Recovery time after having baby

[Veggiehappy]

Hi all,

If all goes well (fingers crossed) baby is due at end of June! I was wondering how long it takes to recover after giving birth? I wanted ti get my hubby tickets to ab outdoor festival in mid July for xmas. It wouldn't be end of world if i can't go because he could take a friend...but just if baby does come on time and touch wood it all goes okat, if id be up to walking around and going on a day trip a couple of weeks after?

Its such a silly trivial question to ask...and really least of worries...but if all does go well im just wondering if it's a possibility?

[BigBaboonBum]

With my first I bled and then had to deal with lochia for like 6 weeks, it was less with my second (told because the womb is stronger the second etc time, but it hurts more!). You’ll be fine to walk around but it’s the after birth that could be an issue (for me at least) as you need somewhere clean to change pads and clean up down below

[Battleax]

I'd have been okay to do that, but it does seem to vary a fair bit.

[AccrualIntentions]

My DD is 3 weeks and I've felt physically absolutely fine since about 5 days after the birth. A total emotional wreck though!

[sthitch]

I had an episiotomy and ventouse delivery with an epidural. Two days after giving birth I was home and had to crawl up the stairs which shocked me, I had to walk really slowly everywhere and take small steps, within a week and a half I was walking normally and by 2 weeks feeling pretty normal even though I had an interesting delivery. We went for a weekend away 10 days after she was born even though I was still recovering... I was really quite well, only issue was that because I did too much I bled for 6 weeks! So even with a difficult delivery it stills doesn’t always take long to recover.

[GreenGoblin0]

My first baby was two weeks overdue so so going to a festival two weeks after the due date would not have been possible for either me or DP!

[AssassinatedBeauty]

My first was 12 days overdue and then I hospital for a week, so I wouldn't book anything that close. If your DH goes with a friend, will you have someone able to come and spend the day with you so you've got some support just in case you need it?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Awful traumatic delivery with episiotomy and tearing, I was still using a jug to pour water as I peed to stop it burning at 4 weeks. Was terribly anaemia till 6 weeks and had a baby who didn't grow properly till 16 weeks.
There is huge variation, but for me it would have been a no.

[InDubiousBattle]

Two weeks after having ds we were feeding every hour and had literally just all three of us been to sleep simultaneously (up to 10 days old one of us was awake holding him 24/7!). Ds wasn't gaining weight properly so we were pushing for a tt snip, my nipples were cracked and bleeding, there was a lot of crying.

Two weeks after having dd I was physically much better (much easier birth)but Tbh still would have hated to have to actually go anywhere or do anything!

Honestly op, I don't know of any of my friends who would have coped with a festival with a two week old baby. Buy him socks!

[AnythingNotEverything]

Baby might still be feeding hourly at that point too.

I think I'd buy him the ticket but not plan to go. Indie DC4 at the end of June and think I'd rather stay home in my pjs than go to a festival at that stage.

[Veggiehappy]

Ah okay thank you for the advice and sorry some of you guys have had traumatic experiences - sounds awful! :( i guess i am being a bit overly optomistic here...if he did go with a friend im sure my mum would be happy to come and stay with me for the day but i hasnt considered that hubby might be too tired for it!! I think maybe i will go with the socks idea...will save myself some money too!!

[lookingforthecorkscrew]

You may end up with an EMCS and the healing, worst case scenario, can take quite a while.

[pastabest]

I had a straightforward delivery the day before my due date and physically recovered very quickly.

I was still bleeding though about 6 weeks later. I probably would have been physically fine to go to a festival but I wouldn’t have wanted to any way, just too much of an effort with a small baby.

I probably would have been fine with DP going though if it wasn’t overnight.

[NC1990]

My DD is 3 weeks old and I feel fine physically, I had a very straightforward labour and delivery with only a minor first degree internal tear (although trying to pee was agony for the first 5/6 days).

However, I am so ridiculously hormonal, emotional and sleep-deprived that I certainly wouldn't be up for a festival. Plus I permanently have a baby attached to my boob right now, she feeds 2-hourly (on a good day, sometimes she is on and off constantly for hours at a time). I think it's wise to go for socks

[TheLegendOfBeans]

Could you buy him tickets for the 2019 festival instead? Or an alternative festival later in 2018?

I am not being a negative nancy but on the balance of probability this is unlikely to work with a newborn, never mind the recovery you’ll be having, he’ll probably be boggle eyed with exhaustion and mentally shredded with new fatherhood!

[Sipperskipper]

I was 7 days overdue, ended up with an emergency section and a week in hospital. Actually felt better pretty quickly, felt almost normal at 3 weeks. No way I could have gone to a festival though, and wouldn’t have wanted to be apart from DH overnight then, as nights were hard!

[calilark]

not for me at that point. My vag ached for months if I stood up for longer than about 10 minutes, it was proper achy and painful. But mainly cluster feeding newborn at that time. I don't think I left the house until she was a month old!

[samks]

It’s completely different from person to person. I know people who feel fine within a few days, I had a long labour ending in forceps and losing lots of blood so was very weak for a long time after whilst my iron was low. I also got an infection in my episiotomy site and was uncomfortable for weeks.

I’d say buy them and see, you might be fine! But be prepared to not go, and don’t push yourself if you don’t feel up to it.

[Oysterbabe]

I would have been ok physically but wouldn't have been happy to leave my baby. It was months before I let her out of my sight.

[lollipop7]

My baby boy (third baby) is four weeks old tomorrow. 9lbs with an almost third degree tear and lot of stitches plus 750 ml blood loss
I’m still bleeding quite heavily and am waiting a date for a second iron transfusion as I had one at 36 weeks but they’ve plummeted again. Plus my son is cluster feeding and glued to me in between. I can only go to the loo etc if Grandma is there to continue the constant cuddles.

So for me it would be s no. That isn’t enough to stop my bastard ex dragging me to court tomorrow to get another contact order following the fact he breached the last one.

If the tickets are v expensive that’s something to consider. If you think you’re alright to let him go in his own or with someone else just be mindful of going overdue / recovery from unplanned intervention etc.

Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy

[userabcname]

A no from me - 3rd degree tear, anaemia due to 4 litre blood loss and establishing breastfeeding which basically means feeding constantly. I was struggling to walk around the supermarket at 3 weeks (stitches hurt like hell) and could only start going out locally for an hour or two at around 5 weeks. Hopefully you will have a much easier time but for me the recovery was a lot longer than I thought.

[QueenAravisOfArchenland]

I'm... reeeeeaaally not sure you're going to want to do that. Or that you are going to want your husband gone for the day. Or that he isn't going to be insane with tiredness himself anyway.

I had a normal vaginal delivery at my due date and walked away, literally, without drugs, tears, or any complications. Breastfeeding also went fine, on the whole. But at two-three weeks postpartum I was insane with tiredness, scared, emotional, felt like I would never sleep again, and going out for coffee felt like altogether too much effort.

I would skip it, tbh. The timing is just very unlikely to work, even if you are like me (and not as many people as you'd hope have a first birth as uncomplicated as mine) and are completely physically fine.

[mindutopia]

If baby is born around your due date, you would have a 3 week old baby. You would (assuming you have an easy vaginal birth) be up and walking around just fine, but you will be exhausted and overwhelmed and presumably you wouldn't be taking a 3 week old baby to a festival (I'd hope not, anyway), so you would have to leave baby. I don't think it's realistic to assume you'll easily be able to leave a 3 week old with someone else all day. If you're bf, you won't be able to express enough yet, and either way, you just may not want to. We didn't leave our dd until she was 6 weeks old (with my mum at our house while we went for lunch for like 90 minutes at the pub pretty much across the street). I cried for half of lunch and we had to come home.

If you get them, I would do it under the assumption that he would be going with a friend. But also, you may just want to hold off because he truly may not feel up for a festival after 3 weeks of no sleep and trying to keep his head above water with a new baby. He might appreciate a quiet lunch out and a chance to leap a few extra hours more than anything.

[mindutopia]

*sleep

[ImogenHeat]

It would be an absolute no for me. I ended up 2 weeks late and another almost 2 weeks in hospital and this was a vaginal delivery. Couldn't stand up for over 5 mins or walk further than my driveway until about 3-4 weeks after and after that there was a slow recovery.

[ihavetogoshoppingnow]

I would have physically been fine but not emotionally plus you’ll probably be exhausted and pretty overwhelmed at a few weeks in, if your DH has probably just gone back to work around that time too you might feel pretty resentful of him going out for a day having fun without you. I had to leave DS at 7 weeks old to go to DPs grans funeral and it was awful I wouldn’t have left him to do something like a festival out of choice