Post birth weird behaviour

[KatyP212]

Hi, This is my first post! I'm hoping to hear other people have had the same experience....

Giving birth to my son was difficult. He was discovered to be back to back at the very last minute so I needed to be turned with forceps. All in all I had an epidural, huge episiotomy and spinal block. I don't know if this contributed to my behaviour after the birth. Basically over the next 2 days I felt really spaced out and my vision was very blurred I had problems with speech and couldn't remember the ends of my sentences. I also hid in the toilet and called my sister telling her I was having a stroke but refused to tell the nurses although I have no recollection of this call...just that my sister told me about it later. I'm now pregnant with no 2 and am weighing up my options. I was considering a section but am worried the epidural will cause this again....has anyone had a similar experience / can attribute their weird behaviour to any one thing? Thank you!

Lots of people have slightly bizarre feelings and reactions around pregnancy and birth, being, as they are, major physiological and psychological experiences. It sounds like you had a mild case of post-partum psychosis or panic attack symptoms or a bit of both. I am no expert but I gather there is a whole spectrum of mental health effects that can occur around this time - some are short lived, some mild and not diagnosed, some more severe. Usually there is a much lower likelihood of it happening with the second baby, these things tend to be more prevalent with first pregnancies, your body and mind kind of know what they are doing the second time. If you are worried it is probably worth mentioning what happened now to your obstetrician so they and you can be prepared to help you if you have any further reaction this time.
Best of luck.

Thank you for this :) I was kind of hoping someone might say something along the lines of it being less likely second time. I've asked to be referred to discuss this with a consultant so hopefully they'll say something similar.