The First 48 - Part 1 of My Hospital Stay

Truth: The first days of motherhood can feel like a whirlwind of tests, checks, paperwork and utter exhaustion. A common misconception about vaginal delivery is you only stay in the hospital for 24 hours. If your insurance will cover more than 24 hours in the hospital, you are a first-time parent or you had anything slightly abnormal occur, they will want to keep you as long as they can. In my case, they kept me the full 48 hours. Here's a rundown of the routine postpartum hospital stay.

Bye Bye Adrenaline, Hello Pain

When we were still in Labor & Delivery bonding with baby, my nurse (yep, the one that ghosted me while I was pushing) magically reappeared. I realized when my adrenaline started wearing off that I wasn’t feeling well. I had a headache from the pressure of pushing and felt out of it and nauseated. After a few minutes of eating the cold hospital food I'd been given, the nurse told me I had to use the bathroom. It seemed really quick to me, but after having a catheter, they need to make sure you can pee on your own. Everything was heavy and hard to move, and I couldn’t stand up straight. We were walking way faster than I was capable of moving, and when we made it into the bathroom, I blacked out. I remember telling her I felt too hot and couldn’t see or hear her then halfway falling down onto the toilet. Other nurses swarmed and got me back in bed, much slower this time. I was told I wasn’t allowed to get up without two nurses in the room. It was upsetting that I wasn’t one of those moms that could be right up and walking after the birth, but I had other things to worry about, like the pain setting in.

For me, the pain in my butt (literally) was worse than my vagina. It hurt SO badly. The other thing no one tells you is that you will hurt EVERYWHERE. Will you feel sorry for your vagina? Oh yes, you will. However, pushing out a baby is a full body task. My head hurt from the pressure. My arms were sore from holding onto my legs. My legs were sore from straining. My abs felt ripped and not in a good way. When I say I couldn’t stand up straight, it’s like my muscles wouldn’t let me until they had healed from the crazy event I had just put them through. Not to mention, you have contractions even after delivering.

Visitors

Once Labor & Delivery served their purpose, they wheeled me over to the Postpartum Recovery ward with baby Myles in tow. We got settled into a room and basically everyone I know showed up to visit at the same time. I was struck by how much love Myles was getting as he was passed around, but I also felt very uneasy. I had a December baby; it was prime time cold and flu season, and we had started hearing about a faraway coronavirus that might be a huge issue. I was watching like a hawk to make sure no one kissed or breathed on him and that everyone doused themselves in hand sanitizer. Also, when you have just had a baby, you want nothing more than to snuggle that baby! When my child wasn’t touching me, I was freaking out and in physical pain needing to be closer to him. Finally, the room was small and hot because about 15 people had crammed in there. I told my mom I was getting uncomfortable, so she led the charge in getting everyone out.

I would not recommend having a lot of visitors, if any, when you have just given birth. For me, I felt self-conscious, I wanted my baby, and there was too much going on medically for me to enjoy the time with our families. Next time, I’ll ask my loved ones to wait until we get home to stop in, and I’ll schedule it more thoughtfully so it’s not so overwhelming.

Using the Bathroom and Changing your Diaper (Yes, Yours)

One reason I liked the recovery ward was that the nurses were angels. On my second bathroom trip, I felt much stronger after having eaten more and had more time to recuperate. The nurse got me to the bathroom in a wheelchair, helped me onto the toilet and stayed with me so I could pee. I couldn’t even tell if I was going or not. The fact that there is so much blood also doesn’t help. Don’t be alarmed, but it will probably look like a crime scene. You also may need to pee into a measuring bowl that sits on the toilet the first few times; they need to make sure your output is normal. I can’t even tell you how happy I was that I was able to pee! It felt like a huge accomplishment.

Also on that first successful bathroom trip, the nurse showed me how to care for my mangled lady bits. She piled witch hazel pads on an ice pack pad, sprayed it with Dermaplast (anti-itch pain relieving spray), put that whole contraption onto an even bigger pad, and placed it into my sexy disposable undies. When I say “even bigger” pad, the thing must have been 24” x 6”. It was a lot to take in, but the cooling relief of that combo was amazing. I would suggest bringing some of your own supplies to the hospital. After a few hours, they got a little stingy with refilling my supply of ice pack pads.

Something else no one will tell you except a very genuine blogger (wink) is that you will be GASSY after birth and may not be able to hold it. It felt like my intestines were just flopping around trying to find the right spot to settle into, and I was unintentionally letting it rip. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but this is another reason you may want to go easy on the visitors. This unsettled feeling was also really weird when trying to walk around; it was like there was my body and hanging off my body was a dangling bag of organs that didn’t know where to go.

Finally, everyone has heard horror stories about the first post-birth poop. I want to debunk the common myth that a nurse will stick their finger in your butt to make you poop if you don’t go during your stay. Not true! It’s normal after having a medicated birth for your system to take time to get back on a schedule. I also heard that the first poop was incredibly painful. Due to the medication they gave me, my experience was fine. I was scared, but the important thing is not to strain.

Medications

For pain management, I was given Motrin every four hours. They did not ever offer me anything stronger, but I was okay. I could definitely feel the pain when my next dose was due, but I was able to manage. I was also offered stool softener to make the aforementioned first poop easier. I was given Colace, which really helped me. If they do not offer you stool softener, you should most definitely ask for it. I would also recommend buying some for when you get home.

The first 48 hours are so overwhelming, which is why this topic has way too much content for one post. I’ll stop here and save the rest of this experience for another post. Look out for part 2 to read about the hospital stay for your baby, getting checked by your nurse, sleeping and breastfeeding.

#truthmom

BECAUSE BLACK MOMS MATTER…

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