Facts about postpartum and Newborn care

Yeay!! you made it. Congrats, welcome to motherhood. Here are some facts about postpartum and newborn care from my experience. All people are different.

• You will bleed for about a month and it sucks. You cant use tampons, all you use is a giant pad and underwear that looks like a diaper. Get as much as you can with the victorias secret hospital brand underwear (lol) and pads. Also ask for a lot of the numbing spray and cooling pads. 
• When you leave the hospital grab as much stuff as you can. Your paying for it why not. 
• After you have the baby you will be exhausted. Your body went through hell and back give it a break. 
• When you have kids you never get a day off. Even when your sick. You cant get sick at all.
• Your gonna spend a lot of money on formula if you are not breast feeding or if your having a hard time with your milk coming in. Buy the parents choice I save $10 on a big jar of it.
• Bills suck!!! after your home for a couple of weeks thats when the bills start comin. Usually they mix your exams in with your hospital bill. It is very expensive to have a baby. But the
  
   good thing is...is that you can put them on a payment plan and pay them monthly. Even after you have the baby there are gonna be more. Especially if your baby has jaundice, or problems with delivery. I had to stay 2 extra days cause I got a fever during labor and my baby had to stay 3 days cause I had a fever and he had trouble breathing and he had jaundice.
• Speaking of jaundice...jaundice is the yellowing of the skin and eyes. And when your baby has it they check the bilirubin. If its above 15 you have to put your baby under a certain light that the hospital gives you. It is normal for it to be high after birth. Bilirubin is a yellow substance that the body creates when it replaces old red blood cells. The liver helps break down the substance so it can be removed from the body in the stool. Thats what causes jaundice. To prevent this put your baby under sunlight.
• It will hurt and feel weird down under. I got stitches and it sucked I couldn't stand for more that 10 min at a time. Whenever I would stand up I would swell really bad and would have to sit down. And you'll have a hard time walking, you'll do more of a waddle. 
• Don't plan on having sex for a while. At least 2 months or after 6 week check up:).Sorry its gonna suck.
• At first your baby will sleep all day and stay up all night. So no sleep for you and your husband. When the baby naps you nap. Don't clean or get caught up just take a nap and relax. You can worry about housework later. My baby started sleeping through the night at 3 months. But like I have been saying all babies are different.
• If you have a boy get him circumcised ASAP (if you want). He will be in pain for a couple of days. Buy a huge jar of patrolium jelly and slab it on his diaper like crazy. You don't want his little wee wee getting stuck on the diaper. Also buy infant tylonol it saved me from goin crazy. Make sure you give it to him every 4 hrs so it won't fade. When you give him a bath be careful just gradually put warm water on it, it'll probably feel good to him.
  
• You will get pooped on, puked on , spit on and peed on  there is no way around it sorry so get use to it. When your baby poops you'll shout for joy cause no more belly ache and he isnt constipated. 
• You will become a morning person:)
• While breast feeding don't drink to much caffeine. It affects the baby. Also don't eat Brussels sprouts, broccoli, some chocolate, and spicy things it will give the baby gas and it sucks.
• Your baby will have hiccups.. all the time. And sometimes it will hurt him/her. 
• You will not be able to go to the bathroom for a couple of days. And when you do it will hurt. 
• Watch out for hemorrhoids. I never had them till now and they hurt and they suck. Hemorrhoids are swollen blood vessels in your butt. Get the hemorrhoid cream and pads it helps a lot. 
• Things will be bruised. My hips and vagina got bruised. 
• There will be people to help you nurse. All my nurses helped me get him latched on and to nurse. 
• At 6 week check up for you think about birth control. I got the IUD and it isn't that bad I couldn't feel it when she put it in. But you will start having normal cycles in 6 months or so.
• Shots suck for you and baby. Vaccinations are important and its sad to see your baby go through that.
• Don't take your baby out for a while. I started taking my baby out to visit people at a month old or older and to wal mart when he was almost 3 months. I had my baby right during flu season.
• Gradually plan on a sleeping schedule for your baby. Don't rush it, give him/her signs that its bedtime. What I do is I put a certain lotion on him and on me so when he smells it that means its bedtime, its a night time lotion that has lavender in it. Also I don't make eye contact with him and I dim all the lights in the house. I sing him certain lullabys and hardly talk to him. I give him a bath every other day anight. I started out doing it at 7 and he was in bed at 8:30 now I give him a bath at 8 and its quiet time from then till morning. He passes out at 9:30 and wakes up at 7. I also feed him before a bath so he'll be happy during the bath and relax. Then at 9 Ill nurse him till be falls asleep. If he has his bath and a clean diaper and a full belly I'll just put him in his crib and he'll fall asleep on his own.
• Teach the baby to sleep on his/her own. Babies have a hard time getting to that REM cycle and they sometimes need help.  Also teach the baby to sooth himself. But wait till he/she is a couple of weeks old. I started when my baby was about a month old for him to sooth himself. 
• Watch your babies head. Some baby's heads get a cone head. The cone head will go away but your baby will favor a side and that side will be flat. 
• Learn to swaddle. Best thing ever, get a good swaddling blanket.
• Let the baby have a "cry it out" time. If your baby is fussy for no reason stick him/her in the crib and leave. Go outside and breath and wait for 5-10 min if he is still crying go and cuddle him for a min. 
• Babies will have a fussy time every day. This is normal, my baby has fussy time from 7-bedtime. That's why I give him baths at night so he can keep focused on something other than being fussy.
• Teach your baby to nurse and to bottle feed. Well you can if you want, I did and its nice for when I'm gone. I also give him formula.
• I'm sorry for saying this but you will have what I call a "pudge". Its that flab left over from having a baby. Ya you just had a baby don't worry about it. It will go away in time, your uterus went from a cherry size to a watermelon. It'll probably take at least 6 months for your uterus to go back to normal. If you are breast feeding that will help it shrink and it'll help you loose that baby fat.
  
• Have fun and dress your baby up and take a lot of pictures. My baby is gonna be 4 months already, I wish he was tiny again. So don't wish all those tiny moments away.
• You will probably get depressed. Its cause you had a baby in you and now since its out you loose that sensation. 
• Your stretch marks will itch and hurt. Mine were deep and short so they weren't that big but they itched and hurt. Keep that lotion on them and keep them moisturized it will make them feel better. Don't worry about getting rid of those just yet. Just concentrate on your new life.
• When you get home the first couple of days your boobs will hurt like hell. They will swell and get hot like crazy. If you don't pump or use nursing pads you will leak milk EVERYWHERE!!! All boobs are different. Hop in the shower and let the hot water run on your boobs, it feels so good. My milk production got short when my baby was almost 2 months. I would drink odouls (non alcoholic beer) and I found out root beer works really good too.
• Talk to your baby and just cuddle him/her. Enjoy it.
• Get your baby use to loud noises. My baby sleeps through me cleaning, talking, my husband cutting tile, people working on our basement. He still has a hard time with the vacuum haha.