6 Things I Didn’t Expect After Having a Baby

I’ve been thinking over the past 4 months since Emma was born that I had no idea that certain things happen postpartum…either I had never been told or I had never heard anyone talk about it.  I don’t know.  Somehow I missed it.  Unlike postpartum hair loss, which I am currently experiencing (a real gem, BTW, hello bald spots) and lack of sleep, both which I knew to expect, today I’m going to talk about the 6 things I didn’t expect after having a baby…so at least you will have heard it if you’re going to be a new mom…or you can commiserate if you’ve been through it also!  Sorry if this is TMI but these were my experiences and hopefully they will help other people by making them aware of what could potentially happen so they can be mentally prepared.  This may not happen for everyone as these were just my experiences but I do want to share.  If you’re a male you probably want to stop reading about right now (don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

6 Things I Didn’t Expect After Having a Baby

In no particular order of annoying/gross/painful/different etc.:

1.  “Mother’s Thumb” exists and it hurts.  I have never heard of this prior to a couple of months ago when I went to the doctor for my postpartum check up at 6 weeks postpartum.  One of the questions my doctor asked me was “do your thumbs hurt?” and honestly I was shocked because my thumbs had been killing me for weeks but I had no idea why.  I thought she was some sort of psychic.  Basically, it’s essentially tendonitis that runs from your thumb down into your wrist from overuse of picking up the baby and other caregiving tasks.  I’d wake up in the middle of the night to feed Emma and my hands would be practically paralyzed.  It hasn’t gone away because I obviously still have to lift her up many times a day, but I try to make sure my hands are in good position and I ice when it gets really painful.   You can read more here.
2. Your baby sleeping through the night doesn’t mean YOU get to sleep through the night.  If you’re breastfeeding, you will still have to wake up because either A) your boobs will get so full that they will leak all over you and your bed, waking you up covered in sticky breastmilk or B) you will have to set an alarm to wake yourself up to pump prior to the aforementioned leaking happening.  Also, breastfeeding is a full time job in itself.
3. Speaking of sleeping, you still won’t be able to sleep on your stomach.  As a stomach sleeper, this was one of the things I was most looking forward to doing again after delivery.  Ya know, that and drink wine and eat sushi.  Turns out, thanks to new massive boobs that are continually inflating with breastmilk (especially at night) it’s no longer comfortable to sleep on your stomach.  By early in the morning it kinda feels like cement blocks on your chest so yeahhhh not exactly comfy.  Although I’m not sure about the science of this next comment (not a doctor over here), but to me it seems like sleeping on your boobs could potentially lead to issues like mastitis.  After all, wearing too tight of bras can lead to clogged ducts, so it makes sense to me that sleeping with your body weight on your chest could also do it.
4. Walking is going to be very difficult for at least a few days, but probably a few weeks.  I remember about 4 days postpartum we went outside for a walk to get some fresh air and I was moving so slowly that I was barely going anywhere at all.  My whole body was just so sore, and your midsection basically feels nonexistent and your center of gravity and balance are off too.  I just figured I’d be able to walk around no problem right after but it definitely took some time.  I remember it shocked me how hard to was to move around.
5. Immediately after birth, you’re probably going to pee yourself for at least the first day or two.  Your pelvic floor muscles are probably going to be shot from just having delivered a baby, so it’s near impossible to stop the flow when you’ve gotta go.  At the hospital about 4-5 hours or so after birth I really needed to go, so I got out of the bed to walk over to the bathroom and as soon as I stood up, pee and blood just went everywhere.  Like…ev-er-y-whereeee.  I was trying to make it stop but you can’t even use the muscles down there!  So yeah…it just went all over the place.  Oh yeah, the blood too.  That will probably happen for weeks after delivery.  I think I consistently bled for like 4 weeks?  And you can’t wear tampons so you’ve gotta use pads.  Fun times.
6. Your hips will probably get wider and will probably stay that way.  I knew that the hormone relaxin is in your body to help your hips stretch during delivery but I didn’t really know that your hips would get wider and just stay that way.  It doesn’t happen to everyone I guess, but it has been my experience.  My hips are definitely wider than they used to be and I can especially tell because my hips hurt a lot when I’m running.  I think the angles and mechanics of what my muscles and joints were used to are different now so I’m having to adjust to my new shape.  I can also tell because of how my pants fit.  I can fit into my old jeans just fine but they are tighter just in the hip area.  I’ve heard some people’s can take up to a year to go back down to size so, mine still might be in the process of going back or they may be like this.  We shall see!

Those are the main things I could remember although I’m pretty sure I am forgetting something(s).

What are some things you didn’t expect postpartum?

PS- A bonus 7th thing that I forgot (somehow) to mention!  NIGHT SWEATS.  WHY.   Every night for probably the first 4-5 weeks postpartum I woke up completely drenched in sweat.  I’d have to change pajamas and have to put a towel down back in the bed so I could sleep on something dry (so I wouldn’t wake Craig up changing sheets).  I read that it’s your body’s way of getting rid of all the fluid you retained during pregnancy which is good I guess, but…gross.

xo,

Bess