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Yo! I’m back with another blog that will only be remotely interesting to pregnant or birthing people. Today, I’ll just be focusing on vitamins, supplements, and teas I used postpartum. (If you missed my last post about products I actually used during pregnancy, peep it here.) As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, but I’m not here to tell you how or where to shop. Just want to show you what I used - you do you! And make sure to consult with your doctor before taking any of this shizzzz cause I am by no means a medical professional. I am by no means any kind of professional, for that matter.
Postpartum Vitamins and Supplements I Actually Used Daily Prenatal / Postpartum Vitamin If you recall from my last blog, I used both SmartyPants Prenatal Formula Daily Gummies and Solimo Prenatal Vitamins & DHA Gummies throughout pregnancy. I’m still taking the Smarty Pants during this postpartum stage since the others are unavailable. I’ll probably continue to take these until around the six month postpartum mark.
Lactation Supplements
Trying to up your lactation supply is a mindf*ck. My flow was pretty much no-go in the beginning, and it’s nothing to write home about now, but I chalk it up as a win that I have been able to keep up with my growing gal as we enter into her third month. She’s a thirsty little B. Here are some teas and supplements I’ve been taking to help me out. It should be noted that I never take more than 2-3 of any pill per day no matter what the directions state because I think anything more than that in a supplement is a ploy to get me to run out of said supplement and buy more. I realize this may not be the best way to go about taking supplements, but money doesn’t grow on trees. I have no idea which of the below are helping and which ones aren’t, but down the hatch it all goes every morning:
Dietary Supplements
These products aren't necessarily postpartum specific, but I feel I should mention them because they seem even more crucial to my diet than ever. Protein is so important for women, especially when nursing, but if you're like me and can't ever seem to get the recommended amount, I recommend this Orgain Powder for fruit smoothies. I also gotta give a shout out to Chia Seeds - those tiny little suckers are not only good for you, but they really help fill you up, and they taste pretty good (or at least fine) in pretty much anything from water to smoothies to oatmeal.
Digestion
Something people don’t talk about enough is how freaking terrifying and painful it can be to pee and poop after vaginal births. Doctors usually prescribe a stool softener upon discharge so the hospital door doesn’t hit you in the hemorrhoids on the way out, but my poop problems lasted long after those were finished, so I kept taking an over-the-counter stool softener until everything felt a bit more regular. Because I had a gnarly perineal tear, peeing was basically a horror show for the first few weeks. Since there was so much going on down there, I took a cranberry supplement in hopes of preventing a UTI from showing up uninvited. Not sure if it was the reason I didn’t have a UTI, but I guess it was not not the reason. *shrug shoulder emoji*
Joint Pain Relief
After giving birth, I developed some not-so-fun arthritis symptoms. All those years in a corporate office, and I never experienced carpal tunnel. Six days into breastfeeding, and I could barely move my wrists. Go figure. There was also lots of joint pain in my ankles and back, so I added these big ol’ Kirkland Glucosomine pills to the mix. 
General Pain and Anxiety Relief
I took prescription vicodin and xanax as needed. Pretty sure they don’t sell that on Amazon, soooo you’re on your own there… Pill Storage Trust me when I say you don’t want to be asking your sleep-deprived self if you remembered to take your meds at three in the morning while your fussy baby is hanging off your boob. With this big fat pill box, you can throw in everything you’ll need seven days at a time, and even sort by time of day if necessary. It seemed like silly, superfluous buy at first, but it really did free up some much needed extra time in my day and extra space in my new mom brain. If you’re taking multiple meds and supplements, I can’t recommend this enough.  
Okie doke, that wraps this one up. Check back soon for additional recommendations for postpartum parents!
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Okay, so I know this is my music website, but y’all, I just had a baby, and I’m not about to start a whole new website for a few pregnancy and postpartum-themed blog entries. Besides, I am not a big fan of the whole niching down thing. I’m a whole-ass person with a multifaceted identity, mkay? Plus, I’m just really at that stage in life-slash-the pandemic-slash-motherhood-slash-late stage capitalism where doing things the lazy way is an act of resistance. I will not be shamed.
That said, I’ve been wanting to write blog series where I tell folks all about the products I actually used throughout my pregnancy and after delivery. For transparency’s sake, I will say that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases, but I am legit only publishing these posts in hopes of helping any pregnant and birthing people who trust my opinion as they wade through the waters of “WTF is actually useful?” I know folks have strong feelings about shopping on the ol’ Amazon marketplace. I do as well, and they are complex – probably worthy of a whole other blog entry. But until then, this new mama is trying to help other new parents and feed her family at the same time, so feel free to kick rocks if you’re not down for those causes. Away we go: Products I Actually Used During Pregnancy:
Prenatal Vitamins
It took us old lesbians like a billion years to get pregnant, so I was trying various prenatal vitamins for quite sometime before we finally got the BFP. At first, I took Ritual Prenatal Vitamins, which were great in terms of ingredients. But some cons: They were kinda spendy, I didn’t love the subscription model, and the hint of lemon flavor that I loved in the beginning kind of started making me feel like I was ingesting Pledge wood polisher. From there, I moved on to SmartyPants Prenatal Formula Daily Gummies. They were tasty little gummies, and I dug the omega-3 action because mama comes from a long line of ladies with mental health issues and from what the internet tells me, fish oil is good for the brain. I switched it up yet again when I realized that the Smarty Pants gummies didn’t include Iron. I didn’t want to have to supplement that separately, so I decided to go with Solimo Prenatal Vitamins & DHA Gummies. These are the prenatals I was taking when I found out I was pregnant, and rocked with them all the way through the first few weeks of postpartum life, until they became “currently unavailable” on the Amazon site. Rude.
Nausea Relief
Thankfully, I never had my head in a toilet bowl throughout my entire pregnancy. There were, however, a couple early months where I felt pretty dang woozy. Two things got me through: Preggie Pops and Sea-Band wristbands. The former helped for those short but intense waves of yuck, and the latter were great for all-day wear. Neither product eliminated nausea altogether, but they both smoothed out some of the rougher edges of the experience and helped me avoid a trip to Barftown, USA.
Heartburn Relief & Sleep Aid
All I have to say is: Tum-ta-tum-tum-TUUUUUUMS for the win. I went through like four bottles of extra strength Tums in my last trimester. I hope you don’t hit the level of heartburn that I experienced, but if you do, stock up on these chalky little miracles. I think every Buy Nothing group on Facebook has one of these U Shaped Pregnancy Pillows listed on the daily, but just in case you don’t see one or don’t feel comfortable washing a stranger’s pillow case, make sure to snag one. Seriously. Sleep is soooo hard to come by in those later months, and this pillow will help you catch some crucial z’s.
Skin-Care
I’m not someone who ever had an elaborate or regimented skincare routine to begin with, but I did try my hardest to slather on some of this Bella B lotion on my legs and baby bump after showers. Did it make all my cellulite miraculously go away? No. Did it prevent post-delivery stretch marks from forming on each hip? Also no. But I like the way it smells, I like the consistency, and who knows…maybe those stretch marks would have been a lot worse without it. And as far as I’m concerned, my stretch marks are effing awesome. I earned those suckers. But yeah, I still like and use the lotion. 
Maternity Clothes
I don’t know if it was the pandemic or the popularity of online shopping or WHAT, but geez Louise, it was so hard to find maternity clothes in actual stores. I don’t know what made me think I would be this cute pregnant lady in adorable flowy maternity dresses, but that vision was squashed pretty quickly because I hated the idea of buying something fancy that I couldn’t try on in a store. I ended up just wearing a lot of sweatpants and T-shirts like every other dang day of my lesbian life. That said, I did spring for some staple items that made pregnancy just a bit more comfy - like these maternity jeans, this maternity swimsuit, and these workout-slash-pajama maternity shorts.
Undies
As my body grew, I had no choice but to go hunting for new undergarments. These Caramel Cantina Nursing Bras were my favorite for lots of reasons: padless, wireless, soft enough to sleep in, supportive enough for light workouts, annnnnd I knew I could use them to nurse after the baby came. I ended up going back to buy another 4-pack so I could have enough to last me through one laundry cycle! For undies, I first tried the cute below-the-bump “panties,” but I did not dig them at all. Correction: all I did was dig them out of my crotch because they kept sliding down. Back to the interwebs I went, and I found these Intimate Portal Maternity Foldable Briefs which worked wayyyy better for me in terms of fit and coverage. I bought two 6-packs, and they are still essential skivvies for my postpartum comfort.
Okay, boom, there you have it. Wishing you a happy pregnancy and hope any of these items help make your experience more comfortable! Stay tuned for a few more blogs with recommendations for postpartum life!
Hey friends! I'm excited to share with you the news of Qulyn, my brand new line of paperback journals, now available for purchase! I've been wanting to create these journals for a reeeeealllly long time, but I didn't take the project off the backburner until River came along. Read through this Q&A to learn more about each journal in the line as well as how the entire brand came into existence. I really hope you enjoy these and help me spread the word about them - they are great tools for self-care AND they make great gifts!  ID: Mockup of a gray paperback journal featuring text that reads: "someone i love died, and it stinks - a grief journal" and a sad-face emoji |
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