It talks about comfy clothes, pillows, a going home outfit for your baby, snacks. Well my friends. No one told you about the after-birth checklist. In fact unless you have that really good friend that tells you what your body is like after giving birth and it's your first. You have no idea!
I had one friend tell me that after she gave birth her body felt like sh*t. We didn't go into specifics. I hadn't had any kids yet. But I can now say after having one of my own. It is indeed true.
So here is my real mommy after birth checklist.
Duh of course you are going to bring clothes, and a pillow, and the stuff for the baby. That's a given. That's on every checklist. Here are the things you will want immediately after you have the baby.
1. Overnight pads.
The hospital is going to supply you with these crazy big and gross pads. They don't absorb very well and you will have to wear a mesh diaper cover over it. It sucks. Bring your own pads. The overnight ones while still huge and bulky will at least absorb a little better. You'll want a pack for at home too or just buy one big box.
2. Colace
Unless you happened to take the biggest poo ever before you gave birth, or if you are really lucky, while you were pushing your little bundle of joy out. You are going to be pretty constipated. You just pushed a 6-9 pound baby out of your lady parts and well... everything down there is pretty tired and stretched out. You will want to take this so that when you finally do have a bowel movement after birth you don't rip anything and don't strain your bottom. You'll be needing this for the next couple days as well, because it's all going to be sore.
3. Tucks Medicated Pads
These may or may not be a necessity depending on you. Almost everyone I have ever had the courage to bring up about is in the same predicament as me. All that pushing... well it does something not only to your lady parts but to your bottom as well. Welcome to the Hemorrhoids club mommy! When you are in the hospital you may get special medicated wipes that essentially do the same thing. When you get home you will want your own soothing relief from the mess that is going on down below.
4. Perineal Irrigation Bottle
Okay this goes along with everything else in the bottoms department. You will have this in your bathroom in the hospital (I hope. If not you are in a crappy hospital for sure!) Every time you now pee/poop you will have to rinse your parts with some room temp. water. These things aren't necessarily the easiest to use but you will want it. Remember to take it home with you. Or if you are sure you will forget, buy one before and have it ready in the bathroom.
5. Dermoplast
This is also something you may want for at home if you pushed a baby out. While at the hospital they give you this wonderful but very small bottle of numbing foam. It's amazing. You wonder why they don't give you a whole bunch? Every time I look for this in the store I have only found the Red can which is essentially the same as the blue except it has antibacterial properties in it.
I don't know if because of the antibac stuff in it, but when you first initially spray down there, it will sting. I want to buy the blue one to see if that would also sting but instead of buying it online I just buy the red can at the store. If you tore or had stitches or are just plain sore down there. This does bring you some relief! Minus the initial burn at first. Ouch.
6. Belly Bandit
This is purely for vanity. I don't think it will magically make you get your pre-pregnancy body back. BUT it will have that flabby belly that for some reason you thought would just disappear after you pushed your little bundle out. Well unless you are amazing (I will hate you if you say you were one of these people) you now have a what could be 5-6 month post pregnancy belly that is now all deflated because there is no baby in there anymore! When you have your new baby appointments, put this on under your clothes. It will make you feel better about your body. You will LOOK skinnier even though it's just an illusion. Of course you could buy any type of corset type thing to essentially do the same thing but this is the "namebrand" one so it's the one I used.
7. Food
If you are lucky enough to have good friends and family. Ask them if they will cook you a meal that can be frozen so when you are in your baby haze for that first month, you won't have to have a mental breakdown worrying about what to eat. Speaking of. Crap. I have less than 3 weeks and I haven't even thought about this! WHOOPS!
But this is amazing. When I gave birth to Wilson I was lucky enough to have family and friends who brought us meals and made sure we ate. It was amazing!
I'm sure there are more things I could add to this post. I feel like like these things specifically are usually not on checklists so I would blog about them. I hope if any other mommies read this they might be able to add in their own "must haves" for post pregnancy!
