How long did it take you to recover from childbirth?

[ALS17081982]

How long did it take you to complete recover from childbirth? And what kind of birth did you have - natural no interventions/instrumental delivery/c section.

Natural births, no interventions other than a few stitches with DS1, was fine more or less immediately . Was making tea for people within a few hours of ds3 being born. Was just so happy not to be pregnant any more!
But I had very short and trouble free labours, I think I was lucky and not very typical.
If you really want to know, ask your female relatives how it was for them - my experiences were very similar to those of my mum, aunt and grandmother.

My body never recovered. I developed multiple autoimmune issues as a result of being pregnant.

Back to back pregnancy, just grazed. Had gas and air, begged for drugs but was to late. Up walking dogs next day, albeit tentatively

Keillands forceps, big episiotomy. TBH, have never really recovered properly. Three years later was disagnosed with PTSD in relation to the birth. 20 years on, pelvic floor still weak. Love my DC dearly but body totally wrecked by pregnancy and birth, feel like two different people pre and post. Sorry if that is scary.

Natural birth, no interventions, no tearing or stitches, had G&A and pethidine, recovered very quickly pretty much following day. Just felt like I'd had a huge workout! I had a long back to back labour but a very quick pushing stage-30 minutes first baby!.. Had her at midnight was home for midday following day

Well, dc1 is 22 now.
Obviously my body is different from if I hadn't had children.

I was induced, after pessary was removed nothing else was needed to bump me along, pretty much normal, 2 doses of paracetamol and codeine, and one shit of diamorphine + anti sickness shot, nearly needed intervention but was given an episiotomy, and ended up with that a few grazes, felt okay for a few days, was up and about, was still sore though due to grazes, healing from the episiotomy never bothered me, the grazes were my bug bear, after about a week I pulled myself funny and the grazes were much more painful, after about 2 weeks I felt fine again, maybe a little bit bruised if anything x

*one shot of diamorphine haha

3 weeks, I had a C section.

Natural births for both dd's.
Dd1 I was very young, snapped back into shape and felt totally back to normal straightaway. Dd2 I suffered a bereavement when I was 7mths pregnant. I did feel it took me longer to recover mentally and physically.

Natural birth mostly in a birthing pool but baby crowned and born out of water. No interventions and ended up with just grazes so relatively lucky in comparison to other women.
I did feel like I’d been hit by a bus a few days afterwards but I had a long latent phase with no sleep and then spent the birth on my knees holding onto the side of the bath - so my hands and wrists ached for a few days after too.

The hardest part of my post partum recovery was the perineum pain I had for approximately four months afterwards - I found it difficult to stand up for long and rocking baby backwards and forwards was hard work. Think this was hugely down to bruising. BUT now nearly 8 months on I feel physically pretty much like my pre-baby self.

My mental recovery was a different story though and still working on this one.

DD1:- Keillands forceps. I'm permanently damaged so over 9 years and counting on that one. The first 2 months were hell, the next year was bearable. Now I'm just used to not being able to shit properly.

DD2:- ELCS. About 6 weeks but felt noticably better each day.

Two years on and I still feel wrecked physically although I think that was more from the difficult pregnancy than the birth itself.

C section, planned.
Born on Friday, Home saturday. Spent whole of Sunday on sofa. Pottering round house Monday
Tuesday trip out in car to visit granny’s
Wednesday walked dog
Thursday, car trip into city to regsister birth, lunch in restaurant and a bit of light shopping.
Friday Tesco’s

Driving by following Friday
Riding my (quiet, steady) horse by the next Monday (so 11 days later)

Felt 99% fine within 2 weeks and 100% within 6 (I.e. fast horse riding, bike riding, lifting stuff etc).
Was probably longer before I tried a cartwheel or a handstand, but was around 10/12 weeks.
No after effects at all, apart from tiny empty boobs. Can’t see scar and no trace of overhang.

However am pregnant again and this time it’s been a v hard slog, so kind of expecting recovery to take longer this time.

I guess it depends what you mean by ‘recover’. I had a c section 10 weeks ago. I was able to carry DS out to the car 24 hours later but was still taking pain relief for about 5 days and obviously my scar took a while to heal. I felt pretty good on the whole by one week (walking a couple of miles every day from that point) and almost entirely back to normal by 2 weeks. I know there is still internal healing going on and my fitness has got a way to go but I’d say I’m at least 90% recovered.

Sorry to hear this ParkheadParadise. I also had a bereavement during pregnancy - one of the hardest periods of my life to go through when you’re meant to be having one of the amazing experiences, being pregnant.

A day but I was very lucky. Only bled for a day and was waking round the supermarket the next day

DC1 - induced on drip, less than 4 hours, 1 stitch. Had preeclampsia and was up the next morning walking from maternity unit to NICU and back multiple times a day to see baby but then head back for my blood tests, liver scans etc

DC2 - another quick one, maybe 2 hours, 1 stitch but just grazing. Home next day, out walking the following day, trip into town for lunch and lots of walking the day after, went for a run at 10 days (terrible idea) but gym was ok at 14 days with a PT.

I'd say I felt fully back to normal after each of my three births by around six to eight weeks post partum. I had easy pregnancies & straightforward deliveries.

Had dd at 22.00, only gas and air. Home by 10am next day, out the same day for a walk, house full of visitors etc. Was hugely disappointed to still look 5 months pregnant (why hadn't I realised that only celebrities have their jeans back on 2 days post partum?) it was the best I'd ever felt in my life for the few days after dd was born.....then sleep deprivation hit me

Episiotomy, forceps, big tear, blood transfusion from blood loss. Absolutely fine physically but mentally it can still be a struggle. Looking back it really had an impact on bonding for about the first year, BUT whatever happened I would go through it again tomorrow to see his little face smiling at me every day.

Induction. after 2 pessaries and a sweep had a fast labour, but uncontrollable pushing before fully dilated, and baby was in a slightly odd position. Episiotomy to prepare for ventouse, but not needed in the end. Bit of a bleed afterwards.

Felt like shit for about 5 days-painful stitches and recurring cystitis due to a catheter being used to empty my bladder. Sitting and walking was unconfortable for a couple of weeks. Now at 4 weeks and stitches are mostly feeling OK, pretty much feeling back to normal.

4 natural deliveries , stitches with 2 and I felt recovered by 2-3 weeks with all of them. I don't enjoy pregnancy so as soon as I've given birth I feel elated. I'm always out and about the next day , normally a nice family meal with a much needed glass of fizz. My mum was horrified after I had my first and was out shopping with OH the day after , she told me I needed to be at home for at least a week. I'm also a rarity on MN in that I let people visit straight away.

Natural birth with episiotomy. Only thing that hurt was the stitches afterwards and I really only felt that for less than a week after. Pelvic floor /bladder/bowels took about 6 weeks doing pelvic floor exercises daily. None if that hurt. Just had issues going to the loo.The weight disappeared after 8 weeks. Just seemed to sweat it off.

Hardest thing for me was the hormone changes and mental readjustment. I was pretty up and down for 6/8 weeks. It was much worse than I thought. But it settled.

I’m 10 weeks post birth and I feel pretty fine and have done for a while. I’m carrying a bit of extra podge and bloat but that’s mainly due to the vast quantities of chocolate and crap I’ve been eating as a result of tiredness as I didn’t put on that much weight in pregnancy - nothing that going back to the gym won’t sort out.

I had a natural birth in the pool. Very quick final stage. I had a second degree tear but for me it was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting. Healed well and quickly without too much discomfort within a couple of week. Now at 10 weeks, I don’t think it looks or feels much different down there to pre birth.