What “They” Don’t Tell You – Part 2

Posted: January 19, 2011 at 1:00 pm

After the interest in my “What ‘They’ Don’t Tell You About Pregnancy” post a couple months back, I knew I had to follow up with one about labor, delivery, and the early post-partum days. If you’re a man reader…you may want to avert your eyes. If you’re squeamish in any way about body parts and personal topics…you have been warned. Now for yet another post pushing the TMI boundaries.

Your boobs will hurt. And not just a standard ouch kind of hurt either. Whether breastfeeding or not, a few days post-delivery you will feel as if you carry 2 bowling balls on your chest.  2 bowling balls that are also ticking time bombs about to explode and rip in half from the pressure. Milk engorgement is fun, no?

Even better? If breastfeeding, your nipples will feel as though someone rubbed them raw with sandpaper. And that “let-down” feeling that lets you know your baby is sucking out the good stuff? Burn, baby, burn!!!! I do promise it all subsides after about a month and then is so much easier. Plus, it truly is worth it.

Ice Diapers. I briefly mentioned these in my previous post. They intrigued you all. And yes, they are very much real and very much useful.

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Let’s put it this way. You know how long distance runners take ice baths after tough runs? You just gave your hoo-ha the workout of its life. It needs its ice bath. You will stuff a baby’s diaper with crushed ice and wear it as a pad without shame.

Tears. Sometimes things just don’t pop out so easily. Rip. You can use your imagination for the rest. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it does heal.

I still look pregnant?! The uterus takes awhile to shrink back to standard size. This means for a solid couple of months your body will inevitably have a pregnant looking pooch. You will likely still look 6 months pregnant coming home from the hospital. I looked like this 3 days post-partum…

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And you saw my 1 week photos yesterday (in the bikini no less). Just remember how wonderful the body still is…even if it does mean some idiot will ask you when you are due, despite the obvious newborn baby you are holding.

Scared to poop. The first time or two after delivery is purely frightening. I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe the thought of having to push anything out again?

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The baby-blues are very real. It is standard for them to last two weeks. Any longer is when you need to consider talking with the doctor about post-partum depression. But for the first two weeks…fully expect mood swings you have never seen before. I haven’t faced them too much this time…but I can tell you I went from yelling at Peter that he was NO HELP to crying over how much I loved him and he was the BEST FATHER EVER in minutes last time.

Hospital food may actually taste good. After delivery and when trying to prep your body for breastfeeding, you want food. Any food. This actually looked and tasted good to me post-delivery.

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Nothing like a bowl of congealed oats!

Babies trick you. It is very standard for newborns to sleep a lot in the hospital. They just went for the craziest ride ever after all. They don’t do this when they get home. You come home and it’s time to push limits and see how often they can wake up. I warned you.

And I’m likely forgetting some important things. Things like is baby pooping enough, sleeping enough, spitting up too much, going to be colicky, etc, etc, etc kind of make the rest of your mind a jumbled mass.

Thank goodness I knew what to expect this time! I can actually function! Good thing too because I have a very exciting post for tomorrow. Any guesses? 😉

Question of the Day – Totally random question…but color combos have been on my mind…what is your favorite color/color combo?

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85 Comments to “What “They” Don’t Tell You – Part 2”
  1. Shady says:

    Tina, love your list but care to comment on the fact that because your pushing so hard, other things may come out too? It was actually the feature of a scene in the Backup Plan and for some reason really, really disturbed me. All the things you listed here I’m fine with but that.

    Favorite color combos; purple and anything; pink and green; blue and yellow; light pink or blue and chocolate brown.

  2. Shannon says:

    I didn’t realize these things either. I will be much better prepared for baby#2!

  3. I’m really diggin’ the light brown, baby blue and baby pink.

    Just like the colors of my blog!! 😉

  4. Great post, Tina. Thanks for sharing such personal stuff with – it helps so much to learn all this beforehand! You’re awesome:)

  5. Great post! That hospital def. looked great, considering. I am loving aqua and coral right now!

  6. Julie says:

    oh man….the first poop after baby. I had c-sections with both of mine and so I was in bed and on major pain meds for like 4 days in the hospital – nothing like pain meds to stop you up. You finally get home and things still take forever to get moving and then it’s time. Oh Boy! Not. A. Lot. Of. Fun.

    I can do without that trouble EVER again.

    Just one more thing no one ever tells you about. Glad you are sharing all this stuff for new moms to be! I wish someone had told me a lot of things ahead of time…like sometimes you don’t even like your baby once it arrives. YES. PPD is so horrible to experience and it is such a taboo subject still.

    • Tina says:

      I had the same experience after M. I didn’t immediately feel that undying devotion, mommy love and felt SO GUILTY!!! It hit after a few days but I didn’t realize how normal it was to not experience that right away.

  7. Mellissa says:

    Orange is my favorite color and I even had an orange watch, sweater and necklace on today!

  8. Ela says:

    Thanks for sharing all this: so courageous! You sound remarkably lucid for all the crazy adjustments both physical and mental and emotional and… that you must be going through.

    Been on the road a couple days–hope to catch up on what else you shared.

    My favorite color: green. Also love oranges and browns and purples. I think green and purple is a great combination. Also green and lavender-blue. Green and most things, I guess…
    love
    Ela

  9. Kelly says:

    I love coming to this blog for honesty! It is so refreshing! One of my favorite things about FFF. My favorite color combination is red and gold.

  10. Funny… it is unlikely I will ever have a child, but I am beyond fascinated by theses “things they don’t tell you” posts.

    My fav color combo right now is a deep turquoise and tan (which I am wearing right now)… or white and gold for my Yellow Jackets! 🙂

  11. Diane says:

    I just have have to say “amen” to a couple of those! Actually, pretty much all of them. I was terrified to poop. I also tore and for some reason thought that I might bust the stitches or something.

    I also got asked when I was due when Drew was like 2 months old. That was a little aggravating. I’m still working on these abs in fact…. everything else on me is tinier except my belly (oh, and the breastfeeding boobs!). Sigh….

  12. Oh boy, you know I love these posts Tina. They scare me, but I love them. I love how honest you are.

  13. I love how honest this post is. The idea of childbirth is something that still terrifies me, but you show so much grace with it all.

  14. OK seriously I love this post. I have the best of friends who have had babies but try and make everyone think it’s all grand – and I’m not a judgmental person! Thanks for being real 🙂

  15. Anne Marie says:

    I love your pregnancy info posts 🙂 My fav color combo of the moment is a soft green and lavender… we’re going to paint our master bath/bedroom some sort of combination of those two colors!

  16. Tay says:

    Hey that hospital food looks very familiar! Your hospital must use Morrison Company for the nutrition team. I work in the food & nutrition dept at a hospital, and we have those exact meal tickets and place settings, etc. And our breakfasts look the same. Glad you liked the food!! Did you get a “last meal” before you left as well? Not sure if that’s just our hospital thing.

    • Tina says:

      How interesting! I didn’t get a last meal though. We did rush out because of wanting to leave during the small afternoon time frame the roads weren’t as icy. Gotta love an ice storm baby. LOL

  17. Tina! I just love how honest you are … so helpful for when I decide to have children! (I was actually asked by a co-worker yesterday when I plan to have children. I told her unless someone else wants to pay for my baby then 10 years. Just kidding.)
    So here are some follow-ups … how bad does a tear hurt? I imagine it hurts like h-e-double hockey sticks … do they have to stitch it? Ahh! I can’t believe your belly will look like that for that long … I always wondered. A friend told me she thought she’d be thin again after delivering and had NO idea she wouldn’t be! So I expected that, but not for so long. Is going number 2 just scary or does it hurt? I heard it hurts. And that has to be some of the best looking hospital food. Hospitals freak me out and so does hospital food!!

    • Tina says:

      They do stitch the tear and it is sore down there for awhile but nothing too terrible. I am already feeling pretty normal again and don’t have pain anymore. #2 does hurt the first couple of times but once again, I didn’t think it was bad…more uncomfortable.

      And the belly does go down more than my 1 week shot but it won’t get flat. It takes around a full 6 weeks for the uterus to get back to normal size. It doesn’t look pregnant pregnant for that long, but not like it used to certainly. All worth it though!

      • Thanks, Tina, as always, for your honesty! 🙂 Good to know. And it is all worth it–isn’t it? I hope men understand … 🙂 OK 10 years from now I will have all your advice in my brain. Ha ha

  18. erica says:

    wow. that is definitely stuff people don’t tell you! thanks for sharing!

    that hospital food is the best looking hospital food i’ve ever seen!

  19. I love this and definitely agree with you on them! Ice diapers were the weirdest, but best things ever thought of!

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