I am just over 3 weeks postpartum, and let me tell you, it’s been rough. I spent a lot of time preparing for both the birth and the baby, but not enough time preparing for postpartum! I ended up buying quite a few things on Amazon Prime because I didn’t have the items that I needed. How much time did I spend packing that dang hospital bag, yet I didn’t buy anything for once I left the hospital!
Every postpartum situation is going to be different, and it depends a lot on what your birth was like. If you read Rosie’s birth story, you know that I had 2nd degree tearing. Your recovery may be better or worse than mine depending on the amount of tearing. I would be ready for anything in terms of your recovery!
Your hospital will provide you with a lot of the items you need for your recovery, but I still had to buy some items. All hospitals are different, so you may get slightly different items. Make sure to take home EVERYTHING from your postpartum room. Apparently they are not able to reuse anything that is in your room anyway, so you should take it home with you.
Here are some of the products that I have used during the past 3 weeks. I plan to cover nursing separately (so much to say on this!) so this is mainly just for mom’s recovery down there!
What my Hospital Provided
Mesh Underwear – The hospital provides these giant underwear for you to wear once you deliver. They are big enough to hold giant pads (see below). These were nice for the first few days at home.
Large Pads – The hospital provides these pads, and they are literally the biggest pads you’ve ever seen! These are worn in the mesh underwear above. I used these with those underwear the first few days home.
Tucks Pads – These are medicated cooling pads that you can line your underwear/pad or Depends with. This helps a lot with swelling and it also just feels good! I heard these are great for hemorrhoids too (but I didn’t have that).
What I Purchased
Depends Fit Flex – Above I mentioned the mesh underwear and pad situation, but I personally recommend getting Depends instead. I thought it was just easier to not worry about the pad moving around or any leakage. You just change every time you go to the bathroom.
Fridababy Momwasher – Because of all of the stitches down there, you cannot wipe when using the bathroom. You will need a spray bottle of some sort to rinse the area. The hospital provides one, but this one is WAY better (it angles up lol). I highly recommend buying this and even bringing it to the hospital with you.
Sitz Bath Salts – It feels AMAZING to sit in a bath with some Epsom salts after delivery. The nurses at the hospital recommended that I take a 15 minute bath every day.
Lighter Pads – After about two weeks, you will not need the large pads and Depends and can switch to a lighter pad (something like this will work!) You may still have bleeding up until 6 weeks so you don’t want to worry about ruining your clothes.
Water Bottle – There is no downside to drinking water, but staying really hydrated is going to help your recovery process (and also with breastfeeding too). I like to drink out of a straw because I feel like I drink more that way!