POSTPARTUM POO: A BIRTH STORY

A lot of people talk about that first poop postpartum. I’ve heard some don’t have any problems with it. And others…well…yeah. 

I was one of the others. I had an all-natural VBAC with my daughter and after an incredible birth experience, and a third-degree tear (ouch!), we ended up in the NICU for a short stint.*

*Iris is totally okay. She had a weird breathing thing a few hours after she was born and had to be intubated…they still to this day don’t know what happened, but after 4 days we were home and she is a super healthy girl!

There is only one NICU in the state and we had decided to birth at a different hospital 40 mins away. So, they took my sweet newborn baby in an ambulance, which is obviously very terrifying for a new mama, and I had two choices.

One – I could get myself transferred as a patient to the other hospital, but I’d be in a totally separate wing by myself while my husband shuffled back and forth from me to baby. OR I could sign myself out and walk out of the hospital, only a few hours after giving birth, with a third-degree tear, and stay with my husband and baby. In that moment I chose to sign myself out. Hours after giving birth, I walked out, got in the car with my ice pack- Tucks-Depends combo, and my husband drove us to be with our daughter.

Needless to say, my first four days postpartum were spent sleeping on a hard couch in the NICU. I was changing my Depends and spraying my lady parts with Dermoplast in a communal bathroom down the hallway from my babies room.

It wasn’t pretty. The first few days I was running on adrenaline, but by day three I hit a wall. I didn’t even realize I hadn’t pooped for three days because I was taking care of my NICU baby, and not myself. But on day three my body alerted me that I needed to go. I had so much swelling and pain from the third-degree tear and now I just felt so much pressure. And I was in crazy amounts of pain that felt like it hit me out of nowhere. A third-degree tear is no joke, and a third-degree tear after checking yourself out of the hospital only hours after giving birth…well…let’s just say…nothing funny about it.

On that third day my body forced my mind to focus back on myself. On my postpartum recovery. I had no choice. I was in so much pain. Yes mamas, I was taking the Colace & the Miralax and I even begged a NICU nurse to find me prune juice (since I wasn’t a patient they technically weren’t supposed to do that for me). And even after taking all that it still didn’t work.

In my next ditch effort to alleviate the pressure I told my husband to go get me an enema.

In an act of true, unconditional love, my husband gave me an enema on the NICU communal bathroom floor. For real. True fucking love right there. That is fairytale love in my books.

And even after all that, guess what….it still DIDN’T WORK. I called my OB and what they told me next I will never forget. They told me to “go home, light candles, play calming music, and breathe through it” – wait, this sounds like birth – “Yeah…it is basically like you have to give birth again…” I was in disbelief. You’re kidding right? But nope, they were not kidding. And let me tell you something. They were right. I had to birth my first postpartum poo.

My husband took me home. He lit some candles, drew a bath, played soft soothing music, and went to pick up my prescription suppositories. And guess what? It worked. My body finally gave in. I leaned into the pain and breathed through it just like my natural labor I had experienced days before. Was it as painful as natural childbirth? No. Not quite. Did I really have to “breathe through it” like I was giving birth? Absolutely. I used all the same techniques I had used to get through natural childbirth…again. Only this time I didn’t get a cute adorable baby out of the deal. But, what I did get…sweet relief.

Afterwards I felt like a whole new woman, and the very next day my sweet girl got to come home. I was still sitting on a donut for six more weeks (mainly because of the third-degree tear) and you bet your ass I took that Colace & Miralax for MONTHS afterwards.

The good news. I healed. Physically and mentally. Do I remember the NICU? Yes. Do I remember the poop incident? Yup.

But you know what? When I look back on my daughter’s birth what I really remember is that magical moment I got to pull her up and into this world (Magical VBAC). And what I remember most about those really difficult days postpartum is how much my husband loves me. How he’d LITERALLY give me an enema on the bathroom floor if he knew it would take away my pain. I feel lucky. And loved.

So, ladies. The moral of the story is. Take the Colace and the Miralax (someone recently told me Milk of Magnesia works like a charm too). Take it like it’s your job the SECOND your baby is born. You could be one of the lucky ones that has no problems with that first poo. It happens. I have a few friends that said it was nothing. And above all else, make sure you have love and support through all the curve balls of birth and postpartum.

I promise you, your vagina will heal (pelvic floor therapy is a godsend), your first postpartum poo will happen, and you will come out the other side. Stronger, more resilient, and knowing if all else fails…you can just breathe through it.