I knew my delivery was ‘complicated.’ But it took a while til I realized just how much I went through. (In case you missed it – you can read all about my delivery here). But, long story short – I pushed for over 3 hours, had a fever, 3rd degree tearing, and hemorrhaged. And that night while my baby was recovering in the nicu, I was starting my postpartum recovery journey.
After everything was cleaned up and we got through the initial shock (and of course called to share the news with our parents), I was ready to get some sleep. I woke up a few hours (an hour?) later soaked in sweat. I’m not sure if it was because my fever broke or just the hormonal changes my body was going through from just delivering a baby.
The next morning Jon and the nurse helped me get out of bed (for the first time in about 20 hours) and into a wheelchair to go see our new baby. It was the strangest feeling to be so dependent on other people.
At first I felt the pain from actually delivering a baby (and was very thankful for ice pack pads). And then all of a sudden I felt the pain and soreness from labor throughout my entire body. The soreness in my arms and legs was so painful and it was so hard to get in and out of bed or walk around.
I spent most of the day in bed. There was a wheelchair in my room, but I knew it was better to move my body, even if I was moving slowly. So when I did get up to go anywhere (mostly to visit the baby), I walked myself.
And then everything started to swell from all of the IV fluids. My face was super puffy and my legs, ankles, and feet were swollen. The only shoes that fit were my bunny slippers. So glad I had packed those in my hospital bag.
I left the hospital that Friday. I was discharged around noon but stayed with the baby in the nicu for a few more hours. After being there for about 4 days, I was almost scared to leave. I was definitely still sore and swollen. And the hardest part was leaving the hospital without our new baby. My recovery process was just as much emotional as it was physical.
The next few days were tough, but I rested as much as I could. I was sitting on pillows and wearing big, comfy clothes. And I even paid someone to wash my hair because I couldn’t lift my arms to do it myself.
But every day things got a little better and a little easier.
The biggest thing I learned about postpartum recovery is that it takes time. It took about a week for my pain and swelling to go down, 2 weeks for my heavy bleeding to lighten up and a month to start to feel like myself again.
I recently had my 6 week postpartum checkup and everything is back to normal. It’s pretty miraculous how quickly our bodies can recover after everything they go through to deliver a baby.
I still have some crazy stretch marks and extra skin on my tummy. And we’re still learning so much everyday about taking care of a new baby. But I’m thankful to be healthy and physically healed.
