Pain post birth

[MrsL0805]

Hi All,

Just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this.

I'm 10 day's post birth to my first baby and had a vaginal birth. I also needed 2nd degree stitches.

For the first few days I didn't experience much pain down there however the last few days I feel like my vagina is really heavy and it hurts when i sit down and especially when I sit on the toilet it feels like it's falling out.

The midwife checked me today and said everything looks like it's healing well and there is no infection or prolapse. Midwife has said that I need to work on my pelvic floor muscles

Just wanted to know if this pain is normal.

[plainK]

Congratulations on your baby!

I feel your pain! I had a forceps delivery and had to have stitches for a very bad 3rd degree tear almost 6 weeks ago 😣 I remember it wasn't unbearable but still very painful especially whilst sat on the toilet or feeding my baby in bed. I couldn't sit on a hard chair for the bruises. (hold a pad on the area if you need to stay on the toilet a while) even now I find it puts strain on the area if I'm sat there for a while (no pain any other time and after the second week the stitches desolve so it's a lot better but does get slightly worse before its better) I still have problems the other end but that's due to the extent of the tear 😪

[TurquoiseCat]

Not an expert at all, but didn't want to read and run.

The 'vagina falling out' feeling is something I can get on a particularly bad period, so that may just be all the extra womb gubbins expelling itself?

The general pain might be because your bruising is going down maybe? Leaving all the healing nerves to feel everything a bit more?

I had terrible bruising with my first birth, but it was a little while ago so don't remember the exact timeline of it - I do remember not being able to walk pain free for around 2 weeks at least though.

As I say, I'm not an expert, but if your midwife says it all looks good then hopefully it is just normal healing/hormones? You can always ring the midwives for an extra check if they haven't discharged you yet.

[MrsL0805]

Thank you for your replies. Hoping the stitches dissolve soon and the pain starts to ease.

[PenguinJS]

I had this feeling for around 13 weeks after my birth (vaginal but no stitches needed) so think it’s perfectly normal (and like previous poster feel like it during period too). Also was a sign to me to slow down a bit. Keep taking ibuprofen and paracetamol if you can as that will help with swollen feeling.

Hope you feel better soon.

[haribosmarties]

The heavy feeling is quite normal I think its bruising and swelling. I had it for ages after my first birth when id had stitches and I had to sit on one of those donut cushions to sit down!

My stitches got infected and all dropped out and my wound ended up gaping so mine took quite a while for it all to go back to normal, around 6 months to a year... but it did heal completely, you wouldnt even be able to tell thered been any damage!

I know it seems shocking when you give birth for the first time and you are so worried things wont heal properly or something is wrong... but usually things do heal up well given time. 10 days is still very early days... the bruising will still be very bad and the stitches will still be very sore.

[haribosmarties]

sorry to clarify, Im not saying you will take as long as me to heal! Youll probably be healed well before 6 months if your stitches are intact. I just meant to reassure you that even with more severe injuries it does usually heal fine given time.