What Your Vagina Can Really Expect After Giving Birth

The 101 on the TLC Your Postpartum Vag Truly Needs 

Listen, we’re just going to give it to you straight: a 7ish pound tiny human coming down that chute and out a comparatively small opening - aka your vagina - will have you sending out an SOS to the world. So answer that call with the tender loving care your vag really needs post-delivery. Here’s what you really need and why:  

Forget the toilet paper - you’ll be your own bidet for a while.

It doesn’t matter if you spring for the really expensive TP with three layers and quilting. There will be no wiping after you pee for at least the first week since your vagina is going to be swollen and raw and super sensitive. Even if you don’t have stitches from tearing or an episiotomy, you will be wounded! So you need a peri bottle. What’s a peri bottle? Glad you asked! Our Upside Down Peri bottle is a squirt bottle with an upside down angled spout that can keep your vagina and that general region nice and clean and help prevent infection. Fill it with warm water and give yourself a gentle rinse after you use the toilet. Go ahead and name your peri bottle because you love it so much. We all did. 

Is that an icicle in your underwear, or did you just have a baby?

We wholeheartedly believe that ice helps everything. Bruised your leg walking around your bed? Put some ice on it! Tension headache from wearing your dry-shampooed hair in a top knot for too long? Put some ice on it. Your vag after pushing a human out of it? Ice, ice, you had a baby. But there’s no need or time to DIY it. Get some Instant Ice Maxi Pads - all the cooling relief, in an instant! These maxis with built-in cold care are perfect for postpartum recovery. They’re absorbent enough to collect all the stuff trickling from your uterus, and they provide 20 minutes of cold therapy, without the added bulk of an actual ice pack between your legs. That whole area is going to be swollen enough, you don’t need any extra bulge.

Witch Hazel: it’s not just for (facial) skin care!

We’ve talked about how much care your vag will need. Now let’s move to the vag-adjacent area known as your perineum. Your perineum will be screaming at you for quite some time after THAT particular event. You see, 10 centimeters isn’t that big, and your baby’s head will be … significantly larger. There is a lot of stretching that takes place, and even possibly some tearing, and your perineum will take the brunt of that. Back in the day, women used to line their maxi pads with hemorrhoid pads, but we’re 21st century moms, and we can do better than that. Full-length Witch Hazel Cooling Pad Liners are made with medicated Witch Hazel and designed fit most maternity pads from vag to tush. You can even keep them in fridge for an extra blast of cold relief, and add non-absorbent Witch Hazel foam directly onto your maxi pad for the full effect. 

The mother of all underwear to hold it all together!

We know you’ve been itching to get back to some semblance of pre-baby you, and we sympathize! We really do. But postpartum is not the time for that, friends. Postpartum is when you want to wrap yourself from the waist down in pain-relieving gauze that won’t rub on your healing stitches or aggravate your hemorrhoids. But since you presumably have to walk around and maybe even leave the house on occasion, we suggest ditching the mummy look in favor of some big ol’ postpartum panties. That hospital mesh underwear just won’t do the job, so stock up on your own Disposable Postpartum Underwear. These super stretchy undies are made from microfiber and spandex, so they’re soft, comfy, and will keep everything in place. Because the last thing you need is to bend over to pick up the baby for a nursing sesh and send a bloody maxi pad shooting down your leg. Bonus points: they make great period panties for when the red tide returns.

Postpartum recovery is no walk in the park - truth be told, you won’t be walking any farther than the bathroom for the first few days. So make sure you’re giving yourself and your vag as much care and attention as you’re giving that new baby. It worked hard for you! Now it’s time to return the favor.