Thursday, May 28, 2015

Getting Ready for Motherhood: Beyond the birth

If you're like many of our clients, you've invested a lot of time into preparing for having a baby.  Friends and family may have done their share to welcome baby by presenting gifts of clothes, toys, and necessities.  You've gone about nesting and finding just the right place for everything.  All the diapers are neatly stacked and waiting by the changing table.  All the clothes are washed, folded, and put away (unless you listened to your doula who said to wash only what you need for the first two weeks and keep the tags on the rest, in case baby grows out of that size before he or she has had a chance to wear every outfit).  But what about you?  Have you gotten your home ready for the postpartum you?  If not, we have a few tips for preparing your spaces.

1. The Nursing Nook

If you've purchased a rocking chair where you plan to nurse, don't be too disappointed if its most common use is as a gathering spot for dirty clothes or clothes that need to be folded or put away. Many moms don't want to be isolated from the family, hidden in the baby's room every two hours to nurse.  Prepare yourself instead to have a mobile nursing kit to bring to whatever spot in which you may find yourself nursing -- the sofa, the living room floor, the kitchen table, your bed, the bathroom (yes, most moms will eventually have that moment of needing to use the facilities and having a nursling who just will not wait).  Your mobile nursing kit should include anything you think you might need when you're sedentary and unable to get up for 20-40 minutes.  

In our kit, we have:

            * A water bottle (nursing moms need about half their body weight in fluids each day)
            * High protein snacks
            * Fresh fruit
            * Reading material
            * Chargers
            * A phone
            * A burp cloth
            * A pencil and sticky notes
            * Breast pads
            * Nipple cream (in this case our favorite go-to: plain cold-pressed coconut oil)



If you have a toddler or preschooler at home already, make them their own mobile play kit.  This gives them something so they can occupy themselves while you're nursing, wherever you are nursing.  Change the toys or activities out every few days to keep it fresh and boredom-free.

2. The Bathroom

Your time in the bathroom might be limited once you're a new mom.  It also won't likely be behind closed doors.  Still there are some things that need to be taken care of.  Once baby is here, your uterus continues sloughing off lochia for a few weeks.  This might look like a heavy period for a week or two and tapers off as your body heals.  If you're being too active, you might notice the flow increases.  If this happens, listen to your body and slow down (moms with stairs might want to consider having a changing table on each floor of the house to minimize stair climbing postpartum).  Aside from bleeding, there might be swelling and soreness.  Pushing too hard during labor might have caused hemorrhoids, which are uncomfortable and need to be kept clean to heal properly.  If you tore and needed stitches this will have some extra discomforts as well.  It's important to keep the tools you'll need in any bathroom you might be using regularly or have a mobile basket, lest you need to run through the house with your pants down trying to find what you need (don't worry, we've all been there).  

In our cupboard, we have:

            * A peri-bottle, for a bidet-like rinse (a spray bottle will do too)
            * Postpartumsitz bath herbs to help with swelling, soothing and healing (we make a concentrated tea to add to peri-bottles or you can use it in a sitz bath)
            * Sanitary pads (you'll want heavy duty ones for at least the first few days)
            * Bottom balm and bottom spray (in case you don't want to DIY with herbs)
            * Witch hazel for help with swelling and itch (put some on sanitary pads to have in the freezer for the immediate postpartum)
            * Large wipes for cleaning or using as a compress with sitz bath herbs or witch hazel
            * A towel

            * Reading material (should you get a few extra moments)