Breakfast was oatmeal, goji berry tea, and a tea that helps with getting rid of lochia. We waited until 4 days postpartum to start the red blood cell production and decreasing anemia first. This tea is taken for 7 days daily.
For lunch, I had leftover soup from last night and added pork in.
For dinner, I had pork, eggs, bok choy, noodles and goji berries soup.
I started to feel more weak today compared for the first couple of days. I am resting quite a bit and I have to thank my mom mostly for making all this delicious food. This one month postpartum period is an important time for healing.
We are entering day 5 of life for my son. Colostrum has transitioned to milk. He gained 3 ounces in from day 3 to 4 reaching a low weight of 7 pounds. He does eat and poop a lot and his latch has been great so I really cannot complain. Since our first son had high bilirubin levels (thus his jaundice was above 20), he needed to go to the hospital for phototherapy. So far with the second son, his bilirubin levels are lower so it is unlikely that we will need phototherapy this time around!
I haven’t updated this website in a long time. Earlier this year, I got pregnant with my second child and I just had him a couple days ago. The labor and delivery took 12 hours from when my water broke and I had such a wonderful team of midwives and nurses to help me through the process.
From my first birth, I wanted to write about my first month’s postpartum recovery period where my mom prepared intentionally selected foods to help with recovery. A lot of things I never knew and thought it would be interesting to share. I plan to show pictures and the rationale for the foods I eat throughout this important recovery period.
Today was my first full day home with my newborn. For breakfast, I had oatmeal, eggs and zucchini. Oatmeal is a good source of iron and help with red blood cell production. It is also good for increasing milk production. My mom added in some nuts (almonds, cashews), dried fruits, banana, and blueberries.
For lunch, I had sea bass soup. My mom went to the Asian grocery store and bought a pound of live sea bass. Sea bass is good for healing wounds. For me, I had a first degree tear and received 3 stitches. This will help heal my wound faster.
Also, there’s tofu for protein and goji berries. Goji berries have several benefits including it is high in antioxidants, improved vision, more energy, lowering of bad cholesterol, increased energy, better sleep, weight loss, improved hair thickness and luster, and less dryness. Goji berries also may help fight depression. It is also great to put goji berries into some hot water to let it open up and drink it like a tea. It is slightly sweet.
My mom also added white cabbage for vegetables and less “flavorful” so it does not taint the taste of the breast milk. It is also advised to not add too much spices (including pepper).
For dinner, we continued to use the same fish soup base and added lamb. Lamb has heme iron, which is easier to absorb and help with the anemia associated with childbirth. Lamb also has zinc, which is vital to maintain an optical immune system, wound healing, DNA and protein synthesis.
If you noticed, everything is soup based. Hydration is incredibly important to maintaining breast milk, which is the primary food for the newborn.
Today I felt great. I’m not sure if it’s because I got stitches this time for a first degree tear so I’m not nearly as painful in my perineum area. Or maybe it’s because I’ve had experience and systems in place at home already. Or if it’s because I’m so glad that my newborn is able to latch well today (and not cause a bleeding nipple). Anyways, see you tomorrow.
