Lisa: Now that your baby is finally here you never want to leave her side. The first four days I didn't shower. First four days I was home, I wore the same thing, I didn't shower, I just, because I just wanted to like be with her, and take care of her and bond with her and my husband.
Anne Ebeling: But pregnancy childbirth takes a toll and your body needs to heal.
Suzanne: In terms of just their physical feeling, you know if they have had a vaginal delivery, often times their bottom is really sore and swollen there are stitches. Not to mention the pain from the uterus contracting when you are nursing, just as uterus shrinks, often times that can cause some pain as well. And then the breast engorgement that goes along with it. So it's kind of like all these things are happening all at once.
It's really hard and then kind of like the icing on the cake is the emotional rollercoaster that begins.
Anne Ebeling: Make sure to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water and get plenty of fiber to combat postpartum constipation and hemorrhoids.
Suzanne: Constipation can happen often when a mom is nursing, because all of the water that they are taking in is being used to make milk. So it's important that a woman drinks a lot of water, sometimes a still softeners can be taken.
Anne Ebeling: OB-GYN Dr. Suzanne Lajoie recommends motrin or ibuprofen to manage aches and pains after a vaginal birth.
Suzanne: And then some even just topical analgesics for the bottom is fine, or sitz baths. If there is a lot of swelling or pain sometimes a sitz bath can do some good. It's actually when you sit in a very shallow tub with warm water and that can actually be very soothing.
Anne Ebeling: Healing after a C section can be a little tougher. C section is kind of like another a whole different ball game, because it's an abdominal surgery, and it is surgery to you know, it's a pretty big surgery. The abdominal muscle gives just a lot of pain that's involved afterwards and it's important that woman go home with some good pain meditation, amoxicillin is fine, but often times they need something else to be taken as well.
Lisa Leclezio gave birth to daughter Eva via emergency C section just eight days ago.
Lisa: I had a cesarean. And that was very, very painful. You don't really feel much when you are in recovery. But then in the ensuing hours and the first night and then the first day and then the second day, unable to walk, sort of a searing, burning feeling, unable to get in and out of bed, which is little frustrating, because you won't to be able to play with your baby. And you won't to be able to take her out of the little basket net, next to your bed.
Anne Ebeling: It's not easy to rest with a new baby, but Lisa is trying to take good care of herself.
Lisa: Taking showers has really helped. It was great in the hospital, because they had the bench in the shower, and then here at home, we actually took one of our chairs from out of the terrace and we put it in the shower. And it's nice, I take nice long showers, may be like half hour long showers. I don't rush myself that's kind of my times for myself and what else. Just drinking a lot of tea, eating healthfully, watching a lot of movies is very soothing, lighting candles, you know all the things that you could do to sort of make your environment a little peaceful.
Anne Ebeling: And having a little help makes a big difference.
Suzanne: I think it's common for woman to overdo it. When we get home, you know I think woman feel like they want to kind of do it all and you really can't, like you need at least a good two weeks just to heal, and just to nurse the baby and sleep and eat and let other people kind of take care of those things for a while.
Anne Ebeling: Lisa's husband Richard took three weeks off work to spend with her and the baby.
Richard: Because she had a cesarean. She couldn't move around a lot. So I had to do a lot of activity of going to shops, that sort of thing. A lot of cleaning of the bottles. A lot of picking up the diaper clothes, bed clothes. I did actually the very first change of diaper on my own, and it was a number two, quite messy. But other than that helping her with a maid, helping her to get from the beds, the toilets. She really couldn't walk at all. So I was pretty tensed.
Lisa: I wouldn't be able to; you know feel as good as I do right now if he weren't here to help me.
Anne Ebeling: And Lisa has improved a lot over the last eight days.
Lisa: I am feeling pretty good compared to how I felt just five days ago and that's amazing how you go from feeling really bad or I went from feeling really bad to, I would say on a scale of one to ten, ten being great, I am probably back to like a five. So I think that's pretty good.
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