Fourth Trimester Postpartum Stories
Holding space for parents to share their postpartum journeys.
Episodes
Rachel had her first baby via a forceps delivery. A few days later, the resulting third degree tear became infected. After months of unsuccessful treatment, she finally had surgery, and was medically cleared at 6 months postpartum. That experience left her with postpartum anxiety and PTSD. She discusses how both talk therapy and EMDR helped her process and heal.
She talks about breastfeeding a baby with severe lip and tongue tie...
Brianna’s first baby had jaundice, and she describes her challenges feeding in the hospital while having to keep him under the lights. She and her husband were living with her parents after her first birth, and she describes her postpartum experience as blissful.
Her second postpartum experience started similarly with jaundice, but she was prepared for that. However, her son failed the 24 hour cardiac test and needed to come hom...
Parvati was diagnosed with placenta previa 20 weeks into her pregnancy. She was put on bedrest at 26 weeks, and then had a C-section at 36 weeks. She describes how her physical recovery was affected by her weeks of bedrest. She also discusses how the judgement she experienced when she stopped pumping contributed to the anxiety she felt about all of her postpartum choices. She talks about an app she’s creating to help women find...
Lauren found out that she had LFS just days before finding out that she was pregnant with her daughter Josie. After a planned home birth turned hospital induction due to IUGR, she describes her early weeks postpartum, including latch issues with her tiny baby, trying to get fasting blood sugar readings, and her own hospital visits for high blood pressure and retained placenta. At 5 months postpartum, she found out that her daught...
After a non-medicated birth, Elizabeth had to go to the OR and have a spinal placed to have her “3.75” degree tear repaired. She dealt with low supply, likely due to IGT, and describes her journey of triple feeding and power pumping and trying all the galactagogues before starting to supplement with formula. She also had pain while nursing that ended up being a lymph backup, which was finally diagnosed and treated by her chiropra...
In part two of her episodes, Miranda shares her fourth postpartum experience. She talks about going through the grieving process of knowing she just had her last baby, only to get pregnant with number 5 around 7 months postpartum (just a month after gallstone surgery).
You can find her on instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/randipaige_peace/
Join us on the Facebook group to talk more about this episode and al...
Miranda has four kids (and is 14 weeks pregnant with her fifth). Having kids close together meant that her early postpartum experiences happened alongside her subsequent pregnancies. She needed surgery 5 months postpartum after her first baby to repair the damage from her 3rd degree episiotomy. After having her second baby, she went to counseling for postpartum anxiety, but the group she saw was not equipped to help her. She got...
Despite feeling a wave of exhaustion when she got home from the hospital, Alaina was unable to sleep. Once she got over the initial hormone crash, she started splitting nights with her husband to care for their baby, who didn’t sleep more than a few minutes if he wasn’t held. She used a lactation consultant to help with the unexpected challenges of breastfeeding, until it became easier a few months in. The physical recovery of (...
Bekah Martinez: https://www.instagram.com/bekah/
Expecting Better by Emily Oster : https://emilyoster....
Morgan had some initial breastfeeding issues with the baby not transferring enough milk, as well as developing mastitis only days after the birth, and went on to have long term supply issues. She was also surprised that her baby only wanted to sleep on her chest for the first 11 weeks. She discusses the evolution of her daughter’s sleep, her return to work, and her dad’s cancer diagnosis just six weeks after her daughter was born...
Aelwen began her postpartum experience on the operating table after an unexpected c-section. She was surprised at what she felt was a “vacuum of postpartum care” after leaving the hospital, especially regarding regaining her core strength. She loved having a doula every step of the way, including for processing her birth and for assistance during her first few weeks postpartum.
Mindy shares her two postpartum experiences. Going into her first birth, she was hoping for a natural labor, but ended up being induced and getting an epidural. She felt present and in control, but still had to overcome feeling like this wasn’t a “real” birth experience. Her postpartum bliss was interrupted when doctors heard a murmur in the baby’s heart, and he was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, specifically VSD (ven...
Madison felt prepared for postpartum, but had a few unexpected challenges to overcome along the way. After a precipitous birth, her baby wasn’t getting the milk he needed, and she soon realized that she had low milk supply. The sleep deprivation she experienced for the first six months was detrimental to her mental health, and she developed postpartum rage. Once she was able to get some sleep, she felt like she was back to herse...
Kayla was planning an unmedicated hospital birth and ended up having a c-section when her baby was breech. She describes the physical recovery from the surgery as intense. She had difficulty with breastfeeding and began triple feeding and supplementing in the hospital. She chose to exclusively pump during the day starting at 3 weeks postpartum and started weaning from the pump around 4 months. She was diagnosed with postpartum ...
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