Tidbits of Advice: Post Labor Must Haves!

I was in the hospital for five days, so I had to rely on things JJ brought me from home and things they gave me at the hospital. When we got home, my Mom volunteered to babysit (we really had to twist her arm!) so we could make an "essentials" Target run. This is what we bought (or remembered we needed at some point soon after we were home):

*Easy put together food -- and my dad sent along a huge "vat" of animal crackers from Sam's Club -- these proved to be PERFECT for late night feedings (for baby AND me!)
*Iron Supplements (I needed to whip my hemoglobin back into shape)
*A pack of newborn outfits (who knew our little peanut would be such a little peanut?? We found we prefer snaps over zippers -- for quick diaper changes, you can just unsnap what you need rather than taking off the whole outfit.)
*Batteries for the swing!


Now for the fabulous "feminine" post delivery products!:
*Breast pads (it takes a while to get adjusted to how much the baby needs!)
*Milk storage bags (to freeze pumped milk)
*Cold packs for your breasts (ouch, it gets painful for a few days -- I got ones that could be heated or cooled -- these came in handy later when I developed mastitis)
*Witch Hazel pads (sometimes labeled for hemorrhoids) -- trust me -- it's embarrassing buying them, but they will help heal and soothe your bottom!
*Light flow period pads (it takes a while for the flow to stop...)
*Dulcolax (as the commercial says - it doesn't make you go, it just makes it easier to go... -- you don't want to have to push too much especially if you need stitches, and the iron wasn't helping my numba twos either!)
*Dermoplast (it's a spray that can help take the sting away as your stitches heal --- another quick and easy pain reliever they used at the hospital was to fill a newborn diaper with ice -- the diaper soaks up the water and fits perfectly uhhh... on that area -- JJ still teases me that I had to borrow some of MVJ's diapers)