So, you're going to have a baby… are you prepared for the consequences?

I’m not talking about raising a responsible, loving, independent human. The consequences I’m talking about are  the immediate ones.
You have two paths you can go down for your postpartum care. Chances are good, unless you have a natural birth with a midwife who will massage and stretch your perineum , if you have a vaginal delivery, your vagina and surrounding area are going to be beat up. The inflammation can hurt, sure, but the worst thing is the stinging pain from even minor cuts and tears.

You can choose the traditional route of grin and bear it or you can take care of yourself and heal in comfort. I think the second option is best.

So, you’ve got all the supplies your baby will need for his first year all set and ready to go. That’s fantastic. Now you need the supplies for your first week of healing. Don’t neglect yourself because your healing is important. You need to be comfortable because it will help your baby be comfortable and it will help your let-down mechanism for breastfeeding. So, please, heed my advice.

The single most wonderful tool I had for healing my girl parts was a sitz bath that fit into the toilet. Here’s the link so you can go purchase it right now. It’s eight dollars and it often means the difference between you peeing while sobbing and peeing in comfort. See, I know sitz baths are usually used for cleaning, but many of us also use them to help us pee without pain during that first week. Best $8 you could spend on yourself. If you buy one, you will be indescribably thankful you did… several times a day.

Here’s how it works:

For Peeing…

You fill it with nice warm water. Then you also fill the bag with nice warm water. You put it on your toilet and you use it instead of the toilet seat. Your bottom will actually dip down into the warm water which feels tremendous on its own. It’s so so

othing. When it’s time to pee though, you sit in the warm water and relieve yourself. It may seem gross, but the dilution of the urine from the warm water makes it so that you don’t feel like your peeing battery acid or metal shavings.  The excess liquid will drain through a hole near the top into your toilet. Then you can dump the entire thing and rinse it out.  Store it beside your toilet to be used again next time you have to pee.

For Healing…

This thing is going to quickly become your best friend, because it is also, and generally used for healing and cleaning your damaged tissue. You sit in it the same way, but after you have added some WishGarden Herbs Sitz Bath into it. (Place a handful of this mixture into a quart of boiling water. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Strain out the herbs and then add remaining liquid to warm water into the sitz bath container.) Then, get a good book, put your baby in a bouncer by the toilet while he’s napping and plop yourself down at least once a day, preferably a few times if you can. The herbs WishGarden uses are: Uva Ursi leaf, Yarrow flower, Plantain leaf, Sage leaf, Witch Hazel leaf, and Comfrey leaf & root. These herbs will reduce inflammation, speed healing, pull out infection and help prevent it from ever starting.

I owned a sitz bath and I count my lucky stars that someone told me to get one. I also used the WishGarden herbs, and they were intensely soothing. These are not items I’m merely trying to sell you. I don’t get commission on sales. I’m just a blogger. These are items that I believe you absolutely need to have an easier healing process so that you can better tend to your new child.

Have any of you used either of these products?