My Post-Partum Physical Self-Care Check List

This is the Check-List my husband and I will be using to make sure I am taking care of myself during those first days and first weeks of recovery. It may seem like it's over-kill, but I had a very rough recovery after my first baby. I want to do everything I can to take care of myself and prevent any long-term issues.

It's a lot of tasks, but it seems less daunting when they are organized by the 5 B's....Belly, Bladder, Bottom, Breast and Bleeding. Got it? Okay, here goes...


Belly

• Breathing exercises (spend 5 minutes a day doing Mindful Breathing Exercises)
• Belly-binding on after each run to the bathroom begun after 24 hours
• Either an Oil Massage or Belly Herbal Paste put on after each bathroom run
• Crampbark and Motherwort tincture for after-birth cramping pains (supposedly after-birth pains are much, much more noticeable and painful your second Birth)
• Heated Rice Pack on Belly when needed
• Gentle Ab work-out beginning at day 3
• Post-Partum Full Body Massage at day 3 or 4 (these were the worst two days for me...pain-wise and as well as emotionally, so a Massage is a MUST on one of these days)
• Mother Roasting with moxibustion at day 4 or 5

Bladder

• Go to the bathroom regularly (after each time I nurse...I need to drink a glass of water or Herbal Tea and ask myself if I have to pee)
• Peri Bottle full of Herbal Tea spritzed every time I go to the Bathroom
• Kegels

Bottom

• Senna Tea
• Herbal Sitz Bath several times a day
• Sitting on a donut pillow
• Using witch hazel pads pressed against my perineum when making a bowel movement
• Homepathic Arnica pills every few hours for 1st several days to help with perineal pain (still skeptical about how helpful they can be, but it's worth a try)

Breast

• Drink 1 glass of water or Red Raspberry Leaf  with Nettle and Comfrey (for help with swelling and/ or tears) every time I nurse
• Drink Milk Makin Tea, if supply is low (I had the opposite issue the last time, so I doubt this will be a problem...but it's better to be prepared)
• Milk Makin Cookies
• Warm Shower when engorged
• Cabbage leaves in bra when engorged
• Healing Nipple Salve (Comfrey Root, Yarrow Leaf, Calendula Flower, Elder Flower)
• Breastfeeding Center for Greater Washington Phone # Ready (for home Lactation Consultant visit, if necessary)
• Breastfeeding Made Simple on my book-shelf

Bleeding

• Super Absorbent Maxi Pads
• Rule about number of Steps (going up or down steps once on Day 1, twice on Day 2, three times on Day 3, etc...)
• Pay attention to the amount I'm bleeding
• Call Midwife if flow is increasing rather than decreasing, I have a temperature of 100 degrees, the smell is off, or I am passing clots bigger than a golf-ball
• Shepherd's Purse Tincture to help slow bleeding