The emphasis of pregnancy, aside from the sweet little nugget it yields, is put on the labor and the pushing. Yes, it was absolutely brutal. There are several songs that played during my Push It playlist that I no longer can listen to. Level Up by Ciara. Uptown Girl by Billy Joel. Barracuda by Heart. It can be compared to striking certain songs from your iTunes after getting broken up with while they are in the background. But you know, worse.
My husband and I nearly forgot that I vomited during the first hour of pushing, that is, until the following Friday. And that was not even the worst bodily function I experienced during labor. As brutal as the pushing was, nobody – and I mean nobody – tells you how challenging the postpartum recovery is.
I am here to break it to you first-time moms-to-be: there is a reason they call it the fourth trimester. I am big on the phrase “proper planning and preparation prevents piss poor performance.” Preparing your home for your baby is standard, but preparing your home for your postpartum needs is just as crucial. I highly advise expecting mothers to purchase the following items – purchased, used, and proven successful in my own fourth trimester – for recovery or better yet, include multiples of them in your registry.
And this is what I lived in afterwards, and if we are being honest, longer than I should have thanks to the quarantine lock down.