Health Crisis Lessons

My last blog post was about my health emergency, so please read it to have context for this post.

During my hospitalization and recovery, I learned a few things. I thought I would share them since they can be applied to pregnancy, birth and postpartum.

• You need to advocate for yourself.  
  • I had to advocate to be able to take my thyroid medicine in the middle of the night as I've been doing for years instead of 1 hour before breakfast.  I had to do this multiple times with multiple staff members.
• A sense of humor helps everyone.
  • I joked about mooning people in my hospital gown, and hospital food. Laughing together helped put everyone at ease.
• Recovery takes time.
  • While my emergency happened very quickly, recovery did not.
• Recovery takes longer than we think it should.
  • I was told to allow 6 weeks for recovery. I expected I would be back to normal in two weeks but my body made it very clear it needed 6 weeks and then some.
• Sleep is very healing.
  • I slept for 16 hours a day the first few weeks at home. While there were things I wanted to be doing, my body made it obvious that sleep needed to be a priority.
• Eating nutritious foods and hydrating well help with recovery.
  • Being dehydrated, and living on potato chips is not going to give your body the tools it needs to recover. Your body only has the tools you give it to work with, so give it nutritious food and good hydration.
•  It's okay to ask for help.
  • I don't usually ask for help, but there were so many things I just couldn't do myself. I had to ask for help to get out of bed early on, I needed someone to pick up things that fell to the floor, I needed to have my husband come on my walks because I was so unsteady, and the list goes on.  
• It's okay to have days where you just rest, sleep and eat.
  • I've had to create rest days even though I'm feeling so much better. I have overdone things and needed more rest to compensate for overdoing it. Sometimes it's just been nice to have an easy day and that's okay.

Every single thing listed here applies to pregnancy, birth and postpartum. Be kind to yourself. Give yourself space. Give yourself time. Ask for help, and let people help you. While it can feel like a long time, remember where you are at is temporary and things will get to a new normal.