Postpartum Freezer Pads : Preparing for Baby

I've been doing my best to try and have everything I could possibly have to make postpartum a little easier on my body and heal as quickly as possible.  Since this is my 2nd little one and my body went through so much with Grant I figure I might have a leg up on what I need to have prepared. 

When I had Grant I had a perineal tear (pretty standard for most women), a urethral tear (longest heal time ever!), horrible hemorrhoids, and extremely sore nipples.



If that's too much information for you I apologize, I'm just trying to keep things real here.

So far I've made soothing breast pads to keep in the freezer for the sore nipples along with having a stash of nipple cream.  With some goodies ready for the ta-tas I figured I needed to start searching for something for my other region. I started googling, because what else would I do when searching for ideas, and came across freezer pads, or "padsicles".



Most of the tutorials I found used alcohol free Witch Hazel, Aloe gel, sanitary pads, and lavender essential oil.  When I went to the store I could not find any Witch Hazel that didn't have at least 14% alcohol and I really didn't want to order it online.  Had I done my research earlier I wouldn't have been concerned about getting it sent to me before I actually went into labor, but that's the procrastinator in me.



So the other night I stayed up til 12:30 in the morning searching to see if anyone had used the Witch Hazel with alcohol and found this tutorial.  My mom was afraid the alcohol content would dry out my skin down there but multiple people said they didn't have any issues with it.  I decided to trust this and use Witch Hazel I found at Meijer for $3.44.



I bought aloe gel at target for $3.94, does anyone else think this is sky high pricing for aloe?  Maybe I should have shopped around.



Oh well.



I actually read you could just use the aloe gel on a pad and freeze it for a little relief if you can't find Witch Hazel or the lavender essential oil.



The one thing I left out was the lavender essential oil.  I scanned the stores for it and couldn't find any sign of it.  I'm sure it helps but I wasn't about to pay $10 for a small bottle plus another $5+ for shipping to order it online.  There were other women on different blogs I came across that didn't use it and still had good results, so I figured I'd give it a whirl.

Here's everything I used:

I took each pad and unwrapped it leaving the plastic on the back.  Then I took the aloe and just squirted some all down the center.  I didn't want to use my fingers or anything to smear the aloe around for fear of germs.  The last thing I want is an infection in that area.  So instead I used the pad itself and just folded the top down and smeared it around then repeated that with the bottom half of the pad.  Then I took a tablespoon measuring spoon and poured about 1/2T Witch Hazel all over the pad.  I didn't want to "soak" the pad in the Witch Hazel, I just wanted it to be damp.  You could use more if you wanted.

Then I folded the pad back up just like it was before I opened it and wrapped it in foil.  All the blogs I read said they didn't have any issues with the pads being frozen together so I figured I shouldn't have to worry either. 

I only made 7 of these so far because I want to see how well they work before making a boat load of them.  I put all mine in a gallon sized freezer bag labeled "Lisa's postpartum", just so my husband wouldn't think it was some kind of food and open them.

 With the bottles of aloe and Witch Hazel I bought there is more than enough to make loads of these if they work well.

All the reviews on pads like these were great so I'm really hoping they work well for me too.  I'll report back after I get some use out of them.