I feel like nobody really talks about the fourth trimester before you have your baby. There are hints and little side comments about the after-effects of pregnancy but nobody lays it out for you. Of course, this is partly because everyone has a different experience in pregnancy, labor, delivery, and recovery but a big part of me also thinks that if we talked openly about what occurs, or can occur, during and after giving birth, not as many of us would be having kids.
So on that note, here’s a little inside look into how the fourth trimester is going for me
Fourth Trimester Recap – life after birth/the recovery
Physical Recovery
Physically, I recovered pretty fast. I only had minor tearing that healed within a month. All the bleeding and soreness also healed up pretty quickly (within a couple of weeks). I was also able to get my pre-pregnancy jeans back on within two weeks (granted I couldn’t sit comfortably but they were on and buttoned.) By three weeks, I was fitting back into most of my clothes. This did a huge number for my confidence as I was pretty concerned about my body-bounce-back. I realize that lots of people will think that shouldn’t be a concern early on but I was eager to feel like myself again and being able to wear my own clothes was a huge factor in that.
Breastfeeding Issues
Teddy picked up breastfeeding without any problems. I had been warned that there is a learning curve for both mom and baby so I was happily surprised that we didn’t have any issues of that nature. The breastfeeding problems that I’ve been struggling with all center around not producing enough milk for him. It took a week or so for my milk to come in and during that time I had to supplement with formula because he would just cry of hunger after nursing and it was completely heartbreaking.
Around 8 weeks Teddy went through another growth spurt and started eating a whole lot more. At the same time, I started making even less milk than before so we started to supplement with formula again. I really wanted to be able to feed him just
Sleep Deprivation
The sleep deprivation took a toll QUICK. I see why it’s used as a form of torture. Those early weeks were rough. Waking every 1-2 hours seriously fried my brain. Things started to get better once he was able to eat more and around week 4-5 and he was sleeping in 4-5 hour stretches at night. That all hit the fan recently and we are back to every two hours. I never thought that a decent night’s sleep for me would be four consecutive hours but here we are.
Pelvic Floor Weakness
I never thought that I’d have to sneeze/laugh/jump/lift any weight with caution but childbirth will do that to a girl. This was one thing that I wasn’t prepared for at all. But now my control over my bladder is not a sure thing. I also never thought I’d talk about this on the internet and yet here’s another change that motherhood brought.
Other Random Issues
I’m cold all the time – I didn’t realize just how much being a human incubator was keeping my body temp up but it seems worse now than before I had Teddy. I don’t remember being this cold all the time.
Focus Issues – not sure whether it’s postpartum or just exhaustion. Probably a combination of both but some days my brain just feels fried. I’ve started writing everything I need to do/remember down or else I’m just totally aimless all day. Even really simple tasks like doing laundry need to be written down so I can actually accomplish something no matter how minor.
That’s a quick little look into my 4th trimester. Have any of you other moms out there experienced similar things? Let me know in the comments.
Until next time,
Ana Luiza
In case you missed my other pregnancy recaps, you can find them here:
Welcome to the World
5 Baby Products That Got Us Through The First Month
Third Trimester Recap
Second Trimester Recap
First Trimester Recap
