18-Preparing for Post-Partum

Transcript:

Welcome to the Preparing for Childbirth podcast where we'll talk about God's amazing design for childbirth, learn how to prepare for the unknown, handle the pain and lean into God's character through it all! I'm your host, Jenny Childs. I’m a follower of Jesus, wife, mom, and lover of all things childbirth. Thanks so much for joining me today!

This is Episode 18.

And today I want to spend some time talking about the Post partum period (after baby arrives) – what to expect and how to prepare for it. This can sometimes get overlooked with all the focus on actually getting baby here. But life does go on and now you have a baby to care for and your body has just been stretched and worked to the max, Maybe you even had major surgery to get that little one here safely. Either way, now you’ve got some recovery to do yourself along with a new baby to care for. Not to mention what’s going on with your emotions, with all those hormones surging around, and going through a major life transition! It’s a lot – to say the least. The post-partum period is no joke. But with preparation and good support it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

Let’s start with the first hour after birth, sometimes referred to as the golden hour. During this time your baby is likely to be the most alert from those catecholamines and adrenaline that kicked in to give you the umph you needed for the final stretch. That makes this the best time to initiate breastfeeding if possible.

Ideally, if there have been no complications with you or baby, your little one will be placed right away on your chest. Being skin to skin with mama is the best place for baby to be as this fosters peak oxytocin activity. Remember, oxytocin is the love hormone and Baby’s presence on you with those sweet little baby movements helps stimulate more oxytocin that makes sure your uterus continues to contract to expel the placenta and to prevent post-partum hemorrhaging. When the placenta detaches from the uterine wall, it leaves a pretty large wound with open blood vessels. The uterus contractions after baby is born will help to close up those blood vessels and begin to shrink the uterus. You may notice contractions, sometimes called after-birth pains, whenever you nurse your baby the first few days following delivery. Don’t worry, they will be much milder than the contractions that were needed to bring baby out and they won’t last long. That’s actually a good sign that everything is working like it should.

Another benefit of having baby on your chest right after he’s born is that the warmth from your body helps regulate baby’s body temperature and breathing. The skin-to-skin closeness also helps to reduce baby & Mama’s stress levels and it facilitates the first breastfeeding.

Weighing, measuring, and washing baby can all wait. It is not necessary to do those things right away. Having that uninterrupted skin to skin time is much more important.

Sometimes, however, complications do occur that make it impossible to have that first hour together. We can be thankful for modern medicine that can care for you and your baby if that’s the case. And as soon as you can, when it’s safe for both of you, you can have that skin-to-skin time.

In those first days and weeks after baby is born, you will have 4 main goals: sleep, nurse, eat, drink. Remember, your body just went through a major workout. Some people compare it to running a marathon. And you will need time to recover. Only now, you also have a baby to care for and babies need to eat every 2-3 hours around the clock. It’s going to be a while before you can get a full night’s sleep again. That makes the recovery harder but not impossible. This is why it is so beneficial to have extra help in those early days after baby is born. You don’t need to think about where the food is coming from, you just need to eat, drink, sleep and nurse. Once you and baby get the hang of nursing, To help you get a little more sleep, there may be times, when your husband or mom or sister or some other support person can just bring baby to you when she needs to eat. You can nurse her while laying down and continuing to rest. Sleeping when baby sleeps, is sometimes hard to do but can also be a good plan.

Now let’s talk about nursing. I highly encourage you to learn all you can about breastfeeding and how to get a good latch before baby arrives. And it is super beneficial to have someone to help you as you’re getting started. Some hospitals have lactation consultants that work with all new moms. If that’s not available, even just having another mom who’s already breastfed can be helpful. Lalecheleague can be a good resource. I’ll put a link in the shownotes.

Now, let’s see… eating and drinking were your other two main jobs. After the birth of each of my babies, I was ravenously hungry. You might want to plan to have a substantial snack ready just in case you are too. Also, it’s quite normal to be very hungry during the months that you are breastfeeding. You need extra calories to make all that milk. Do your best to make healthy choices and eat plenty. You need the fuel to help heal your body and to care for your baby. Like I mentioned earlier, if at all possible, in the early days after birth, have someone else do the cooking for you. This is a great place for your church family to step in and set up a meal train to help out in those first weeks.

And drinking… Just like in pregnancy, keep a water bottle with you all the time. It’s especially good to have it handy while you’re nursing. It is not uncommon for mamas to feel extra thirsty while baby is suckling. And drinking plenty of water will help with milk production, too.

So, eat, drink, sleep, nurse. Those are your most important jobs in the early days after baby is born. Sometimes those early days & weeks and even months can feel isolating and so focused on this new little human. You really do need to give your body time to recover and heal but that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything or think about something else. Invite friends to come by for a chat – friends who will come for you, not just to see the baby. If you feel up to it, go to church. If you’re worried about keeping baby healthy and all the people that will want to hold her or get in her face, just strap baby to your chest. Most people won’t ask to take her away when she’s all strapped in like that and they can’t get right up in her face when her face is next to you. Chances are if you feed her before you go, she’ll sleep the whole time curled right up next to you and you’ll benefit from hearing the word preached and from the interactions with other people. Don’t overdo it, maybe you don’t even stay the whole time, but go is you feel like it. Each person is different. You and your husband get to make the decisions about what is best for you and your baby.

One way that you can kind of keep tabs on how your healing is going is by paying attention to your lochia, or post partum bleeding. You can expect there to be a lot of bleeding in the first few days after giving birth but by day 3 or 4, it should be lighter, both in color and in amount. By the end of the first week, it should resemble a light period and be creamy or yellowish in color if you are resting. You may continue to have some amount of discharge for about 6 weeks. It may go away sooner or last a bit longer, depending on how much rest you’re able to get to help your body heal faster. If you push too hard, a heavier bleeding may return. If this happens, heed your body’s warning and rest. If the heavy bleeding continues even after resting a day or two, you need to check in with your doctor right away. And at any point if you are soaking a large pad every hour or less, call your doctor or head to the hospital. That should not be happening.

Okay, the last thing I want to mention is post partum mood disorders. I won’t spend much time on this now but I hope to dedicate a whole episode to it soon. For now, let’s just talk about what’s normal and what’s not. Many women, and even some men, will feel irritable, weepy and maybe even anxious in the first week or two after baby is born. This is what’s known as the baby blues. Usually a hug and a nap can go a long way towards helping you feel better. If those bluesy feelings continue longer than 2 weeks and worsen, then you may be experiencing post partum depression and you should seek help. You can talk to your doctor and if one is available, check in with a biblical counselor through your church. There may be some physical things going on but you would also benefit from some particular care for the non-physical (heart and soul) part of you as well.

Like I said in the beginning, there’s a lot going on in the post partum period and it can easily feel overwhelming and even isolating. I encourage you to take time before baby comes to prepare and get support systems in place. Maybe you can plan for your mom, mother in law, or sister to stay with you for a week or so after baby comes. If that’s not possible, arrange for extra help from friends or hire a post partum doula. You don’t have to and shouldn’t try to navigate that time by yourself. Both you and your husband will need help and support.

If you’re not a pregnant mama listening to this, look for opportunities to support new parents in the days, weeks and even months following the birth of a new baby. You can bring over a meal, pick up groceries, wash some dishes or just stop by for a visit with mama, without expecting to see or hold the baby – just give mama some special attention and be prepared to talk about other things than just baby. Listen well and encourage her from God’s word. It tends to be hard for new mamas to spend much time in God’s word, tho’ mamas, I encourage you to be creative and find ways to make it work) and it’s so helpful for them to be reminded of His truths.

Ok, I obviously haven’t covered everything but hopefully this information will be helpful for you to better prepare for the time after baby arrives.

If you’ve enjoyed today’s podcast or found it helpful, I hope you’ll share it with a friend, and I’d love for you to leave a rating and review.

It is my prayer that these podcasts will help you grow in confidence and peace as the day draws near for you to meet your little one. I'm so glad you tuned in today as you are Preparing for Childbirth.

Show notes:

Planning for post-partum can sometimes get overlooked with all the focus on actually getting baby here. But life does go on and now you have a baby to care for and your body has just been stretched and worked to the max. Maybe you even had major surgery to get that little one here safely. Either way, now you’ve got some recovery to do yourself along with a new baby to care for. Not to mention what’s going on with your emotions, with all those hormones surging around, and going through a major life transition! It’s a lot – to say the least. The post-partum period is no joke. But with preparation and good support it doesn’t have to be overwhelming.

In this episode, we talk about the first hour after birth; your four main post-partum jobs (eating, drinking, sleeping, and nursing); what to expect with post-partum bleeding; how to avoid isolation; what’s normal or not concerning the baby blues; and putting support systems in place to help you navigate this time.

Link to La Leche League International, a good resource for breastfeeding help: https://llli.org/

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