4 Maybe-Slightly-Taboo Postpartum Must Haves

You have just brought your beautiful bundle of joy home….but you feel less than a beautiful bundle of joy yourself. You came home in those oh-so-lovely mesh panties with a diaper sized menstrual pad in them to catch whatever it is that’s coming out of you still (that stuff is called Lochia, but we will get to that in another post). You’re pretty sure you heard your midwife mention something about a nasty hemorrhoid….so now what?

You see, that suggested 6 week recovery time should be a time of, well, recovery! You just either pushed a human out of your vagina or it was surgically removed through your abdomen. Regardless, this is not the time to get back to cross-fit or cleaning out that closet you have been meaning to get to. Here are 4 of our own ‘personal’ must haves for the postpartum recovery period.

1. A peri-bottle and an herbal bath preparation. A local herbalist can prepare you a good herbal bath for your postpartum healing. You can then steep this like a tea and fill your peri bottle with it to use on your sore, swollen bottom. The herbs in the bath will be anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and will aid in healing even if you had stitches, you have new (or old) hemorrhoids or you just are swollen after delivery. After about your 2nd pee after delivery, you will understand why this is so amazing. Ask us here at Ann Arbor Postpartum, we make custom herbal baths for this very purpose!
2. Padsicles. This is a super-easy DIY. Before baby is born, take a few maxi pads and soak them in a bowl of water and then after you remove from the water, pour witch hazel (any brand of witch hazel will do-just not with added alcohol) directly on the pad. Transfer the pads to the freezer. This might seem really silly at the time, but the first time you try them….WOW! These are a must have for the first early days postpartum. The cold doesn’t last forever in them, but it’s great while it’s there. This will help with inflammation and any stinging you might have. You can expect to use several of these the first few days after delivery.
3. Hemorrhoid cream. Not everyone gets hemorrhoids….but the research shows it’s pretty close to 75% of the population will have them at some point. If you didn’t develop them during pregnancy, you might be one of the lucky ones who develops one during the 2nd stage of labor-the pushing stage. I, personally, used 3 jars of this stuff after the delivery of my second child and couldn’t have been more thrilled to have it. Nothing stopped the pain faster! There are some herbs you can take to help prevent future hemorrhoids that are also safe if you’re nursing, but they won’t stop the discomfort like the creams do
4. Herbal sitz bath. Know how we mentioned using the peri-bottle filled with herbal bath? This is another way to use that awesome custom herbal bath preparation you purchased. Desperate times call for some desperate measures….this sitz bath combined with some Epsom salts will make you feel human again. Prepare the herbal bath as directed and put it in just a few inches of water in the tub, add Epsom salts and soak. This method will help the inflammation, the hemorrhoids, any bleeding, or wounds you might have…it’s heaven in the tub!