What to expect, pain/mobility-wise, immediately after delivery? - Page 2

[RedHen4]

My first three births were in the hospital and medicated...getting up and walking right after an epidural is no picnic :-) Plus the fact that they won't let you EAT can leave you a little weak!

After my first unmedicated birth, I was amazed at how GREAT I felt. Those endorphins are wonderful things. My 5th birth was at home in a pool, and I needed help with balance to get out of the pool, but within 30-40 minutes or so, I showered and walked downstairs unaided...felt great.

Looking forward to that feeling again SOON!

Baby #6 is due today!

[Girlprof]

I felt fantastic right after birth. Like the person who said it felt like winning a tough soccer game - just victorious. I was ready to get pregnant again immediately and I was STARVING. But later, I actually did pass out while standing up after going pee and the little tiny nurse who was with me had no chance of helping me. That shook me up a bit, of course, but it was really later that I felt tired and sore.

[loraxc]

I had a rough 34-hour labor that ended in transfer and a second-degree tear. I was a lot more physically incapacitated than I expected and fell the first time I got up. I was pretty weak and miserable for about two weeks afterwards, and there was a fair amount of pain from the tear, and I got hemorrhoids from pushing, and I had terrible bruising and some pain from a misplaced IV. Oh, and I kept peeing my pants, which made me cry.

There was no happy rush, either. But as I say, the labor was traumatic.

[Peppamint]

Getting up and around after my first birth was a little rough, I'd had a Pitocin labor with a shot of Nubain that really affected me... and to top it off an episiotomy. I was quite tender from the stitches for a few weeks although I felt pretty good otherwise once the narcotics wore off.

After my 2nd and 3rd (home) births I had a huge rush of adrenaline... I did have the shakes after #2 was born. Both times the midwife and her apprentice helped me to the bathroom and such as a precaution but getting up and around was much easier without stitches.

Most of the women I've seen birth have gotten up and around to pee fairly easily... the exception is a mom who hemorrhages.

[the_lissa]

After both my births, I had absolutely no pain. I could walk fine. I could void. I could get up and down.

I had a hemorrhage and a d&c with my first and could still do everything and had no pain.

[Violet2]

I just wanted to add that I had a very hard 36 hour labor and lots of medical intervention (pitocin, epidural, antibiotics, almost had a c-section)and I found the post birth-period to be fine physically, it was the fatigue that was hard.

So medical interventions do not necessarily mean a harder recovery.

I mean, yeah it took a bit to walk after the epidural, but really I was too tired to mind the wait. It wasn't like I wanted to walk around anyway, you know?

Oh and I had a second degree tear too. It hardly bothered me other than sometimes sitting indian style was (and still is) uncomfortable.

V

[hapersmion]

After birth (a good, easy one, no interventions) and getting a few stitches, I felt like I could jump up and run up a mountain! But after walking around the room a little bit, the tiredness hit me and I got back in bed.

Two days later I got pretty sore, but mostly in my shoulders, so I think it was more from figuring out how to hold the baby than from labor. I stayed really tired for about a week, and just wanted to walk really slowly whenever I had to go anywhere, but other than that, I was just fine.

[eastmillcreekmama]

Wow, all you strong and healthy mommas! I'm a little jealous...

Immediately after birth, I definitely wasn't noticing my body hurting, but walking was difficult, and I felt very weak. My midwives led me quickly to the bed and I got to hold my new baby! My attitude was great, and didn't really notice the placenta coming out, and was mostly engrossed in my DD. I was a little nervous about getting stitches for my 5 tears (!), but that wasn't so bad after a little local anaesthetic.

I didn't have enough energy to shower for 2 or 3 days, and felt like I needed help walking for about 4 days. I was hungry but woozy a lot. I crashed from the adreneline majorly on the evening of the second day. I was definitely VERY sore, and couldn't sit up normally for 9 days. Had to wait to go home from our away-from-home homebirth location for that long (it's a 2+ hour drive). By that point, I was walking fine, if slowly, and sitting gingerly. But it slowly got better. I think my DD may have had a slightly different than "traditional" presentation, i.e. she may have been a bit posterior, or something, as I had STRONG back labor. THis may account for my feeling of being run over by a truck or beat up.

[Smokering]

Stitches... another thing I haven't read much info about. If you homebirth, do the midwives stitch you up at home? You don't have to transfer to a hospital? Where, *exactly* do they inject you with the local anaesthetic? (Ulp!). Does it hurt, and if so, how much?

[njbeachgirl]

Mostly I was OK right after. After nursing/holding dd I went to the bathroom and peed A LOT lol. I did get a bit lightheaded at that point, but was fine after a bit of juice. (I had a long labor and didn't eat for the last several hours, which was probably why I was lightheaded!)

The days after that were much harder.... I had a second degree tear which took its sweet time healing.

Re: stitches-- I believe most midwives will suture up to a certain degree. Yup, they inject the local right where the sutures will be. Right after giving birth its really not that bad. I didn't find it painful.

What was painful was when one of my stitches busted a few days later. Yes, you can bust your stitches going poo, no matter what they tell you

[alegna]

Originally Posted by Smokering

Stitches... another thing I haven't read much info about. If you homebirth, do the midwives stitch you up at home? You don't have to transfer to a hospital? Where, *exactly* do they inject you with the local anaesthetic? (Ulp!). Does it hurt, and if so, how much?

Most homebirth midwives are able to stitch tears.

That said, I would not want a tear stitched unless it went into muscle.

I had several unusual tears that I opted NOT to have stitched. They healed great.

-Angela

[2Sweeties1Angel]

My VBA2C was a hospital birth with an epidural. After the epidural wore off (~30-60minutes, it's a blur) I hopped up and into the shower. My c-section recoveries were easy too and I was up the next morning both times, basically as soon as I could feel my entire body again.

[mama_in_PA]

Originally Posted by Smokering

Stitches... another thing I haven't read much info about. If you homebirth, do the midwives stitch you up at home? You don't have to transfer to a hospital? Where, *exactly* do they inject you with the local anaesthetic? (Ulp!). Does it hurt, and if so, how much?

DS was born at a birth center and I needed stitches because I tore in both directions. The needle-stick wasn't bad at all but the anesthesia didn't take and I felt every stitch. To me it felt like she was tugging on hair down there. Not so bad considering what I'd just been through. For me that area was so desensitized from being stretched that nothing really impacted me.

[grumpybear]

My experience postpartum was not that bad. Sure I was sleep-deprived but other than that, it was ok.
I was not 100% definitely but it was definitely not harrowing.
The next day I was visiting my dog at the doggie hospital and the day after that I was out shopping.
No pain, just a bit of heaviness down there because I probably overdid the walking bit.

[clavicula]

i was fine after my deliveries. 2nd time i tore a bit and asked for (2) stitches. it healed much faster. afterpains were more painful, though.

[greengirl_]

Originally Posted by prothyraia

Right afterwards, I was fine.

The day afterwards, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck.

Three days afterwards, I felt waaaay better than I did while I was still pregnant and huge.

Yup, that was me too. Immediately after the birth I was so high on endorphins that I couldn't feel a thing but love. The most painful thing honestly was going pee for about a week afterwards (I had a pretty big tear...)

[Mamabeakley]

DS1 I had a stitch, which honestly hurt more coming out several weeks later than it did going in. I fell over (fainted) while showering. I had a PPH, and I only passed out for about 3 seconds, but after that I crawled back to bed and stayed there. No particular pain, moaning, groaning, or anything like that, though. It took me about 2 weeks to feel an energy level I could begin to just get up and do things with, though.

DS2 I had a similar tear and chose not to have stitches. No PPH - I felt much more "normal" much more quickly and felt up to resuming a more or less normal routine of going out, chasing DS1, etc. w/in 2 weeks.

[sagelove]

Immediately postpartum, I felt fine laying in bed holding the baby and such, but I did feel a bit weak/wobbly on my first trip to the bathroom. I did tear, and my perineum was pretty sore for a few days. Other than that, things were fine

[RockStarMom]

I felt pretty well for the first couple days, then could barely move for a couple of weeks, but I think it was at least partially due to a botched stitching job by the CNM(I had some tearing).

[KariM]

I was in a heck of a lot of pain for two days (on a morphine drip, in fact) after my son's c-section delivery.

I had very little pain/discomfort after my DD's vaginal homebirth. I had some perineal swelling and two very small tears (that healed on their own without stitches), but there was certainly no agony and I was mobile.