Things I Wish I Knew Before Giving Birth
Helllloooo friends, today we are talking childbirth ~ more so things I wish I knew before giving birth.
I had my baby boy in the spring of 2019 and he’s four months away from being two years old! cue the freaking sob fest over here! But over the last 20 months with time to reflect and many of my friends giving birth after me, I realized that there are so many things I wish I knew about labor + delivery before I experienced it.
These tips are based on my experience. Every person’s labor + delivery story is different and every baby is different. These are just things I wish I knew before I had my son.
♡ Pooping after a vaginal delivery is just… horrifying.
I tore only a little bit during delivery and had to have one stitch but the first time I pooped after I gave birth… oh my god. Pushing out a baby and pushing out poop is an almost identical push, so when I was pooping, it felt like I was about to pop my stitch {even though that would most likely not happen}. My saving grace? Miralax. It didn’t like…liquify things, it just softened the situation to make it easier to go if ya know what I mean. 100% don’t push too hard when pooping after giving birth… or in general.
♡ Epidural may make you ridiculously sick… on top of the fact that you were sick your entire pregnancy :))))
Can you tell this one is a sensitive one for me? lol I was sick my entire pregnancy and suddenly stopped feeling nauseous while I was in labor. But once I got my epidural? Omfg. I was dry heaving for what felt like five hours. I ended up letting the epidural run out and didn’t let the nurse replace the bag because at that point I much rather have had to deal with labor pains than the nausea and dry heaving (since I didn’t have any food in my system after being in labor for over 30 hours hehe)
♡ Breastfeeding is natural but doesn’t always come naturally
Whether you plan to breastfeed, want to see how it goes or choose from the get-go to not breastfeed ~ all 100% okay. But just know that if you go the route of wanting to breastfeed, it’s so so so okay if you struggle with it, if your baby has a hard time latching, if you hate it, if it hurts, and if you want to stop.
My only advice/encouragement here is to think about your future self. It’s so easy to be overwhelmed in the moment and feel like you want to quit. But try your best to step out of the moment and look at the big picture. I wanted to quit breastfeeding THREE DAYS IN. Three days. I barely even gave myself or my son a shot at it. I ended up nursing him for almost nine months.
Either way, do what you feel and know is best for yourself and your family.
♡ Don’t let your baby’s “weight loss” burden you… especially when your milk hasn’t even come in yet!
Oh my gosh. I could go on and on and on about this one. Noah’s weight was dropping “too quickly” (yet still within normal range???) after being a solid ONE DAY OLD. Therefore, the hospital staff + Noah’s Ped suggested/made me (???) start him on formula.
When I tell you I cried so hard…. omg. I felt like a joke. I was “failing” at being a mom after 24 hours.
Now that I can look back at that situation without crying, I wish I asked for other options. I wish they suggested that I started pumping milk or getting some donated breastmilk. Because the formula they put Noah on actually upset his stomach therefore affecting his sleep + mood. I learned this later on when he was about 9 months old because we put him on that same formula and he hated it.
♡ To hire a photographer
Okay I know this one isn’t as crucial but I really wish I hired a professional photographer to snap some pics of the birth + everyone’s reactions. I have an amazing birth vlog that I will cherish for the rest of time. But I wish I had some stills from a birth photographer.
Depending on when you will be giving birth, having a photographer in the room may not be possible due to COVID-19. But last spring I definitely could’ve had one and probably will with my next baby.
♡ Once you give birth the baby is like… yours and you can do whatever you want
Okay you’re going to roast me for this one and I also don’t mean WHATEVER you want. But after Noah was born, he was wrapped in that blanket and had a little beanie on his head… he stayed like that for ten hours or so because I didn’t know I was allowed to put his cute little outfits that I brought on him lololol
I will forever laugh at that whole scenario. My parents came back to the hospital and I was changing Noah’s diaper before my entire family arrived. My mom asked me why he didn’t have clothes on and I legit said “I don’t know… I didn’t know I was allowed to…” and she said, “he’s…. he’s your baby. you can do whatever you want” hahahahahah
Poor Noah didn’t have clothes on for 10 hours because his mom is an idiot lmao
On that note, I will end it here. There are a bunch of other things I want to talk about but they’re not things that I didn’t know. I knew these things but I feel like they’re still worth mentioning, so i’m going to make a part two and talk about things in general that are good to know before giving birth! So keep an eye out for that.
If you’ve given birth ~ vaginally or via cesarean ~ tell me in the comments or on Instagram what you wish you knew before you gave birth! I would love to know.
That’s all I’ve got for ya today. Sending you all love + light.
xx, Laurena