As someone who didn’t grow up around a lot of younger children and very little experience babysitting, there’s been a lot to learn about raising children, giving birth, and all that comes with becoming a mother.It’s completely normal to want to research everything and you can bet I googled just about everything I could think of and looked up all the ways I should prepare myself on Pinterest.
However, there were still a few things I was NOT ready for when it came time to birth a child out of my BODY and recover from said birth. So let’s dive right in to the gory details.

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The Shakes.

Whether before, during or after – it is very likely that you may begin to shake uncontrollably. This may seem alarming to you (it definitely was for me), but rest assured my nurses told me it’s quite common for women in labor to shake. It does feel unsettling but it’s just one of many ways your body may react to the labor and delivery process.

Vomit.

I ate a pretty large meal (Red Robin)  prior to heading to the hospital with my first pregnancy and boy did I regret that one later.  As your body prepares for labor, it likes to clear itself out- for me that looked like throwing up my dinner into my lap because I didn’t have a barf bag nearby. Don’t worry, I got to fill some of those too. 

Vaginal Stitches.

So after you’ve done all this work of pushing this baby out, delivering the placenta, and you’re being handed your baby to meet and hold for the first time, if you’ve torn vaginaly, the doctor will need to stitch you up. I had all 4 of mine with no epidural, and this was the third most uncomfortable part of delivering a baby into the world (the first being the ring of fire and the second being transition contractions).
Holding your newborn baby is a nice distraction, but even with lidocaine being stitched up is not a pleasant experience. And recovery? Be prepared to use a squirt bottle to clean yourself for weeks and stock up on dermoplast spray. The Frida Mom line is pretty great too to aid in recovery from a vaginal tear.

PLANNING A NATURAL HOSPITAL BIRTH? Read my tips for following through with your birth plan.

After birth cramps.

So Seriously?! We’ve done all this work of delivering this baby, and then it takes MORE cramps for the uterus to shrink back down to normal size. Not only will the nurses be sure to “massage” that uterus, they might even give you pitocin ( so you don’t hemorrhage) to speed up the process- double ouch.
Icing on the cake? You’re ready to lovingly breastfeed and nurture your newborn child? Go ahead, just know it makes these cramps worse- and they get stronger with each pregnancy. Load me up on that ibuprofen!

Postpartum B.O.

Apparently babies need help finding their moms so our bodies help them out by putting off an extreme odor that says, “hey! Mom is right here!” Not joking. If you’re anything like me and super sensitive to smells, it really sucks to stink. You may have to switch deodorants a few times to find something that sort of helps.
I switched to Old Spice – again not joking- in the lavender scent because it smells lovely, not masculine at all and is aluminum free, which was also important to me since my babies basically live in my armpits for the first 3 months. Breastfeeding moms can relate.

PREPARING FOR BABY? Check out all my must haves for baby and postpartum recovery (aka the 4th trimester).

Basically what I’ve learned is childbirth isn’t fair and we have to go through a lot of uncomfortable experiences to bring a tiny human into the world. So next time you see a mom whether it’s your mom, or a mom  friend, or a mom stranger at the store, you better tell her she’s a frikin rockstar and give her a socially distanced air five because she deserves it, you deserve it!