Tell me your story: What were you feeling like 24 hours after delivery? - Page 2

[rightkindofme]

I second the kicked in the vulva by a horse sentiment. I was moving very gingerly. I felt so excited and happy. I was strangely really entranced by the hurting feelings and I was trying to figure out what hurt where and how I could move around without making things worse. It was like a game. I went home from the hospital AMA at about this point because I was ready to just cuddle with my wonderful baby and wonderful husband.

Depends on the major life decision. I was pretty clear headed and responsible and I'm very good at knowing, "Hm. I shouldn't make this call until I'm rational."

[dannic]

I tend to be shocky after perfect births, so lightheaded, tired, foggy, no energy, major afterbirth pains...I wouldn't make life-changing decisions until my life got back to normal, for me it typically takes 3 months to feel like I've got the hang of a new family routine, energy is coming back, no longer sleep-deprived...it's just hard to think about major repercussions choices may have when I'm sleep-deprived.

[dmpmercury]

I was actually feeling good 24 hours after birth for both of mine. I guess the hormone surge gives me lots of energy. With my dd I was getting ready to leave the hospital with my first child and it was so surreal to me but I was happy and not too tired even without sleep from laboring the other day. I did have a tear and it was a little hard to walk especially up stairs but I didn't need pain meds or anything.

With my ds I had a great birth experience and was sleeping at 24 hours since he was born at 5 am but I felt great that night and the next morning. We left the hospital early and I was putting my dd and a friend ds up in a carrier the next day. I got up immediately after birth and felt more energized than I did in a long time. The afterpains eventually came but the first few weeks I have extra energy and somehow the sleep deprivation didn't register for awhile.

[HaikuMommy]

I have no memory of what I was like 24 hours after giving birth to daughter #1. The first week was a big blur. I was not just sore and exhausted, I was not mentally there. I look like a zombie in the photos. After one week I ended up in the ER with an infection. After being treated for that, my fog cleared right up. In this case, I'd say I shouldn't have been making any major decisions for at least a week.

24 hours after giving birth to daughter #2, I was very sore and swollen but happy, excited, clear-headed, and just wanted to cuddle up and bond with baby and hubby. So it was annoying to me that my husband's mother decided to come to town immediately and stay with us uninvited for 2 days. Not to help out - she didn't do anything to make our lives easier - she just came to visit. This normally wouldn't be a problem but she is a chain-smoking alcoholic. I tactfully tried to get her to stay in a nearby hotel, our treat, since we didn't have a guest room, but she just got mad. I was really sad when she was in the back seat with us on the ride home from the hospital, smelling like vodka and cigarettes, and constantly telling my husband how to drive! I do love her because she is my husband's mom and my daughter's grandma, but I felt a lot better after she left and we had time to ourselves to bond. I was good to make big decisions within a few days, I guess.

[Bellabaz]

Dd1-hospital birth, could barely walk from pain, stitches, hemmoroids, exhausted, elated, but really really tired and no way would I have made a life altering decision (unless we are talking an emergency type thing then you gotta do what you gotta do)

Dd2-homebirth, a bit tired and only a little sore, super high, went for a small walk around the block. But overall 100 times better then the first birth. Probably could have made a decision like that but wouldn't have wanted to simply because I was still high from the awesome birth and still a bit tired.

[sostinkinhappy]

Wow! Thank you all for the insightful stories you have shared. I am always amazed at the richness of the varieties of human experience and have thoroughly enjoyed reading about all of yours. Thank you so much for being willing to share them with me (and the rest of the mamas here at MDC).

[IAMommy]

It's funny. I don't remember soreness at all. I had a 2nd degree tear that had stitches, but I never felt a thing from it. I was worn out, like I had just climbed a mountain. All my muscles were tired (the first thing I did after giving birth and getting stitched and checked was climb the stairs from our basement - I didn't think I'd make it), including my pelvic floor, which made getting up from a chair difficult. The only pain I remember came from my baby's tiny mouth trying to nurse on my big nipple. My midwife says I have "gumdrop nipples." Boo. They were cracked and bleeding, and I didn't want to nurse him. There was a lot of crying and thinking about going to buy formula. We got through it, and he just stopped nursing about a month ago, when my milk dried up b/c of my current pregnancy.
I wouldn't make any big decisions for three months, either. I was not right in the head - very emotional due to the hormones and sleep deprivation.

[josie423]

With my first I was very sore and tired. Nursing hurt like hell (I didn't know I was supposed to have lanolin on my nipples!). It was hard to sit because my butt and vagina hurt. Mentally I was doing well! Still in the 'birth fog', but doing pretty well!

With my second, I was tired but not nearly as sore. My vagina was not swollen and I remember taking a shower and being able to actually wash the area, which I wasn't able to do after my first because of how sore it was. It also was a lot smaller and I remember thinking how I didn't realize it got so swollen during pregnancy. My nipples were doing well because now I had lanolin. Mentally I was doing well, just tired and a little weak because I lost a bit more blood with #2. Oh, but my abs and glutes were sore! For some reason during the last parts of labor the only pain relief I could get was from tensing my glutes very hard.

I had both my babies at home.

[rootzdawta]

Moved from I'm Pregnant.

[Marylizah]

24 hours after my 1st birth (totally natural, med-free hospital birth), I felt physically great-- energetic, on a birth high, thrilled and exhilarated. I was totally sleep-deprived though, and DH and I say we should never have made any major decisions during the 1st YEAR of DS1's life (we were seriously, seriously sleep-deprived).

This time around, at 24hrs post birth (traumatic emergency c-section under general anesthesia) I was cathed, IV'ed and vomiting horribly, with diarrhea to boot. Turns out general anesthesia whacks out your digestive system, and since they use it so rarely in the hospital, everyone forgot about that. I was seriously sick for about 24 hours. Mentally I was in no place to make any decisions about anything!

Now, though, 10 days out, I feel like I'd be capable of making a life-altering decision. This baby sleeps, that's the difference!

[hollytheteacher]

Originally Posted by Gray's Mommy

1st birth --i felt like a mack truck had driven over me 5 times (hospital birth, pit, narcotics, epi--then no drugs for pushing over 3 hours)
2nd birth--just tired & exhilerated (homebirth)
3rd birth--still waiting to find out!


No life altering decisions for me until at least 3 days after the births & before the exhaustion sets in from learning your new normal.

I have only had one birthing experience and that was EXACLTY it! (well except the narcotics part...but I also had the pit and epi and then had it turned off before pushing).

[hollytheteacher]

OH! I should also add that at that point I was terrified to poop and didn't go for like four days! lol (I also had fissures so it hurt like heck)

[Honey693]

Originally Posted by Kidzaplenty

I felt great 24 hours out. A bit crampy still, and sore (like I had a hard work-out), but very good. Totally clear minded and ready for just about anything! (I have been known to go shopping within 24 hours of birth.)

This was me. We hit Target and the grocery store the next day. We went for a walk around the neighborhood too so DD could see where she lived.

[gcgirl]

Exhilirated, exhausted, somewhat sore, but I alternated Vicodin and Ibuprofen, and those cold packs the hosp gave me were fabulous for treating my tear. I don't remember having a lot of afterpains, just soreness from the tear and being tired.

What I remember most is being unable to sleep because I was worried about DS the whole time. If we were cosleeping, I worried, if he was in the bassinet or with DH, I worried. I just couldn't drink enough of him in to feel satisfied.

I also had a bit of temporary PTSD, probably related to the pitocin birth. It wasn't a hellish birth by any means, but I remember several times drifting off and snapping awake terrified, thinking "I can't push anymore, I already tore, don't make me push!" That went away after a few days.

I never had big problems with the potty issue: they gave me colace and I ate a high fiber diet, so a little sore but no problems there. The worst thing was for about two months after I had really sore hips, especially after lying down. I tend to think it was a combination of ligaments returning to normal and referred pain from my tear.

[Xavismom]

I had a NCB in a hospital, and mostly remember being on the most incredible high of my life! I should have been exhausted, but I was too full of energy, to the point that I got shakey a few times. I could not stop staring at my newborn, I could not stop thinking about my labor, and how it felt when I had finally pushed past DS's head and the feeling of his little body coming out of mine. I wanted to talk about it SO bad, but DH was passed out, and when I did try to talk, I was so emotionally raw still, I would stutter and ramble. I was smiling so much my face actually hurt. I remember one of the Peds that came in to check on DS said I could not have possibly just given birth, because I was out of bed, and bouncing all over the room, talking up a storm and laughing for no reason. I was like a madwoman lol.

I dont remember pain, I just felt sore, and very very swollen. Like my vagina was 10xs the size it should have been or something. Very strange feeling! I did have a PPH and was then told to cool it and rest in the bed. I do remember being terrified to poop. The feeling of it was so simalar to birthing DS, it freaked me out, and scared me for some reason.

Absolutely no way, under any circumstances should I have made any kind of major decision. I was so out of my mind (in a good way) and so.... just HEAVY with the thoughts and feelings of birth, that even if I made any kind of decision, I would not have been able to communicate it in a coherent way.

I wish I could re-live the birth, and those first few days over and over again.

[caiesmommy]

With ds(now 3) AMAZING! Sore, tired but not bad at all. was walking the three flights of stairs at Inlaws, having visitors it was great

With dd(now 12m) HORRID!! WORSE THEN CHILDBIRTH!! She nursed every 10 min causing major pp contractions, to the point I though I was in labour having another baby(Im not even joking) I was bleeding more then I though was posible. I couldn't carry dd, I could barely walk our bungelow to the washroom to the point dh was going to buy me a bed pan. I think my best friend's boyfriend summed it up when they came for a visit...:"SHIT YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH A WAR" I felt I had.

I should add that both of mine were HB same midwives. Ds delivered at inlaws 3.5 h of labour/pushing. Dd delivered at our new house 45 m labour/pushing everything.

[Romana]

I get really horrendous afterpains - at least as bad as active labor. I also have not had any sort of post-birth euphoria, just relief that it's over. My breasts are getting sore and hurting from all that initial breastfeeding. And other parts of the body feel sore or uncomfortable.

Usually I feel very happy with and amazed by the baby, which is obviously the best part. I basically want to stay curled up in my little cozy room with the baby and not deal with anything. That said, I think that if I had to make an important decision, I could and would. I'm not sure it would be wise or the best thing - I tend to feel a bit emotionally overwhelmed - but if necessary it could be done. If it could be postponed, such a decision should be postponed for at least a few weeks.

I can't tolerate any mother-baby separation, so the baby stays with me the whole time.

Visits by family should be no more than 10 min MAX. I hate visitors right after the baby's born.

I was, however, responding to work emails within 24 hours of the baby's birth. I felt obligated to not let clients or my employer down. I'll be doing the same again this time around, I'm sure. Sigh.

[coldandsleepy]

I was surprised to find that 24 hours after giving birth to my son, I not only felt good, I felt great. The only part of me that hurt at all were my arms... they were really sore, probably due to the weird way I was pulling on the birth stool.

The whole way too emotional wave of hormones didn't hit me until around 2.5 days after birth... basically when I went home.

So if I'd had to make an important decision, I'd have wanted to make it the day after birth, not uh, two days later.

[shapiro-strano]

My daughter is 16 days old and that first day seems like forever ago! Hah, I guess the lack of sleep over the past month or so has done a number on me.

In the first 24 hours after birth I felt like my body had been hit by a car. I actually mean that because I have been in a few cycling accidents in the past where I was hit by a car. My body was sore and achy. My leg muscles were exhausted from squatting for long periods of time to open up my pelvis. My uterus was crampy and I actually took Advil for the cramps which I never do for menstrual cramping. Mostly, I think my body was just exhausted. I had prodromal labor for two weeks before my lil' lady arrived and a lot of sleepless nights. My labor was about 13 hours long and only 4-5 of those hours were hard labor. I had very easy pushing phase that lasted around 45 minutes. I had a tiny tear that my midwife said didn't have to have stitching, but the hospital preferred her to put one stitch in.

That being said, every single day I felt better. Now two weeks later my body feels back to normal minus the very full boobies!

As for making HUGE decisions shortly after birth... I would put off any life altering choices until a few weeks later. I don't know anyone who isn't a mess of emotions, hormone changes, and sleeplessness in those first few weeks. If those choices and decisions can wait until a month later that would probably be best.

Hope that helped!

[shapiro-strano]

I should also echo the scared to poop sentiment! I have been terrified to poop with both births. With my first I had tearing and about 8 stitches that made me afraid to use the bathroom the first day or so. I couldn't relax enough to poop for about 3 days. Boy did it feel great when I finally did!

This time around I think I was mostly just scared because of my previous experience. It took me a few days.