On this episode I welcome Labor and Delivery Nurse and Instagram phenom @mommy.labornurse to discuss your common questions about labor, delivery, and postpartum.

• How best can I advocate for myself during labor, especially during a pandemic? (I’ll chime in about COVID precautions)
• What are some C-section must-haves?
• What are some vaginal delivery postpartum must-haves?
• How can I maximize BF success postpartum?
• How to care for stitches postpartum?

00;00;06;15 – 00;00;36;16

Dr. Mona

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the PedsDocTalk podcast. I’m your host, Doctor Mona, where each week I hope to educate and inspire you in your journey through parenthood with information on your most common concerns as a parent and interviews with fellow parents and experts in the field. My hope is you leave each week feeling more educated, confident, and empowered in decisions you make for your child.

 

00;00;36;18 – 00;00;57;09

Dr. Mona

Hello and welcome to this week’s episode. I have Liesel from mommy. So if you are not following mommy labor nurse already, you definitely need to. She is a labor and delivery nurse who is also pregnant with her second baby, and she is recording this episode when she is almost 36 weeks pregnant. Thank you so much for being here today.

 

00;00;57;10 – 00;00;58;17

Dr. Mona

How are you doing?

 

00;00;58;19 – 00;01;14;26

Liesel Teen

I’m happy to be here. Thank you. I’m doing great. It’s really like I was just telling you before we got started up. I’m really. I feel good for being almost 36 weeks. I’m, like, counting my lucky stars that I’m not miserable yet. And I’m sleeping pretty good. I mean, it’s it’s good. I’m good.

 

00;01;14;28 – 00;01;37;21

Dr. Mona

I am so, so happy that you could join me. I know, you know, obviously where you’re at and you’re gestational just a shot right now. But also given, you know, obviously you’re very busy with your amazing page and your amazing podcast and that’s, you know, I don’t think I have ever told you, but I actually found when I first started Instagram, I found your page because some of my, my friends were like, you need to follow, follow her.

 

00;01;37;21 – 00;01;58;02

Dr. Mona

She’s good educational content. And when I was starting my page, I was like, wow, she’s amazing. This is you can do education on social media. So I, I love it. You don’t even have to be pregnant. Want a child? Have a child to love your content. Which is goes to show just how awesome you are and, you know, giving all that an education.

 

00;01;58;04 – 00;02;09;26

Dr. Mona

And as a pediatrician, I love hearing the perspective of a labor and delivery nurse. And everything you talk about is right on par with what you know. I would say, too, and I love it. So thank you so much for your page and your podcast.

 

00;02;09;28 – 00;02;14;16

Liesel Teen

Well thank you. That was a very warm welcome. I’m happy to be here. Thank you.

 

00;02;14;19 – 00;02;21;24

Dr. Mona

So I know you’re so I’m I know you’re expecting your second child, but you have an you have an older child as well who is now how old he is.

 

00;02;21;24 – 00;02;35;05

Liesel Teen

Three and a half. Very excited about baby brother or baby sister. We don’t know if what we’re having right as of yet. We’ll find out in a few weeks. But yeah, he’s they’re they’ll they’ll be three and a half years apart. And his name is Walter. Yeah.

 

00;02;35;05 – 00;02;40;09

Dr. Mona

And I don’t know the timing. So did you start your page mommy labor after your son was born?

 

00;02;40;12 – 00;03;04;19

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So. Yes. So I started. I had him, he was about eight months old, something like that. And I was back at work already. I went back, I took, you know, three months maternity leave with him, and then I went back to the hospital almost full time. I went back, it’s called, like three quarter time, which is like pretty much full time, but but one less shift, one less shift and then full time.

 

00;03;04;21 – 00;03;23;17

Liesel Teen

So it was working a whole lot and had a three month old at home. And I’m just like, I just, you know, I love my job, but I’m just like, you know, every day that I go in, I’m like, sad that I’m leaving my baby for 12 hours. And, you know, so I dealt with that for, you know, a five months or so.

 

00;03;23;17 – 00;03;50;03

Liesel Teen

He was about eight months old and I then I back down to part time. So I was doing two days a week and I, you know, we financially were like, okay, you know, this is needed. I want, you know, Lisa needs to be home more because my husband has a full time job, too. But I’m like, okay, maybe there’s like something I can kind of supplement where I can, like, kind of have a little side, you know, gig kind of going because I’m like, just part time.

 

00;03;50;20 – 00;04;13;11

Liesel Teen

So I just kind of started googling and saying, you know, how’s like, what’s the what are some ways to kind of make money at home, like as a, as a mom? And blogging was like one of the, one of the first things that came up on Pinterest. Of course, I’m like, I’m Pinterest. And blogging came up and I was like, oh my gosh, like, I actually that actually is a really cool idea.

 

00;04;13;11 – 00;04;37;20

Liesel Teen

Like, I could, I could write some articles about, you know, I was like, I love educating and doing. You know, I love my job as a labor delivery nurse. So maybe I could try and translate it into, you know, like an online platform. So I just kind of got the idea. I spent a few months then working on just my blog, like my website and my Pinterest, and it wasn’t even I wasn’t even mommy labor nurse back then.

 

00;04;37;20 – 00;04;59;13

Liesel Teen

It was just it was called a different name. But I wasn’t even like, it’s, you know, my Instagram page wasn’t even really in my brain yet. So started that, then it was right about his year birthday in February that I launched my website and like my Pinterest and stuff, and I had an Instagram page, but it was nothing like it is now.

 

00;04;59;13 – 00;05;23;03

Liesel Teen

And then I did that for a few months, you know, made a couple couple hundred bucks, you know, a month, like nothing like crazy crazy, but like enough to kind of supplement and then, I was probably September of that year, probably a good like six months after I started blogging, I took an Instagram growth course and I started getting more into Instagram and educating more on Instagram.

 

00;05;23;03 – 00;05;40;25

Liesel Teen

And I kind of I changed my brand, I change my name. And that’s that’s kind of when mommy labor nurse was born. So it’s been yeah, almost, almost it’s been over two years from like blogging anniversary but a little less than two years of like mommy labor nurse anniversary, I guess.

 

00;05;40;28 – 00;05;58;16

Dr. Mona

What a what a journey I yeah, I’ve been obviously I’ve been on Instagram for now and a little over a year. So I came in probably right after you had changed your, your brand. Yeah. It’s so awesome seeing your growth, obviously. And it’s so like you, especially being an educator, primarily educational account. So I, I love that.

 

00;05;58;16 – 00;06;21;14

Dr. Mona

So it’s so great because it’s so needed. Right. And your, your page is a testament to how much women and soon to be moms or whoever it is, is craving educational resources about pregnancy and delivery. So I really, really appreciate you and your account. How, you know, how did your first pregnancy and delivery go? Is that did that inspire you in any way to start the account?

 

00;06;21;14 – 00;06;45;07

Liesel Teen

But anyway. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, 100%. I so I had a great pregnancy with Walter again. We didn’t know the gender. When when I was pregnant with him. Had a great delivery. I my goal was to not get an epidural with him. And I was able able to do that, which was pretty cool. So I delivered at the same hospital that I work at, I still work at.

 

00;06;45;07 – 00;07;19;09

Liesel Teen

I plan to do the same thing with this one. So I had a really, you know, great birth experience. It was very fulfilling. And yeah, that kind of just, I, I probably would not be doing it if it wasn’t for having a positive experience and just not not only that, but having a positive experience and then just kind of using that to even learn more about how to educate moms, more about having positive experiences and advocating for themselves.

 

00;07;19;09 – 00;07;47;14

Liesel Teen

And I just got really into that, you know, while I was pregnant with him. So it kind of just translated over. But yeah, that that certainly had an impact. I definitely don’t think I would be doing doing this, you know, this, if it wasn’t for giving birth and just and also just from an experience, standpoint and being able to relate with moms to write like, you know, this because you started your page kind of before you gave birth.

 

00;07;47;16 – 00;07;56;07

Liesel Teen

And now probably as a first time mom, you’re like, wow, I can I can relate a whole lot more to my viewers. And that’s exactly how I felt.

 

00;07;56;09 – 00;08;18;21

Dr. Mona

Oh, absolutely. I completely agree. Like it changed changed the game. I felt like I had a good idea of the basic stuff, obviously the educational stuff, but the personal aspect of going through, you know, obviously being pregnant, having the baby, obviously what happened with our, our delivery and then postpartum and the last seven months, at the time of this recording, he’s almost seven months crazy.

 

00;08;18;21 – 00;08;36;17

Dr. Mona

I know, it’s nuts. It’s crazy. It is crazy. But you’re right that it comes from a true place of like, well, I actually kind of get it now. I kind of understand a lot more. And I want to help mothers not feel things that I felt in the past. You know, I want to help them feel empowered in parenting, like how you want them to feel empowered in their, delivery.

 

00;08;36;17 – 00;08;52;19

Dr. Mona

So I, I completely agree that it comes from a all this kind of comes from a place of looking at, you know, there’s a need here. So I totally agree. Now, is there anything that you’re planning on doing differently this time around with your delivery, for example, or that maybe has a differently in your pregnancy?

 

00;08;52;22 – 00;09;16;26

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So I definitely I was telling you beforehand, but I’m definitely staying more active in trying to do a lot more things, comfort wise, like to keep myself comfortable during pregnancy because I realize the importance of that, and just how it translates into, like, your whole life and just your mental health and just everything. Just like, if you feel good, you know, that’s that goes a long way.

 

00;09;16;28 – 00;09;53;03

Liesel Teen

So that’s one thing I have been doing is just, just kind of seeing more active. Another thing that I plan on doing is, reviewing my own content myself, like my own birth course that I’ve made and also sending probably not the whole thing, but probably parts of it to my husband for him to look over stuff because he certainly, you know, we didn’t I’ll be the first one to say that I didn’t take a formal birth class, like with my first pregnancy, because I’m a labor and delivery nurse, and I’m like, I do this all the time.

 

00;09;53;03 – 00;10;13;00

Liesel Teen

You know, I don’t need a birth class. I’ve talked to enough people, blah, blah, blah, blah. I felt super prepared, but I very much neglected my husband in the birth process. So I realized that with this pregnancy, and I realized that I really want to, like, get him super prepared and send him not only my stuff, but like other resources and stuff.

 

00;10;13;00 – 00;10;38;19

Liesel Teen

Because I want because he felt kind of so helpless with my labor, feeling like he was just like, yeah, you know, I’m in so much pain. And he’s like, I feel like I can’t help you, blah, blah, blah. You know, it’s it. When I say traumatic, it wasn’t like crazy, crazy traumatic for him, but it was somewhat traumatic for him to see someone go through that immense amount of pain.

 

00;10;38;19 – 00;10;56;24

Liesel Teen

And, you know, like a lot of people can probably relate to that. And now this time, I want him to be educated more on stuff that he can do to help me. So he feels like he’s more like in a role, you know, and just help helping. So I want his experience to be a little bit more, I guess.

 

00;10;57;00 – 00;11;00;22

Liesel Teen

So that’s probably the main difference. And I’m oh that’s been him more.

 

00;11;00;24 – 00;11;19;04

Dr. Mona

Yeah that’s great. That’ll help me too. Yeah I you’re right though I don’t think we focus a lot on the, you know non birthing partner nearly as much. And also there. Yes. They’re not going through the heavy physical and emotional experience we are. But they are definitely involved. And obviously they go through a big adjustment postpartum as well.

 

00;11;19;25 – 00;11;36;21

Dr. Mona

I completely that’s so great that you’re, you know, you’re using this pregnancy and delivery experience now as to change that for your family. So I love that. So now what I’m going to do, I actually asked on my stories I ask people to submit questions. So I’m going to go over, you know, we’re going to go through a few of those questions.

 

00;11;37;11 – 00;11;57;07

Dr. Mona

And also from the perspective of you being a labor and delivery nurse and me being a pediatrician. So I think I got a good amount of questions here, and also ones that I think are really good for the pandemic, also because we’re recording this in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic. So the first one is how best can I of pregnant women advocate for myself during labor?

 

00;11;57;07 – 00;12;01;16

Dr. Mona

And then we’ll also talk about during like the whole the Covid pandemic too.

 

00;12;01;18 – 00;12;28;22

Liesel Teen

Yeah, I know it. It changes a little bit, I think with Covid because there are I think the biggest changes for people is like there’s just some more things that you have to advocate for yourself with, with regarding Covid, and some changes. But yeah, I basically start off when we start talking about advocacy is I start talking to people on how to actually advocate for yourself, because a lot of people just don’t really understand what that means.

 

00;12;28;22 – 00;12;49;22

Liesel Teen

And a lot of people kind of like have a negative connotation to advocacy. And it’s really not about being negative. It’s just about, I mean, I really just kind of teach it as like, okay, you know, you want to talk to your care provider in a respectful way. First of all, right. You don’t want to, like, curse at them or rub them.

 

00;12;49;29 – 00;13;16;14

Liesel Teen

You know, completely the wrong way. But you want to be clear and concise and firm and say, hey, like, this is how I feel. Let’s do an example of, I don’t know, let’s say I want to stand up during labor or something, or I want to move around more during labor. So if you’re providers coming in and saying, you know, we have to put you on the monitor, you have to be, on bedrest, you know, your whole labor.

 

00;13;16;16 – 00;13;43;20

Liesel Teen

I would probably advocate for myself and say, okay, first of all, can you can you kind of tell me exactly why that’s needed? I would, you know, I it seems like I’m really low risk. I’m like, you know, my baby is not had had any heart rate decelerations. I’ve done this research on how you know how moving around can be really beneficial, especially if I’m super low risk.

 

00;13;43;22 – 00;14;07;22

Liesel Teen

Is there a specific reason? Maybe there is. And then they bring up that reason. You say, oh, okay, that makes sense. Like this is why now. But that’s not you know, you’re just asking questions. Advocacy is really about stating what you want to state and asking questions and getting to the end point of, okay, this sounds great. We agree.

 

00;14;07;22 – 00;14;28;02

Liesel Teen

Or okay, you know what? Let me think about it some more and we can reassess in 15 minutes, or we can reassess in 30 minutes. That’s that’s advocacy in a nutshell. And so, so important. I mean like your voice is so, so important not only in the delivery room, but in motherhood in your whole freaking life. Yeah, right.

 

00;14;28;02 – 00;14;30;07

Liesel Teen

The sooner you learn how to advocate, the better.

 

00;14;30;11 – 00;14;46;08

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And I appreciate you saying it in like a you’re saying it. You’re saying it in a way that is kind. There is a way to advocate for yourself and not cursing, like you said. And but you’re right. I mean, having been on the other side, I mean, we’re both in health care, right? So we obviously have to advocate for ourselves too.

 

00;14;46;13 – 00;15;03;17

Dr. Mona

And your your language choice is perfect, right? Can you tell me why we have to do it this way? Are there other options? And, you know, with the pandemic, one of the biggest things I’m hearing right now is, you know, a lot of times, babies do have to get separated from mom, and it’s okay to ask them and say, what are my options here?

 

00;15;03;17 – 00;15;24;19

Dr. Mona

You know, what are my options? What are the risks of having the baby with me? Sometimes, you know, in hospital settings, they have to have the mom sign paperwork if it’s going against medical advice. Obviously, you have to ask the risk and benefit. I think that’s also something that parents forget that. Hey, if I’m if if I want to keep my baby here and I’m Covid positive, what are the risks?

 

00;15;24;19 – 00;15;40;22

Dr. Mona

And then the doctor will say, look, it is an airborne illness. You know, we’re we’re concerned. We think it’s best for dated. But you can say nicely and say, you know what, I want this choice or I’m choosing to do this. There may be paperwork you need to sign, but you have to be willing to do it right.

 

00;15;40;22 – 00;16;03;07

Dr. Mona

You can’t say, I want it this way, but I’m not signing a paperwork. Because they also are responsible for you and the baby’s care, right? That’s what they’re there for. But I agree with you that we all have choices, and we all have the ability to communicate hopefully effectively. I know when stress is high and you know you’re tired and you just want things a certain way, sometimes we can get a little more angry, but, it is there is a way.

 

00;16;03;10 – 00;16;18;16

Dr. Mona

Yeah, there is a way that it can come off where it’s, you know, obviously the caretaker or the, you know, care team will be receptive to it. So I agree with you. Now my next one was what would be your advice postpartum for C-section moms.

 

00;16;18;18 – 00;16;40;22

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So I put out a let me find it. I had the article open. I put out like a Q&A box a while back of moms. I said specifically, okay, if you’ve had a C-section, like I’ve never had a C-section, so I want to know specifically from you, what are some things that you think like, you know, are really needed postpartum wise?

 

00;16;40;24 – 00;17;03;29

Liesel Teen

And really the main things were high waisted stuff like like high waisted pants, high waisted panties. They have those like I think they’re by up spring. There’s a few different brands but like really super high waisted nice and nice underwear and what are they called. The abdominal binders are really, really nice for C-section moms. They love those.

 

00;17;04;19 – 00;17;18;12

Liesel Teen

And then honestly, one of the funniest things that somebody said to me, one of the items was like, have you ever seen those? Me go back to my camera because I can’t see you? Have you ever seen those little grabbers? Like, they’re like.

 

00;17;18;17 – 00;17;19;20

Dr. Mona

Oh, yeah, ten glittery.

 

00;17;20;10 – 00;17;38;25

Liesel Teen

Grabbers, right? See, like, she was like, I brought one of those grabber things so I could just, like, grab things at the end of my bed and, like, grab things over so I didn’t have to get up because that’s, C-section moms different from a vaginal delivery. It’s a lot harder to just, like, get out of bed.

 

00;17;38;27 – 00;17;58;18

Liesel Teen

So, like, anything that you can do to kind of get your, you know, keep, keep where you’re at and not like, move around a whole lot while you’re healing. You know, you do want to move around as you’re starting to feel a little bit better and your pain is starting to decrease. But like in that immediate postpartum period, it’s it’s painful.

 

00;17;58;18 – 00;18;20;07

Liesel Teen

After you’ve had a C-section, they cut through your abdominal wall. It’s it’s very, very painful. So anything you can do to like not do dramatic movements. Another mom said, she had like a really high bed at home. So like a little staircase, like keeping a little staircase right next to your bed. So it’s like, not that dramatic drop.

 

00;18;20;13 – 00;18;40;16

Liesel Teen

Another mom said, a really good tip for recovery was going up the stairs backwards, because that’s not as, like, heavy. So those are just some, some of the ones that I put in my article. But yeah, it’s a, it’s a little bit, you know, you want to still take it easy if you have a natural delivery, but you want to take it a little bit easier if you’ve had a C-section.

 

00;18;41;02 – 00;19;00;20

Liesel Teen

One more thing was, ice packs that are, like, shaped like, like, wrecked it like that. You can keep on your incision not so long that it gets really moist because you want to keep the incision dry. But ice is really, really good down there because it feels so nice. Yeah.

 

00;19;00;22 – 00;19;22;12

Dr. Mona

Absolutely. I because I had a C-section. So you had vaginal delivery for your first. Yeah. Yeah I, you know, I was, I was hoping for the vaginal. I thought it would be fine. And man, you’re right that it is. It is intense. The C-section recovery. You’re you forget how much you need your abs to do. So much walking, like, laugh and and coughing like I.

 

00;19;22;18 – 00;19;40;04

Dr. Mona

So, yeah, I mean, I will say it gets better, obviously. And for anyone who’s like, you know, doesn’t have C-section, I don’t want you to live in fear of it. It does get better. You’ll get back to your baseline activity. But yeah, the first six weeks to eight weeks, it could happen like that where you’re feeling like, wow, I feel like someone punch me in my stomach and oh, all the time.

 

00;19;40;04 – 00;19;56;29

Dr. Mona

It’s like one day I woke up and I was like, Oh my gosh, I don’t feel pain. But I love that you are right that with the, you know, getting out of bed. So you said that mom who’d like to had the stair like stairs or steps, you kind of have to roll to your side and really try not to activate your core while you’re healing because there’s a lot of human tissue.

 

00;19;57;02 – 00;20;18;08

Dr. Mona

So the grabber you mentioned is great. And also, you know, just anyone who can help you, obviously, if you have a partner or grandma or whoever with as much diaper changes or whatever, so that you don’t have to do as much bending down, or doing less right as you recover because it’s going to help you. Because the more you do, the more the longer it’s going to take to heal.

 

00;20;18;08 – 00;20;28;29

Dr. Mona

Which sucks, which sucks because you have a baby, but I completely agree. What about for what about for, vaginal deliveries? Having gone through it yourself, what are some must have postpartum.

 

00;20;28;29 – 00;21;07;19

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So vaginal delivery, you know, you don’t need quite some of the things that I talked about. But I definitely always recommend for moms even with, you know, C-section moms, you because you’re going to be bleeding as well is to have a little basket kind of in your bathroom in your, you know, the bathroom that you typically use, and having like hemorrhoid pads in there because you probably, you know, that most people at least maybe not have hemorrhoids that come out, but they but they need Tuck’s pads just down there because they’ve been pushing, so tax pads and extra pads in their extra underwear because it’s, you know, it gets messy.

 

00;21;08;29 – 00;21;28;22

Liesel Teen

And I really like that derma plus spray, if you’re familiar with that. They get that out at most hospitals, but not all. So sometimes you have to order ordered on Amazon. It’s just like a numbing spray. So I kept text pads, regular pads, extra underwear, and the derma spray, just like in a little basket on the top of my toilet.

 

00;21;28;22 – 00;21;54;25

Liesel Teen

And that was my little postpartum, you know, room. And then the other thing that I like to tell moms, and this is if you’ve had a vacuum delivery or a C-section, is make sure you’re taken since stool softeners, because that is not fun. And it’s a reality, you know, after you have after you have a baby, you know, your body goes through a very stressful, significant event.

 

00;21;54;28 – 00;22;16;08

Liesel Teen

And so your GI system a lot of times just says, whoa. And it stops. And so it can be days, you know, before you use the bathroom again. And most people go to the bathroom every day or, you know, multiple times a day or some people are, you know, every other day, but usually most people do have some degree of constipation.

 

00;22;16;08 – 00;22;41;08

Liesel Teen

And so just being on top of those stool softeners, as someone who did not take stool softeners after I was just like, I don’t need that, I’m regular, I’m fine. And having to like, go through that first postpartum poop. And being very, you know, severely cost constipated. I always tell moms, like, just make sure you’re on your stool softeners, make sure you’re at least like moving your legs.

 

00;22;41;08 – 00;22;57;28

Liesel Teen

You’re not, you know, you’re not, like, out being super, super active, but you’re doing like a little bit of movement to get things going. You’re drinking like some warm water or some tea, you know, to kind of like stimulate things again because yeah, that’s that’s one thing I would go back and change.

 

00;22;58;01 – 00;23;19;16

Dr. Mona

Oh yeah. And prune juice became I never guess but prune juice. And it was still like warm prune juice is what my, my nurse with me like it, it stimulated things and it was so neat. It it’s so funny when you finally do get back onto your normal pooping pattern. Yes. How grateful you are. You’re like, oh my gosh, it’s back and it’s painful and I’m not in pain pooping.

 

00;23;19;16 – 00;23;23;11

Dr. Mona

It’s no one tells you that. I know with you I didn’t know it was going to be like that.

 

00;23;23;13 – 00;23;25;01

Liesel Teen

Nope, nope. Yeah, I know, I was.

 

00;23;25;08 – 00;23;37;23

Dr. Mona

I wish I did. Oh that’s great. Now I that’s that’s such great advice. And I love hearing obviously from because you know, we both had two different types of deliveries of the C-section and vaginal. So it’s so important now. Did you, were you able to breastfeed water.

 

00;23;37;26 – 00;23;54;04

Liesel Teen

I did yeah I breastfed him for I actually breast fed him until he was 18 or 19 months, but I supplemented the whole time until he hit, you know, until he was on whole milk, like at a year. And then I just would kind of casually breastfeed him a few times a day until he decided, you know, he didn’t want to anymore.

 

00;23;54;04 – 00;24;14;13

Liesel Teen

But yeah, I breastfed him. Initially, and he had some weight gain. He was really tiny. He was only six four when he was born, and I was over, you know, I was 40 weeks pregnant, so he was fairly small when he was born, had some weight gain issues. They, advise that I supplement with some formula to get, you know, his weight back up.

 

00;24;14;13 – 00;24;37;27

Liesel Teen

And then we kind of just never stopped. So I kind of did a combination of breastfeeding and formula feeding, and had issues, you know, with my supply kind of throughout and a lot of feelings that go along with that. Of course. But yeah, I did I did breastfeed him and I enjoyed, you know, it’s generally enjoyed breastfeeding him, but not without the struggles.

 

00;24;38;00 – 00;24;50;19

Dr. Mona

I want to know you know, I’ve been having been able to breastfeed. What would be your biggest tips, to optimize breastfeeding postpartum, obviously. I know it’s very difficult from a pediatric standpoint too, but what would be your like go to tips?

 

00;24;50;24 – 00;25;18;12

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So I always tell moms that start your breastfeeding education even before you start breastfeeding. So start kind of learning about what breastfeeding because a lot of people say, oh yeah, I’m going to breastfeed, but they don’t really do any education or they do education in the clinic. You know, their provider kind of asks them if they’re going to breastfeed and maybe gives them a few tips, but it’s not like a super in-depth, you know, this is kind of what to expect.

 

00;25;18;12 – 00;25;53;07

Liesel Teen

But, you know, whatever, you can get help in the, in the hospital. But I usually I really like to stress to moms to take a breastfeeding course or start buying breastfeeding books, you know, educational tools during pregnancy to kind of anticipate for it because, again, personal experience. I knew someone about breastfeeding because I’m a labor and delivery nurse, but again, didn’t have any kind of real roundabout knowledge about it until I was actually breastfeeding myself and getting myself into it.

 

00;25;53;07 – 00;26;17;11

Liesel Teen

And it is so much harder to learn new information when you’re sleep deprived as well. So getting that information on the front end, and learning about breastfeeding, you know, when you’re 8 or 9 months pregnant, kind of a few weeks before it’s going to happen, and then having that resource there, you know, to because you know, you’re not going to retain everything having that resource there.

 

00;26;17;11 – 00;26;40;19

Liesel Teen

That’s why I like I really like the online. They have online breastfeeding classes that I, that I promote, I don’t teach them, but they have online breastfeeding classes. You can buy books from Amazon just to, you know, like refer to, you know, to tips and stuff. And then also, you know, utilizing help from lactation consultant if you are able to yeah, I, I preach education.

 

00;26;40;19 – 00;26;48;09

Liesel Teen

I mean, that’s of course my whole platform is about. But but I preach education like on the front end and if possible.

 

00;26;48;09 – 00;27;11;21

Dr. Mona

Oh yeah. And one of the other things, I mean, there’s so many resources online and then your pediatrician’s office, if you, if you selected one, they sometimes not always. And with the pandemic they may actually like do it virtually but they actually like I used to teach a breastfeeding class with a lactation consultant. So kind of I know it was kind of it was kind of ironic that I even though I, I taught breastfeeding, I wasn’t able to breastfeed myself.

 

00;27;11;21 – 00;27;14;16

Dr. Mona

That kind of goes to show how difficult it can be.

 

00;27;14;18 – 00;27;33;18

Liesel Teen

And that’s exactly how I felt, because I was like, okay, I teach moms how to do. I’ve taken a breastfeeding class as a labor and delivery nurse, like during my orientation, and I help moms with breastfeeding. But it is a world of difference when you go through it yourself. I mean, that is just the plain truth.

 

00;27;33;21 – 00;27;53;23

Dr. Mona

And I am going to do a whole different episode about breastfeeding guys. So I’m not going to go into the nitty gritty. Obviously with with Liesel, we have I have a lactation consultant coming on just to kind of go through so many different nitty gritties. But I agree that getting getting the resources and the first, you know, like you said, the first 2 to 3 weeks postpartum is that to me that critical time.

 

00;27;53;23 – 00;28;09;12

Dr. Mona

Right? I have mothers come in and they’re like, oh, it’s going okay. I’m like, no, it well, if you want to maximize, I want us to maximize like let’s use it. Yeah. Like newborn visit. Now if you, you know, I always ask the mother, I’m like, if this is not what you want because sometimes it’s too much or they don’t want to do it.

 

00;28;09;12 – 00;28;31;05

Dr. Mona

And I’m like, I support you whatever you choose. But if this is something you want, I want to maximize it. Now. I don’t want to wait till the baby’s two weeks old or three weeks old. I want to maximize this with you if that’s what a mother wants. Right? And I agree there. I don’t want a mother listening or, you know, obviously, to ever feel like there isn’t help out there for breastfeeding because there are tons of free resources now.

 

00;28;31;22 – 00;28;41;26

Dr. Mona

And also obviously the courses that are there to, like you said, so really appreciate that. Do you deal with a lot of mothers in the nursery asking about tongue tie clippings at all? I’m just curious.

 

00;28;42;03 – 00;28;44;15

Liesel Teen

I don’t so that’s.

 

00;28;44;17 – 00;28;45;16

Dr. Mona

Yeah, I was curious.

 

00;28;45;19 – 00;29;08;19

Liesel Teen

Whenever, whenever I get that question, I always say definitely follow up with a lactation consultant. Okay. And, and and then I’ve also heard that pediatric dentists are a really good option for tongue ties for, you know, moms who are, like, suspecting tongue ties but no tongue ties. It’s not I mean, it’s funny that you say that because walls are actually had a tongue tie.

 

00;29;09;02 – 00;29;27;27

Liesel Teen

I’m a minor one, but we never got it revised because I never had pain. I never had pain with breastfeeding. So we were like, I mean, it’s not. I’m like, I kind of looking back, I’m like, me. Maybe it would have helped my supplies. But he was I mean, he his latch was perfect and I didn’t have any pain.

 

00;29;27;27 – 00;29;49;27

Liesel Teen

It was just my supply. You know, for whatever reason. And I think it was a lot of stress, more than anything is what I’m thinking in my head going back, and just obsessing and, you know, having postpartum anxiety and just, like, everything. But yeah, he had he actually had it on time, but we and we I saw an EMT for it, but he was like, it’s a small one.

 

00;29;49;27 – 00;30;03;02

Liesel Teen

Are you have are you really having any pain? No. He was like, then I would just kind of watch it. If you start to get pain, let us know. But yeah, there are definitely I’m not like super educated on it. Definitely don’t help moms with it.

 

00;30;03;05 – 00;30;18;18

Dr. Mona

Yeah I was curious. No and I agree I and that’s actually what I usually say especially in the postpartum. You know, if it’s affecting the latch, if it’s painful and I have seen a bunch of tongue ties that are not painful to the mother and I, I go over the benefit risk of doing a procedure and we decide not to.

 

00;30;18;18 – 00;30;37;02

Dr. Mona

And the baby turns out obviously fine. But again, this is a that’s another question I got on the question box and that is a whole other podcast or iGTV story that I’ll do later. But you’re right that in that postpartum period, if it’s not affecting latch and not painful, then we don’t really recommend from a pediatric standpoint also.

 

00;30;37;04 – 00;30;51;12

Dr. Mona

So now I want to go through just a few more questions about that. I got from the question box how you briefly mentioned this, but how to care for stitches postpartum, whether it’s, you know, from vaginal, if they ended up needing like an a piece of me, which is where they have to repair or a C-section.

 

00;30;51;14 – 00;31;19;06

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So C-section, the main things that we want to think about is keeping the area dry and clean. So this is and this, you know, it might depend on kind of what your, what your OB, you know, what the surgeon did. Because some surgeons that use staples, some surgeons do surgery strips, some surgeons, you know, do almost like it’s almost it’s sutures, but it’s almost like a, thread, a needle, you know, kind of closure.

 

00;31;19;17 – 00;31;46;22

Liesel Teen

And they, you know, it’s all different kind of dressings. But once that dressing comes off, obviously take, you know, their advice. So they’re going to give you a lot of instructions and say, hey, this is how you care for your incision. So look at all of that stuff and, you know, follow their advice. Obviously, first. But yeah, really the main things are like keep the area nice, nice and dry and clean, use, you know, soapy water every day to, to clean the incision.

 

00;31;47;03 – 00;32;08;22

Liesel Teen

And then don’t, things like, I know some people like to kind of peek at their sterile strips and kind of peel them off, but just to kind of just let them let them kind of fall off on their own. So that’s really a C-section. And going back to like the ice pack thing, it’s okay to keep, you know, ice on the area, especially if it feels good.

 

00;32;08;29 – 00;32;40;29

Liesel Teen

But we want to be mindful of moisture. So especially if you, you know, are have like, you know, you’re on the heavier side and you’re keeping an ice pack there. You just want to be mindful of, like making sure to pat dry after the ice pack is there or even if you don’t have an ice pack, maybe just go to the shower, making sure you’re kind of patting dry and making sure that area is really dry because it if you’re if you have like folds down there where it, you know, there’s moisture buildup.

 

00;32;40;29 – 00;32;50;18

Liesel Teen

That’s when we talk about infection. We don’t want to have any surgical site infections because that’s not fun. Nobody wants that. For vaginal deliveries.

 

00;32;50;18 – 00;32;52;09

Dr. Mona

So most.

 

00;32;53;03 – 00;33;19;09

Liesel Teen

I mean, I’m most, if not all stitches dissolve on their own, and it usually takes, usually takes a couple weeks for them to dissolve, but not usually. It’s it can last for, you can kind of still have those stitches dissolve at, you know, five, six weeks postpartum. And I like to tell people to you, don’t be surprised if it’s a little bit kind of itchy and irritated down there as they’re dissolving.

 

00;33;19;18 – 00;33;38;07

Liesel Teen

And as that like stitches kind of just like, right when it goes away. Like I remember that feeling and thinking like, oh, do I have a yeast infection? And I’m like, no, I don’t have any discharge or anything, but it almost like it’s an itchy kind of feeling. So just watch out for that again. You know, you can’t keep your vagina super dry, right?

 

00;33;38;21 – 00;33;48;13

Liesel Teen

But you know, you want to be clean, lay down there and do lots of, you know, with the squirt bottle, making sure you’re just keeping keeping cleaned out. There is the main thing.

 

00;33;48;15 – 00;33;53;11

Dr. Mona

Oh, yeah. And I think, you know, signs of infection, especially c sections, redness.

 

00;33;53;13 – 00;33;54;09

Liesel Teen

Now odor.

 

00;33;54;16 – 00;34;13;17

Dr. Mona

Foul odor, like possibly excessive bleeding from obviously the vaginal area or obviously your c section site. But yeah that those are absolutely amazing tips. Now one of the questions I got was actually more personal because you are pregnant in the middle of the pandemic. So are there any steps because you’re also working in a hospital still, right?

 

00;34;13;18 – 00;34;19;28

Dr. Mona

You’re still working. Yeah. Are there any steps that you’re taking to protect yourself during, you know, being pregnant in a pandemic?

 

00;34;20;00 – 00;34;48;18

Liesel Teen

Yeah. So initially, like when this all kind of started, we were like, we’re going to know nothing. Nobody’s going out. Nothing. My husband’s, you know, gearing up when he’s going to the grocery store, Liesel and Walter, you know, staying at home, like not going anywhere. And then as restrictions started to get lifted and I’m in North Carolina, as restrictions started to get lifted, I started to say, okay, I can go out a little bit more, but I’m still pretty much kind of taking it easy, like I’m not doing.

 

00;34;48;21 – 00;35;10;21

Liesel Teen

I still don’t go grocery shopping, which actually is kind of great. We kind of figured that out. And my husband, that was like a this is side note, but that was a, fight that we used to have where I would go grocery shopping and I would get groceries for the house, and he would I would come home with the groceries and he would say, what did you get at the store?

 

00;35;10;21 – 00;35;25;17

Liesel Teen

I didn’t, and and I’m like, you didn’t tell me to get it. This and this and this and this. So now he goes to the store and I tell him what I want. I, you know, I tell him exactly what I want. So it’s very clear. And he gets whatever he wants from the store. So it actually like fixed a little marital fight, though.

 

00;35;25;19 – 00;35;28;08

Speaker 3

Yeah. I think.

 

00;35;28;10 – 00;36;05;22

Liesel Teen

So. I still don’t go to the grocery store really, unless I’m like out and I really just like need to pick up something. But yeah, just personally, I’m trying to just stay out of, you know, public, you know, crowded public areas and obviously doing all the same things that people are doing is like wearing a mask. If I’m out in public washing my hands, like for 20s, like soap suds for 20s and just being cleanliness and keeping hand sanitizer in my car and using hand sanitizer when I see it, you know, a pump out, and then, yeah, as far as the hospital, we were same thing, you know, we were masks at the hospital,

 

00;36;05;23 – 00;36;13;07

Liesel Teen

just washing your hands a whole lot, wiping down your surfaces. And I mean, you know, you just kind of, at the end of the day, have to do the best you can.

 

00;36;13;14 – 00;36;28;09

Dr. Mona

So how has the experience been for moms in your hospital? I know obviously this is just one hospital, but right now, yeah. Have they I know again, I know a lot of mothers are scared about going in, but I mean, know with the pandemic, but I then I hear that, oh, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

 

00;36;28;09 – 00;36;33;02

Dr. Mona

Are you seeing that from the other side or, you know, just kind of being honest about it?

 

00;36;33;04 – 00;36;57;11

Liesel Teen

Yeah, no, for sure. I think most moms you said it exactly right are like really, really scared initially anticipating it. And then once they get there they’re like, oh, this is not that bad. It’s actually kind of nice not having ten family members in the waiting room and getting out of the hospital a little bit sooner and being able to go home, so yeah, I think the biggest thing for us are the wearing the masks.

 

00;36;57;11 – 00;37;22;08

Liesel Teen

So, right now we’re still not saying like you. Absolutely have to wear a mask during labor. We’re just we’re we’re having, partners wear masks pretty much the whole time. Unless they, you know, you can you can refuse and say, hey, now, I don’t want to wear a mask, but fine. So having, you know, visitors and partners wear masks all the time, wear masks, like, in the hallways.

 

00;37;22;08 – 00;37;44;22

Liesel Teen

And then once you get in your room, mom can, you know, take off her mask, and then obviously, I have a mask on the whole time to protect myself. But, yeah, other than that, I mean, it’s really it’s not as bad as people think it’s going to, you know, it’s like you think you hype it up in your head like, oh, I’m going to have all of these like restrictions and blah, blah, blah, blah.

 

00;37;44;22 – 00;37;48;03

Liesel Teen

And you’re like, oh, I get to go home a little bit sooner.

 

00;37;48;03 – 00;38;04;26

Dr. Mona

And this it’s not that bad. Yeah, I agree with you. I, you know, I, I used to actually round in the hospital in the postpartum, but I am switching hospitals. So I haven’t gone in and like okay in a while. But no, I’ve been talking to my colleagues and exactly that sentiment that it actually is even I know it.

 

00;38;04;26 – 00;38;25;09

Dr. Mona

So if you’re a first time mom and you’re like my, you know, my whole birth story or my birth thing is going to be affected by this pandemic, it really is not. I want you to go in thinking it’s not going to be as bad as you think it’s going to be fine. We’re everyone’s taking precautions and it’s, you know, you’ll you’ll have your baby and it’s going to be it’s going to be the best experience for the times that we’re in.

 

00;38;25;09 – 00;38;43;16

Dr. Mona

And I, I appreciate, you know, hearing that firsthand. Yeah. What would be so, you know, a couple final questions. What would be like your, or what would be one postpartum tip that maybe you didn’t know before, right? Like that maybe from the past pregnancy that you’re like, wow, I wish someone would have told me this postpartum.

 

00;38;43;28 – 00;38;47;12

Dr. Mona

But now you want to impart on on moms to be here.

 

00;38;47;14 – 00;39;22;15

Liesel Teen

So we already talked about pooping. So that’s like my one that when somebody asked me this question that I usually say, expect that or just anticipate that, and here’s interventions that you can do to avoid, you know, severe or severe constipation. And then I guess I would also say one thing that I’m going to try and not do, especially with this pregnancy in this postpartum experience, is minimize my pain like I did the first time because like, I was just talking to my care provider about this the other day and how I’m going to try and like, do things differently.

 

00;39;22;17 – 00;39;59;18

Liesel Teen

So with Walter, you know, I didn’t like, have an epidural with him. Super like crazy intense, you know, pain like painful labor experience. Of course. Even if I had had an epidural, I’m sure, you know, it still would have been painful. Like, it’s still it or had a C-section. Like, it’s just painful to have a baby. But I remember thinking so many times in having pain, whether it was the constant, the issues with the constipation, or whether it was vaginal pain or whether it was like a lot of cramping or whether it was pain, you know, initially when he lost or just like pain in general and minimizing it to the point of

 

00;39;59;21 – 00;40;24;23

Liesel Teen

of saying in my head, I just went through a really crazy, crazy, painful experience, like, what am I complaining about? You know? And I remember thinking that in my head and minimizing it and, you know, eventually, like, okay, I would take motor and I would feel better, you know, healing, healing happens and you heal. But I just I remember thinking about that months later and being like, I feel like that wasn’t right.

 

00;40;24;23 – 00;40;39;01

Liesel Teen

Like I feel like I probably should have spoken up about this or taken my coleus more regularly, or just like, done more interventions and not minimized my pain. So that’s something I also like to tell people don’t minimize your pain. If you hurt, you hurt.

 

00;40;39;04 – 00;40;56;06

Dr. Mona

Oh yeah, I mean, I and I normally am not. I normally don’t have pain, meaning I have a pain a high pain threshold. So I, I did minimize mine. I completely agree with you. And then that actually led me to have more complications because I was like, oh, is this normal I and because you don’t know what’s normal and no one else can be inside your body.

 

00;40;56;06 – 00;41;17;12

Dr. Mona

So I kept saying, I’m like, something doesn’t feel right. I don’t know, like, is it normal not to do this? Is it normal to have this pain? And if you’re feeling it, it’s probably not normal. Like, meaning there’s something there. And I. One thing besides the colleagues. I agree with you completely that do not skip out on your pooping meds because it’s when you can’t poop, it’s going to hurt a lot more.

 

00;41;17;12 – 00;41;34;10

Dr. Mona

So stay on. Stay ahead of the game. On your pooping meds for sure. And then the other thing is, if you did have a C-section, especially the amount of pain that can happen postpartum, like stay on top of those pain meds. Also, like, don’t feel like you’re trying to be a hero and say, okay, well, I don’t need to take it because it can hit you much later.

 

00;41;34;10 – 00;41;48;29

Dr. Mona

And I learned that the hard way. I thought I didn’t need it. And then it hit me like a ton of bricks and I was like, oh my gosh, especially funny, I didn’t know this. 24. So the first 24 hours, if you get an epidural, so if you get an epidural the first 24 hours postpartum, you’re going to feel like a million bucks.

 

00;41;49;04 – 00;42;02;06

Dr. Mona

It’s going to be like it takes a while to wear off. Good point. I didn’t realize that it was going to take so long. And then after 24 hours, I was like, oh, oh, this this hurts because that epidural can actually stick around for a little bit if you choose to get one. Yeah. But no, I agree.

 

00;42;02;06 – 00;42;13;06

Liesel Teen

And guess what else? Yeah. And guess what else happens at 24 hours. Usually babies wake up more at 24 hours a life. So your baby. So you’re hurting more and your baby’s screaming a little bit more.

 

00;42;13;08 – 00;42;38;09

Dr. Mona

Oh yeah. It’s the hardest. Like cruel joke. Almost like you go through this major experience and then you have to take care of another human being when you’re in pain. Obviously there’s, you know, even with not just C-section but vaginal deliveries, the amount of bleeding that can happen is, you know, is actually I didn’t that was one thing I didn’t know is that I didn’t realize that the amount of bleeding that comes postpartum, when you’re basically having the uterus is starting to shrink down.

 

00;42;38;14 – 00;42;50;12

Dr. Mona

The amount of bleeding that happens, it’s like, I didn’t I didn’t know that. I actually didn’t know that you bleed that much. And it’s not it’s like, imagine not having your period for nine months, like makes up for it. It’s like builds.

 

00;42;50;12 – 00;42;54;03

Liesel Teen

Up. Yeah. It’s like a nine month like long period. Yeah.

 

00;42;54;04 – 00;43;10;22

Dr. Mona

Yeah. For weeks. And I, you know and it sometimes comes out clotted. And I kept asking I’m like is this normal. Like why is my like why am I bleeding. And it is obviously if you’re feeling I’m sure you you talked to the postpartum team. But these are great tips, Liesl. So what would be your final message to for moms to be?

 

00;43;10;22 – 00;43;20;09

Dr. Mona

You know, obviously you having been, you know, had the baby number two, your labor delivery nurse, you have a lot of experience professional and personally what would be your final message.

 

00;43;20;12 – 00;43;43;06

Liesel Teen

So I think it’s I whenever people ask me this question, I always kind of say the same thing. And I always say educate yourself because that’s my whole platform and that’s what I stand for. And, you know, that’s kind of my whole thing. And the more you learn, you know, there’s a degree of where I almost or you probably agree with me too, because you’re a professional.

 

00;43;44;02 – 00;43;49;18

Liesel Teen

I almost have a little bit more anxiety because I know too much. Right?

 

00;43;49;20 – 00;43;51;04

Dr. Mona

Oh, yeah, I can happen.

 

00;43;51;07 – 00;44;18;28

Liesel Teen

That can happen with birth professionals, you know, nurses and doctors and, you know, professionals. But educate yourself. Learn, you know, engulf yourself if you’re especially if you’re having anxiety about this experience, whether it’s the birth process and actually going through labor or having, you know, if you plan to have a C-section or having surgery or it’s taking care of a newborn or it’s this that the other, the more that you learn about it, the less scary it’s going to be.

 

00;44;18;28 – 00;44;32;29

Liesel Teen

So that’s my whole thing. That’s my whole platform is to just keep educating, keep talking and keep having conversations. And it’s okay to call your provider and ask more questions, like the more talking and the more educating, the better.

 

00;44;33;01 – 00;44;57;18

Dr. Mona

Oh, I love it. I again your page mommy labor nurse. And again, if you’re listening to us and you don’t follow Liesel on mommy labor nurse, you need to go do that right now. Because and like I said earlier in this episode, you do not even need to be pregnant or want a child to love her content because it’s just I love I love educational accounts that you don’t even have to relate to the topic because you’re just such a good educator, so it’s just fun to read.

 

00;44;57;22 – 00;45;13;27

Dr. Mona

I followed you even where I was pregnant, so and obviously I like that, I love that, but mommy dot labor nurse is her Instagram. Yes. But you said it perfectly that education is amazing and you do such a great job doing it. I cannot thank you enough for joining us today on this episode.

 

00;45;14;00 – 00;45;18;04

Liesel Teen

Yeah, thank you for having me, man. I’m always happy to you to come on, and.

 

00;45;18;04 – 00;45;34;09

Dr. Mona

I wish you the best of luck with your delivery. I can’t thank you for how it goes. I can’t wait to see, oh, pictures of that beautiful baby face. Yes. And take care. And I again, thank you so much for coming on. Also, when you’re 36 weeks pregnant. So, have a have a very good end of your pregnancy.

 

00;45;34;11 – 00;45;36;01

Liesel Teen

Thank you.

 

00;45;36;03 – 00;45;54;23

Dr. Mona

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. I hope you guys enjoyed it. As always, please leave a review, share it with a friend, comment on my social media and if you’re not already, follow me at PedsDocTalk on Instagram. I love doing this for all of you. Have a great rest of your week. Take care.

 

00;45;54;24 – 00;45;55;19

Dr. Mona

Talk to you soon!