Man oh man, the past four weeks have been filled with all the things postpartum that nobody actually wants to talk about. Yeah, yeah, we all know the baby is awake all night, you’re on little sleep, you’re pumping around the clock (if you’re breastfeeding!), the diapers are never ending, you’re holding the baby all day because God forbid you set them down- THEY WILL KNOW! But what about all of the other shit. All of the physical crap that comes along afterwards for YOU!
The Night Sweats- I nearly forgot about these. The imbalanced hormones in your body do it to you about a week or two after. I was waking up drenched in sweat, washing and changing our sheets daily because I could not take it. I was up changing my pajamas with each feeding like I was the messy baby in the house. Once those hormones start to balance out again, they go away. But damn- do those hit you out of nowhere and hard!
The Never Ending Period- As if once a month wasn’t enough in our lives, enter the never-ending-postpartum-“period.” Will it ever end? I mean, DAMN! How much was collected in there for 10 months? I’m over it already! I have enough to take care of around here.
The Engorgement- I bet you can’t wait to sleep on your stomach again once that baby is out, huh? WRONG! Count that out for at least another month. Unless sleeping on painfully swollen, leaking boobs is your thing. I am blessed with a wonderful, overabundance of milk. But with that also came with a lot of pain and around the clock ibuprofen + ice packs for a good 3 days until I was able to level things out. With a cluster feeding newborn, this engorgement won’t fully gone down for a while yet. So- YAY to sore boobies!
The Hair Loss- Listen, all I have to say is thank goodness for my lovely hair stylist and wonderful extensions. Because if my hair wasn’t already thin enough…
I’m starting to lose hair like it’s a part time job over here.
The Physical, Mental, and Emotional Exhaustion- Yeah, sure, we are all aware at the lack of sleep that comes with the newborn season. But it’s not just sleep that wears on you. It’s quite literally, everything! Running on little sleep and low energy will already press your physical and mental exhaustion. But on top of that, your emotions are all over the place (thanks hormonal imbalance!). You are touched out from a little being constantly being on you. If you have other little ones like myself, you are constantly being tugged in multiple directions. You can barely keep up with caring for everything and everyone else, self-care feels almost non-existent or at the least, challenging to find time for. Before you know it, you are short fused, crying, and in desperate need of a 3 hour massage.
‘Tis The Season for All the Changes
My body has been going through all the changes postpartum has to offer. And while it’s been rough, it’s also already been four weeks! Where did that time go? I cannot help but remember that this season will be gone before I know it. And when that happens, my babies won’t quite be babies. So I’m taking it all in- the good, the bad, and the oversupplied boobs. This is the season we are in and the only thing we can do is embrace it all.
Follow my postpartum journey over on Instagram at @kait_ejensen. I look forward to connecting with you all!
