My Top 4 Postpartum Care Products

My Top 4 Postpartum Care Products

You’ve done it! Congrats on your baby, mama! Be proud of what you’ve accomplished. Now it’s time for postpartum care.

Your care provider or childbirth educator may warn you about how you could feel after delivery. If you had a vaginal delivery, you’ll experience swelling around your vagina and perineum. Tearing is pretty common during birth, but there are varying degrees of severity. Third and fourth degree tears (the most severe) are less common, thankfully! And, I’m sorry to say, many of us will experience hemorrhoids from pushing. Every mama needs to take it easy to heal up.

I know this sounds scary. These discomforts, especially after being pregnant and uncomfortable, can be difficult. But you can get prepared for postpartum and what you’ll need to get through those first few weeks of healing.

Here are my top four postpartum care products for vaginal delivery.

1. Ice Diapers

childbirth classes, birthing classes near me, childbirth classes near me, online birthing classesHear me out – many maternity wards make these for new moms. Take a Pampers diaper and pull apart the top of the diaper. Fill it with ice chips. Then fold the open top and use the sticky tabs of the diaper to close. Watch directions here. This goes right in your underwear and IT WILL FEEL AMAZING.

I had a second degree tear that was very close to being a third degree. Ice diapers were the only things that could completely numb my perineum and vagina. These were the most helpful in my postpartum care. The ice greatly helps reduce swelling after delivery. Another option if you don’t like the ice diaper is to make a padsicle – soak a maxi pad in witch hazel and stick it in the freezer for some nice cold pain relief.

 

2. Dermoplast

childbirth classes, birthing classes near me, childbirth classes near me, online birthing classesYou may find a can of Dermoplast in your hospital room after delivery. It’s used to spray your perineum to cool and help numb any pain from swelling and hemorrhoids. The spray’s cooling effect provides some temporary relief. This was one of my go-tos after vaginal delivery.

 

3. Tucks Pads

Another important product in my postpartum care kit for new moms is Tucks Pads. They are medicated with witch hazel to help relieve, you guessed it, hemorrhoids. But I found its cool temperature great for the perineum, as well. You can put them on your pad or panty liners.

 

4. Disposable Underwear

While I never saw myself wearing Depends until I reached ripe old age, using disposable underwear was the best advice I got from another mom. Women often bleed for several weeks after birth and may have trouble controlling pelvic muscles and actions, including peeing. A cough or sneeze, and like in pregnancy, a wee bit of wee may come out. I was so glad that I didn’t have to worry about my good underwear during postpartum. If I moved around too much one day and my bleeding got worse or I all of a sudden felt the urgent need to pee and wasn’t sure I’d make it to the bathroom, my disposable underwear had me covered.

 

Postpartum’s not glamorous for sure, but these items will definitely help get you recover from birth. If you want to learn more about what to expect from birth and postpartum, check out my Informed and Mindful Birthing online class.

The Best Gift For New Parents

The Best Gift For New Parents

Guest post by Melissa J.

mom sleeping next to babyI’m a new mom and all I want this holiday season is a break. When I had my son 5 weeks ago, I didn’t get a postpartum doula because I thought between my husband and my mom I would have almost too much help. I was wrong. Recovering from childbirth has been rougher than I thought it would be and now I’m asking my friends and family to skip giving me gifts that will, I’ll admit, sit in my house for months before I find a place for them, and contribute toward postpartum care. It’s the best gift new parents can receive. Here’s why.

We’re Exhausted and Need Help

If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past 5 weeks, it’s that there’s nothing wrong to ask for help. My husband and I take shifts taking care of our son through the night. We each get around 4-5 hours sleep if we’re lucky. He’s had to go back to work so I take care of our baby the rest of the day. This means I’m the primary caregiver for at least 18 hours straight most days. I love my son, but I’m so damn tired.

When I try to sleep while he naps, my mind just races with anxious thoughts. I can’t sleep without knowing someone else is watching him. It will be such a relief to know that my postpartum doula, a trained professional in mama and baby care, can take care of him and I can take a nap for once.

Postpartum doulas also help with the chores I don’t have the energy to do, like laundry and grocery shopping. Also, they don’t just come during the day. Many do overnights, as well! My husband and I are seriously considering this. I’m breastfeeding, so I will still have to wake up to feed him, but the doula will take care of everything else. I’ll be free to dream of a time not long ago when I didn’t need hemorrhoid cream and Dermoplast to sit down comfortably.

The doula will even make us a simple, healthy breakfast in the morning and watch my son so I can actually sit and enjoy a cup of coffee! New moms – when was the last time you got to do that?!

Our family is giving us money toward a postpartum doula this holiday season and it’s the best gift for new parents like us. We’re so thankful.

***

Modern Moms is now offering e-gift cards toward postpartum doula care and Informed & Mindful childbirth education! Ask your friends and family to give you something you really need this holiday season – support, empowerment and knowledge.

 

 

 

The Postpartum Catch-22

The Postpartum Catch-22

Healing During Postpartum? It’s Not Always That Easy

The moment you’ve been waiting for has come and gone. Baby is here! You did it! Whether you went natural, had medical interventions or surgical birth (c-section), you delivered your sweet little one. Now it’s time to go home. Your care provider gives you “The Postpartum Speech” before you leave the hospital. Do this, not that. Don’t push yourself to do too much. If you do, your bleeding will come back or get worse. Take it easy. But here’s the catch – you have a new, tiny human being that depends on you or you and your partner 24/7.

Diapers need to be changed. Dishes washed. Laundry cleaned. When I brought my daughter home, I felt like the medical advice I was given was impossible to follow. Something constantly needed to be done. Take it easy? How? Please someone tell me.

I came home with a third degree tear (Yup. You read that right). Moving was so painful. Sitting was unbearable. Getting up, walking and standing were the worst. Whether you tore like me, didn’t tear at all, or had a c-section, birth is exhausting and recovery can be rough. All I wanted to do was lie perfectly still in bed with an ice diaper and a heating pad on my back and sleep for seven days straight. Alas, this wasn’t an option.

My Privilege & My Mistake

Postpartum healing quoteThe most eye-opening part of this experience was that I had help. So many other moms don’t have others to rely on after bringing baby home. I had my husband and my mom even stayed with us for the first two weeks. With all this support, I didn’t think I would need a postpartum doula. I thought, “Of course I’ll be able to get rest. There will be three of us to take care of the baby. Why would I need anymore help?” The three of us took turns sleeping, bottle feeding, rocking baby and washing dishes. And yet I was on my feet way more than I should have been.

My body had been through something extreme. Researchers liken birth to completing a marathon or climbing Mount Everest. We were all taking care of the baby. There wasn’t much time to take care of me, too, though my family tried their best.

Learning to Balance

While getting rest to the extent I needed to heal more quickly was not going to happen, I realized not getting a postpartum doula was a mistake and that this process was going to take a lot more time. My bleeding would come back, I’d stay in bed for day. Bleed, rest, repeat. Bleed, rest, repeat. I had to learn my new limits for those first six weeks.

I needed to heal and take care of myself; I needed to take care of my baby. Those two things were in constant conflict of each other. I suppose this is one of the earliest lessons in motherhood – the need for balance. I’m still learning.

Sending love to all you mamas!

Cassie