3 Things I Did Not Expect Postpartum

3 Things I Did Not Expect Postpartum

Reading Time: 10 minutes

When you are eagerly awaiting the arrival of your first child, there are many things that you anticipate and mentally prepare yourself for: sleepless nights, dirty diapers, cries and giggles, spit up and smiles, and so much more.

In the first six months after our little one’s birth, I discovered a few very interesting things that I did not expect postpartum. I can honestly say that these three things blindsided me.

Excessive Hair Loss

This first one you may have read about in pregnancy books or on mommy blogs, but I did not fully grasp what it would mean to me until it happened. Every lady is different, but for me, I had excessive hair loss between about Week 3 postpartum until Month 5. I am not talking about a few strands here or there; after all, everyone sheds on average 75-100 strands of hair a day.

No, I was loosing hair daily in the hundreds! My shower walls would be covered in hair, hair would stick to my shirts and sweaters, and I would have to carefully examine little Peanut’s fingers and toes to make sure none of my hair had gotten tangled around his little digits. My once thick, luscious hair was suddenly thin, scraggly, and pathetic looking.

So why do some women lose large amounts of hair after childbirth?

Hair has three stages: active growth, resting, and loss (shedding). During pregnancy, the raise in certain hormones slows down the natural life cycle of our hair so more hair stays in the growth or resting stages and less strands shed. This gives pregnant ladies that thick mane many people notice and comment on. Unfortunately, after childbirth when the pregnancy hormones decrease, all those strands start entering into the shedding stage – often at the same time. This can lead to excessive shedding and what seems like hair loss.

Be comforted that this phase is not permanent. It may take a few months, but your hair will get back into a normal cycle and the excessive shedding will stop. While I waited for my hair to stop shedding, I cut it to shoulder length. Previously my hair was layered so the thinning made it look scraggly and awful. Cutting it helped to give my hair a little bit of shape again.

Fortunately, by six months postpartum, my hair stopped the excessive shedding and began to regrow.

Update with Baby #2: With my second child, the hair loss did not start until exactly three months postpartum. I am now four months and one week, and the hair loss is starting to lessen. It is still noticeable (and annoying) but not quite as dramatic. Just this passed Sunday, I cut my hair to about shoulder length and layered it to try to get the thinning hair some more volume and oomph!

Update with Baby #3: At first, I thought I might have avoided the excessive hair loss this go around and just had slightly heavy hair-loss. However, the shedding hit at two months postpartum. Fortunately, I was prepared. Right at five months postpartum, the shedding stopped and my hair began to grow back. We are now at eight months and I think the regrowth will be long enough for a professional cut and style in another month or two.

Severe Gas Pain

The first episode struck about 10pm on the sixth day after little Peanut was born. It was the first day I ventured out of the house – Bradley took us to visit my parents (twenty-minutes away). It was a day that was full of success and achievement, as I had finally been able to pump milk successfully and relieve my poor, engorged breasts.

Around 10pm, though, I began to experience a strange pain in the center of my chest, located directly beneath/behind my sternum. As the minutes passed, the pain intensified. I tried lying down but the pain radiated around my ribcage. It felt like I was being stabbed in the chest while, at the same time, all of the muscles of my core (abs, sides, lower back, shoulders) were completely frozen or locked in place.

A few hours later, the pain had worsened to excruciating, beyond even the pain of childbirth, and it was terrifying because I did not know what was causing it. I leaned against the bed, praying for relief and groaning, wavering in my mind on whether I should ask Bradley to take me to the emergency room or not. What if we did go – call my parents, pack up our six-day-old infant, drove to the ER – and the mysterious pain vanishes as we are in the waiting room?

Bradley was very concerned. Our little one was fussy that night. It was the first time he scream-cried inconsolably for hours, and I was in too much pain to move, let alone help with the baby. Just when Bradley was about to call my parents and take me to the ER, the excruciating pain suddenly – Yes, it was very sudden! – vanished. One moment I was frozen in searing pain and the next: Poof! It was gone. All that was left was a little ache in my muscles.

This debilitating pain in my sternum seemed to happen once or twice a week for the first month postpartum. By the third episode, I was terrified that something serious was wrong with me. I tried gas relief tablets, but they had a marginal affect on the severe pain. It was about a month postpartum that I discovered that the unbearable pain was gas getting stuck in the upper part of my large intestines and putting pressure on a nerve.

When the gas started to built up, I would feel a strange pressure in my sternum and middle back. I remembered what the nurses told me in the hospital about walking, re-enforced by advice from my mom. To my relief, I found that when I took some gas relief tablets and went on a long walk, the walking helped to move the gas along and prevent it was getting stuck in that spot.

Also, I had to overcome decades of training on appropriate and inappropriate lady-like behavior and allow myself the freedom to pass gas. My poor husband! And what an embarrassing issue to discuss in public, but I am bearing my soul in the hopes of helping some other new mother who might be experiencing a similar situation. It is better to “toot” then to feel like you are being torn apart from the inside out.

With the walking and passing gas, the excruciating, feel-like-I’m-dying, pain was avoided. By the end of the second month postpartum, I no long experienced the gas pains.

Update with Baby #2: I am so, so, so grateful that this very painful symptom did not appear even once after the birth of our second child. Perhaps it was because I intentionally walked more and made a conscious effort to pass gas as much as possible. (I know that sounds very unlady-like, but health comes first!)

Update with Baby #3: Praise the Lord, this horrible postpartum side-effect did not rear its ugly head this time. Sadly I do have more gas now than I did before having children. I have to be careful with certain vegetables and have to pre-rinse or soak my beans before cooking.

Difficulties breastfeeding

If you have read Our Breastfeeding Journey, then you know some of the challenges we faced breastfeeding. I will not repeat the entire story here but just the main points.

I was not expecting our little Peanut to be born small, with a severe tongue-tie, and be unable to nurse. For the first month, we tried unsuccessfully to nurse at least once a day and each time he could not latch, I felt like a failure as a mother. The whole time, I was pumping every 2-3 hours and there were a few times when he had to be supplemented with formula because I just was not making enough milk. Finally, at the end of the month, I had to give up trying to nurse for my own sanity’s sake and for the happiness of our little family. I had to realize that him might never be able to nurse and that it was ok, as long as he was getting food and growing healthy.

During month three, he latched very weakly. With some help from a pacifier to strengthen his sucking muscles, he was able to nurse a few ounces by month four. I began nursing him through the night. At seven months, he is now a nursing pro. I still pump every 3-4 hours, as I work outside the home and need to keep my supply up, but he is also eating baby food twice a day now and he gets a bottle of formula when needed.

I was not expecting challenges with breastfeeding and, I will be brutally honest, it was an extremely difficult hurdle to jump emotionally during a time when my emotions were already all-over-the-place (postpartum hormones fluctuations!). I made it through due to the love and support of my amazing husband and my parents, especially my mom. If I could go back and do those first month over again, I would. Because of my stress and self-deprecation, I did not have the energy to leave the house more, see friends and family more, and do those precious “memories” things with Peanut… like take infant photos and stamp his little hands and feet. I have no footprints of when he was 4 lbs 7 ounces except for the one foot stamped on the certificate the hospital gave us.

My advice to other moms who might be facing difficulties with breastfeeding is something my older sister shared with me when I was very low: Fed is best. A fed, happy, and healthy baby is best, no matter how you end up providing that nourishment: through breastfeeding, pumping and bottle feeding, or formula feeding.

While the first few days may seem to drag on, they really go by so fast. Do not waste that time with anxiety and needless stress over things beyond your control. You are amazing! You birthed or adopted this adorable precious little one so cherish every moment you have together.

Update with Baby #2: Unfortunately, we had a new round of breastfeeding challenges with our second child. He had a good latch, but was not gaining weight. By the time I started pumping, my supply had dwindled to just barely 8 oz a day… definitely not enough to sustain a newborn! So we ended up having to supplement with donated breastmilk and formula while I worked hard to increase my milk supply.

Even now at just over four months, even though he is capable of nursing and I am producing more than enough milk for him, my adorable little Pickle refuses to nurse. So, once again, I am a full time pumping mama! I am okay with the hassles and challenges that pumping bring as long as I am able to give my son as much milk as possible for as long as possible.

I managed to pump for him until eight months. There were too many highly stressful events occurring in my life (including my mother dying), and it became too hard of me – emotionally and physically – to maintain the rigid pumping schedule needed to keep my meager supply up.

Update with Baby #3: The Lord was kind, and our third child was the successful breastfeeding story I had dreamed of since our oldest was born. He latched well from the start, we struggled a little about week two and three as I tried to figure out what in the world I was doing, and then we hit our groove. We reached eight months and are still going strong. With the help of my favorite lactation tea by Pink Stork, my supply has stayed enough for the little one.

The link above to the lactation tea is an affiliate link, which means if you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Bonus: Just how much I love my little Peanut!

Okay, okay. When expecting a little one, most women are likely to be excited and eagerly anticipate the bonding that will happen between mother and newborn. However, what really surprised me was just how quickly this bonding occurred and how much I love my little Peanut. Even when he is crying and fussy, even after the fifth time he has woken me up in the middle of the night and I rolled out of bed, stumble to his room, and pick him up like a zombie, even when I find myself momentarily frustrated or overwhelmed, I just love him so much!

Baby cuddles, toothless smiles, little giggles, and the first time he said “Mom-ma” (even though he was crying and I’m pretty sure he did not do it on purpose) get me through the sleepless nights, the fits of crying, the explosive diapers that only the shower can wash away, the spit up all over my work clothes and the couch minutes before I was supposed to be walking out the door.

After all, who could not love this adorable little face?

Jacquelyn's baby on his third trip to the zoo!
Little Peanut and his daddy on his third trip to the zoo at six and a half months old.

I just love being a mom — especially his mom — and I would not trade this experience for anything.

Update with Baby #2: I won’t lie. The first five and a half weeks were extremely challenging. I had symptoms of postpartum depression, mostly due to getting barely 2-3 hours of interrupted sleep a night for weeks on end.

Why? Shortly after we brought Pickle home, our older son began getting his molars. So we had a hungry, screaming newborn and a teething, crying toddler. There were some nights I camped out on the living floor with Peanut on one side of me and Pickle on the other. There were a few times I thought: “What did we do? We cannot handle two!”

But the most challenging newborn stage does not last forever. At five and a half weeks, it is like a switch went off in the little one. He suddenly began sleeping in his bassinet and through the night with only one feeding. Peanut’s teeth came in and he returned to being his cheerful little self (and loving his baby brother).

And I would not change a thing! (Ok, ok, ok. If I could go back and get more sleep during those first five weeks, I totally would.) What I mean is, I absolutely love being Mama to these two adorable little boys. Sure, there some days are harder than others, but I love coming home to their smiling faces. I love the hugs, kisses, and cuddles. I love hearing Peanut call out: “Mama! Mama!” And little Pickle is beginning to coo and laugh.

At two-years-old now, Pickle has grown into a very loving and lovable toddler, though interestingly very independent. I love his smiles, his silliness, the way he rushes to help, how he sings the last word in every line with his whole heart, and how he runs to me for hugs when I get home from work.

Mothers Day photo of Jacquelyn Van Sant and her two sons: Peanut and Pickle.

Update with Baby #3: Our sweet Pumpkin was a surprise blessing, but he has become such a beautiful part of our family. His smile and adorable baby laughter brighten our lives. I love the snuggles, the nursing, and everything so much. It is like the Lord knew we needed a more happy experience… Almost like a do-over.

The words in Jeremiah 1:5 really capture the blessing that is our third son. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

My adorable boys, whom I love deeply! Here they are 7-months (Pumpkin), 3.5 years (Peanut), and almost 2 years (Pickle).

To sum up

So, in summary, when it comes to childbirth and its immediate affects, perhaps the old adage says it best: Expect the unexpected. In addition to these three things that blinded me, I also had some great experiences.

So remember this: no matter if you are losing your hair in clumps, experiencing severe gas pains, having trouble breastfeeding or whatever it might be — you just gave birth to a beautiful and precious little one. Cherish this gift that has been given to you. The other things will sort themselves out.


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