How I prepared for postpartum!

PostPartum, where do I begin. I am writing this at nearly 2 months postpartum and what a ride it has been. I can’t speak for anyone else’s journey, so instead I will speak of mine.

I pre-empt this with – I do not want sympathy. I am sharing my true journey because I am not just going to come online and show my highlight reel.

Postpartum has been one of the toughest journeys I have been on. I had an intense labour (with active labour lasting over 22hrs) and suffered a 2nd degree tear. While my recovery wasn’t nearly as bad as some, it was still difficult caring for myself whilst also tending the needs of a newborn.

For me one of my biggest struggles post partum was slowly down, accepting my new role as a mother (one that I thought would come so naturally to me) and letting go of being productive (in the traditional sense of the word anyway). I have had to step away from my work longer than I thought I would need to – and maybe that is part of my naivety at being a first time mum.

I have had to cut out foods from diet as we explore allergies for my little bub to resolve Colic like symptoms and I haven’t slept longer than 2 hours since we bought him home from the hospital (actually since 2 days before we bought him home – because our labour was LOOOONG!).

But over everything I know that it has been my expectations of myself that created the challenge for me during post partum. Again I don’t want sympathy but instead want to show up with my truth of becoming a mother for the first time – and will continue to always show the good and the bad parts of parenting. Because it sure is one tough gig.

That being said, there are a few KEY things I did that really helped me during.

I prepped for my recovery, and filled my freezer.

Prepped for Recovery

There are a few things I did, most of which were recommended by YOU and I am so grateful I listened!

Made Padsicles

After experiencing a tear I was so grateful I had made up a stack of padsicles. They were the best to alleviate the pain and swelling while I was sitting down most of the day to breastfeed.

To make them: Just smear a pad with aloe vera gel and a few drops of witch hazel. Then wrap it back up and pop it in the freezer!

Got a bottle with a straw

This one has been a life saver. From the middle of the night feeds to those times I’ve been stuck on the couch cluster feeding for hours. Never underestimate how hard it is to do things with one hand – even a task as simple as opening a water bottle. So post partum a straw water bottle is a must have!

Set up a change table in the living room

This ones was another game changer for us – ok maybe that is overselling it. But when you are exhausted, walking the 15m to bedroom to change your bub can seem to much. We still have a change table set up in the living room to make changes quick and easy – we also have a few spare onesies out there so we can make changes quick and painless.

Bought a feeding pillow

I actually only got a breast feeding pillow after a few weeks. But when you give birth to a 4.73kg who is 6kg by 6weeks old a feeding pillow is a necessity. Though regardless of how heavy your bub is I’m sure a pillow would be super handy! I just got a cheapy from Kmart and it does the trick!

Filled my Freezer

Now classic me, I just had to cook and when I say cook – I mean I filled my entire 300L chest freezer with meals. We are still eating foods that I prepped before bub arrived 10 weeks later – and it makes life so much easier! I wanted to make sure we have easier dinner that my partner could heat up for us with little other prep to do and lots of healthy ‘one handed’ snacks that I could heat up in the air fryer or similar for a quick lunch or snack.

Here is a few of the things I made:

Snacks

• Mini Quiches
•  Sausage Rolls – All credit to Chef trunfio, the best sausage rolls I have ever eaten!
•  Spinach and Ricotta Filo Parcels
•  Individual Meat Pies
•  Crispy Quinoa Veggie Patties
•  Salmon sweet potato patties

Sweets

•  Choc Chip Breast Feeding Cookies
•  Choc Zucchini Muffins
•  Blueberry and date Bran muffins
•  3 ingredient PB Cookies
• Nut Free Apricot Bliss Balls

Dinners

•  Slow Cooked Mexican Beef (for Tacos) – Credit to Recipe Tins eats for this one!
•  Lasagne
•  Enchiladas – Another Recipe tins eats favourite!
•  Butter Chicken – using Mingle Seasoning!
•  Meatballs and Veggie Filled Pasta Sauce
•  Bolognese (Nearly 3 kg’s of it ha!)
• Creamy Vegetarian Lentil Curry
•  Slow cooked Greek Lamb (Recipe coming soon!)
•  Chicken Penang Curry