You can learn a lot from someone’s story. Take certain parts of my story and apply them to yourself to help improve your postpartum recovery.

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Postpartum recovery was quite a blur. I remember a lot about certain things and some things I don’t remember at all — maybe because I wanted to get it out of my mind or maybe because I was so exhausted that it was just hard to remember.

But I do know this, you can learn a lot from someone’s past story. Take certain parts of my story and apply them to yourself to help improve your recovery. And then take other parts of my story and try not to make the same mistakes that I made. Learn from what I experienced. But know this: your recovery is going to be completely different from mine and from your friend’s recovery. Everybody has their own story. This is just my story.

The First Was The Worst

I can definitely say that my first postpartum recovery experience was worse than my other three. My first one was so difficult because, obviously, this was the first time I’ve ever gone through anything like this (pregnancy, childbirth, the works). Plus, I did have some tearing and some hemorrhaging that occurred during childbirth. It was painful and a difficult recovery for sure.

I was not in severe pain but moderate pain. I don’t remember taking pain medication when I got home from the hospital, but I do remember the pain being bad enough that it limited my ability to get in and out of bed. As you know, I am a very active person, so the fact that I was limited to the bed most of the day with short distance walks on occasion, was not to my liking. But I knew that I had to rest and recover.

Rest, Sleep and Reducing Pain Was The Priority

As a physical therapist, I know that resting, sleeping, and minimizing pain as much as possible is the priority in order to recover faster. It might not be at the pace that we want, but our body can only do so much. And of course, we have the extra job of taking care of our newborn baby, which doesn’t make it any easier.

When you are going through your postpartum recovery, I want you to think about as many positive things as you possibly can while you are sitting in the pain or you are sitting in the discomfort. We have to shift our mindset to focus on the positive.

Try to think of two to three things that bring you joy, that bring positivity to your mind, and keep the focus on that and that alone. I’m in a much stronger place mentally right now than I was 11 years ago when I had my first baby. Now I know to focus on gratitude and to thank God for all He has done for me. I want to encourage you to do the same.

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Take One Step At A Time

Try not to dwell in the misery of pain or the debility that you might have after having a baby. Take one step at a time, take one breath at a time, and see the positive things that are going to come day by day during your recovery and with your body.

The healing will occur on its own naturally to an extent. Your body will get stronger with gentle exercise. You will lose the weight with healthy food choices. And you will get more sleep if you continue to teach your baby good sleep habits.

It won’t be this hard forever, this is just a season. I had to keep reminding myself of that over and over.

To make postpartum life easier, I knew I had to make some changes — small baby steps.

Make Simple Adjustments in Your Lifestyle

For me, I can remember making small adjustments to my lifestyle that made humongous gains.

For example, I remember having my baby’s bassinet located across the room in my master bedroom, and that was just too far for me to walk that distance every day because it was exhausting.

It was probably just ten feet, but it felt like a mile. It was a major struggle for me in the middle of the night to get up and walk across the room. So I made a simple adjustment. Just making the simple adjustment of moving the bassinet right next to my bedside made all the difference.

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The Struggle to Get Out of Bed

I also recall not being able to get out of bed because I was so weak and, it was difficult to move around in my sheets. I was wearing fuzzy fleece pajamas, and I had fleece sheets because it was the middle of winter when my baby was born.

December is quite cold in Pennsylvania as you can imagine. Those fleece sheets made it extremely difficult for me to get out of bed every time my baby cried. So, I found the most slippery pair of pants that I had in my closet to help reduce the friction.

I remember sliding out of bed like a slip and slide in order to get up in all the night when I was feeling so weak, and having so much pain in my pelvic region. Those simple adjustments made my day so much easier.

Postpartum Recovery: What’s Working and What’s Not Working?

I want you to take the time right now and list out three that are working and three things that are making your day extremely difficult. Be specific and detailed. What are three things that you need to make a change right now because it’s not working in your routine?

Is it your baby’s bedtime routine? Is it your shower time? Is it the walk to the mailbox? Now I want you to brainstorm two ideas to fix each of those three problem areas.

You should have six ideas written on your paper: two for each of these 3 areas needing improvement.

Next you’re going to implement and take action. I want you to pick one of these problem areas to work on today. Make the switch and change something so your day becomes easier. Tomorrow, you’re going to pick another problem area and you’re going to make the switch as well. Implement whatever it is you wrote down on your page.

Every day I want you to think of one area that is not going well in your life and then follow up with two solutions to the problem. If you need to, go to the podcast and listen to Ep. 48 over and over again as a reminder that you don’t have to live your life in pain and you don’t have to live your life feeling like you’re struggling all the time.

What is the real solution to the problem? Sometimes we need to just slow down and take a deep breath. Take a moment to think about what the solution to the problem could be and implement it. It’s a learn-as-you-go kind of process, but always remember to make small baby steps in the right direction. This will make each day easier moving forward.

Bonus Fitness Tip

I hope this story has helped you. And of course, I can’t leave you without a fitness tip for the day. I encourage you to find a spot in your house where you can walk around and do laps. Walk in a circular walking pattern or back-and-forth in a hallway. Count your laps. I want you to walk however many laps that you possibly can without feeling too fatigued yourself.

Tomorrow, add an extra minute to that walk. There’s no need to go outside if you don’t want to. You don’t even need to get a treadmill. Just find the right spot in your house where you can do laps or circles and walk around continuously for a set amount of time. Every day add one minute to your time. Come join us in the Free Facebook Community to stay motivated and get accountabilty.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here. *

*It is important to always consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program and get medical clearance. Always warm up thoroughly and stretch after all workouts. LiveCoreStrong.com and Jena Bradley will be not be responsible or liable for any injury sustained while exercising at home, gym or elsewhere. Perform exercises at your own risk.