My 3 Main Postpartum Challenges
Happy to share that the baby is doing great! But postpartum for me has had its challenges so I figured I’d share a bit about it here.
My physical recovery
Having a c-section is no joke; since I haven’t had the ability to fully use my abs, it’s been a struggle to go from laying down to sitting up, sitting to standing, and lifting the baby. I’ve had to rely on my husband more than anticipated which has sometimes led to me having feelings of guilt (it’s been two weeks since giving birth and I haven’t personally been able to bathe the baby yet, for example).
This is probably too much information but…I also had unexpected pregnancy-induced hemorrhoids which have honestly been more painful than my c-section wound. I wound up going to a local doctor who gave me some numbing cream which made a huge difference and it’s been slowly but surely healing.
I was surprised that my hand numbness/tingling that I was experiencing since the last few weeks of pregnancy didn’t go away after birth. It turns out that it’s pregnancy-induced carpel tunnel syndrome that’s cause by hormone changes, and usually goes away on its own 4-6 weeks after giving birth. It was disappointing to hear that I’d have to wait it out because it’s been difficult to fully feel the baby and hold her with numbness in my hands.
I’ll share more about my breastfeeding experience a little farther down in this post, but one other physical challenge I’ve had is a slight cut on my nipple that keeps reopening every time the baby feeds. It’s been a toss up of wanting to rest the boob so it can heal but not wanting to stop breast feeding so the boob doesn’t swell and harden.
2. My mental recovery
I have childbirth PTSD and decided to talk to a friend of mine who is a therapist about it to help me process the experience. The outcome of the childbirth was a positive one but I’ve cried at least once a day having flashbacks to the sequence of events. I think what was harder than the physical pain of childbirth was the mental challenge of having to make decisions while experiencing so much pain, when different people had different opinions as to what was a best course of action. I also felt a lot of pressure when trying to breast feed because I wanted to exclusively breast feed but the nurses were concerned about the baby not eating enough when and losing too much weight. They knew my feelings about formula but there were moments when we opted for formula as a result of the pressure.
3. Breastfeeding
Over the first couple of days since birth, my body was starting to produce milk but my boobs got really hard and it seemed there was some kind of obstruction to the milk flow. A lactation consultant from the clinic came to assist me and gave me a breast massage (painful as heck). Nurses showed me how to hand express and also how to feed the baby by forcing her head onto my boob and making sure her mouth was wide enough to fit in the whole nipple. I was also told that due to the shape of my nipple on the right side, it would be better to hold the baby in a “football” hold (this is where you hold the baby in one arm under your armpit, reverse from the direction they’d typically face in a cradle hold).
Although the baby was latching, I was having a hard time with my right breast; it felt like the baby was biting off the nipple and it didn’t help that I also had a small cut that kept reopening every time I fed. Eventually I got desperate and looked on line for pain-free breastfeeding tips and I came across The Thompson Method.
I found it interesting when reading about The Thompson Method that a common reason why it’s painful to breastfeed is because hospitals advise mothers to force their baby’s head to their breast and open their mouths wide, and are placed in non-aligned positions. That really resonated with me since I had had the outlined experience.
So I tried one tip which was to simply hold the baby in a relaxed cradle position and let the baby find the boob and latch on her own and…wow, I was instantly pain free! (Well, except for the cut that is still healing…). I’m looking forward to continue some more techniques because I think breastfeeding will be relaxed and nice for bonding.