Why is it...

[Antheia]

...that you usually don't get 'after pains' with your first baby but you do with subsiquent ones?

Just something i was pondering!

[Hoody]

I dont know the answer but with DD1 i had none and with DD2 they were horrendous i thought it was just me. Now i'm curious to know too.

[Antheia]

Yep, same. I had none at all with DD but with DS they were as bad as labour!

[Rouge]

Yep I coped even with c/s pains after Paris, but after a drug free birth with Seth (how ironic is this I when I think about it) I had Peth after 3rd stage with Seth. I was told later it could have been to do with my scar (and I had HUGE clots) but I know a lot of women who have it bad in subsequent births. The irony is that I could deal with birth fine, all 14 hours of it but then needed drugs for afterbirth, I could kick myself when I think about it.

[Antheia]

I know what you mean Cai. Even though i had an epidural with DS for the last 7hrs of labour (due to tiredness), the first 30 hours were drug free and i coped with that but could not with the after pains.

[Trillian]

I haven't ever really had a problem with afterbirth pains with any of mine that I needed to take something. It would have been the worst after Erin's birth, but that still wasn't that bad kwim? I did have quite a lot of tenderness after Paige's birth, but I had a manual placenta removal so it was more to do with all the palpating on my tummy than anything else.

it's an interesting thing to think about though. Maybe it's because the uterus has already been stretched once and needs to work harder to shrink back down again.