Raw afterbirth recovery details please

[teamandy]

Hi ladies,

ok, its my fault, I'm freaking myself out with this labor thing. I've been watching videos of labor (of both women on youtube as well as kittens (YES I KNOW WEIRD!) and I'm just obsessed with trying to prepare myself for scenarios that could possibly happen during labour.

The thing I'm most concerned about is about the afterbirth post care. What is it REALLY like? Spare no details.

All they say is that its like a heavy period for a few weeks but no one really elaborates.

Anyone would like to share?

 

[luz]

You sit in the hospital for a while bleeding all over yourself. But they give you these awesome huge diaper-like things to use. basically pads that cover EVERYTHING. They will also give you ice, dermoplast (numbing spray), and tucks (witch hazel pads). USE them! You will be extremely swollen and sore (depending on if you have an episiotomy, rip, tear, or nothing) for a while, and it really really hurts to walk. Good thing you are in the hospital an just get to sit for 2 days. Anyway, every time you pee you have to use this little peri bottle to rinse yourself off because you won't want to wipe its so swollen and painful. Then you'll spray yourself with dermoplast, load up on the tucks, and go back to sitting in bed looking at your beautiful baby.

My hospital only allows us to have ice for the first 24 hours, so for the first day its nice to have an ice pack to help relieve the pain as well.

With my first baby i had an epidural and episiotomy. It hurt to walk for about 2 weeks until i healed. With my second i had a 2nd degree tear and had pain for about a week. Continue to use the numbing spray and tucks once you go home, and just take it easy. It hurts, but you'll get through it!

 

[mara16jade]

I had an epidural, so that took about two hours to wear off. Although I could shift my legs around and lift my butt up...so it wasn't THAT strong.

Once that wore off and they got me to stand up, they helped me into these oh-so-sexy mesh briefs/underwear LOL. Put a giant pad and ice pack on and laid back down. I never had any pain until I started to breastfeed. Those afterpain contractions were not too comfortable, but a motrin did the trick. I kept swapping out the ice pad every couple hours to help with the swelling. I pee'd/poo'd just fine. Maybe had the tiniest of sting when I pee'd, but I used the squirt bottle to dribble warm water down my backside to dilute the urine. Poo'ing never hurt. I was terrified though. LOL

The following day my only pain was afterpains when breastfeeding and my god-awful hemorrhoids. Other than that, I was just tired. Mentally and physically exhausted. And at the same time, on a super high from giving birth.

I felt like I bled a lot, but the majority stopped by the time I left the hospital 2 days later. I continued to bleed (moderately...nothing out of control) for about 4 weeks, and by 6 weeks, I was pretty much done.

I did have a stage 2 tear (internally), but I never really felt it. I think when the stitches started to heal by day 5 I started to feeling a pulling/tugging? I think that was the skin just healing though. Really, the worst part of the entire labor/delivery was getting the IV. But I'm TERRIFIED beyond belief of needles.

Oh, and the epidural was a walk in the park. I'd do that over IV ANY DAY!!!

ETA - I see the person who posted above me had a very different experience.
I don't know if it makes a difference at all, but my baby was 20in and 7lb2oz. And we were doing perennial massages for about 3 weeks (almost every single night) before my water broke (almost 3 weeks before his due date). I told them repeatedly, NO episiotomy. And they said only in a true emergency have they ever done one. So I felt pretty safe. They let me take my sweet time pushing, coached me the whole way, and actually helped stretch me to avoid tearing. They were awesome! It was a great run-of-the-mill hospital birth. Don't be too scared. I'm not scared anymore, and I was sooooooo afraid going in.

 

[Anh1982]

I was really worried about the recovery process and it ended up being SO much better than I had feared! I had a small tear but no pain, I think I may be took one dose of ibuprofen as a preemptive strike.
I thought I'd bleed a lot, but it was more like day three/four of a period for three weeks or so.
Hoping I'm as fortunate this time around!

 

[the why bird]

It was much easier than I expected. I had an episiotomy, equivalent of a 2nd degree tear. I was home four hours after the birth - fed the baby, got stitched up, took a bath (didn't need any help) and then went home. The epi was tender as you would expect from a cut but I didn't struggle to walk or anything. I mostly only noticed it when I tried to get up from standing since I guess the movement tugged on the skin, and when peeing because it stung.

The bleeding was never heavier than a period for me though some people talk about tons of blood. I found the milk leaking worse than the bleeding since I seemed to constantly be soaking through my bra for the first two-three weeks.

Hmmm what else? Oh yeh, when you first stand up it feels like your internal organs are wobbling about inside you! It doesn't hurt but it does feel like your intestines and stuff are kinda loose because suddenly all the pressure has gone and your abs are weak. It goes away pretty fast. Loose tummy skin sucks but I think that's largely down to your genes. I also felt breathless from walking for a couple of days.

I never had much swelling and though my vagina feels like a slightly different shape (you asked for all the details!) it's not bigger and sex feels the same. It just feels like the lumps and bumps in there are a bit different, I guess scar tissue from the epi? But it healed really well and no pain after about a week.

Personally I had no problems with incontinence though I did get a small hemorrhoid from pushing which took aaaages to go away.

So yep it was fine for me. A bit tiring but I didn't feel like I was suffering.

Oh I will say this - after both my babies, but especially the first, the hormones and lack of sleep made me a bit loopy. I would cry about everything for the first two weeks or so. Like pregnancy hormone mood swings times ten. I was ready for it the second time round and it didn't hit me as hard. So, if you find yourself four days post partum with milk soaking through your t shirt, crying because you're out of strawberry yoghurt you're in good company. The midwives told me this was fine and normal as long as it's mostly better before six weeks and you're not thinking of harming yourself/so miserable you can't care for your baby, in which case you need to seek help.

 

[RaspberryK]

I was briefly wiped up and given hot chocolate and toast whilst feeding ds for about an hour.
Dh dressed ds after he was weighed and we named him.
I got up and went for a wee and had a shower, ds & dh came with me.
I did have a gush of blood when I stood up but that's normal.
Once I was showered and dressed we were discharged following the paperwork.
We were at the in laws within 3 hours of birth eating breakfast.
I felt great other than the gushes of blood every so often which lasted for a few days then it was like a light period.
Xx

 

[Fourstar]

I had an episiomoty and epidural. No pain or discomfort or much blood loss. Went home after 3 days and holy moly the suffering. I was totally unprepared. I assumed once you give birth that was it. I did have teetree oil and used to have to quarter fill the bath adding 3 drops of the oil in order to pee. I felt no pain that way. My doc gave me meds but they didn't work. Looking back I was probably dehydrated as I am not great at drinking fluids and perhaps if I had drank lots of fluids I would not have suffered so much.

 

[fizzypop]

I tore right through to my bum but had no pain whatsoever afterwards (why I don't know?!) and bled lightly.. like day 3/4 of a period for about two weeks. I felt the odd tug on stitches but it didn't hurt. I also had very little swelling.

that was my experience last time anyway!

 

[teamandy]

Oh phew. These stories aren't so bad. There I thought that I would be bleeding through everything I wore lol

CAn you get maternity pads at the regular drugstore?

 

[luz]

Oh phew. These stories aren't so bad. There I thought that I would be bleeding through everything I wore lol

CAn you get maternity pads at the regular drugstore?

My hospital just told me to go buy the overnight ones, i never soaked through one of those. . . . so you should be fine

 

[MrsC10]

I'm glad you started this thread!! Everything I've read says that you'll have the worst bleeding ever. Like, everything will gush out at once. The experiences here make it sound not quite so bad. Thank you xx

 

[Aud05291987]

Lol dont worry hun there are more serious things then yhat after birth part. To me the actual birth was worse than anything else....but im on #2 now lol. We are just made to do this. Depends if u have Epi or not. Mine wore off astonishing time or right before. They give you pain meds....if your nursing they dont send some home. Which I was. So just the first few night homes it hurt to sit down or move....I tore and they cut me..i bled for few months after, everyone is different tho. Dont worry easy to say. Lol im worried too tho.

 

[BunnyN]

I had a home birth so no experience of hospital. I had a small tear in my labia that needed 4 stitches and a small graze near my pernium. It was a bit uncomfortable and kind of chapped feeling for a few days but I wouldn't call it painful.

I bled quite a lot in the the first hr or so after the birth. The MW had me lie on my back to minimise it and I would have gushes of blood from time to time. When I got up and got in the shower it did gush all over my legs but after the first couple of hrs it was just period type bleeding but a bit heavier. The MW told me to use two pads for the first day which helped to stop leaking. I did get a couple of small spots of blood on my nightie and bath robe and ruined a few pairs of pants. The best way to avoid it showing is to use black! After a couple of days it was like a normal period except for a few more blood clots and one large blood clot I lost after a few days. After a week it was like a light period and it slowed down to spotting by the end of the second week. It stopped all together in just over two weeks. A lot of women bleed for longer but its not usually super heavy the whole time (it would be worrying if it was) the gushing blood is usually in the first hrs after the birth (and not everyone gets it). The blood tends to build up while you are laying down and gushes when you stand up. It doesn't gush the whole time. I didn't have the injection to deliver the placenta faster. They say the injection stops the bleeding from being so heavy right after the birth but it tends to last longer afterwards.

 

[mummytobe_93]

I did not tear or graze at all midwives told me that was very rare. But I was still really sore, I kept on wetting myself for weeks after because I felt like I had lost that muscle.

Bleeding was bad for a few days but afterwards wasn't too bad lasted about six weeks for me.

I felt great after a few days after birth apart from sore engorged boobs and obvious exhaustion but my friends all had it much worse! X

 

[JessesGirl29]

I had a natural birth in the hospital using laughing gas, my son was back to back and on my very final push I got a tear 'up front' (gonna get tmi here). It tore the side of labia up to my urethra and the side of the hood of my clitoris. That sh*t happened with no pain relief and honestly it wasn't that bad. You know why?? You are all like HOLY F*CK I JUST HAD A BABY!!!! Major adrenaline and everything goes by in a whirl. You don't sit and think about pain or anything because it's such a life changing moment you can't even comprehend.

I recommend ice packs (I got a glove filled with ice) and keeping up on Tylenol and Advil for the first couple days. On those two painkillers I really felt nothing at all over mild discomfort. I had padsicles at home waiting. I didn't find the bleeding insane? I also had a catheter and even that wasn't that bad because I was holding my baby and getting ahold of nursing. It's like you instantly go in to the role of caring less about yourself and the pain because of the baby. I didn't find peeing after painful or even the first poop. I just switched to overnight pads at home for a day or two and then was down to normal pads

The freezing to get the stitches? That was really painful but everything was a happy and crazy blur and nothing was as bad as I thought it would be. You run on adrenaline for days.

Edit: the one thing that did surprise me was that I had practically no bladder control for a couple days. I peed myself a couple times and wasn't expecting that but it goes away.

 

[MommyJogger]

With my first, I had an epidural and a 3rd deg tear. The recovery was absolutely the worst thing ever. Terrible headache from the epidural, incredibly swollen from the saline drip, the hospital bed was the worst position for me because of the way it put pressure right on my stitches and very sore anus. It honestly hurt so much just to stand up that I held my pee as long as i could so I wouldn't have to walk to the bathroom because walking was so painful. But the absolute worst inescapable part that no one ever seems to talk about: AFTER PAINS!! Uterine contractions that are bringing the uterus back to its proper shape. Depending on where you are and the details of your birth, the nurses will come in regularly to wake you up and put you in the worst pain possible doing uterine "massage". They were so much worse than actual labor to me. Inescapable without feeling "purposeful" and "useful" like labor contractions.

With my second I had a fantastic home birth with a small tear and was up easily walking around within an hour of the stitches. But again, the worst part was AFTER PAINS. I hemorrhaged, so the midwife had to do the uterine massage and I wanted so desperately for it to stop that I just screamed and DH had to hold my arms down so she could do it properly. For at least a day after, the afterpains would cripple me when they happened. Worst pain of my life, but I'm a huge afterpains pussy. Would gladly go through labor three times for each baby if I could avoid afterpains.
But yes, if they don't provide them for you in Canada, I would go out and get Dermoplast spray, Tucks witch hazel pads, and adult diapers (I hated the big underwear+pad, adult diapers were much more comfortable and actually less visible under clothing because you don't get the weird pad-bulge, lol).

 

[Aud05291987]

I never had the after pains, yikes sounds bad :/. Also I forgot to mention after u give birth..at least in the u.s. the nurses come in and push all over your tummy super hard to I guess get all the access blood out and so you dont get infection. OH GOD. I screamed so madly. Lol.

 

[MommyJogger]

I never had the after pains, yikes sounds bad :/. Also I forgot to mention after u give birth..at least in the u.s. the nurses come in and push all over your tummy super hard to I guess get all the access blood out and so you dont get infection. OH GOD. I screamed so madly. Lol.

That's the uterine massage-- it stimulates contractions to help stop the bleeding and encourage the uterus to shrink back. Some women feel that whether they massage or not, about every 1-2 hours or so for a day or two, getting less intense with time.

 

[BunnyN]

I didn't get any afterpains either. Apparently they are more common with a second baby though.

 

[MommyJogger]

Kind of joking, but kind of not, I want to kick all the people who didn't get afterpains, lol. That's just unfair. I had them with my first, but definitely stronger with my second. At least now I know why no one seems to talk about them if so many people don't get them.
ETA: If we have an accident and end up with a #3, I'm planning to give birth naturally at home and then immediately transfer and get an epidural once the baby is out, haha. Just joking, but if I could do that, it would be amazing.