1. Getting discharged from the hospital can take a long time. Once a doctor tells you it’s okay to go it’ll likely few more hours before you’re really cleared to leave. Social security and birth certificate forms must be filled out, discharge instructions have to be explained, a wheelchair and nurse have to be found to wheel you out. So don’t have your parter drive the car to the pickup lane the minute a doctor tells you you’re good to go: you’ll have plenty of time to pack!
2. Unless you had a planned c-section your labia and perineum will likely be swollen and sore for days. To make a home peri-pad, put ice in a diaper, fold the diaper into a rectangle, securing it with tabs, and place in your underwear.
3. If you’ve had a c-section an elastic abdominal support band will be a huge help, holding your abs in as they heal and reducing the pain when you stand up or bend. If you don’t get one from the hospital, use wide bandages wrapped tightly and topped with a maternity support band.
4. The bathroom breaks aren’t over yet. The strain of delivery on nerves and ligaments can mean that the frequent trips to pee aren’t over yet, it can take a few weeks for your muscles to heal. In the meantime, Kegel.
5. Use warm water in a perineal squirt bottle and rinse from front to back, then use a washcloth soaked in warm water to dab instead of wipe. Dabbing with toilet paper is also okay, but warm water and a warm washcloth is much better.
6. You’ll be in maternity clothes for a while. It takes weeks for your body to shed the water weight of pregnancy. In the meantime, clothes from your second trimester will probably fit now.
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