FOR THE MOTHER:

You should not soak one pad within 20 minutes.

Check your uterus for firmness and size every waking hour for the 1st day. Then check your uterus daily for the next three days. KEGEL!

Drink, drink, drink! Try to drink 1 cup of water every hour.

Expect to see red blood flow for no more than 10-14 days. During the 1st 3-4 days you may pass some clots. After the red flow will come a brownish, then a yellowish flow, and finally nothing. If you go back to red blood at any time after the initial red blood has stopped your body is trying to tell you something… slow down and take it easy.

Watch for:

• Fever of 100 ° F or greater
  

• Bad smelling discharge
  

• Pain in the abdomen
  

• Inflamed breasts
  

• Filling more than 1 pad in one hour.
  

A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world.

John 16:21

The birth of the baby is not the end of your maternity care...recovery is equally important to plan for. Please familiarize yourself and your family with your needs for the next few weeks while you are healing from your birth.

This period of time is considered your baby-moon (sort of like the honeymoon you spent with your husband).

A time for you and your baby to bond and fall in love,

to learn about eachother. These first few days are truly special!

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Postpartum Instructions

Make time for herb baths with baby a priority. These help your perineum (bottom) heal.

Sleep when baby sleeps! Make a door sign, with a sleeping baby on it and "Do not disturb." If you have older children who no longer take naps, arrange for them to play alone or visit a kindly neighbor for a couple of hours each day. During the 1st few weeks you will feel more like coping if you are not continually short on sleep. You will have to plan for extra naps to avoid that dragged out feeling.

Take it easy. The joy of birthing is so powerful that you may be EMOTIONALLY BUZZING right from the start. This elation often feels like physical energy, and consequently ladies tend to do too much, too early; if you are over-doing you run the risk of getting a breast infection, increasing bleeding, and or displacing the reproductive system. Do not blow a good birth experience with an UNNECESSARY postpartum problem. Slow down and enjoy. This time is fleeting and will never come again. Give others the gift of being able to mother the mother.

You should urinate very shortly after the birth. Use the squeeze bottle as directed each time you go to the toilet.

Wash your hands before and after putting on a new pad.

You should have a bowel movement within the next 2 days; Make sure that you are drinking LOTS of water! That and maintaining fiber in your diet (i.e. celery, popcorn, raisins, etc.) will help make sure you do not become constipated.

EAT RIGHT! Convenience foods are often junk foods. Someone other than the new mom should be preparing nutritious mini-meals to strengthen her body so that she can make excellent breastmilk for the baby.

Continue taking the prenatal vitamins throughout your nursing relationship.The baby assimilates breastmilk quickly and easily. Nursing every 2-3 hours is common.

Nurse on demand at least 8-12 times in a 24 hour period. Sleep when baby sleeps no matter what time of day. Sometimes babies want to sleep for a longer period. This is all right once in a while. (No more than once per day.) Do not let the baby go more than 4-4 ½ hours without nursing. His body and brain need a steady input of the nutrients in your milk. Do not wash your nipples before feedings. This is an outdated routine, which has caused many nipples to become dried, sore and cracked.