Speaker 1: Oh baby, my baby, belof I need you, Oh how
Speaker 1: I need you? What do you you expect? As a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio, I'm your host, Heiny Murkoff, and
Speaker 1: I'm a mom on a mission, a mission to help
Speaker 1: you know what to expect every step of the way. Congratulations,
Speaker 1: The heavy lift of pregnancy and the possibly even heavier
Speaker 1: lift of labor and delivery is over and now comes
Speaker 1: the easy lift. Instead of carting around a watermelon sized belly,
Speaker 1: you get to snuggle your tiny bundle of joy and
Speaker 1: savor that fresh baby sweetness and e l c figure
Speaker 1: out how to pee again, why your feet are so
Speaker 1: puffy and why that nurse keeps coming into your room
Speaker 1: pumping on your poor aching belly and calling it uterine massage.
Speaker 1: Even if you sail through pregnancy and have the easiest
Speaker 1: labor and delivery on record, and especially if you didn't,
Speaker 1: your body has been stretched and pushed to the max
Speaker 1: and it needs a chance to recover. Let's face it,
Speaker 1: giving birth comes with more than a baby. It comes
Speaker 1: with a whole lot of new symptoms and new questions,
Speaker 1: wondering what you can expect when you're all finished expecting. Today,
Speaker 1: M and I are here to deliver the good, the bad,
Speaker 1: and the very unexpected about your postpartum recovery, whether you're
Speaker 1: still in the hospital, trying to rest up at home,
Speaker 1: or just trying to plan ahead so you'll be ahead
Speaker 1: of the game. We've got your postpartum questions covered, so
Speaker 1: you know what to expect every step of the way.
Speaker 1: So as we all know by now, I didn't have
Speaker 1: a clue of what to expect until I wrote What
Speaker 1: to Expect, so everything was the rise. Now, Emma, what
Speaker 1: would you say surprise you most about postpartum? What were
Speaker 1: the physical symptoms that threw you for a loop? Okay,
Speaker 1: so I remember the first time I got out of bed,
Speaker 1: I looked in the mirror and I was like, holy shit,
Speaker 1: my boobs look amazing. In my entire life, they had
Speaker 1: never looked this good. I mean, I guess maybe they hurt,
Speaker 1: but I didn't even care. I was like wow. Emotionally,
Speaker 1: with Lennox, I was like on euphoria. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: I was happy. I was like wow, for the first
Speaker 1: time in my life. I didn't use my phone, but
Speaker 1: with Sevy I was. I had horrible postparmed depression, so
Speaker 1: I didn't really even like him. Um, so I didn't
Speaker 1: really want to be around him. And I know that's
Speaker 1: hard to say. Now I can say it like and
Speaker 1: be like, you know, this is my journey. But at first,
Speaker 1: obviously it's really hard to accept. But with Lennox it
Speaker 1: was completely different, and I was like, I got this.
Speaker 1: I think the only thing for me. I thought that
Speaker 1: right away my belly would be gone and it wasn't.
Speaker 1: And I remember I was like, wait a second, I
Speaker 1: have these amazing boobs, but I also look pregnant. So
Speaker 1: so when I asked my Facebook moms what surprised them
Speaker 1: most about postpartum, one thing that I did here over
Speaker 1: and over again was, you know, I didn't expect breastfeeding
Speaker 1: to be that hard. I thought it was a natural process.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of come naturally. And so many moms
Speaker 1: said they regretted not taking a class or reading up
Speaker 1: in advance, because then they felt completely unprepared. You have
Speaker 1: thoughts on this, cop I do. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of thoughts on this topic. Um. First of all, I
Speaker 1: couldn't breastfeed, and that was hard to accept with my first.
Speaker 1: With my second, I let it go easier. But I
Speaker 1: thought that was just like this most like organic thing
Speaker 1: on earth. But it wasn't in terms of classes. I
Speaker 1: did one lamas or whatever it's called class and I quit.
Speaker 1: I just couldn't do it, Like, I'm just not that person.
Speaker 1: So you asked the same question of your mom. There
Speaker 1: were some of the things that you heard. I heard
Speaker 1: some really interesting ones that I've never actually heard before. Um,
Speaker 1: someone set their joints felt wobbly after birth. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: the hormone relaxing, which is appropriately named so it's it
Speaker 1: loosens up all your ligaments, which is great when you're
Speaker 1: getting ready for childbirth because you want everything to be
Speaker 1: all loosened up so baby can come out. But the
Speaker 1: flip side, it can take months for that relax and
Speaker 1: to leave the building, and in the meantime everything is
Speaker 1: so wobbly, and plus you've stretched everything out quite a
Speaker 1: bit while you're waiting for the relaxing to tighten back
Speaker 1: up again. You need to support yourself at least some
Speaker 1: of the time. With a belly band really takes the
Speaker 1: pressure off. You're a big fan, love belly bandit. Okay,
Speaker 1: so this is actually really I had no idea this
Speaker 1: was a thing because I didn't have a C section.
Speaker 1: One of my followers said that they were bleeding even
Speaker 1: with a c section. Yep. So here's the thing. I
Speaker 1: thought that a lot of moms are super surprised. But
Speaker 1: the blood has accumulated during the nine months of pregnancy,
Speaker 1: the blood and the tissue that was, you know, keeping
Speaker 1: your baby nourished in your uterine lining. So the thing
Speaker 1: is it only has one exit, only one way it
Speaker 1: can leave, and that's through your vagina. So whether you
Speaker 1: had a c section or you had a vaginal birth,
Speaker 1: that blood's gotta go. You're going to have heavy bleeding
Speaker 1: at first clots, that's the tissue. I remember the first
Speaker 1: time I got out of bed after I had you
Speaker 1: and there was this gush of blood because of course
Speaker 1: when you're lying down, it all accumulates and then you
Speaker 1: stand up, and so be prepared for that um If
Speaker 1: you get home from the hospital and it started tapering
Speaker 1: off and then you notice is starting again, one thing
Speaker 1: to consider as your overdoing things and you need a
Speaker 1: little bit more rest. But if it continues to be
Speaker 1: or suddenly is very heavy or has a fell smell,
Speaker 1: it just smell like a period. Otherwise, if you have
Speaker 1: any kind of sudden heavy bleeding, than definitely call your
Speaker 1: doctor right away or if you're still in the hospital,
Speaker 1: called the nurse um. A lot of people said that
Speaker 1: mommy brain was a thing. I know that's a thing
Speaker 1: because I sometimes like literally have to sit there and
Speaker 1: be like, okay, what is my name? Yep, yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's a thing. I get it. I feel you grow solidarity. No,
Speaker 1: for sure, you know, of course it's the hormones. Your
Speaker 1: brain shrinks eight percent when you're pregnant, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: bounce right back, so there's sleep deprivation. There's lots of
Speaker 1: reasons why you're pouring your o J into your coffee
Speaker 1: or your coffee into your cereal. Okay, um, what about
Speaker 1: contractions while nursing in the first two weeks. These are
Speaker 1: called after pains, but you have them whether or not
Speaker 1: your breastfeed. You just feel them more intensely when you're breastfeeding.
Speaker 1: That's because you're releasing oxytocin. And oxytocin is a hormone
Speaker 1: that helps your uterus contract after you give birth, and
Speaker 1: that's a good thing. You wanted to contract, but I mean,
Speaker 1: you thought labor was over. These can be prettieddarn painful,
Speaker 1: and you're definitely going to notice the more after your
Speaker 1: second or third baby or subsequent babies, because just like
Speaker 1: you do with kicks and racks and hicks, everything sort
Speaker 1: of you know, as I like to say, has that
Speaker 1: lived in Look your uterus, your uterine muscles, your abdominal muscles,
Speaker 1: and so everything is more relaxed. So it can be
Speaker 1: pretty painful. What about the pain of stitches? D I know,
Speaker 1: I know, and I had a basiotomies because that's what
Speaker 1: they did back in the day. Thankfully they don't do
Speaker 1: those routinely anymore. But you know, if you tear at all,
Speaker 1: you're going to have stitches. But the thing is, your
Speaker 1: baby is like what eight nine pounds, seven eight pounds,
Speaker 1: They're not going to pass through without leaving a mark,
Speaker 1: and it's gonna hurt, right, But if you have stitches,
Speaker 1: think about it this way. It's a wound like any
Speaker 1: other and it's going to take time to heal um
Speaker 1: and like any stitches you have, they're gonna take time
Speaker 1: to heal. One thing you need to do is keep
Speaker 1: your hands off of it because a lot of moms
Speaker 1: want to touch to see how it's recovering. Don't do that.
Speaker 1: Leave it be, use your peri bottle, and I know
Speaker 1: which peribottle you like to recommend. It changes the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so the whole idea is to keep the area clean
Speaker 1: without rubbing. You don't want to do rubbing. Something else
Speaker 1: you can try is a sits path, you know, or
Speaker 1: putting cold pax in your maxipads, some of them postpartum
Speaker 1: ND where it comes with cold pax. And then keegels.
Speaker 1: You're not going to feel them as you do them
Speaker 1: right away, but do them anyway because that's going to
Speaker 1: help tone the area and bring blood flow back, the
Speaker 1: good kind of blood flow back to your paraanegum um.
Speaker 1: And also sit on a doughnut pillar. I cannot recommend
Speaker 1: that more. I literally would not go anywhere without my doughnut.
Speaker 1: It's saved me. Okay, what about all of those emotions?
Speaker 1: So many people talk about this, it's a big thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: talk to me. So your emotions initially are going to
Speaker 1: be all over the map. I mean you could feel
Speaker 1: anything from just completely overwhelmed, um like who is this
Speaker 1: stranger sniffing at my breast? You can also feel like
Speaker 1: over the moon excited. So there are all kinds of
Speaker 1: ways you can feel initially and we're going to talk
Speaker 1: about that a little bit later, but just be prepared
Speaker 1: to go with the flow at first. Okay, So, if
Speaker 1: you're wondering what to expect after delivery, postpartum is one
Speaker 1: of the most common trending topics in the what to
Speaker 1: Expect community, and one we ask for your biggest surprises
Speaker 1: of postpartum and your best tips for surviving and thriving.
Speaker 1: You definitely were not shy about sharing. Now. A lot
Speaker 1: of people talked not fondly about the uterine massages or
Speaker 1: fundel massages um you get after delivery. Massage does sound
Speaker 1: like fun and you know, restorative after you've just given birth,
Speaker 1: and who doesn't like a good massage? But um, not
Speaker 1: so much with this kind it can hurt like a mother. Emma,
Speaker 1: do you remember that? Did I have one? Yeah? You
Speaker 1: always have one. Sometimes moms only need one after after delivery,
Speaker 1: and sometimes depending on their needs, they might need more UM.
Speaker 1: And it's to help the u uterus contract and prove
Speaker 1: an excessive leading. I think it's coming back to me.
Speaker 1: I was so like freaked out after Sevy because I
Speaker 1: was so like just disconnected, so I don't really remember anything. Well,
Speaker 1: that's probably good in this case because my mom's report
Speaker 1: as so painful. And you know, even if the nurse
Speaker 1: is super nice, you know they're coming in and they're
Speaker 1: pounding on your abdomen. It can hurt, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: have one, whether you have vaginal birth or c section.
Speaker 1: Now something else. I know you're super eager to talk
Speaker 1: about the first poop out. Okay, So this I remember
Speaker 1: because I was literally sitting on the toilet the whole
Speaker 1: entire time texting my friend. I was like texting her,
Speaker 1: I was like, it's coming. I'm scared. I'm scared. She's like,
Speaker 1: just let it go. I'm like, yeah, I'm scared. It's
Speaker 1: good to her and she's like, just let it go.
Speaker 1: So and then afterwards looks like I did it and
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel great. But I remember, like there's a
Speaker 1: lot of blood. Yeah. Now, um. One thing that a
Speaker 1: lot of moms mentioned about their first poop is that
Speaker 1: the stool softener is your friend. Yea, So if they
Speaker 1: don't give it to you, and they will, but just
Speaker 1: in case they forget, make sure you ask for your
Speaker 1: school softener. They're gonna give you some to take home
Speaker 1: with you, but just in case, have some at home,
Speaker 1: because the softer your school is going to be, clearly
Speaker 1: the easier it's going to be to push out and
Speaker 1: the less painful. Also, when you're on the potty, put
Speaker 1: a stool under your feet and lean forward, one of
Speaker 1: those called squatty potties. People like, yeah, I mean there's
Speaker 1: a product for everything. Um, And then you can use
Speaker 1: a little lubrication just like when your your baby's constipated,
Speaker 1: so that it can slide out more easily. But even
Speaker 1: more importantly, get up as soon as you can and
Speaker 1: you're able, so that you can get literally things moving.
Speaker 1: Drink lots and lots of water, and those hospital carps
Speaker 1: are going to clog you up, so bring some healthy snacks,
Speaker 1: some something whole grain, some fruit, dried fruit, and try
Speaker 1: probiotics because those can definitely help and no harm. I
Speaker 1: think for me it was the wipe being that was
Speaker 1: the situation, like the worst part of it. So that's
Speaker 1: why my little frieda baby Freedom Mom squirt bottle came
Speaker 1: in hand. You scored it, squired and then dab a
Speaker 1: little dabble, do you, yes, absolutely, and don't forget to
Speaker 1: wipe from front to back. That's important, especially when you're
Speaker 1: trying to prevent infection postpartum. Okay, now peeing because you
Speaker 1: gotta pee. This is kind of ironic because you spent
Speaker 1: most of your pregnancy peeing and then you give birth
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, like you feel like you
Speaker 1: can't pee, and they are on top of you at
Speaker 1: the hospital. Did you pee? Did you pee? How much
Speaker 1: did you pee? They want you to pee into a
Speaker 1: basin so they can measure your output. First of all,
Speaker 1: pee lying down is really hard. If you had an epidural,
Speaker 1: you had a casseter, so that's one thing um, and
Speaker 1: if you had a c section, everything's going to take longer,
Speaker 1: but it regardless. Your poor bladder has taken a beating
Speaker 1: during labor and delivery, especially if you had a vaginal
Speaker 1: on birth, it may feel paralyzed. You also have a
Speaker 1: lot of swelling, and the swelling makes it harder to pee.
Speaker 1: The old tricks apply. Run some water because that can
Speaker 1: inspire you, run the faucet and also runs some water
Speaker 1: over your pareneum because that can inspire you as well.
Speaker 1: There are no secrets between you and your nurse, right, No,
Speaker 1: They're going to see everything and here everything. So what
Speaker 1: were your p experiences? Emma. Um, see, the p doesn't
Speaker 1: really like stand out as much as the poo. It
Speaker 1: can burn, Yeah, definitely burn. So straddle you pee a
Speaker 1: drop and then it's like testing the water. So it's
Speaker 1: like putting your feet in the pool. It's I don't know,
Speaker 1: you gotta do with though. You don't want to like
Speaker 1: implode with pa. Well, no, and they won't let you
Speaker 1: leave the hospital unless you're peeing normally. And so again,
Speaker 1: if you've had a catheter, they may have to reinsert
Speaker 1: it just to get the recipe out. But yeah, work
Speaker 1: on drinking lots of water. What about night sweats? Did
Speaker 1: you have night sweats? Girlfriend? I had all day sweats. Honestly,
Speaker 1: one mom said it was like someone dump buckets of
Speaker 1: water on her multiple times a night and she had
Speaker 1: to sleep on towels and changed the sheets through the night.
Speaker 1: You have all of this accumulated fluid, which you may
Speaker 1: be happy to get rid of, but maybe that's not
Speaker 1: the number way you number one way you feel like
Speaker 1: getting rid of it, but you're gonna sweat so um.
Speaker 1: On kind of a related topic, women talked about being smelly. Okay,
Speaker 1: so first of all, there's lots of sources of smelliness
Speaker 1: after you give birth because there's the lochia. So that's
Speaker 1: like having your period, but you can't wear a tampon,
Speaker 1: so you've got this big pad full of blood. You
Speaker 1: may be as soon as mal comes in any way,
Speaker 1: covered in spit up. You know. The other thing is
Speaker 1: that babies actually use their mom's scent as a honing device.
Speaker 1: So you know, your sweat is your baby's like radar.
Speaker 1: So because you're sweating a lot, and you have this
Speaker 1: distinctive odor around your armpits and your breasts, and that's
Speaker 1: why they tell you not to, you know, wash your
Speaker 1: breast with soap, among other things, but the baby is
Speaker 1: actually attracted to that scent. Another postpartum surprise is hair
Speaker 1: loss for some moms anyway. You know, some moms expected
Speaker 1: to have him right away and then they think, oh,
Speaker 1: I you escape this entirely, and it really kicks in
Speaker 1: close sort of two to four months postpartum, and it
Speaker 1: gets really bad at four months. You know. Of course,
Speaker 1: that's because all you hold onto your hair during pregnancy
Speaker 1: annal with all those hormones, and then it's it's just
Speaker 1: got to go. So another thing that mom's talked about
Speaker 1: was accepting their postpartum bodies. Um, what were your thoughts
Speaker 1: when you saw your postpartum body. I thought my TETs
Speaker 1: looked amazing. Um, I thought that my stomach looked like
Speaker 1: I've never seen it before. I've always been pretty like
Speaker 1: fit and so like after you have a baby, I
Speaker 1: was like, wait, whose stomach is this? But hey, it's mine.
Speaker 1: I remember crying on the floor of a Victory's secret
Speaker 1: pink dressing room because literally from that like mean girl quotes,
Speaker 1: nothing fits me but swoopants. But that's so true, true everybody.
Speaker 1: And like as much as I tell people embrace it,
Speaker 1: embrace it, like I don't follow that advice, And um,
Speaker 1: that's so it's important to admit. Yeah, but I think
Speaker 1: other people look beautiful after the having the baby. I'm smart.
Speaker 1: You think you're just harder on yourself because that's just
Speaker 1: how we are operating. But for me, like when I
Speaker 1: see a mom with stretch marks or her tommy, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, you just made a baby. That's amazing. But
Speaker 1: if I see it myself, I'm like, it's hard to
Speaker 1: embrace it. But I feel like it's so important. Making
Speaker 1: babies hard work. Let's face it. You're creating a human
Speaker 1: being from scratch, and you've got the badges that you
Speaker 1: should wear proudly. And I feel like it's helping that
Speaker 1: moms are sharing their bodies on Instagram. Maybe not so
Speaker 1: much as the celebrity bodies because you know, maybe they
Speaker 1: had a trainer, but real mom bodies are good for
Speaker 1: others to see. Now you're linear, Negra, the black lines.
Speaker 1: Still have it? You still have it. I love it.
Speaker 1: I love mine. It's still because at this point, because
Speaker 1: it fades, you know, months, you get it more after
Speaker 1: the second one. Sorry, faded. It's like my tattoo on
Speaker 1: my foot. It but it's still there, so I can
Speaker 1: still see mine, like if I really really really focus.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, when you first have the first
Speaker 1: positive pregnancy test and you can barely see the exact
Speaker 1: posting online. You do you see wine? I see one?
Speaker 1: Do you see a wine? But a lot of moms
Speaker 1: are surprised to be so puffy after they deliver, right,
Speaker 1: I was so puffy in my face. I looked like
Speaker 1: a cabbage patch doll. They're so cute though, So that's because, well,
Speaker 1: first of all, you had epidurals both times, and they
Speaker 1: pump you full of fluids. You can look super swollen
Speaker 1: after you leave the hospital. Now, you just got to
Speaker 1: remember that if there's excessive swelling once you get home,
Speaker 1: and especially if it's above the near in places like
Speaker 1: you wouldn't normally expect swelling, then definitely call your doctor.
Speaker 1: But something I want to say about pregnancy weaking and
Speaker 1: how long it takes to lose it. I mean, we've
Speaker 1: said this before, you've heard this before, but it takes
Speaker 1: nine months to gain it, and you've got to give
Speaker 1: yourself at least that long to lose it. Oh at least.
Speaker 1: I mean, you went right to get some new sweats, right,
Speaker 1: because I think maybe the ones you brought were too
Speaker 1: tight or yeah, I was in it to win it,
Speaker 1: you know, I was committed to the sweats. With the
Speaker 1: second one, I ordered extra large men's sweatpants because I
Speaker 1: was wearing a diaper. I don't need anything tight at
Speaker 1: that point. I need something loose. And you wanted high waisted,
Speaker 1: especially if you had a C section, because I was
Speaker 1: gonna put pressure on the scar. But lounge pants, you
Speaker 1: need the tie. You need the tie. Wi yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: So um. Many moms reported loving their new boobs. We
Speaker 1: already heard that you loved yours, and then a lot
Speaker 1: of them said they love their stretch marks. I love
Speaker 1: when people on Instagram poster stretch marks and add like
Speaker 1: glitter to it. Oh so cute. What were some of
Speaker 1: the things that mom's told you were the most helpful
Speaker 1: or that you found the most helpful postpartum? That freed
Speaker 1: the baby, That freed the baby. Score bottle saved me
Speaker 1: because it's got that curved head and it really gets
Speaker 1: in there, and plus you can use it afterwards as
Speaker 1: like a bi day, So there's um. Some practical things
Speaker 1: that moms on Instagram were all about. Breast gel pads
Speaker 1: really smart, the ones that you can cool and warm.
Speaker 1: Disposable underwear. That's a must because the last thing you
Speaker 1: want to do is like scrub panties that have blood
Speaker 1: and after birth, when you're dealing with any born um
Speaker 1: help really important. Having someone cook meals for you, like
Speaker 1: a family member, family support. You know a lot of
Speaker 1: things people love having, Like the gift is food delivery.
Speaker 1: Food delivery service. Maybe someone gives it to you for
Speaker 1: a week so you don't have to worry about breakfast, lunch,
Speaker 1: or dinner. Just gus on your grown family. Also the
Speaker 1: gift of being able to rest, having somebody watch the baby,
Speaker 1: let you nap off and on a few times a day.
Speaker 1: My two picks are the freedom the underwear and they
Speaker 1: donut Donut And I feel like many moms were all
Speaker 1: about the nipple butter. Yes, yeah, but I feel it
Speaker 1: has to be said that some moms really wanted their
Speaker 1: space and felt COVID was a blessing in disguise. I'm
Speaker 1: sure our silver lining because you didn't have a thousand
Speaker 1: people hovering over you gives you some uninterrupted bonding time. Now,
Speaker 1: one thing I have to say is that you've got
Speaker 1: to listen to your body, because your body is going
Speaker 1: to tell you when it's time to slow down. It's
Speaker 1: going to tell you if something's not quite normal. Because
Speaker 1: most of the symptoms you're gonna get postpartum are normal,
Speaker 1: the vast majority are normal. But they can be super uncomfortable,
Speaker 1: they can be super annoying. But when you have a
Speaker 1: doubt about symptom, I can't emphasize this enough. This is
Speaker 1: the first time you're gonna be using your mom gut
Speaker 1: if you feel something's wrong, if the bleeding seems too excessive.
Speaker 1: If you are in a lot of pain, if you
Speaker 1: have a blood pressure cuff and you notice your blood
Speaker 1: pressure is elevator, you have a racing heartbeat, trouble breathing,
Speaker 1: chest pain, leg pain, lots of excessive swelling, make sure
Speaker 1: you call the doctor right away. And I want to
Speaker 1: add something really fast. I think that you know, especially
Speaker 1: you mom Um, you're very like you don't want to
Speaker 1: bother anybody, but I feel like it's important in this situation,
Speaker 1: Like for me, Um, I'm sure if you guys follow me,
Speaker 1: you know the time I saved lenox is life because
Speaker 1: I had mom intuition. If I hadn't bugged the doctor
Speaker 1: on a Sunday, Lenox wouldn't be here today. And the
Speaker 1: same thing goes for your own health. And I think
Speaker 1: it's very important to always listen to that little voice
Speaker 1: in your head, even if it's wrong, because what if
Speaker 1: it is right exactly And even if that doctors initially
Speaker 1: or the nurse initially says, oh, that's just that comes
Speaker 1: with postpartum. Yeah, don't sweat it. But if you are
Speaker 1: sure something is not right, then get it checked out.
Speaker 1: That's what they said to me at first. With Box,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, it's some fine, it's fine. I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: it's not. Let me send you a picture. And that's
Speaker 1: when they said get to the hospital now. So I'm
Speaker 1: saying you always trust that exactly. So now, emotionally, it's
Speaker 1: also good to know what to expect. Almost every mom
Speaker 1: has some form of baby blues, right, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: sure you even had a little bit with Lennox. I
Speaker 1: definitely did with you. I was weepy, but I was overwhelmed.
Speaker 1: It was like normal crash of hormones. But there's a
Speaker 1: big difference between baby blues and other kinds of mood disorders.
Speaker 1: So baby blues fade within two weeks. They usually come
Speaker 1: on right away if you have feelings and I know
Speaker 1: you want to speak to this as well, but if
Speaker 1: you have feelings of anxiety, depression, rage, obsessive or scary thoughts,
Speaker 1: flashbacks to a traumatic delivery, even a fear that you
Speaker 1: might hurt yourself or your baby, And if those fears
Speaker 1: come on any time after delivery, anytime in the first
Speaker 1: year even or sometimes it can come on after you
Speaker 1: wean your baby. And if they persist, or if they're
Speaker 1: really scary right from the start, you're not able to function,
Speaker 1: You're not able to love on your baby or get
Speaker 1: sleep or food. Get checked out immediately, because postpartum mood
Speaker 1: disorders are real. Am you want to weigh in well? Also,
Speaker 1: I said, I don't want you to feel embarrassed. Um,
Speaker 1: I know that you know I've had postparmed depression. And yes,
Speaker 1: it's hard to ask for help. So I just think
Speaker 1: it's important to overcome the sticks stigma because you know,
Speaker 1: it should be completely normal as it is. It should
Speaker 1: not have a stigma because you know it happens to
Speaker 1: more people than they would probably like to admit. At
Speaker 1: least one in eight women have some kind of postpartum
Speaker 1: mood disorder. Those are the ones who report it, so
Speaker 1: imagine what the true number is. It's probably far higher.
Speaker 1: So and it can take any form. If you don't
Speaker 1: feel like yourself, and if it's more than just being
Speaker 1: overtired sleep deprivation hormones, please please please check in with
Speaker 1: the doctor right away. Um, reach out for that help
Speaker 1: that you need. Someone actually on my Instagram said that
Speaker 1: they had it during delivery, before the baby is even born,
Speaker 1: they started getting depression. Well, you're gonna have it during pregnancy,
Speaker 1: so and that puts you at higher risk postpartum. So
Speaker 1: anytime you feel it during pregnancy postpartum, even if you
Speaker 1: have a history before you're pregnant, make sure you let
Speaker 1: your doctor know. So, Emma, do you have any other
Speaker 1: advice you want to give to postpartum moms? I do coffee, coffee,
Speaker 1: coffee and coffee. But walk before you run, you know,
Speaker 1: take your time. It's new, it's beautiful, but it's also scary,
Speaker 1: and it's unknown territory. And here's the thing. Your mind
Speaker 1: might not be able to wrap its head around it,
Speaker 1: but your body knows what to do, and we'll take
Speaker 1: the reins. Amen. That's beautiful. Well, you know my advice
Speaker 1: by now, stop and smell the babies, push pause, and
Speaker 1: don't forget to take care of yourself. That's actually one
Speaker 1: of the best ways you can take care of your baby.
Speaker 1: So enjoy the baby in your postpartum And we love you,
Speaker 1: love you athletics Mommy and Heidi because it's because they're great.
Speaker 1: They're just really nice to me. You really love me.
Speaker 1: What does mommy do for work? Jim podcast and makes
Speaker 1: it really weird and cool? You want to say hi,
Speaker 1: huh oh baby, belove my Baby below. I need you,
Speaker 1: Oh how I need you. Thanks for listening. Remember I'm
Speaker 1: always here for you. What to Expect is always here
Speaker 1: for you. We're all in this together. For more on
Speaker 1: what you heard on today's episode, visit what to Expect
Speaker 1: dot com slash podcasts. You can also check out What
Speaker 1: to Expect when You're Expecting, What to Expect the First Year,
Speaker 1: and the What to Expect app. And we want to
Speaker 1: hear from you. Connect with us on our community message
Speaker 1: board or on our social media. You can find me
Speaker 1: at Heidi Murkoff and Emma at Emma bing wt E,
Speaker 1: and of course at What to Expect. Baby Love is
Speaker 1: performed by Riley Peterer. What to Expect is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. From more shows from I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
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Speaker 1: Don't You Stay, Knija Knejo, Baby Love, Baby Lo