PostPartum Moms: I Stand with You in Unshowered Solidarity

Is there ever a time in your life when you are more in need of a shower than in the days immediately following the birth of your baby? Very few instances that rival it come to mind.

I am sweaty (thanks hormones). I am leaking breastmilk and keep soaking through the nursing pads. I lost count of how many times I have been spit up on today. And we won’t talk about the postpartum bleeding situation. Not to mention that another small, sweaty human always wants to be attached to me.

I need a shower. STAT.

Let’s back up for a minute though.

I was warned about this.

I was so incredibly lucky to have one of my best friends have her first baby just a short 11 months ahead of me having MY first. She filled me in on all the things I never would have known about the postpartum period, things that no one else tells you about. Or at least not in full gory detail….hey, what are friends for?!?

So even though I just had my third baby three days ago, apparently the mind has a funny way of forgetting the not-so-great things about the postpartum period, the one I refer to as the 4th trimester.

But here is the problem: I was getting ready to attempt a “quick” shower while the baby slept. I made sure I had my towel waiting, and then remembered that I also needed a fresh giant, diaper-like pad, nursing pads, my granny-panties, lanolin nipple cream, and hemorrhoid cream, along with a fresh nursing bra because I soaked through one already today. Try to keep your jealousy of my attractiveness in check right now.

By the time I gathered my supplies, the baby was stirring around, so I diapered and fed her again. I was just putting her soundly in her swing and about to undress when my older two kids decided that their 20-minute attention-span for watching Paw Patrol was up.

Sigh. Maybe I’ll shower when my husband gets home from work. Until then, I stand with you, postpartum moms, in unshowered solidarity. Someday we will get to shower regularly again. And someday we won’t have QUITE the immediate, disgusting need for said shower. In the meantime, know that your sweet baby does not care what you look like, or smell like. To him or her, you are the world, showered or not.