Bailey’s Birth Story, Part Two: The Recovery

Filed Under Birth, Doctor Stuff, Newborn | 5 Comments

I wrote Bailey’s birth story back in May, but since giving birth to my little angel, I have actually had a lot of people ask me questions about the recovery. Now that I am thinking about it, that’s the part that I was the most worried about going into the whole thing. Not taking care of the baby, not contractions, just recovering- especially if I had to get stitches!

Let me preface this post by saying that there will be quite a bit of TMI here. Read at your own risk.

So I guess I pushed for somewhere around 35 minutes, and she was out. Almost immediately it seemed like they put her on my chest. She wasn’t the gross goopy thing I thought she would be. I loved her right away. I cried. I was not in any sort of pain, which was odd because I felt lots of pain during the pushing (specifically as her head and shoulders came out, so thank goodness it was only like five-ten minutes).

After I held her for a second and checked to make sure that she really WAS a girl, the nurses took her back I guess to do Apgars and to wipe her off and everything. That was when my OB, Dr. K, pushed on my uterus a little bit and the placenta or whatever came out. That was also painless and I did not see anything. Then she told me she would have to stitch me up a little bit. I was like, “What? Did I have an episiotomy?” She told me that I had torn just a little bit (I knew before this that she did not routinely do episiotomies, unless the tear was going to be worse without it). I remember being surprised, because no one told me I was tearing. I also realized that must have been what the horrible burning pain was. I thought the point of an epidural was to not have pain? It numbed the contractions completely, but I felt everything in the hoo hoo area. Or at least that’s what it seemed like.

WHen she started doing the stitching, I noticed there was a massive amount of blood on her clothes. At first I thought it was from me, but looking back I’m sure it was from when Bailey came out, not from my tearing The stitches weren’t too bad. This was the part I was dreading. I could feel what felt like tiny pin pricks here and there, but that was it. It wasn’t even enough to make me tense up or anything. At one point, she told me she had gone all the way down and would have to work her way up again. Also something about a second-degree tear. So I guess I had a decent amount of stitches, but I honestly never asked or looked.

After I was all stitched up and Bailey was clean, we both got to hold her again. I think Jonathon was holding her while I was being stitched as well. Then we had my parents come in to see her. I still was not in any pain. I ate chicken tenders, a grilled cheese sandwich, some fries, and some sort of chocolate cake/brownie thing. And I drank a Diet Coke. I had been hungry since like noon.

Once my parents left, a nurse helped me to the bathroom. I remember being really scared to walk there. It wasn’t bad. I peed for like ten minutes I think, and then she wiped my hoo hoo for me. If I had any modesty left, that’s the point where it all disappeared. She also helped me with the underwear and ice pack situation. If you haven’t given birth before, you should know not to expect to wear your own undies. The hospital gives you these awesome disposable underwear that are like a mesh one-size-fits-all thing. The healing process is a little messy in the beginning, so it’s great just to be able to toss these in the trash.

Once we were done with that, she took us to our regular room. I was in a wheelchair and carried Bailey. I remember being so proud of her. I wished it wasn’t midnight so that everyone could see my beautiful little girl as we went down the hall. I think Jonathon walked and carried our stuff. When we were in our room, we snuggled with Bailey for a while and I had to ask for help to go to the bathroom again. They make you call the nurse the first few times. Once I went to bed, I had a horrible time sleeping. I was exhausted, but I was so hot I just laid there and sweated. When the nurse came in to do my vitals around 3 a.m. I asked her if I had a fever from an infection. She told me that night sweats were very normal for a while after delivery. I finally drifted off but I think I woke up again around 7 when the pediatrician came.

The whole hospital stay was crazy. I was having lots of problems breastfeeding. Bailey just would not latch on right. We saw several lactation nurses. We had a few visitors- just family and like three friends. If I had it to do over again, I would insist on no visitors except the grandparents. I was so tired, and in no mood to chit chat. I didn’t want to coordinate my baby’s feeding around when people were coming. I needed that time to myself, but I didn’t know it then.

After about 24-36 hours I was able to stop wearing an icepack in my underwear. Oh, the icepacks. They are actually a newborn size Pampers diaper. They cut a hole in the lining and stick ice in there. Then they wrap up the diaper like a burrito and secure the tabs so that the ice gets absorbed as it melts. Great idea! On top of that I had the world’s largest maxi pad, and then on top of that I had three Tucks pads lined up in a row. I really had a completely pain-free recovery. My stitches never bothered me. I never felt them, and I never had to do sitz baths. I called my doctor at one point because I was worried that something was wrong, but she said I was just fortunate.

We waited until well after the six week postpartum checkup before we had sex again. Although my physical recovery was great, I was an emotional trainwreck. But more about that another day. I’m going to bed.

Edited to add: I think I stopped the heavy postpartum bleeding around a week and a half. I didn’t completely stop bleeding for almost five weeks. I still have not had a period- but I am almost exclusively breastfeeding so hopefully that makes it hold off a little longer!

Comments