Postpartum Tips from One Mama to Another

I absolutely adore my pregnancy hair!  It’s full of wonderful moisture and is thick and luscious!  There’s something about it that makes me feel like a Disney princess…  Is that weird?  As the postpartum hormones fill my body, though, my hair decides to hate me.  It gets both greasy and dry at the same time, loses its luster, and starts falling out.  It’s even worse since this postpartum period is happening in the summertime.  Chlorine in pools, UV rays, and all sorts of other summer-ey goodness wreaks havoc on my hair too.  The dryness makes my hair stiff and straw-like and I’m more like the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz than a Disney princess while postpartum hormones are coursing through my body.

Since I wouldn’t recommend getting pregnant again right away just to get moisture back into your hair, go ahead and find a product that you love that keeps your hair as healthy and as moisturized as possible.  Right now I’m loving the Schwarzkopf Gliss™ Ultra Moisture line – it includes Schwarzkopf Gliss™ Ultra Moisture Shampoo, Schwarzkopf Gliss™ Ultra Moisture Conditioner, and Schwarzkopf Gliss™ Ultra Moisture Express Repair Conditioner – the trifecta to combat dryness!  It has incredible hair repair abilities, perfect to get your hair back to the lusciousness it had during pregnancy!  Gliss™ Hair Repair is a new to the US market hair care line that is scientifically designed and tested to deliver proven, measurable results in repairing hair!  Although I love the Ultra Moisture line, there are other lines that could work better for your postpartum hair, depending on your need – Ultimate Repair, Oil Nutritive, Extra Volume, and Color Guard.  Since the benefits of using Gliss™ Hair Repair is cumulative, make sure you use all three products in whatever line you choose together for the greatest benefit to your hair!  (And to sweeten the deal, you can get $5 off two Schwarzkopf Gliss™ Shampoo or Conditioner or Treatment at Walmart!)  Once you’re using the right product and the dryness has been cured, just accept that your hair’s going to fall out.  Because it will.  Because hormones.  At least the hair you have left won’t be dry anymore!

I am so thankful that I didn’t deal with postpartum depression at all after having Caleb.  This time around I haven’t been as fortunate.  It started with just feeling bad about everything.  I was feeling like I was a horrible wife, a horrible mother, failing at all sorts of things, and unable to succeed at anything I wanted to put my mind to.  In my mind I knew those things weren’t true but I was feeling them so strongly.  I went to Josiah’s two month checkup and they had me fill out a form about postpartum depression and, although I mostly passed it, I realized that was where my feelings were stemming from.  Just understanding that helped me sort through a lot of the feelings and work through them, even if the hormones still persist.

If you’re feeling different, down, or anxious after having your baby make sure to let someone know!  Postpartum depression can begin months after you have your baby so make sure you pay attention to what your body is doing and feeling even after the normal time postpartum depression usually begins is over.  Since I struggle with depression outside of the postpartum period I already have my support system in place.  Make sure you get yours!  Your support system could include your spouse, friends, pastor, mentor, counselor, doctor, or anyone else who can help.  You may also want to talk to your doctor about the possibility of mediation to help you get through the season.  There is no shame in getting medication to help you through a hormonal imbalance and assist you in being the best mom you can possibly be.

I am so happy to be able to say that I officially weigh less than I have since Caleb’s birth!  It was impossible for me to lose weight after having my first little one so this time around I was going to go about it differently!  Nate and I have been doing a diet for a few weeks and both of us have seen some awesome results!  The weight loss is making me feel healthy and giving me energy and I can’t wait to get back to a weight I can be proud of!

We all want to lose weight after having our babies but we have to make sure we’re doing it wisely – especially if we’re nursing!  My biggest hold up for dieting was that I didn’t want to limit my milk supply and I didn’t want to always be hungry.  I looked up how many calories a nursing mother needed and it was a lot more than the diet plan allotted for women.  Thankfully the male version of the diet plan was equal to the recommended caloric intake so that’s the plan I decided to do.  Yes, Nate and I are eating the same number of calories and we’re both losing weight.  Gotta love nursing!

Oh dear goodness, my postpartum body is way too out of wack right now.  We don’t know exactly what’s going on but we think my back is having issues.  In the past week I’ve been to the chiropractor and massage therapist because I’ve had moments when I can’t get up from the pain that’s going on.  That’s really tough when I’m trying to take care of a baby and toddler.  Even with those medical visits the pain has still lingered and has moved into my abdomen so my doctor even had me go to the Emergency Room to make sure that I wasn’t having kidney or gall bladder problems.  Thankfully all my labs came back normal and we’re pretty sure it’s simply a horrible back problems.  We’re working on a solution now!

There are a lot of weird things that can happen to your body after your baby is born.  My biggest suggestion is to keep focused on your body and know if something is off.  If you’re starting to sense that something is off then make sure to get in contact with your doctor to work on getting it figured out.  Don’t think that things will go away on their own!  I tend to do that a little too often and it’s something I’m working on.  The longer you ignore something the worse it can get.  Don’t wait!