Postpartum Notes #1

Feel free to skip this post if you aren't interested in the nitty gritty of recovery from my 10th pregnancy. If you are interested, read on, and be aware that I'm pretty open about the reality of recovery.

Hormones - This is one of my least favorite parts of the postpartum period. Not only is my body changing from pregnant to not pregnant hormones, but I'm hypothyroid so my body doesn't do hormones well. It doesn't make enough of a lot of them and the dose of thyroid medication I need changes too. Adjusting that to a new normal will take months. Ugh. I'll work with my endocrinologist to monitor and adjust my medication, starting with a blood draw to check things around 5-6 weeks postpartum.

I also don't love the random emotional meltdowns I have in the first couple weeks after having a baby. Tears come randomly and in my head I can even recognize there isn't anything to be crying about but I cry anyway. I also usually struggle to control my frustration level and snap at people. I can't be up and doing things so the house isn't functioning as smoothly, the kids are adjusting and that often means trying to get away with things (especially the littler ones) while mom is busy with the baby, and I hate asking for help with every little thing. I know my husband and children don't mind helping. I just could do things faster and easier myself.

I also am on watch for postpartum depression. Sometimes I've struggled with it, sometimes I haven't. You just never know what you'll get after each pregnancy.

Milk - I don't nurse my babies anymore because of hormone issues. That means my body tries to make milk a couple days postpartum, my body gets really uncomfortable for a day, then mildly uncomfortable for a couple days before going back to normal. I have learned that if I spend a day or two using ice packs around day 3 or 4 then things get better faster.

Diastasis Recti - My abdominal muscles are split. I was able to begin trying an abdominal splint at 4 days postpartum. Wearing it definitely makes getting up off the couch or rolling over when I'm laying in bed more comfortable. It is also annoying to need to take it off every time I go to the bathroom because then I need to go lay down on the floor or my bed to put it back on correctly. All those little things add up time wise and with a new baby sometimes I just don't have the time!

Bleeding - Nobody enjoys this, including me. As a mom of many and an 'older mom' over age 35 I am more at risk for bleeding problems. I watch my bleeding and use it as a gauge for my activity level, slowing down as needed. This time around I am also trying really hard to go slowly back into activity to head off issues, which is why my husband is taking two weeks off work instead of just one. By the end of the second week of doing almost nothing my body should be more ready to be up and doing the mom thing.

Spinal headache - I had this not quite 48 hours after my epidural. Ouch! Thankfully it only lasted about 18 hours and if I laid down the pressure equalized and I felt ok, but any time I was sitting up it felt like someone was taking a hatchet to the middle of my skull. In the days since I've had some headaches that are uncomfortable but nothing as bad as that was.

Uterine Prolapse - I shared the basic overview of this in Rebekah's birth story. My pelvic floor muscles aren't holding up my uterus where they should, but we won't know for at least 6 weeks how much healing my body will do on its own as my uterus shrinks to normal size. I'll update on this when we know more.

Sleep - It's a good thing I know what to expect with a newborn! I am trying to be diligent about napping at least once or twice a day when Rebekah is asleep. This helps because she and I spend a good bit of our nights awake. She'll do a couple longer sleep stretches during the day (one early morning after 5am and then one in the afternoon and sometimes one in the evening). At night she wakes up every 1-2.5 hours and there is a 2-3 hour stretch in the middle of the night where she is awake non-stop. I know this phase doesn't last forever. We're working to make sure her body is exposed to daylight at appropriate times to help her internal clock shift, we don't keep the house quiet during the day, and at night we set the stage for sleep with white noise, comfortable temperatures, and lots of snuggles.

Weight - This is always interesting to track. I ended my pregnancy weighing 230 lbs. That is my highest weight ever, but it was not my highest weight gain. I gained 30 lbs. I won't do any kind of exercise for weeks yet, and it will be really slow when I begin because of the abdominal split and the uterine prolapse. For now my body is just doing whatever it's going to do on it's own. I hopped on the scale at day 5 postpartum and weighed 209 lbs, so the initial weight loss from birth is 21 lbs. That will probably continue a couple more pounds down by the 6 week mark, but I don't know that I'll lose the last 9 lbs I gained, maybe 4 or 5? Then the real work begins. Of course, until my thyroid hormones and medication are adjusted correctly true weight loss will be nearly impossible. (For perspective, in the four months before I became pregnant with Rebekah my doctor was adjusting my thyroid medication and I gained almost 18 lbs in that time while eating well and working out 4 days a week.)

Clothing - One thing I hate after baby is trying to fit into clothing again. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of my maternity clothes. My body also gains weight in different ways/areas with each pregnancy, so things that fit one way before baby will fit differently after. I did pull out some of my non-maternity clothes on day 5 and pack away most of my maternity clothing. I can wear the stretchier items like maxi skirts and some of my shirts. They don't fit the way they used to for sure! I figure if I'm going to wear shirts that are a bit too tight on my belly they might as well be ones I haven't had out for 9 months just for some variety. I fit into one pair of jeans but I don't think they would be comfortable for an entire day. I did not use my abdominal splint when trying on clothes. I will wear it over a lot of clothes for now because you need a layer of fabric between your skin and the splint. I put a few clothing pieces that really aren't going to be comfortable just yet into the bottom drawer of my dresser to try on in a month and the rest went back into the attic. After my first 6 weeks I will also be ready to pick out a few new pieces of clothing to fit wherever my body is at, especially some pants.

That is all I can think of for now. Do you have anything you wonder about the postpartum period for a mama of 10? Ask away in the comments!