how did you feel after the birth

[DoulaRelle]

Krysalyss - I too felt very traumatised after my first birth, due to a long, difficult birth (gas/peth/epidural/forceps/tear and stitches) and really struggled to connect with my son after it. To be really honest, I was actually just more relieved to finally have it over and went into shock and found it difficult to want to connect with him. I found it so painful to get around for a good 6 weeks after having him.I ended up with PND and to this day still find it difficult at times to connect to this son.

My 3rd was an induction at my request with Gas a peth, but it felt great even though I had stitches I still felt positive and happy with the outcome.

My 3rd was amazing/awesome/life changing. He was completely natural in every sense of the word and liek Kelly I felt so normal after just a 90 min birth that I was almost feeling like I had not given birth! The babymmon period with him is still going 3 months later and I would love to have the opportunity to go through it again in a few years time.

So I pretty much come from the highs and the lows of it. The Highs are amazing, but the lows can be very difficult to process.

[Astrolady]

With Kameron I had an epidural and lost alot of blood. I felt really awful after the birth and nearly passed out in the shower.

After Lachlan's birth I felt better and had more energy than what I did after Kameron's birth. I never had an epidural with him, but had pethadine

With Ashton's birth it was drug free, and apart from being tired after no sleep for 3 days I was ready to go home straight away LOL.

Love

[MummyNelly]

With my first son i was induced and had a normal vaginal delivery with just pethidine, after it i went into shock i hemorraged (spelling?) and my bp dropped i was hot and cold and kept falling asleep (the midwife and DH had to keep making sure i didnt pass out). I felt pretty washed out for a few weeks after due to the blood loss and clots, i should of had a transfusion after birth. Definately had the third day blues! When i pushed him out (came out in one push) and the midwife gave him to me the first thing i thought was 'oh my god its a baby!' i was just in awe of him i couldnt believe i had actually done it!
This time was totally different, went into labour on my own ended up using TENS and having gas and an epidural (labour was worse and longer, 10hrs compared to 4 first time...) and had vacuum to help him out. As soon as i looked down and saw him laying on my belly i burst into tears (AGAIN!) i was just so overcome with emotion that this was my little man! The bond was instant and being second time round i wasn't nervous like i was with Callum. I only had 3hrs sleep the nite before but i felt so awake and like i could do anything! It just felt so amazing even tho i said that was it no more kids, but now....

[misty]

my first labour was a quick (4hr) and natural birth.

honestly, afterwards i didn't feel any of that elation or emotion everyone always talks about. I just felt physically, emotionally and mentally darined and exhausted. After finding out that the baby was healthy I just wanted to sleep and could have cared less about anything until later that afternoon when I had recovered a bit. having said this I lost a lot of blood and that no doubt contributed a little to how i was feeling. Also if something had been wrong with angelica then i would probably have had more of a reaction too, but I remember just being so tired and thinking that she would be fine without me while i slept as my DH, the midwives and my ob were all there to make sure she was alright, and that i needed to sleep.

[StrawberryMumma]

I had an uncompliacted vag del, with a 2nd degree tear. All natural and only went to hossy just before DD was born.

I was ABSOLUTLEY amazed afterwards at how quickly my body 'got over' having just pushed a baby out! After I was stiched and bub had a bf, I went and had a shower and besides feeling a bit achey and looking like a droopy sack of potatoes (!) it just all felt quite normal again. It kinda just felt like DD had been with us forever not that she had arrived just minutes (or hours) before..

The only negative thing I did find was that when I tried to have a sleep in the afternoon (DD was born 7.30am), every time I closed my eyes the intenseness (is that a word lol) of the contractions came flooding back into my mind. That took a few days to get out of my mind.

[fionas]

Physically - completely buggered (7 hours sleep in 3 days before the labour and over two hours pushing). Had a couple of stitches. No big deal.

Emotionally - v proud of myself. Had posterior labour, used pain management techniques on my own until 7cm, then had epidural and forceps. This was my choice and one I was extremely happy with because it was best for me at the time. Walked out of delivery room pushing the crib.

Connection with my daughter - did not happen immediately. I don't put this down to the drugs, more the person I am. I was glad that I read somewhere not to worry if the 'falling in love' feeling doesn't happen immediately. It took a few weeks to really kick in. Now hopelessly besotted. I'm an old fart (38) so am savouring every moment as she may be my only one (not by choice - am raring to go for the second and she's only eight weeks old).

Rest of hospital stay - nightmare. In my case they should have renamed baby blues the "completely sick of being told 15 different things by 15 different midwives" blues. I'm no delicate flower but they drove me to the very edge of my sanity.

[*las*]

I was so relieved a totally horrible and difficult pregnancy was over, and so elated it didn't even phase me while he was sewing me up after an episiotomy! It was the BEST feeling holding my little man on my chest and my husband hugging us both

[becmc]

My first I felt numb, confused, dissapointed, very sore back and tummy when I started moving around the next day..
My second I was on the most amazing high, I felt awesome, elated, in control,immense pride in my body and was in no pain.

[boomba]

physically i felt exhausted, i had a vaginal birth with epidurial and forceps, including a episotimy(sp?) and stitches. Labour was about 16hrs.
Emotionally i felt over the moon to see this little person after all this time, but still a little shaken by the birth! My plan was no drugs and definately no forceps but had it all!
By day 2 or 3 i was having nightmares about the birth and feeling very disapointed in myself for not being stronger. I think i was upset that he had to be pulled from me instead of me pushing him out! but after a talk with the OB and DH i felt better.
I felt imeadiately connected to Myles and fell in love with my DH all over again.
Its true what they say about once the baby is in your arms you forget about all the pain!

[Willow]

I had a very long pre labour/labour of 72 hours, no drugs other than gas, didn't get to the hospital till I was 8cm, nothing to eat and no sleep for those three days and it took me 2 hours to push her out. For the first few hours after she was born I was on a bit of a high, got up, had a shower went up to our room and had some McDonalds (ew - although I only ate about half of it!) had family and two close friends visit...and that's when it caught up to me physically. I have NEVER been that tired in my whole life. But I found I couldn't sleep because I was worried about what would happen if DD woke up while I was sleeping - just that first time mum stuff.

By the next day I was sooooooooo sore - just muscular soreness and very stiff from bracing against the contractions for all those hours. That passed after a day or two.

By the third day I had a the baby blues - brought on mainly by feeding issues.

Emotionally I found the longer I stayed in hospital with midwives over my shoulder watching my every move the more my confidence was eaten away - apart from one midwife who spent two days with me helping me gain some confidence in my ability to feed my baby and to this day I credit her for being about 70% of the reason I kept at it and fed my daughter till she was 16 months old. I hope to run into her again this time so I can thank her.

This time I plan to come home as soon as baby and I are able to because once I got home the emotional side of things improved greatly.

[qhi]

I had a gel induction...21 hours as he was posterior. I went into labour wanting to avoid an epidural and syntocin, and wanting to "see what I could do".

I managed with only the gas, and once he came out, I felt like superwoman. As he was coming out though (which only took 10 minutes!) I felt as though there was no way I could do this...I felt like I was splitting in half, and that it would never end.

Now, I feel a bit sore (stitches) but mostly happy and proud.

[AnyDream]

After my first (vaginal) birth, I felt shocked, dazed, dissociated and also very physically beaten around - I have photos taken when my DD was 2 days old and I just looked AWFUL. The dissociation lasted for months afterwards and affected how I parented my beloved firstborn DD.

In contrast, after my second C/S birth, I felt calm, blissful and very much in a state of "my cup overfloweth". This feeling persisted for a couple of weeks even tho I went on to develop a wound infection and went back into hospy at day 10. Ppl commented continuously on my healthy "glow" which I attribute to my inner happiness levels.

While i was more independent physically after my VB, I am enjoying being supported for these weeks by my DH who has taken extended leave to cover my CS recovery. Also, my libido has returned pretty quickly this time, whereas it went MIA for months after my VB and I didn't even want to know about anything from the waist down (had a prolapse, tear thru to muscle, etc).

[Firstkid]

I had a vaginal birth, induced via drip, with a bit of (useless!) gas and air for pain relief, and ended up with a few stitches.

I was amazed how energetic I felt for the first few days, even though I hardly got any sleep. I hopped straight into the shower after the 10 hour labour, and felt like I could have jogged around the block. I was a bit tender "downstairs", but ice packs in my undies helped enormously.

Mentally, I was fine for the first 3 days. I didn't bond immediately with DS, but did feel a huge sense of protectiveness towards him. I was also feeling very pleased with myself as I'd managed to get through the labour on just gas and air (that had been my aim, but when I had to be induced, I wasn't sure whether I'd be able to do it).

After day 3 (the day I left the hospital), my mood just crashed, and I felt awful and teary for a week or so. My body just didn't feel like mine - insides felt like they were going to fall out, bladder control was patchy (knew I should have done more pelvic floor work!) and my breasts were so sore I couldn't even wear clothes (fun for my DH, but not so great for me!). Took me quite a while until my body felt normal again, but this was probably made worse by the fact that we had enormous feeding difficulties for the first 3 months.

[Enchanted]

Very tired! I was happy though but it all felt so surreal. When I got into my room I got mad though coz my IL's were very annoying. They kept trying to get Oscar off whoever was holding him even if they had only had him for a minute, they treated it like a competition.

[chocolatecatty]

I felt unreal. No drugs or stiches and as a result my hormones kicked in big time! I was awake for hours afterwards, despite an 11.56pm delivery after a 4am start the same day. I was so proud (in a good way) I birthed Caty the way I did and was so happy cos my sister and husband were equally proud of me and I love them so much so it was just ALL GOOD!

Next day my butt muscles were sore, and my calves, musta been using them during labour accidentally, and when I walked it felt like my gut was going to spill out, but I guess that's normal!

[kungfubecca]

Hmm,

I really don't know how to describe it. I guess I was happy, tired, a little overwhelmed. I was lucky we had a few hours of cuddles before anything else was done. I did turn to hubby and say, now what do I do with it. (Yes I was calling him an it out of habit.) In retrospect I think I would have loved to have my first night without visitors. It was great to show him off, but to have had him all to myself would have been even better, plus he arrived in the afternoon so it was only 3 hours later we were inundated by people.