• About
  • Speaking
  • Consulting
  • Amber Hinds

  • Journal
  • Press
  • Contact

Amber Hinds

Gillette, WY
Birth
/
June 8, 2013

Postpartum Care After a Home Birth

Now that Zara is most definitely not a newborn and I’m fairly certain that I have survived the postpartum period, I wanted to take a moment to finally write about my post home birth experience.  This will be my last post about our home birth experience (at least until our next baby).  If you missed them, the other posts I have included in this series were about my prenatal care, preparing a sibling to participate in a birth, safety and supplies, managing pain in labor, and, of course, Zara’s Birth Story.

In most cases following a normal vaginal birth, you leave the hospital or birth center after two days of care and you don’t see your doctor or midwife for another six weeks.  Sure, you can call if you have a problem or question, but rarely is someone checking up on you.  Some hospitals do follow up phone calls for breastfeeding mothers, but many do not (even the “alternative” hospital where Nora was born did not do that) and if you formula feed you wouldn’t get a phone call at all.  That means that aside from visits with baby’s doctor, many mothers go from an environment of 24/7 support preceded by weekly prenatal checkups to an environment with absolutely no professional care.  Especially for first-time mothers, this can be an incredibly scary and exhausting time.  It’s no wonder so many women give up on breastfeeding or experience postpartum depression when they don’t even have the support of their birth care provider.

Following Zara’s birth I mentioned several times how much better I felt and how much quicker I felt better than I had after Nora’s birth.  Some of my improved postpartum experience was probably due to me being a second time mother.  For example, this time it only took me 9 days to get into a good breastfeeding rhythm, whereas last time it took me about six weeks.  But other things I firmly believe had to do with just how wonderful my birth experience was.

Even though I have no major complaints about Nora’s birth, there were still things about it that I thought could be better, and how I felt after each birth was like night and day.  I was and still am amazed at how great I felt after Zara was born; I even told my midwife, Sybille, within two or three days of Zara being born that I didn’t even feel like I had given birth. After Nora was born I had to have stitches for two small tears; the stitches did not dissolve properly and contributed to my discomfort (I could barely sit down for a while).  When Zara was born, I lost such a small amount of blood that my midwife remarked upon it, and I barely bled at all following the birth.  Because I was home, more relaxed in the water, and in a better position I didn’t tear at all during Zara’s birth.  Afterward I felt no discomfort sitting and I was up and about a birthday baking cake just two days later. If it wasn’t for the baby attached to my breast and the excess skin flopping around my middle, I never would have known that I’d just birthed a baby.

Every single part of the home birth experience was infinitely better than my hospital birth, from prenatal to postpartum, and I continued to be impressed by the attentiveness and thoughtfulness Sybille put into my care even after Zara was born.  She came to check on us on day 1, day 3, day 5, day 10, day 12, and did a final follow up just before we moved off Nantucket; in between visits for the first two weeks she called or texted me every day, and she was available to answer questions whenever I had them.  At each visit she continued to ask me about my diet, monitored my vitals and uterus size when necessary, and checked Zara’s weight and vitals.  Sybille did (or offered to do) everything that a hospital would have done for Zara, including the PKU.  She provided suggestions for herbal remedies to reduce swelling and brewed herbs for me to use in a sitz bath, which was something that had not even been suggested to me following Nora’s birth.  And better than all the medical care, Sybille provided a significant amount of emotional support and follow up that just isn’t offered by hospital-based care providers.  Through the whole experience I really felt like Sybille cared for me and my family, and we have become friends through the experience of Zara’s birth.  She came to a post birth picture viewing session after we got the pictures from Lisa and she even cleaned our fridge for us when we moved!  We have continued to talk via email and Skype since I moved to Wyoming.  I can’t imagine a birth experience any better than the one we had in Nantucket, and I can’t wait to do it again.  I just hope that whenever that time we can find a midwife just as good as Sybille.

IMG_7678

TAGS:home birth
5 Comments
Share
  • Sybille Andersen
    June 8, 2013

    or have me come to you! (-:

    Reply
    • Amber
      Sybille Andersen
      June 9, 2013

      I wish!! How long would you like to come live in our house? ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  • Laci LeBlanc
    June 25, 2013

    May I ask what type of sling you are using in that photo? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Amber
      Laci LeBlanc
      June 26, 2013

      Hi Laci, It’s a Zolo Wear. I love it! http://zolowear.com/

      Reply
      • Laci LeBlanc
        Amber
        June 26, 2013

        Thank you!

        Reply

Leave a Comment Cancel Comment

Recipe Rating




Previous Post
Five Months
Next Post
Saturday Surfing on Sunday

Life Right Now

aucoeur

View

Feb 7

8 1
Open
I started a podcast with Chris and our business partner, Steve! We'll be releasing episodes every Monday on website accessibility and craft beverages. Check it out or subscribe at AccessibilityCraft.com.

#podcast #podcaster #accessibility #accessibilityforall #accessibilitymatters #accessible #a11y #WordPress #webdesign #webdevelopment #websitedesign #ux #usability

aucoeur

View

Jan 22

12 2
Open
It's that time again... Girl Scout cookies! And this year we have two selling. Help them meet their cookies sales goals by ordering online. 

If you live nearby, choose girl delivery and help get cookie boxes out of our garage... Otherwise we're going to be giving them Girl Scout  Cookies for birthday and Christmas presents all year.

Addie's link: https://tinyurl.com/2os3rmdy

Zara's link: https://tinyurl.com/2nev4fs3

aucoeur

View

Nov 30

15 2
Open
Bus stop selfie with Nora. This week she moved from her tiny charter school with only 18 eighth graders to the public middle school with over 200. And now she rides the bus.

The charter school wasn't challenging her enough, has a huge percentage of students who are disruptive in the classroom, and has been having trouble keeping teachers. Last year she loved it. But this year it was one thing after another, so right before Thanksgiving she and I went to go tour our neighborhood  middle school, and she immediately wanted to make the switch.

We've never had a kid in public school and I was nervous about how the transition would go from such a small school to a big one, but so far she's loving it and is glad she decided to move schools. It helps that she knows kids there already from her dance team. Hopefully she'll still be happy when she starts getting homework. Coming from a no homework school that may be a shock to us all.

aucoeur

View

Nov 16

7 0
Open
My three year old girl. ๐Ÿ’•

aucoeur

View

Nov 1

11 0
Open
Halloween 2022. Two witches, a murderous cat, and a creepy Victorian doll. 

Zara's costume was my favorite this year - Nora did her makeup and she wore my flower girl dress from my mom and step-dad's wedding. She might have worn it better. ๐Ÿ˜‚
  • Start Reading
  • Explore Topics
  • Get in Touch
  • Subscribe

COPYRIGHT ยฉ 2020 AMBER HINDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site Powered by Pix & Hue.