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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

Original poster

Omigod the afterpains after #2! OWWWWWW

34 replies

SubOptiMum · 11/01/2012 04:07

DD is almost 48hours old. just started latching properly for breastfeeds yesterday arvo but OMIGOD the afterpains. They are as bad as early labour contractions! I was managing on little pain relief and ibuprofen and paracetamol alternately 2hourly isn't cutting it so rang delivery suite who said I could swap to voltarol or co-codamol (that I also had in house)
Just feeding her now and ouchy!

How much longer can I expect them for?

Husband asleep in spare room- trying to decide if would be mean to wake him to get me hot water bottle!?

OP posts:
neverinamillionyears · 11/01/2012 05:10

Morning. After my first, she is 6 weeks now the pains lasted about a week iirc. I was surprised how much they hurt too.
I'm feeding now hence time of response.

Get hubby up, I'm sure he won't mind.

Congratulations!!!

needabetternickname · 11/01/2012 05:26

They are SO much worse second time round, aren't they. And nobody told me about it, so it came as a v nasty surprise! DD2 is now 6 weeks and already I can't really remember how bad they were or how long they lasted but at the time I was adamant they were worse than labour! Definition less than a week though, so it will pass and become a distant memory. Def wake DH - 48 hours in you need to be sharing everything and if he can help ease the pain, then ask him too. Although that said, I have found that the better rested he is, the more he can do to help during the days, esp with DD1. Congratulations!

Coldcuppacoffee · 11/01/2012 17:35

DS2 is two weeks, don't think they lasted much past day four.

pud1 · 11/01/2012 17:42

I remember the shock at the afterpains with dd2. I was not told either. They only lasted 4 days though

bluemousemummy · 11/01/2012 21:37

I was throwing up with them after ds2. Worse than the labour itself as they seemed to go on and on and with a baby stuck to you you can't get yourself comfy. dc3 is due in a couple of weeks and I am dreading the afterpains more than the labour itself tbh! No one tells you this stuff do they? My Mum doesn't remember having them at all. I think mine went on for about 4 days off and on. Considering asking the midwife if she can leave me a canister of gas & air! Hmm

susiedaisy · 11/01/2012 21:41

Yeap after pains after baby number two were as bad as labour, I was so shocked, and they went on for about 6 hours I was not impressedAngry

jaffacakehips · 11/01/2012 22:01

I'd say about a week...mine where bloody horrid. I was sick, crying and DH was very worried and i was freaking out. No one told me about it....!!

I asked the mw for a canister of G&A, she laugh at me. Hmm

Congratulations on baby!

kiteflying · 12/01/2012 09:16

I had a beautiful drug free birth and then went through a canister of gas and air for the after pains. Lasted all morning.

flossyfloo · 12/01/2012 10:09

Sorry to say they get worse with each baby! I thought they were bad after DC2 but they were horrendous after DC3.

flossyfloo · 12/01/2012 10:11

Meant to say, for DC2 they lasted about 4 days iirc but the first 2 days were the worst. With DC3 they lasted about 6 days, the first 3-4 days were awful.

notso · 12/01/2012 10:18

I had them really bad with DC2 but nowhere near as badly with DC3, fingers crossed for DC4!

WhereTheWildThingsWere · 12/01/2012 10:20

Mine were awful after number 2, lasted a week and I was certain something was seriously wrong, I had a horrible first week.

They say they get worse with each, so very glad I am not having any more!

LovesBeingWearingSkinnyJeans · 12/01/2012 10:23

I had forgotten about tge afterpains but fucking he'll I had some really bad ones after dc2, there was one day where I actually thought I was gonna have to go to hospital.

ReelAroundTheFountain · 12/01/2012 10:35

I had awful afterpains with dc3 (now 6 weeks old) and had to take nurofen extra to cope, they lasted about a week. I did think though that although breastfeeding made them worse at least it proved that my uterus was contracting back as it should.

I told my community midwife at one of her home visits how bad they were and she told me they do generally get worse with each baby and that she'd just been to visit a woman who'd just had her 8th! I shut up moaning after that Grin

toddlerama · 12/01/2012 10:38

I had awful afterpains with #2 - not fun given that I had a cs and had no idea what they were, but 'why am I tearing in half again???'. Not looking forward to them after #3, which will be another cs.

Original poster
SubOptiMum · 21/01/2012 06:32

My midwife told ms she had a case were a woman had a lovely delivery on gas and air but ended up in hospital on pethidine for her afterpains. Poor thing!

At least mine have gone now. Think day 5or 6 (I am OP) but then had dragging pain which meant couldn't really stand or walk. Was so bad I was half expecting a prolapse til 24hours later a huge clot passed and all was comfy again!

OP posts:
morethemerrier · 21/01/2012 11:02

I was shocked at how bad afterpains are, no one told me about them and sadly I can confirm that they do get worse after each one Sad

After my 3rd breastfeeding was really painful I started dreading it but persevered painkillers helped.

Now exp DC4 in April and determined to get pain relief organised prior to birth!

The midwives who have examined me after my last two commented that I must be having horrendous after pains as my uterus was contracting at a rapid rate!

Not much consolation when, for me it was worse than actually giving birth!

Be prepared and ask about options for pain relief now!!! Grin

Iggly · 21/01/2012 18:21

Yep sane here - lasted a few days. But someone had warned me so they didn't seem as bad as expected (my friend has extra drugs so I was expecting terrible pain - it was toe curling and I had to breathe through it). I drank loads of raspberry leaf tea as heard it helped. Not sure if it did but hey, worth a shot.

This was dc2. Not having any more.

icer · 21/01/2012 18:32

I heard of a woman who had 10 kids, and she actually got herself some entonox to deal with the afterpains.

Rindercella · 21/01/2012 18:41

Yes, after pains following DD2 were awful - she will be 2 in March and I can still feel the pain. Worse than labour, which lasted about 3 hours; these pains went on for about a week and every time I fed her the pain shot through me. No-one had warned me about it either.

luckysocks · 21/01/2012 18:54

Well I'm mostly glad you told us, as I'd completely forgotten about that and didn't really experience anything like it after DS, so would have wondered what the hell was going on.

Which pain relief tablets CAN you take if breastfeeding?

Dillydollydaydream · 24/01/2012 12:54

Oh no. I'd forgotten all about after pains :(
Mine after ds2 were horrendous worse than labour definitely!
Was taking Nurofen for them even though I survived the birth with nothing.

SensitivityChip · 24/01/2012 21:58

My sympathy! I was hunched over in the bathroom crying every night for a week thinking I had a hernia after #2. Nobody warms you, do they?!

ZuzuBailey · 24/01/2012 22:08

Not everyone gets bad afterpains. With DC2 I only had a couple when I first fed him and certainly not bad enough to need painkillers. I don't think they were any worse with DC3 either.

My sympathies to those of you suffering, it sounds awful.

RubyLovesMayMay · 24/01/2012 22:12

Bollocks! So I have this all to come then? I'm pregnant with DC2

My Auntie mentioned this to me and I was just burying my head in the sand thinking it was just her.

Seems like its more common than I realise Sad

I'm not scared of giving birth but you guys are all shitting me up about afterpains