By Frida Mom
Prepping for the First Postpartum Days Back Home
How To Get Your Home Ready for Your Postpartum Self + New Baby
In all the hullabaloo of preparing to have a baby, you may be missing out on one crucial element: what the hell are you actually supposed to do once you get home?! Postpartum and parenting are full of WTF moments, but no more so than in the first 48 hours after bringing your baby home. Those … those are hard days. And those days are hard enough without having to worry about life and adulting and whatnot. So do yourself a major solid, and take the time to get your life ready for those early days of motherhood. You will high-five yourself during that eleventh late-night cry sesh (yours and theirs).
Get your house in shipshape!
We know the last thing you want to be doing when you’re a million weeks pregnant is cleaning your house. But trust us on this one: cleaning your house and getting it ready to welcome your new little one during pregnancy is INFINITELY better than doing it when you’re 24-hours postpartum with a sore vag and crying newborn. It doesn’t have to be sparkling clean. But you really want to buy yourself a couple of weeks of clean, at least, because it’s going to be a while before you have that kind of time and energy again. Pro-tip: put a deep-cleaning session from a maid service on your baby registry. Outsource that stuff and have a team of professionals come in a few days before your due date to scrub your house from top to bottom, wash and fold your laundry, and put your home in order. The last thing you want to see when you waddle in carrying your brand-new baby is a sink full of dirty dishes, you know?
Lay down the law about visitors.
This is a touchy subject! Your friends and family have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of this kid, so as soon as they get word that you’ve been sprung from the hospital, they are going to come a-knockin’ on your door; although, the current pandemic has definitely impacted those impromptu drop-ins. But still they can happen, and those first hours at home as a new family are precious. You will never get those back. And if you want to limit visitors during that time, that is your right, and honestly we kind of recommend that. You and your partner need some time to get your sea legs with this baby, and you should be able to have some quiet, uninterrupted time getting to know them. You also need to rest and recover. So decide if you want visitors during the first couple of days, and if you do, come up with some visiting hours that work for you. Will you hurt some feelings or make some people angry? Entirely possible. Does it matter? Not in the slightest.
Stock your fridge and freezer with good stuff.
OK, let’s backtrack on this one a bit. The first food decision you need to make is what your first postpartum meal will be after giving birth. Because that’s important, and after all the work you put in, it will be one of the best meals of your life. Don’t chance it on hospital food - give explicit instructions to your partner/support person/bestie on what you want to gorge on after delivery.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s talk a bit about your food situation at home during those first couple of days. You … are not going to want to cook. And you probably aren’t going to want to eat takeout three times a day, either! So the last few weeks leading up to D-Day is a great time to start prepping some meals for the first 48. Dust off that ol’ Crock-Pot or Instant Pot and do a deep Pinterest dive to find some easy, delicious, and nutritious recipes you can prepare ahead of time and pop in the freezer. Focus on nutrient-dense foods like lean proteins, leafy greens, and whole grains. Your body will be going through some STUFF in those first weeks, and you want to make sure to nourish it in ways that are healthy and beneficial to your recovery. Stews, chili, soups, roasts, casseroles, and pasta dishes are all good options that can be easily portioned and freeze beautifully. Pop them in the freezer in individual containers so you can grab one and heat and eat. And don’t forget the snacks! You may not have the time or energy to sit down and eat an actual meal, and that’s OK. But you do need to stay well-nourished, so stock your pantry and fridge with easy grab-and-go snacks like hard-boiled eggs, nuts, veggies and hummus, fruit, and yogurt. This is especially important if you’re nursing; foods like legumes and oatmeal are potential milk boosters.
Think about your own recovery and make sure you’re ready with the essentials.
Yes, yes, we know - the baby is real cute and everyone wants to hear about the baby and see the baby and bring things for the baby. But you are in recovery, and you need to take care to make sure YOUR needs are also being met in the first 48 (and beyond). Don’t let your postpartum recovery be an afterthought! Plan ahead and stock your bathroom with the Frida Mom 5-Step Postpartum Recovery Regimen - that you’ll wonder how you would pee without. There will be no nurse around to change your giant maxi pad, honey. So put these things on your list: peri bottle (an upside down one!), postpartum underwear, icicle pads, perineal cooling pad liners and healing foam. Then, buy the Frida Mom Labor and Delivery + Postpartum Recovery Kit, cross all of those things off your list in one fell swoop, and use all that extra time to put together a watch list of all the shows you’ve been meaning to stream for when you’re up all night with a newborn. Enjoy that feeling of accomplishment - it won’t be back for a while.
The first 48 at home with your baby are going to be a whirlwind. It’s new, scary and, if you’re being honest with yourself, you very likely have no idea what you’re doing (especially for the FTMs). The best thing you can do is make it as easy as possible in literally every other way, so you can use your brain space to figure out what you’ve gotten yourself into. The pieces will fall into place eventually, we promise. But in the meantime, you still have to eat and it’d be nice if all your laundry was clean.
