You hear all about what it’s like to be newly postpartum, but you cannot fully comprehend it until you are there, living it. Everyone’s postpartum journey is different; we all have different bodies, different births, different life scenarios, and so on. My postpartum journey may not be the same as yours, and vice versa.
Helpful Reminders for Someone Newly Postpartum
Now that I am out of the postpartum haze, I’m looking back at that time with new, un-hormonal eyes. There are so many things I wish I could go back and tell myself; the things I know I needed to hear and the reassurance that everything is going to be okay.
If you are newly postpartum, maybe these are things that you need to hear right now, too. If they’re not, that’s okay; like I said above, all of our journeys are different!
You are not a bad mother.
As a first time mom, I was convinced I was not a good mother. I felt like my husband was doing so much more than me; that he was a better dad than I was a mom. I blamed myself for my body needing to heal after giving birth to a baby – isn’t that crazy?! But that’s what hormones can do to you.
It’s the hormones when you’re newly postpartum.
This is a common one, and for good reason when you are postpartum; it really is the hormones. I didn’t even realize I was being hormonal. I wasn’t really snapping at any one. After the first couple of weeks I wasn’t crying on the spot anymore and so on.
Because of all that, I thought my hormones were pretty okay. Well, I was very wrong. I didn’t realize how hormonal I still was until after I stopped breastfeeding. I felt like a fog had been lifted; literally. I became more confident in myself, especially as a mom.
You’re not going to drop the baby.
The intrusive thoughts are SO real. Every time I went up or down the stairs I had thoughts that I was going to trip and fall and drop my baby. More times than I want to admit. I am proud to say that I not once dropped the baby, and I would so love to go back in time and reassure my newly postpartum self of this, since she was very worried!
Keep the contact naps.
My baby was a contact napper until about six months; then we finally started getting him in his crib. Everyone made it out to me that contact naps were so bad for him. Do you know what I’d do now to get a contact nap?
He’s so mobile, it’s become impossible. I miss them; they were really good for me postpartum, and I didn’t really see how good they were for me until they stopped.
It really does go by fast.
They say it goes by in the blink of an eye and they’re right. You hear all about it, but until you see your little one get bigger and start doing new things, you don’t understand just how fast it goes by.
One day you’re bringing home a brand new baby, unsure of what to do. Then the next thing you know you’re out of the postpartum haze and writing articles about things you wish you could go back in time and tell yourself!
Cherish them staying in one place while you’re newly postpartum.
I didn’t fully take advantage of the fact that I could put my baby down and they’d stay there. Now that I have a mobile child, I really see how fantastic that was. I had this fear that they’d magically start rolling and fall off the bed or under the couch or what not.
But, now I know that for a few glorious months, you put them down and they stay there. Take advantage of that. Put them on your bed and get ready for the day. Put them in a bassinet and get some work done. I definitely didn’t do that enough.
Pumping sucks, but you’ll get through.
It was extremely important to me to give my baby breastmilk, and I ended up pumping. It was so much more horrible than I could have ever imagine; I genuinely thought it would have been easier, but it was not. I hated every second of it, but I got through it, and my baby had breastmilk past his first birthday.
You need and deserve to heal.
Labor is huge! Your body just did something incredible! And yet for some reason, I felt guilty for not being up and at ’em like normal after a couple of days.
I am so grateful I had a husband who knew just how important it was for me to rest and heal. He took the reigns with the baby and let me recover. That was so perfect; I just wish I had given myself as much grace as he gave me.
Stop trying to fit into your jeans when newly postpartum.
Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to jump right back into our old clothes? Honestly I still can’t fit into my jeans and I’ve become okay with that.
My body changed after giving birth, and it took a while TBH but I’ve accepted it. I’m proud of what my body was able to do, and thankful for everything it did to give me a healthy baby and a safe delivery. I wish we focused on that more as a society.
You’re going to miss this.
It’s true. You don’t recognize it in the moment. Everything is a blur and you have no idea what day it is… or if it’s daytime or night time. But there’s going to come a time where you’re going to miss the days of endless snuggles and your baby fitting in one hand.
Like I said above, it really does go too fast. When you’re in the thick of it, it feels like there’s no end in sight; but the end is there, and it gets to you faster than you realize.
Final Thoughts for a Newly Postpartum Mom
Even if you are a seasoned mom or are experiencing your first baby, postpartum is a difficult time of the childbearing and rearing process. Looking back there are many things I didn’t understand that I can recognize now.
I hope moving forward these reflective thoughts can be helpful to other newly postpartum moms. Remember, your journey is unique so stay flexible for what it brings you and don’t lose hope when you feel it’s too hard. Motherhood is so so worth it.