Everybody has their own pregnancy, birth, and postpartum story. I was lucky enough to have a pretty uneventful pregnancy. When it came time for birth, I opted for a c-section due to some risks of giving birth naturally to an estimated “larger” baby (he ended up being 8lb 11oz so sturdy but not huge).
Here’s where my postpartum story begins…in the recovery room right after being handed a newborn while getting stitched up on the table.
My first vitals check in the recovery room showed a VERY high blood pressure (BP) reading. They were a tad concerned but assumed it would go down as the night went on but mind you, I hadn’t slept the night before because I was so nervous and now I have a baby so would not being sleeping again for some time, or at least solid sleep that is required to heal from surgery.
As the night went on, my BP stayed high and I started to get a consistent headache so now they were nervous about postpartum preclampsia which can become very serious if not caught. They were monitoring me all night and into the morning. When it still hadn’t gone down, they told me I had to go on BP meds and if that didn’t work, I would be staying in the hospital for a special treatment to try to lower it. So here we go on BP meds which I have never had an issue with including during pregnancy. My BP started going down after the meds but then would spike and my headache was still there which is a symptom of preclampsia. I was starting to worry which didn’t help. Oh also, I now have a newborn that I’m up with all the time. The Saturday morning OB came in and when I told her everything I was feeling and went through, she told me to drink a coffee and I did. Headache gone and we were discharged Saturday night.
On to the rest of my fourth trimester, there were ups and downs. I definitely had postpartum depression which for me looked like crying a ton (including just from looking at my baby and feeling so much love and fear it scared me), rage towards my husband, and feeling like I’ve lost myself completely. They would give me these “tests” to determine if I was mentally ok. My midwife who saw me last gave me the best advice- go walk outside. I prioritized that for a month and I swear it cured me. I felt more leveled out, less amped, and was able to cope way better.
Back to the BP meds. For 3 months after, I was still on BP lowering meds. I started to feel really dizzy everytime I stood up, I couldn’t squat down to my baby, and there were times that I had to set him down quick because I felt like I was about to pass out. I told my OB and they said they didn’t handle meds and I had to go see my PCP which didn’t make sense to me since an OB put me on them. But anyway, I went to my PCP and she confirmed my BP was now crazy low. On to weening off of them but I still had all of the lovely side affects of BP meds which if you don’t know them, lucky you. Worst poops of my life and that’s all the detail you need. But I finally took myself off of them, kept walking daily, and now feel the best I’ve felt since 7 months pregnant.
Now I’m back to working out, making deep core work a priority (I’ve been using the NATAL app, highly recommend). I’m still experiencing some postpartum “symptoms” but overall, I’m good. I’ve been very lucky compared to some stories which is why I try not to compare but just share.
Share your postpartum story in the comments or something you learned about yourself during your Fourth Trimester!
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