Six weeks before giving birth
Start thinking about baby care essentials. You will need: a stroller, a basket or cradle for sleeping, a changing table, plenty of diapers (reusable or disposable), and clothes for the newborn. There is no need to buy everything at once, but it is worth taking a closer look at the assortment in stores to get an idea of what is on sale, decide what suits your taste best and will suit your lifestyle. If you are going to return from the maternity hospital by car, then you need to prepare a car seat in advance, since transporting children in a car without special child seats is prohibited. The hospital phone number should be in a visible place in your home, and always have it with you in your bag wherever you go. All necessary records, just in case, should also always be with you.
A month before giving birth
- Stock up on the required amount of frozen and shelf-stable foods so that you don’t have to go to the supermarket with your baby immediately after arriving from the hospital.
- Make sure that the gas tank of your car is always full, and money to pay for parking at the maternity hospital should also always be at hand.
- Arrange for them to take you to and pick you up from the maternity hospital. This can be done by the child's father, relative or girlfriend. It is important that you can contact this person at any time, and also organize a backup plan just in case.
- If you have a child, arrange with a friend or relatives to look after him while you are in the maternity hospital; Tell your child about what will happen during your stay in the hospital.
- Prepare a gift for your older child to give upon return from the hospital as a “baby gift” so that your older child doesn’t feel abandoned.
- Stock up on cartoons and new books to watch and read with your older child while you feed your baby.
- Make a list of gifts that you would really like to receive. Ask friends and family to use this list when purchasing gifts. There is nothing wrong with asking your loved ones to cooperate and buy a large item.
- If you know in advance that you will have a caesarean section, make sure that when you return there will be someone nearby to help, since you will not be able to drive a car, lift weights or do active housework. Typically, recovery from a cesarean section takes longer than recovery from a vaginal birth.
- No matter how your birth went, extra help never hurts. So ask close friends and family for help. Let them know exactly how they can help. Never refuse offered help.
Unpleasant surprises
Chemical and hormonal imbalances in a new mother's body can cause a number of strange and sometimes alarming reactions. One fairly common one is excessive sweating, as your metabolism increases while breastfeeding.
Another response by the body results in significant hair loss—often as a result of thickening of the hair structure during pregnancy. Get a blood test to check your iron level, as it has most likely dropped too. However, rest assured that all this is usually temporary.
Along with other parts of the body, the bladder is subjected to serious testing during pregnancy and, possibly, during childbirth too. This can cause temporary pressure, urinary incontinence, and occasional leaks when coughing or laughing. Once the muscles recover, this will pass. The bladder is also more susceptible to infection immediately after your baby is born, so make sure you drink plenty of water and take great care of your personal hygiene.
The main thing is to remain calm, because a woman’s body is created to give birth to children, which means that nature provides all the mechanisms for a quick and effective recovery after pregnancy. And everything will get better soon!
Recovery after childbirth
Nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for how overwhelming the birth of your baby will be. Your genitals will be sore, your breasts will be tender, large and unfamiliar, and you will likely experience mood swings due to hormonal changes. Over the next few weeks, you will experience a strange sensation, as if you were in the twilight zone, where day and night have merged into one. You seem to be in a fog, you feel exhausted, but happy. You will never experience such fatigue again in your life, but at the same time, your love for your child will be so overwhelming that sometimes you will even cry with happiness.
Exercises to strengthen your stomach, legs and buttocks
The following exercise helps to remove extra pounds from the stomach and stretch the spine, as well as the muscles of the legs. Stand straight with your feet as wide as possible with your toes inward. The right hand touches the left elbow, the left hand touches the right elbow. We don't bend our knees. We lean forward as low as possible, alternately to the right and then to the left leg.
Exercise "Flight". Lie on your left side, put your legs together, rise on your left arm (without bending at the elbow), the right one should remain along the body. Take a deep breath and exhale and begin to stretch with your right hand and toes in different directions, as if you are being pulled from both ends by your arm and legs.
Raise your arm up, repeat 5 times, then roll over to the other side. The exercise pumps up the oblique muscles of the abdomen and legs, and removes fat from the waist.
Immediately after birth
If your birth took place in a maternity hospital, then try to get plenty of rest and learn how to care for your newborn baby. Nurses and midwives will spend maximum free time with you, teaching you how to properly feed your baby, change nappies and diapers, bathe your baby, etc. If you are not receiving enough attention from medical staff, be sure to report this. You will also be visited regularly by your pediatrician for the first time after returning from the hospital. He will teach you everything you need to know about caring for a newborn and answer any questions you may have. According to statistics, 10% of children are born premature. The first time after birth, when premature babies are immediately transferred to the neonatal intensive care unit, is full of anxiety and excitement. After all, the doctor considered additional medical care necessary for the child. Any mother is scared to see her small and fragile baby, wrapped in wires, lying in an incubator, but do not forget that during this period you take everything too seriously, and your child is in the hands of professionals.
Beauty salon for pregnant women
In order not to guess which salon procedures are useful during pregnancy and which are not, use the advice of Yulia Verezey:
- You can make moisturizing face masks with hyaluronic acid and plant extracts to restore dry, tight skin and return it to a feeling of comfort.
- Chemical peels and laser resurfacing are not recommended. Attending hardware procedures and anti-cellulite massages is strictly prohibited.
- All thermal (including saunas and steam baths), as well as “cooling” procedures are contraindicated for pregnant women.
When it comes to choosing cosmetics, it is better to choose hypoallergenic products. Among the favorites of the stars is the Weleda
. Jessica Alba used this brand of oil both after her first and second pregnancies. Demi Moore and Helena Christensen also adore these natural Swiss cosmetics.
Another brand dearly loved by many heroines of gossip columns is Clarins
. All body care products from this brand can be safely used by pregnant women. Our favorites are the Gommage Exfoliant Peau Neuve softening body cream with bamboo powder and Tonic body oil with rosemary, mint and hazelnut oil. The first gently exfoliates, while the second nourishes the skin and increases its firmness and elasticity. The oil can be applied directly in the shower to damp skin - it is perfectly absorbed and does not leave a greasy residue. For increased tone, we recommend another natural oil - Relax, which relaxes and gives a feeling of comfort.
Breasts during pregnancy need special support - in the most literal sense of the word. To avoid stretch marks, wear a special bra and remember to moisturize your skin regularly. It is better to start early, especially since after childbirth it will not be so convenient to do this due to feeding.
There is no need to rush into losing weight after childbirth. For example, the super popular model Arizona Muse, who began to thrive after the birth of her son, advises assessing your shape only after a year: “At this time, you should not chase your figure. Give your body a break from exercise, dieting and other nonsense. Breastfeed! I am all for feeding. I love this process."
Returning home with baby
Most mothers stay in the hospital for 3-4 days after giving birth, so by the time you return home, your milk is just starting to appear, postpartum depression is overtaking you, and relatives and friends are already rushing to visit. Below are recommendations regarding the first days after returning from the hospital:
- Forget about homework and cooking, use your free time to sleep.
- Remember to remind yourself that this chaos will not last long and everything will fall into place soon.
- Remind yourself that in order to produce milk, the mother needs peace and rest (write this on paper and ask the baby's father to read it out loud to you in the morning).
- Don't be overly concerned about bathing your baby. If your baby loves to bathe (by the way, dads can bathe children just as well as moms), then this is just great. If your baby does not like to take baths, then you can limit yourself to washing and rinsing for several days.
- Don't worry about day and night clothes for your baby - he won't notice the difference. It is important for the child to wear clean clothes; as long as the child is clean, changing clothes twice a day is not necessary.
- If your baby is fussy, try holding him in your arms in different positions, and if this does not help, ask someone else to hold him. Very often, babies calm down in the arms of a calmer person (especially if his body does not smell of breast milk). If there is no one nearby to help you, put your baby in the crib/basket, make sure he is safe, and leave him alone for a few minutes. Sometimes kids can get overstimulated and just need some time to “cool down.”
- Don't torment yourself by counting the number of times you had to get up and go to your baby in the middle of the night. It already seems to you that you have broken all records for the degree of exhaustion compared to other mothers of newborns. It is much better to calmly get up and approach the baby in a relaxed, half-asleep state, and it is better to turn the clock face to the wall. Soon you will get used to it and will wake up in the morning, not remembering exactly whether you had to get up that night.
Don't lose face
On the contrary, you need to start taking care of your facial skin as early as possible. All the stars, without saying a word, claim that motherhood is a great happiness and it is worth enduring all the sleepless nights for the sake of their baby’s smile. However, not everyone will risk appearing in public with circles under their eyes, like Victoria Beckham. Each of them has a dozen products in their arsenal to relieve puffiness of the eyelids. They say that Hilary Duff uses patches under her eyes, and if they run out, she successfully replaces them with cucumber slices. The young mother is as fresh as the morning rose.
You can maintain a healthy complexion from the inside.
To amaze others with radiant skin, Tatyana Zaletova recommends drinking at least two liters of water a day and eating vegetable salads with unrefined vegetable oil every day, which contains valuable vitamin E. However, you should not consume more than one spoon of oil per day - in addition to the necessary substances also contain free radicals, which will definitely not bring any benefit to the skin. Milk, apples, citrus fruits, grapes, tomatoes and black currants are also useful - they contain alpha hydroxy acids that promote the formation of new cells. They are also worth looking for in cosmetics: masks and creams with AHA acids act directly on the skin and are therefore more effective.
What problems did you encounter during and after pregnancy? And how were they solved?
Postpartum changes to a woman's body
After childbirth, a woman's body needs recovery. You will bleed quite heavily (even if you delivered by Caesarean section), and your breasts may leak colostrum. Don't expect to experience sexual attraction!
Your nightwear will consist of a nursing bra with breast pads, large undies with a huge sanitary pad and a roomy nightgown that will hide it all while you walk around with your baby in your arms all night. But rest assured, all this will pass. The bleeding stops about a month after birth (and sometimes much earlier), the breasts will stop leaking as soon as a certain feeding rhythm is established, and, naturally, the baby will gradually develop a sleep pattern, which means you can spend most of the night in bed, enjoying night sleep!
Breast filling
Immediately after your baby is born, your breasts contain a special form of milk called colostrum, which is fortified with nutrients that boost the baby's immune system. In the first days, your breasts will be soft, but after 3-4 days they may become engorged, hardened, hot and painful. It is important from the very first hours to start putting the baby to the breast as often as possible and to drink little by little in the first days, then overflow and unpleasant sensations can be avoided. Wearing a special bra for breastfeeding women also helps.
If your chest is full, you can ease the condition somewhat by straining it under a warm shower or applying a compress made from a simple cabbage leaf. If you are unable to cope with the pain on your own, seek help from a lactation consultant.
Two weeks after birth
Two weeks after giving birth, a difficult time may come for you, when fatigue from lack of sleep will accumulate, and the primary euphoria and delight “I have become a mother!” will gradually pass. In addition, your baby, who previously slept well, may begin to experience intestinal colic, and the level of crying will increase significantly. We suggest you use our recommendations:
- Contact your pediatrician. This is a qualified specialist in the field of child health, and he will offer you many options for solving problems.
- Ask for help from friends and relatives who visit you. For example, ask them to keep the baby busy while you shower. Remember that now it’s not you who have to take care of the guests, but they of you!
- Never refuse offered help. We advise you to make a list of necessary work and ask the person offering you their services to perform some of them.
- If you can’t shake the feeling that everyone is only interested in the baby, but you are not, then constantly tell yourself: “I carried this child. I'm amazing. I matter a lot." And repeat it. Often.
