in his carrier for 6 weeks! It was the longest 6 weeks, I felt so stuck. Looking back, I’m glad I listened and took it easy, if I hadn’t my recovery would’ve been a lot worse. I’m so glad and blessed I had so many people helping me out and making sure I was taking care of myself as well as Wes. 

I think the absolute worse part of my recovery was using the bathroom. WARNING This is about to get a little graphic. (If you don’t want to read this part you can skip to after the next photo) I couldn’t wipe, I had to use a peri bottle with warm water. Which, if you’ve had a baby, you know how nice that water feels on your cooter when you spray it with that warm water. It hurts, a lot, down there after you’ve had a baby. I could only imagine how much worse the pain would’ve been had I had a vaginal birth. And the warm water makes that pain digress just a little bit (at least for me it did). The stool softeners also helped A LOT! If you’re a first time mom, head this advice: TAKE THE STOOL SOFTENERS!!! I didn’t the first day, oh my god was that a mistake. You can’t push to pee or poop, so I would wait till I was about to pee/poop my pants so I wouldn’t have to push at all. Oh, but the pain from pooping was SO intense! It was worse than my contractions during labor. The stool softeners helped, but didn’t take the pain away. It felt like my butt was being ripped apart and it sent shocks all the way through me, caused me to cringe which then caused my scar to sting. It was just a horrible experience and I still remember that feeling to this day. 

The photo above was me 10 days after Wes was born. As you can see, I still had my baby belly. Your belly does not go away immediately after having your baby. But, I absolute loved, and still love, my mom bod. My body went through an amazing transformation and built an entire human! 

Now it was time for my 6 week check up. YAY! I brought Wes with to show him off at my OB’s office, after all they had all been through this amazing journey with me. They all loved him! I was so excited to be getting my bandage strips off and to FINALLY be able to take a bath! Getting the strips off though hurt SO bad! Luckily, my doctor was amazing and she did it slowly while continuously applying liquid to it, but it still hurt a lot. 

There was still a long road to recovery after my 6 week checkup, but the toughest part of recovery  was over (at least for me that was the toughest part) and I rocked through it! I will be doing another blog in the future (after the New Year) about the rest of my recovery and the first year of being a mom!