The Nelson Family: Post Partum Must Haves

What an odd post.. but after having many suggestions on how to survive and then coming up with my own things I came up with a few lifesavers & favorites. They sure helped me from the time I got home from the hospital and a few days after..

First Off..
Once you finally get to shower or take a bath at home.. you feel like 100 times better. Obviously you realize you don't feel like you can walk normal and you ache to sit or even lay down from sitting in a hospital bed. (I forgot that I could leave the room and walk around the halls until the last night we were there.. oops)

I started taking a bath every night with Epsom Salt. My great friend Carli told me about it and it really seemed to help me out. I loved the smell of the peppermint and just relaxing in it made it nice.
I even used a whole bottle before I even delivered because I loved soaking in it when my back was aching and it was just relaxing that whole last month of being pregnant.

This is the one I got from Carli as a baby gift and I have since bought two more bottles... In love with this stuff!

Another thing that will save you is the peri-bottle and numbing spray they give you at the hospital! Also you will love the witch-hazel pads.

I loved using these wipes after I knew I was starting to heal. It made me not so scared to use toilet paper. I also love their wash as well. I have used it for a couple years to help me from not getting infections and such..

Both of these are lifesavers and something you can continue to use well after you are done healing from babies arrival

Always Infinity Pads! Kotex Liners! GET!!!!

You will need both of those. There is a chance by the time you leave the hospital you could wear a normal pad home. I loved the always infinity pads. They conform to you unlike the hospital pads. Also if you are planning to get a Mirena IUD for birth control at your 6 week post-partum check you will want liners since minimal spotting occurs. You can wear a tampon after your 6 week check but sometimes your bleeding won't need that type of help.

I also bought a nice gel ice pack that i could sit on for the first few days of being home.

Next..
If you are breastfeeding or planning too... I have found some awesome products...

Nursing Cover
First off... Covered Goods...
AMAZING

I love this cover. 1- its a great carseat cover 2- its a nursing cover that covers your back, sides, front... you get the drift..

They are so reasonably priced, lightweight for the carseat and for when you are nursing. Your baby doesn't get to hot and you can easily peek to check on your baby.
Plus who doesn't love their patterns?

If you can't tell, I love this cover. I would be okay with owning all of the other ones.

A few other things for the breastfeeding mother...

I wasn't sure I wanted to breastfeed in fact I was more comfortable with pumping at first then trying to get her to latch. I didn't feel like I had great help in the hospital when the nurses came in they would just do all the work & I was just the body laying their as they held Charli up against me.

After some convincing I decided that I would give it a shot. Charli wasn't bad at doing it.. I had the bad attitude. But after getting the hang of it their were a few things I needed that I never got at baby showers.

Breast Pumps...

If you are registering with BabiesRUs great. There are some perks with that.. but here is another. While we were in the hospital and I was using their pump I realized I needed one. Well Kelly left the hospital and went to get me one. I picked it on BabiesRUs after talking to the nurses about what would be the best choice.

Come to find out most insurances will reimburse you for your pump! SWEETNESS right?! We only had to pay tax. Well with the BabiesRUs registry you get 10% back on anything bought off your registry. So anything that was bought off it we get a gift card back with 10% back. So I put the pump on our registry so once we get our gift card we will get money back from the pump as well.

Here is the pump I picked. I really like the Medela brand.

Just click on this picture and check out all the details from BabiesRUs.

I love how easy it is to use, set-up, clean and if you are one of the new mommies that will have to pump when you go places... the bag is nice to hide everything. Having extra bottles is so nice as well. It also has a pack where you can keep your milk cold if you had to pump at work.

Lansinoh cream & pads!

More than likely the hospital will give you huge breast pads and a test tube of Lansinoh cream. I didn't love the huge breast pads from the hospital. My mother in law gave me some Lansinoh brand ones. Talk about awesome. They aren't huge but do their job and they stick into your nursing bra!

Nursing Bras:

I had no idea what I was doing... but I know I needed something that was workable and well that I liked because its the one thing you are going to love having.

The one on the right is more of a fitted normal bra... of course it has no underwire. You don't want that, it will hurt and be uncomfortable. But if you want the look of having a normal bra on that is the one to get..

I love this one since I have now been nursing longer and like wearing a normal bra again.

The one on the left is a lifesaver.

I loved this bra when I first started to nurse. Your boobs ache and you just want something comfortable. It can't be too tight, it can't be like a normal bra but you need the support.

I slept in this bra for over a month. I loved using the nursing pads in this bra. They stuck great and I love how easy it was to open and close. Plus who doesn't love a black & white polka dot pattern?

My Number 1 favorite thing!

My wrap is my favorite thing in the world. I didn't put Charli into it until she was 11 days old. But it was so nice. I was starting to feel like I could do laundry, dishes but still have my baby so close to me.

In fact, I knew I loved this product so much that I didn't buy a stroller that the carseat clicks into. My sister told me she hated hers when she had her daughter and that they are bulky. You don't really use your stroller all that much anyways at least not in the winter months. (Don't worry I did get a stroller it's also a favorite).

Charli is so young and with it being RSV season when she was born. I love being able to go to the store and put her in this wrap. People can see its a baby but nobody will grab her or try and peek because she looks so peaceful plus who's gonna grab your boobs?

After wearing this for the past two months I get so many questions on what it is, how it works, if it takes a lot of time to put on... and the conversation with these strangers ends up in me giving them the website to buy their own.

In fact when we went to BodyWorlds museum in SLC a lady stopped me and talked to me about it for over a half hour. She was thrilled by it... Once I started telling her about it people were looking more at me.. Then they all noticed their was a baby inside. More conversations were started and Kelly was shocked at how much response their was.

LOVE IT!

I also use this wrap when I am at the dance studio. It keeps Charli close, warm and makes my hands free to help girls and teach. I love it!!

If I haven't convinced you of this wrap just look at these pictures...