Things to look forward to after giving birth that no one told you about

Pregnancy is such a beautiful thing. You are literally bringing a life inside you. As you count down the days, weeks and months you are pretty excited and cannot wait to meet your little one. New moms makes motherhood seem like a breeze when they post on social media or when you see them in real life however, reality check here! It is not as easy as it seems. Here are some things they did not tell you happens after giving birth to your bundle of joy.

1. Those sore breasts!

Ugh! Omg! Just reminiscing makes it feel like I am experiencing it again! After your baby is born you do not produce milk until about 1-2 days after. What your baby will get is called colostrum which are basically disease fighting antibodies which will help to strengthen your baby's immune system. For me personally, for the first 3 days after giving birth my breasts were so swollen and tender to the point that I could not lay on my chest and it brought me to tears! I do not know whether it was the build up of milk but the feeling was unbearable that I just cried myself to sleep and made my mom give my baby formula because I could not even breastfeed. What helped a bit was dipping a towel in warm water and pressing it down on my breasts. My mom then told me that the same thing happened to her when she was pregnant with my sister.The following day the pain was bearable but gosh! I wish someone warned me before!

                              

2. The latching process

In order to breastfeed your baby you have to help them to properly latch. My baby boy is now 8 months old and he has still not latched on properly which is why he is a formula baby. It is not easy! Midwives at the hospital and nurses tried their best to help me to let my little one latch but it was impossible. I felt like it was my fault and cried because I did not think he was getting the nutrients he needed. He would only latch to the top half of my nipple which made my nipples VERY sore and I just could not take it anymore because it was extremely painful! For some it will take time and for others it might not happen at all but no matter what do not get flustered and be hard on yourself.

                                         

3. Your body is EXTREMELY tired

I do not know why or what causes it but you just always feel tired even if you just laid in bed all day doing nothing. Sometimes I would fall asleep while feeding my baby (which is not safe but just showing you how tired you can get). The tiredness gets really real! It is good to always have extra hands around to help because you do not want to be falling asleep with the baby in your hands and next thing the baby slides right out.

                      

4. You will be bleeding for daysssss!

You get excited when you do not get to see your period because you're pregnant right? But you have to payback mother nature lol. After giving birth you have constant bleeding for about 2-3 weeks. According to BabyCentre UK, this happens due to the removal of the placenta. Most of the bleeding comes from where the placenta is moved away from the wall of the uterus. Sometimes it is also due to tears you receive from giving birth. So make sure you stock up on sanitary napkins...lots of them! And not the regular ones either. You need the maternity pads that are long and covers the length of your underwear. You can also get underwear with material that can be easily washed out so in case you bleed a lot to mess up your panties, you can easily wash the blood stains out.

 


Overall, the development of your bundle of joy will let you look back and say it was all worth it! Cheers on being a soon to be mom and WELCOME to motherhood!