Postpartum Caddy

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The physical part of postpartum was actually surprising for me. For one, I did no research on what to expect so I genuinely had no idea what was coming. Then second, I honestly expected to have a c-section. My mom and sister both had them so I figured it was inevitable for me too. Really, most of my aunts were also c-section women. Imagine my immense surprise when I had the only vaginal birth our immediate family has seen! No one was around to tell me what to expect and how to handle it. So, I figured it out myself! The most helpful tool was this postpartum caddy that I put together to help me heal.

Why A Caddy?

Seems like it’d be easy enough to have all this stuff just in the bathroom right? Well, there are a couple reasons that may not be the case. Mainly, if you have two bathrooms. This is the case for us and I really didn’t want to buy two of everything to stock both bathrooms. Add in on top of that one of our bathrooms is upstairs and one is downstairs. Now I felt pretty good during this time but trips upstairs were still very difficult. It was so nice to be able to grab my caddy in the morning and not have to go upstairs more than once.

The next reason is a little petty but I was insecure so it mattered to me. We had guests quite often and I didn’t want them walking into my postpartum supplies all over. This helped me keep it organized and allowed me to tuck it away if needed too.

An added bonus- organization. Not sure about you but my life felt pretty out of control during those first few weeks. We were living on naps and a prayer! Having this little caddy helped keep my supplies organized so I at least had control of a small portion of my life.

Lastly, you can reuse the caddy! I currently have one full of diapering supplies on my nightstand for night time changes. I intend to use the postpartum carrier to pack one for the car so that we can make sure we have emergency diaper changing, medical, and cleaning supplies on hand just in case. This was we won’t have a caddy sitting around until we decide if there are more kids coming.

I honestly can’t explain how nice it was to have everything in one spot whenever I needed it. My needs changed day to day and week to week. Heck, sometimes they changed by the hour. I had it all there whenever needed to avoid pain and keep myself cleaned up.

Items in The Postpartum Caddy

Regular Pads

Overnight Pads

Maternity Pads

Incontinence Pads (more on this below)

Disposable Underwear

Peri Bottle

Witch Hazel Wipes

Earth Mama Peri Spray

Pads, Pads, and More Pads…

In total I had 4 different packs of pads and I used them all! The incontinence pads were so helpful when I first came home. They are really long, so great for overnight too. At the hospital I layered two pads to get enough coverage front to back but these allowed me to go down to just one pad.

The maternity pads were great when I had medium bleeding through the day. It’s still a longer and thicker pad but not as long as the incontinence pads. I really loved these ones for how much volume they could handle but the length wasn’t quite right for overnight.

Once my bleeding slowed down after a couple weeks I was able to switch to normal pads. Obviously, use the overnight pads at night and the regular pads during the day. Until it tapered off more then I just went to normal pads.

If you haven’t been through postpartum, the flow changes so you may go through one of each pad at different points in the day or depending on what you are doing. Mine always seemed heavier at night and I didn’t want to change the sheets if I leaked so I always opted for the biggest pads at night. Honestly, the last thing I wanted to deal with in my sleep deprived state was blood. I’ll forever promote huge pads, disposable underwear, and black shorts. Save the tiny shred of sanity you have left, trust me. 

I’d probably also add some panty liners to this list but by then you shouldn’t need the rest of the supplies and you shouldn’t be changing them as often. Plus, after a couple weeks the stairs weren’t nearly as difficult.

In Conclusion: Postpartum Caddy

In Conclusion: Postpartum CarrierPart of me feels a little guilty because my physical postpartum healing wasn’t very bad. I know of many people who talked about the pain and having to sit on a donut for days afterward. Even though my recovery  wasn’t horrible, I still think the postpartum caddy helped because I did far less walking and more recovering. I’m not convinced we’ll have another baby just due to the extent of our fertility issues but, if we do, I’ll for sure be packing up my carrier so it’s ready for the next round.