What I packed (and used) in my hospital bag and tips for recovery after a c-section
Currently two weeks postpartum.
We welcomed our beautiful baby girl into the world, Velvet Ever Leetham, on Friday the 22nd of November at 9.03am. She weighed 3.7kgs and was 51cms tall — surprisingly heavier than both of my boys when they were born. She is the absolute sweetest little lady and it was such a full circle moment, being back on the Gold Coast with our obstetrician and paediatrician who delivered my first born, Atlas, in 2020.
I share all the details on the hospital and team in my recent third trimester Q+A post, if you’re based in the Gold Coast, Queensland or nearby. My two boys were both born here and the exceptional level of care during pregnancy, birth and postpartum is the sole reason we travelled back to Australia from Paris for Velvet’s birth.
So far, the transition from two to three children has been the smoothest, but it’s very early days. We are soaking up the little newborn love bubble and definitely feel the most confident and prepared. Becoming parents for the first time with Atlas was such a beautiful experience but also incredibly challenging, especially during covid. We had zero idea what we were doing, and no support from family who all live interstate. I also didn’t yet have a community of mothers with babies of a similar age to lean on for support, friendship and advice.
The newborn stage is one of my absolute favourite times, and strangely when I have the most amount of energy. I definitely felt ‘done’ towards the end of my pregnancy after months of insomnia, restless legs, anaemia and barely being able to sit up at all in the first trimester, let alone care for the boys and continue to work. In the final weeks, I was going to bed before 8pm every night, and didn’t have any energy to run around after a two and a half and four and a half year old. Sammy has been absolutely incredible at caring for everyone and holding the family together. After a whirlwind end to our trip to Bali and emergency flight to Perth, we made it to Australia, found a wonderful house close to the hospital, picked up our Defender that perfectly fits three car seats in the back, found a daycare for the boys, enrolled Atlas in a local primary school for prep next year, organised our babysitter to help for the week we were in hospital and lead up to the birth, and even had time to order some nourishing meals for when we were back home after the birth, and finished all our Christmas shopping for the cubs in advance (which we have accidentally been dipping into, just to help get through the weekends). The best present idea? A garden sprinkler, so they can run through the backyard on sunny days!
The last two weeks have been a beautiful sleepy blur, the first six nights spent at the hospital, and then back at home. I packed my hospital bag the afternoon before Velvet arrived and thought I would share what I brought and used as a third time mama. I have been asked to share what I have done for recovery after the birth and there are quite a few things I would love to share with you that genuinely help, especially with the physical recovery. Any questions, of course please reach out as well, I’m more than happy to answer them.
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