kat, unedited

callherblessed:

A friend of mine just recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl :) She sent me an email about a week after her delivery and passed down some really awesome insider tips about labor and delivery (things she learned, things she wished she remembered etc). I wanted to share them with you all!

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My 2 cents :)

-Bring the nursing bra and your Lansinoh to the hospital with you. And clothing-wise, bring something that you wore when about 5mos pregnant as you will be that size (just about) when you leave the hospital. I just had a tank top and some maternity shorts.

-Snacks are great. Joe and I brought a cooler with fruit, fruit juice, string cheese, yogurt, etc to tide us over.

-I, for some reason, refused the stool softeners at the hospital. Why? Because I pooped so much while I was in labor because it felt like I had to go all the time so I thought I didn’t have anymore left. HA. So, take the stool softeners and buy a bottle for when you get home. I think I took them for 2 weeks. I was more scared of going #2 after labor than I was of actual labor.

-Extra strength Tylenol was my friend, too (he and Mr. Stool Softener hung out a lot in my medicine cabinet postpartum).

-I stocked up on the thinner Always brand pads and thought they were enough for the postpartum bleeding. The ones from the hospital are great for going to sleep because they are super long and super thick (that’s what she said).

-Tearing wasn’t that bad for me either, and I think it helped that the nurse was massaging down there the whole time I was pushing.

-And one thing I didn’t know about contractions—you have to push 3 TIMES with each one! I thought you only pushed once! So this really caught me off guard. It is super exhausting (this is when the fruit juice really helped—nothing like a burst of sugar to get a boost of energy!) but actually is a relief to know that after all your hard work, you little baby will be in your arms.

-You’ll barely remember how painful it really was. It’s weird—I’m sure it’s some evolutionary mechanism so humans would continue to procreate but it trips me out. I know it was painful, I know how the contractions feel like, but the last 2 hours or so while I was in transition and while I was pushing Logan out? I can’t even imagine it anymore.

And that’s it! Honestly, just go into it with an open mind. Anything can happen, and at the end of all of it, you will have your little baby! :) Can’t believe you’re almost to your 3rd trimester!