recovery

Some of my dear friends were great about warning me about the truths of labor. So I just thought I'd put some of them out there since this is currently what my bathroom looked for a week or 2 after birth. I had a whole pharmacy going on in there.

• William has been a saint considering for the first week he was not only changing Owen's diapers, but mine too. :) What I mean is that I needed him in the bathroom for the first few days since my legs would lift up past a couple inches. He filled diapers with ice, got my spray water bottle ready, and made sure I stayed up on my Advil. He was a lifesaver through all this! 3 weeks later, I'm still using that handy little spray bottle.
  
• If you though hemorrhoids were bad during pregnancy, it won't touch the pain of them after pushing out 8 1/2 pounds of baby. But I will say that they're healing much faster than in pregnancy. This is probably due to the fact that I don't have tons of baby pushing down on that area all the time. Tucks pads are a girls best friend.
  
• Ask for stool softeners immediately. I held off as long as I could before going to the bathroom, but holy cow it feels like you're giving birth again.
  
• I'm feeling pretty much like myself now 3 weeks out, minus the stitches. I'm sure they're dissolved by now, but I definitely know exactly where that nice rip was!
  
• Nipple cream - use it generously and use it often! I love the cloth nursing pads that Lori got me from Etsy. They're much less itchy than the disposable ones. I'm not sure the exact site she got them from, but this picture is from beebersbutts.