Things to know about Post-Partum
Hello Everyone!
I want to share with everyone what I feel that every women need to know about Post-Partum.
After giving birth or doing C-section, you see your newborn and feel this immense happiness and joy.
Then reality kicks in.
Throughout the night in the hospital ward, I was to pee in bed, in a potty. However, before you get discharged, you have to pee in the toilet at least once to ensure your wound is okay.
It was so uncomfortable to sleep that I did not sleep. My vagina was HURTING. I could feel the pain of the wound when he made in incision.
Whenever I had to pee, I had to call the nurse, to assist me to put a disposable cardboard potty beneath my bum while lying in bed, and she cleaned me up with hospicare wet wipes after.
I was so lucky, I did not had to poop in the hospital stay.
Once baby was awake, he just kept feeding and crying and I was in such a state of panic because the other babies did not cry like he did. I was so worried I was disturbing others or I was not feeding him enough milk but the nurse assured me that I was producing milk.
After 1 day had passed, I was able to discharge and go home to rest in the comfort of my own bed.
No Sleep
I was feeding him every 1-2 hours, non-stop. That first night when he kept waking up and crying was so confusing for me. As I wasn't sure what I was doing. I just kept popping my boob in his mouth and shaking him.
We did not sleep the first night he came back.
I also did not have a good sleep until he was 8 months old. He would wake every 2 hours in the day to drink and every 3 hours at night. After 7-8 months, he moved on to every 4 hours at night. Sometimes, he would sleep through the night(STTN) from 7-8pm to 7am.
I have also read up that he is more prone to waking more often because he was co-sleeping and breastfeeding. He is able to smell me, so he would wake up more often to drink. Also, breast milk are more water content than fat, so he gets hungrier faster.
Take note that when you are co-sleeping and breastfeeding, the percentage of your baby sleeping through the night is much less but it is still possible. I know a lot of mommies whose baby only started to STTN around 2-3 years old. Whilst mine started to learn to do it around 11-12 months but he still occasionally wakes up around 4am to drink.
The first few days after birth, your body is signally to your breasts to make more milk for your baby. That is when your breasts will get fuller and heavier. It is important to CONSTANTLY clear it. So after your baby feeds, you either pump or hand express. Make sure it becomes a deflated balloon or looks like a sagging boob.
If you don't clear it, you are at risk of getting a clogged duct which could lead to mastitis and you do NOT want to get mastitis.
Mastitis symptoms are fever above 38.5 degrees Celsius , body aches, pain in breasts, hot breasts, certain red swollen parts on breasts, obvious veins on breasts.
If you are unable to clear it yourself in this case, hire a lactation massage lady to do it for you.
As a Chinese, I have to follow the traditions.
There are a few rules like..
No touching water. No using of the fan. No showers. (NO SHOWERS?! Yes. No showers and baths.) Drink DOM. (A sort of alcohol.)
As my family is a bit more modern, I was allow to take a herbal bath WITHOUT soap. I emphasized with my husband who is more traditional that I need to clean my southern region wound and I think it is not good to keep it dirty so we met in the middle.
I had my bath in a pail on a stool so I did not need to bend down to scoop the water. I was only allowed to use soap and shampoo after 2 weeks from delivery as an agreement with my husband. They wanted to use herbal bath for a whole month but I stopped at 2 weeks as I could not take how my hair felt.
Wound care for natural birth
I bought some hospicare wipes to wipe my down there whenever I pee which as about 3-5 times a day compared to my 1-2 times a day. I love their wipes as they are very thick so they won't tear easily and wet. It made me feel clean with no residue, it was also used by the hospital so definitely approved by doctors.
I would use water (though I am not suppose to) to clean my wound sometimes as I cannot stand the thought of leftover pee + blood on my wound.
I wore heavy flow or maternity pads for 2 weeks. I was bleeding for a good 1.5 weeks and spotting for the rest. A point of time it was spotting then it starting to bleed again which some people said it was normal.
I had a few paper panties (disposable) to spare so I used those the first few days as I was leaking and staining my underwear a lot. My mom bought me some granny panties after my sposies(disposable) ran out, which was a life saver! You can get them at any pasar malam or ntuc or neighbourhood shops for 3/5 for a few dollars.
We got them in a bigger size so that it would be comfortable and loose which is so perfect for my wound.
Pooping is.. hell
Poop is scary. I am not a regular pooper so I am really fortunate to say it came as an advantage at this point of time. I would poop around 3-4 days interval.
With the wound, you are so afraid to tear it, you would not think about taking a dump. Some people do take laxatives to aid for a smoother business. When ever I pushed a little bit, I could feel a tightening of the wound and the muscles used for shitting and giving birth is the same. So, remember to take lots of food that aids pooping.
Your doctor should be prescribing you laxatives when you discharge from the hospital too. At KKH, they gave an iron supplement which might cause constipation so they gave the laxative to consume with it.
My mom also gave me prune juice to aid poop.
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