Odd Postpartum Changes I experienced

In my experiences, the postpartum journey is an interesting one. And I need to add here, that I have been very lucky in my healing physically, mentally and emotionally. As I prepare a mom for her postpartum journey I naturally reflect on my experiences with my own births and the postpartum journey for each, which were all slightly different. I feel as though the medical professions see the physical (and sometimes the emotional) healing complete by the 6 week follow up appointment. But, the postpartum journey can take much longer, in fact it can take some women up to 3 years before their body and hormones are in balance again. I’ve had some odd things happen to me during my journey that I found alarming at first, I’ve also had some odd things said to me by professional that made me think I wasn’t on the right track in terms of healing, which can be scary. But, eventually I discovered that a few moms in my circle and those that I’ve had the privilege of working with had a similar experience.

Lochia

Lochia is the term for your uterine bleeding after you give birth. I remember after my first, less than 24 hours after he was born a male resident came into my room and asked if my bleeding had returned to a ‘normal bleeding pattern like a period’. I said, ‘no, it was heavy’, because my ‘normal’ periods are always fairly light. He didn’t seem too concerned, but he said if it gets heavier to alert my nurse. Well, later on that day, I had passed a clot, immediately freaked out and paged the nurse. She very calmly examined the clot, said it was common to pass clots after childbirth and reassured me that this type of bleeding wasn’t a period and that it will be heavier than what I was used to. She prepared me for the fact that I may bleed for the next 6 weeks, but that it will slowly taper off. Nurses really are the heart of healthcare.

Night sweats

I was aware that I would perspire more than usual during the early weeks of my postpartum journey as my hormones were trying to level out, but after my third I woke up with night sweats. It was terrible because it was always in between the times I would be up nursing. So I was getting less sleep overall, but needed to be more present during the day as I had two other kiddos to play with and love. It didn’t last long, but those 2-3 weeks I lived in a brain fog. Thank goodness for neighbours, partners and postpartum doulas, am I right?

Insomnia

When my first was born, I would occasionally have bouts of insomnia during the first 12 weeks. My firstborn nursed up to 12 times a day during the first 5 weeks, then all of sudden he started sleeping longer stretches in the early evening and again between 12:30am-4:30am. But, my body was so used to surviving on little stretches of sleep that for about a week I was up at his old feeding times, ready to go. It happened again when he started sleeping 8 hours straight through the night and again when he started going 12 hours. When discussing this annoying habit of mine with my postpartum doula, she said the best thing was to not stress about and do things I normally around bedtime to cue my mind that its sleep time. It worked, although I probably looked a little weird at 5am brushing my teeth, putting a glass of water on the night stand and reading with a tiny light attached to my book while the sun was coming up.

Emoting hard

After my third was born, I had a harder time with the ‘baby blues’. I became incredibly emotional with anything I thought brought anyone pain or emotional distress. If my oldest fell off his bike I was a puddle of goo, crying beside him and unable to console him. If my middle child didn’t make it to the potty in time, I felt like a potty training failure. If my youngest wasn’t latching or was having a bad feed, I would sit in the chair and just cry, give up that feed. Our housekeeper at the time witnessed this and just asked if she could help the baby latch, I agreed. She must’ve said something to my partner because he seemed to start asking if I needed something from then on. I came out of this stage in about 8 weeks, but those weeks weren’t easy and I am forever grateful for my ‘village’.

Loss of words

For about the first 16 weeks postpartum I would occasionally forget words and not be able to effectively express myself. I was frustrated with it, especially when other moms around me seemed to be communicating with each other just fine. I would try and fail at finding the words I was attempting to use. I would often use the phrase lightheartingly ‘it’s just an occupational hazard', because I ran a daycare and spoke with preschoolers all day. But, really I was quite embarrassed by it.

Overall, the postpartum journey is different for everyone and it’s different with each baby you have. Just be kind to yourself, build your village around you, and take it slow.