Pain after the birth

[Tigerinmysoup]

I'm due to have baby number two in November and my thoughts are now going over the birth of my DS again. I had a straightforward home water birth with him, which was fairly quick - 4 hours of active labour and then he came out in three contractions. He was 9lb2oz. Had a second degree tear and some grazing.

However, I suffered for weeks after the birth with what I can only describe as an horrendous achey heavy feeling in my nether regions. (The pain was nothing to do with the tear by the way) I only remembered it recently - think I pushed it to the back of my mind - but it's only now that I wonder was that normal?

It's difficult to describe, but if I was standing up, after about 10 seconds or so I would get this awful heavy achey feeling down there which would get worse and more painful the longer I stood up - the only way to make it go would be to sit down. It lasted for weeks afterwards. I never mentioned it at the time to my midwife - I think I assumed it was normal, although now I think differently.

Thankfully my DH took about a month off work after the birth (it was over Christmas), so he was able to help out lots. I would get halfway through a nappy change and he'd have to take over so I could sit down. I remember spending Christmas Day sobbing in pain.

I am dreading having the same problem again. This time my DH can only take a fortnight off and I'll also have a 2 year old to run after as well.

Sorry for the long post but it's been plaguing me recently. Was that normal?? Can anyone shed any light on it?

I had the same pains with DS.
I was cut- sorry can't remember the name of the procedure. It healed ok albeit a bit wonky.
I had those pains for weeks. I remember not being able to stand for more than 5 minutes and walking to register his birth was hideous.

I'm quite scared about after pains as well this time too.

I had an episiotomy, that's what it was called. My brain occasionally gets into gear and remembers things!

Oh that's interesting - maybe I was wrong and it was down to my tear then after all?

Good luck for your next one - fingers crossed we won't suffer with it again.

Could well be. I just remember constant aching and not being able to sit comfortably.
Good job these newborns are adorable eh?

I had this too and assumed it was bruising. Dh had described me as looking like a pair of inflated kitchen gloves when dd was squeezing out (sorry if tmi) so I wasn't surprised it took a while to recover. I took arnica which seemed to calm things down.

I have this right now - an 'everything is about to fall out of there' feeling. It is a nightmare - in fact I posted about it a few days ago asking when it would calm down! I asked the midwife about it this morning and she said it was normal, caused by all the stretching required to get a baby out and would get better as time went on. Apparently some women feel it everytime they have a period after they have children.

I should really have a look down there with a mirror to see what has happened but I am too chicken!