Recovery of muscles (pelvic floor and others) after having a Rather Big Baby

[QueenOfFlamingEverything]

So, I had DS on tuesday, 19 days late, and he was 9lb 15oz. I was induced and went from 4cm at 11.30pm to 10cm at 12.30am. He had shoulder dystocia which was resolved with McRoberts, and as he was so late his head hardly moulded at all on the way out [ouch].

My DD was only 6lb 14oz and born at home with no trauma, so this has all been quite a shock to me .

I can still only just stand upright, my core muscles will hardly hold me up. Moving hurts all over. And it feels like all my insides are going to fall out when I first stand up.

Have been referred to 'pelvic floor team' as routine due to DS weight, appt in 6 weeks. But is this all sounding about normal after having big baby?

Congratulations!

Sounds like me - DS was 9lb 4oz and 8 days late. I could hardly stand and had the feeling everything was going to fall out. Took me a good four weeks to fully recover but that was because I lost blood too. I think I spent most of my days sitting down on a very soft cushion as could only shuffle and barely walk up stairs. I couldn't stand up straight in the shower for a couple of days! Had to do it sitting down.

Thank you

Lost fair bit of blood too, forgot to say. On verge of being classed/treated as PPH but then it stopped.

my dd was 6.3 and i had the trauma you describe, she shot out after being stuck for 2 hrs. I think it alldepends on what;'s happened, did you tear alot?

I have suffered a fair bit and my muscles did get back to almost better but it tool yrs i am afraid, but that's becuaseof the tearing too.

I guess you just need to wait and see, and go form there. The feeling of everything falling out tho, i can relate too, that took about 4 months for me to not feel so bad, but i did feellike it for about a yrs after wheni got my period.

Funnily enough I hardly tore at all - have one stitch due to the McRoberts - whereas with DD I tore far worse.

Lucky you didnt tear! I had a third degree but I think almost ok now luckily (DS is 10 months).

I think the blood loss is what makes it harder to recover. I ate a lot of really heavy stodgy meals like beef casseroles etc to recover. I also took spatone (liquid iron supplement) which was much better than iron tablets.

Well, I'm making progress in that I can now feel my pelvic floor muscles again and give them the smallest of squeeeezes.

Still feels very, um, saggy down there though. Like it could do with some sort of scaffolding

I also had a late baby! She was 19 days late, had shoulder dystocia and had to be ventouse delivery, she was 10lb 10.

I'm on another thread about repairs I've had since then, I'll do a link to it.

DD was 9lbs znd I had a high forceps delivery. I felt exactly as you describe. I did get back to normal but it took time. Keep squeezing the pelvic floor muscles even when you can't feel them. Unless you have a specific injury it will hopefully heal, howver it will rake time. It took me 2 1/2 months to lose that heavy feeling and start running slowly again- I had been a regular runner up until 6 months pregnant. Good luck!

Congratulations on your little boy :) Sounds normal to me.

My DS was 9lb 6oz and also had shoulder dystocia - I know just what you mean about feeling like your insides are going to fall out.

I made sure I kept up with my pelvic floor exercises and things did return to normal after a few months. I'm now 32 weeks pg with DC2 and not had any pelvic floor/continence issues, which presumably means everything is back to how it should be!

Should add that DS1 was born in August 2007.

COngrats! I had a large baby 10lbs 1 and my tummy muscles after delivery were about 8/9 cms apart - I couldn't turn in bed or anything (but I had SPD so that is also a cause).

I have finally 6 months later been able to almost close this gap, but this really affected my ability to lift the baby and feel strong. I was given pelvic floor exercises but ewhat also helped me was the Julie Tupler technique and I started this about 8 days after my emcs, it also draws in your pelvic floor and can help a lot. if you google for her, her website has a great page on it about diastasis (tummy muscle separation) and I believe that even if you don't have this that if you do the (relatively easy) exercises (can be done feeding baby/watching tv) that it will really help you xx