postpartum recovery

[mrsdonati]

After having what I think are contractions and just feeling off today I decided it might be time to get ready incase this baby decides to come before his due date.
I can't remember what I used for Elena since that first week or two was a blur.
What did you ladies have on hand for recovery? I remember taking supplies from the hospital, but those only lasted a little more than a week.
So far I have tucks pads, big mamma jamma period pads, and the blue can of dermaplast. I feel like I'm missing stuff.
Help me, help my lady bits feel better!

[aylafsu1881]

I have the per I bottle from the hospital and mesh undies. I also have a support belt. My back always kills me from back labor and pushing. The abdominal support helps. Oh and lots of toliet paper. I go through a ton blotting dry. Colace is good to. I am still taking it 2 times a day at 2 weeks post partum.

[babywinks]

A peri bottle for each bathroom you might use often (I had one for each floor).

[sarasansh]

Colace and Motrin. I bought a bottle of witch hazel that I would wet a cloth with and hold against my hemmies.

[tribute17]

Colace and more colace! Preparation H wipes and some smaller pads too. I only needed the huge pads for a while and this time my butt broke out in a rash from wearing them. I had to go out after about a week and buy some regular always pads so they weren't covering my whole butt.

[USCgirl]

Following this...need to get some Colace for sure! The first poop sucked and I had to get re-stiched last time. Definitely DON'T want to go through that again!!

[samelly]

I'm due next month, so I'm following this too for a refresher. They give you what you need in the hospital and you can send someone to pick up anything you forgot - so don't stress too much.  The pads in the freezer were great.  Lots of healthy, high-calorie snacks because you'll be hungry during those middle of the night feedings.  Colace and tylenol.

[aylafsu1881]

samelly, I was just thinking of you this week. I remember you posted something in the preg post about worrying about what to do with your first while in labor etc. I just wanted to give you some info about my delivery.

I just had DD2 a few weeks ago. My water broke at 7:45 pm. I was kind of stressed out since it was just H and I with DD1. For the first hour I only had a few weak contractions. I was focused on getting DD into bed and having my MIL come over. It took about an hour to get everything situated. As soon as DD1 was in bed and my MIL arrive contractions came full force. It literately went from 1-2 to an 8 in the intensity level in about 30 minutes. It was like my body needed to know everything was in place to really go into labor. I had DD2 in about 4 hours from my water breaking.

I know you mentioned being worried about when labor wold start and what you would do if you were alone. Hopefully you will have a situation happen like mine where things are kind of mellow so you can get organized before it gets serious.

[samelly]

Thanks aylafsu1881, I had worked out a couple people to potentially watch DD but they both fell through. One got laid off and decided to move at the end of October and the other ended up planning a vacation around my due date. Boo! At least we found out early enough. So, I decided to ask my dad to come. I'd prefer to have my mom, but my dad is retired so he is more flexible. He is going to fly in 9 days before my due date - so if baby doesn't arrive really early, I'll have him in the house so we can just go straight to the hospital. My labour was pretty fast last time - I had DD 4 hours after my water broke - so I'm thinking it could be even faster this time.

I'm glad he'll be there to help with DD, so DH can be with me...but I'm worried he might drive me crazy when I bring the baby home and I just want to sleep, haha. So I told my dad I'd buy him a night in a hotel in the mountains so he can go skiing after the baby is born.