Your Recovery

[bumblebeetle]

Hey ladies, just want to ask, if any of you feel upto it, if you could talk us through your experiences of different recoveries following certain births - eg. C-section, Episiotomy, quick births etc...

I just think that if people from the 3rd trimester such as myself can be a little more prepared as to what its like after each one, it might help us to recover from it.

I had a forceps delivery and episiotomy 4 years ago and I wasn't prepared for anything that happened after, the length of time, the certain pain etc etc but I do think if someone had told me more of what to expect I wouldn't have felt as low as I did, and that i would never recover or walk properly again. Now i know I am going to go through the birth again in 12 weeks time and just to know what i might have to experience if it doesn't go to plan.
I think alot of ladies would really appreciate it, I understand that it's still early days for you and most of you are still recovering yourselves. Thanks in advance for anyone who replies xx

 

[Love3Hope4]

My recovery, after an awful 24hr labor, has been amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have some headaches at the moment but all else has been a breeze!!

 

[rach321]

With my first I had a bad 2nd degree tear - stitched back up under local by midwife - took a good 2-3 weeks before I could sit without being in pain and about 8-10weeks before we could DTD!!
With my second I had a 3rd degree tear (lucky me!!) and was stitched back up under epidural by the consultant, had a 10lb baby on just gas and air then had an epidural for the bloody stitches!! And I can honestly say that after 2-3 days I felt absolutely fine, got my last remaining stitch removed at my 6 week check - it didn't dissolve for some reason but my recovery was much quicker!! DTD at about 12 weeks but it only took that long because I was too knackered looking after 2 kids and my DS2 is a reflux baby so he's quite demanding!
Both birth were normal vaginal deliveries - not sure if that's the kind of info you wanted or if its TMI!!

 

[bumblebeetle]

Thats perfect!! Its good to know that even though you suffered that with your second, that you felt so good in only a matter of days, thanks so much for sharing xx

 

[LoisP]

I'm still recovering from my birth, and it was nearly 3 months ago. I was in labour from 28th until 30th of November. I stalled at 7cm, I had a badly positioned baby that should of been a C-section, but was forced to have a vaginal birth. I had an epistomy AND split open (TMI) had a ventouse delivery. I then haemoraged (sp?) and lost 4 and a half pints of blood, had 2 emergency blood transfusions... I couldn't walk properly for about 2 weeks because of how much pain I was in down there. I had internal and external stiches, 2 hours worth of stiches, It hurt to pee, it hurt to sit down, hurt to walk, was in a right mess. I STILL haven't DTD out of fear how much it'll hurt because now and again, too much walking, sitting in a bad position can make my downstairs hurt so bad
So yeah, my recovery is still happening really. But I feel 100 times better, just got to feel more normal before i'll 100% happy i'm healed

But my labour put me off having another baby, for many, many years

 

[sossypops]

I had a bad induction and ended up almost having a forceps delivery. I managed to push her out in 3 minutes and had to have a 2nd degree episiotomy. Mentally it took me about 4 weeks to get over the shock of her birth (her heart rate was going so low so ended up having about 8 people in the room all doing things to me).

Physically for the first week I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. My episiotomy was agony and I could barely sit down or move without it feeling like they were cutting me again. After a week I started to feel a little better, I could sit down again, and my muscles weren't aching anymore. I bled quite alot which made me feel more tired I think but that stopped at about 5 weeks. My episiotomy started to heal with a hole left at one end which worried me. It was like this for about 5 weeks and then thankfully the hole healed up too. I dtd at 5 weeks and it was ok, a bit painful inside and still is at 8 weeks.

Hope this helps

 

[kate.m.]

Hiya!
I wanted a homebirth & ended up with a spinal block & forceps (he was trying to come out facing sideways/my leg! & thats just not what position a foof is designed for! lol!) They didnt tell me about any grazes, or number of stitches or anything. I just know that i had an episiotomy & that the midwife looked quite shocked when she checked me the next day: apparantly i was veeery swollen! They put me on iron tablets, paracetamol & anti inflammatory pills. Its all getting a bit hazy now, but i remember i could really tell when i'd forgotten to take the anti inflammatory! My advice is, if ur hurting bad & paracetamol does nothing, get checked out & ask for anti inflammatory pills. They tell you to bathe twice a day to heal... im sorry, but i didnt have time for 2 baths a day whilst looking after a newborn baby! So i just made sure i had a quick wash everytime i went the loo. My stitches healed up within a couple of weeks. we tried to DTD after 5 weeks, but it just wasnt happening! it was all way too tight! lol! Finally managed it at 7 weeks!

 

[gingerbaby4us]

I wish I could have read a thread like this before I had LO. I had an emergency c-section. long story short I had pre-e which led to induction which caused uterine hyperstimulation and fetal distress, then the c-sec. From start of induction to c-section it was less than 3 hours. I did dialate to complete and try to push her out for about 20 mins while they got my c-sec prepped. It was weeks early for her so she was in no mood to be pushed out, still sitting way high. I'm still recovering psychologically but my physical recovery went like this...
awful pain for about 2 weeks, dtd first time at 5 weeks, bled for 11 weeks! I was able to start exercising again at about 3 months. before that i would bleed a lot with physical activity. I'm 4 months pp and back to my old self again. I hope your birth is happy and less painful than last time.

 

[a_c]

forcep delivery in theatre and epsiotomy - took 3 months in total to recover

 

[a_c]

Hey ladies, just want to ask, if any of you feel upto it, if you could talk us through your experiences of different recoveries following certain births - eg. C-section, Episiotomy, quick births etc...

I just think that if people from the 3rd trimester such as myself can be a little more prepared as to what its like after each one, it might help us to recover from it.

I had a forceps delivery and episiotomy 4 years ago and I wasn't prepared for anything that happened after, the length of time, the certain pain etc etc but I do think if someone had told me more of what to expect I wouldn't have felt as low as I did, and that i would never recover or walk properly again. Now i know I am going to go through the birth again in 12 weeks time and just to know what i might have to experience if it doesn't go to plan.
I think alot of ladies would really appreciate it, I understand that it's still early days for you and most of you are still recovering yourselves. Thanks in advance for anyone who replies xx

Hi - I had a forcep delivery in theatre with quite a large episiotomy. I can never imagine going through the recovery again however you've obviously dared to - how long before you knew you wanted another one?

 

[crazydiamond]

The birth - I had a home water birth for my baby boy who was 9lb 2oz at birth. The first stage was very long and tiring - 20 hr I think because LO was back to back, but the second stage which was in the pool was relatively straight forward and took 40 minutes. I had opted for a natural third stage but I fainted on leaving the pool so the mw gave me the injection.

The recovery:

- I had 3 small stitches to my labia which I think was pretty good given that LO's head was in the 98th percentile. I put this down to the water birth, perineal massage and non coached pushing.

- My iron levels dropped and I felt very tired and weak for a few weeks after the birth. The MW was not sure how much blood I lost because I was in the water. I am not sure to what extent this was down to a natural third stage. I had also not slept for a few days so this did not help. I would probably opt for a natural third stage again but get out of the pool to deliver the placenta.

- One week after the birth I woke up in the middle of the night and could not put any weight on my left knee. No idea what caused this but recovery took a couple of weeks. The consultant suggested I may have had a delayed reaction to a torn ligament during the birth.

- Post birth mentally I felt great with no baby blues or PND.

 

[blinkybaby]

I had a normal vaginal delivery with no stitches needed after 8 hours of active labour but including latent labour it was 36 hours.

I did get two nasty vaginal grazes, deep cuts that couldn't be stitched and ran about 2cms long each down either side of my vagina, and my left labia ripped in half.

Im now a month post-labour and just finally feeling more normal - I do still get pain where my grazes are as they are very slow to heal as the skin has to knit together itself rather than with the help of stitches. I got some bad bruising as well.

But compared to some of you other ladies I got away quite easily!

xxx

 

[teal]

My labour was quick - less than 7 hours from the first contraction to delivery. I had planned to deliver at a midwife led unit but meconium in my waters meant I was transferred to a high risk unit 40 minutes away.

I had an emergency forceps birth due to fetal distress which resulted in an episiotomy and a separate third degree tear. I had never really thought about tearing so it was a huge shock (and very distressing) being in threatre for over 2 hours and away from my new baby boy!

It wasn't until around 10 months post that I started to feel "ok" and not as sore although now I still find I can't hold my son for too long without not feeling right (have seen consultant and physiotherapist who both reassured me it can take time as long as still doing pelvic floor exercises etc)

I never imagined a long recovery at all so I think this thread is a great idea!

 

[Sarah10]

I recovered quickly labour was 26hours and i teared, i was hoovering the next day and all sorts also i sat on a soft cushion on the sofa/wooded chair, comfier!

 

[Luke's_mummy]

2nd degree tear, 7 stitches, one of my labia nearly split off, i have a scar there now. Internal grazing and severe brusing especialy to the urethra.

All in all it took abouta month and a half for it to stop really hurting and about 3 months to feel 100% The 2 things that got me through were lavender oil, on my pad, in bath water on the water I poured over myself to pee. and Arnica tablets to help the bruising. Couldn't havedone without either. That and massive maternity pads, tryed to switch, but NO WAY it hurt so bad!!

 

[Waiting2bMommy]

I had an emergency c-section though I wanted a natural delivery. Had a horrific first week thought I would never heal. After about 3 weeks I was moving around pretty well. At 2 months post delivery I'm good again though I still have tenderness in my lower belly from the muscles being stretched that has yet to go away.

 

[Lui246]

I had an emergency forcep delivery due to baby being in distress, so ended up with an episiotomy. I felt absolutly fine in the hospital so went home the day after having her without any pain relief or anything something i seriously regret as on about day 3 i was in serious agony when sitting down or walking but when i was given pain relief it was bearable. Then after a week the pain started becoming unbearable again, it turned out half of my stitches had dissolved before the cut had closed so i was left with a gaping hole and infection. I honestly felt like i would never heal, be in pain forever and my downstairs area would never be the same again (with the hole there it looked awful). Then all of a sudden at about 3-4weeks i noticed i was walking up and down the stairs with no pain and i was sitting down easiers. At 5 weeks i got OH to have a look and suprisingly he said it looked fantastic the gaping bit had closed and other than the colour of the scar everything looks the exact same as before. We dtd at 5weeks and it was abit sore inside (felt like losing my virginity again) but where the cut was didnt really hurt at all just ached a little the next day. So im now 6 weeks pp and still not 100% but im a million times better than i was 3 weeks ago. You do feel like your never going to heal but it does just takes time (sorry for the long post).x

 

[Paxton]

C-section.

For the first two days (the day of the section and most of the day after), I was bed ridden. I could only lay on an incline, I couldn't sit up straight and I constantly felt as though I was in a permenant slouch. My legs were numb but that went away after several hours - my legs went all tingly and slowly I regained feeling enough to move my legs and toes.

The next day, my tailbone really hurt, I had a stinging pain in the right side of the incision (which still persists today - 6 days later - but isn't as bad).

I tried to stand up a day sooner than they wanted me to, and I my blood pressure dropped, I was super dizzy, felt like my ears were full of cotton and my vision became like the posterized effect on photoshop - random patches of yellow, white, red, and black.... kind of like thermal vision.

It was a struggle to switch position, even just to shuffle my butt around, I found myself using my arms and hands to adjust position, which sucked because I don't have a lot of upper body strength.

Right now, 6 days after, I can get up from bed and back down on my own, I can stay standing for no more than 5 minutes at a time before my back hurts so much I have to sit down. My back seizes and cramps up when I lay down, I have to sleep on my back because it hurts too bad to lay on my side, although I can sit cross legged now (before, when I could sit, I had to sit on an incline because it hurt too much to sit up straight). My arms are really weak, I can hold my baby just long enough to feed him and burp him but then I HAVE to put him down because my arm muscles ache as if I've been lugging furniture around all day. This however, is a VAST improvement upon yesturday, where I could only feed him and I couldn't burp him cause I had to set him down.

Beyond the pain and occassionally tight feeling in my chest, the only long-term drawback that I can really see is that I can't pick up my older son because I can't lift/carry anything over 10 pounds for the first six weeks.

 

[jadesh101]

as in my sig I had a emergency c-section at 35 weeks, the recovery took a long time 3 weeks to be able to walk proper and another 5 for the pain to completely stop, I still have twinges now!

 

[x__amour]

My recovery has not been the smoothest.
I had an emergency c-section and at first it was okay. I was able to walk and do every day things, just with a little bit of pain. As the weeks went on I started getting intense back pain and then they got to be on the floor screaming and calling 911 back pain. I'm now 15 weeks PP and they're much better but my back still hurts time to time. I am ready to feel 100% again...