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.

I had gas and air with a back to back baby, then an epidural and episiotomy and I was up and in the shower 15 mins after having him, was feeling normalish within a week then sex after 2 weeks but I feel totally back to normal at a month after xx

2 sections, took about 2 weeks to be recovered, obviously scar is still there! Very very lucky with everything.

Vaginal delivery with forceps and manual removal of placenta. I haven't recovered and never will. Life long problems both physical and mental.

I had a water birth, gas and air, and ended up with a small tear, which was stitched.

I actually felt brilliant within an hour of the birth -swollen ankles had gone down, wasn't in pain or anything.

The following day I felt a bit sore, but that's about it.

Have had no issues at all since (except the stretch marks!)

Lol, 11 months and counting. Stuck baby. Shitty male doctor who avoided a c section until it was too late. Episiotomy (that got infected) and forceps and now a trashed pelvic floor. 6 months into physio and stuck with bladder and bowel prolapses for life. Won't be having a second!

As good as I can get (still have issues) about 2 years.

I read a study that found by accident that many women with bad births actually had fractured pelvises as well as whatever obvious problems they had. I had friends who were absolutely fine within days or at most weeks. Try not to compare. I caused myself permenant injury because I didn’t listen to my body because I should be okay by now.

84 hour labour including induction via pessary and drip, EMCS at 18 days overdue. DS is now 1.

Mentally I'm still not over it, I'm getting counselling starting next week to try to come to terms with it.

Physically I was walking properly and feeling ok by about 2 weeks after birth, I'd say 4 weeks I'd made nearly a full recovery. I have since developed osteoarthritis which is linked to the preganancy and birth so now have chronic pain and can neither drive nor put on my shoes and will soon need a full hip replacement. The pain I experience daily is bad enough to need a TENS machine.

The c-section scar does still hurt when pressure is applied.

First time forceps third degree tears and episiotomy took 4 months for pain to start going away about a year until I was totally ok

Second time c section and I was out shopping 4 days later back at yoga in 6 weeks and lifting weights at 4 months

About 6 months. Natural, but DS2 got stuck twice and gave me friction burns.

Elective section - home day 4 but only because partner went away day after the birth - took simple painkillers on and off for around two weeks I think so back to normal quickly - compared to the FT job and apart from a colicky grizzly baby around the five week mark recovery was good - but we'll all have different experiences

I had a vaginal delivery, opted for the epidural once I got to the transition stage! Had a 2nd degree tear. Had DD on a Saturday and by the following Tuesday I took DD round the local park for a mile walk. Albeit, I was a bit tired and my lower half started to ache but I remember distinctly thinking at the time "Wow, I feel 90% back to myself".

If I recall correctly I had some minor pain going to the loo for about 2 weeks after the delivery. My lower back/tailbone were also very achy, according to the dr it was due to the pressure DD put on my lower half as she was being born. Otherwise I felt like myself by then.

Now at 16 weeks postpartum, the only complaints I have are a bit TMI...(sorry, it's all anonymous so I'll share) which are hemorrhoids. For some damn reason I never had them until my 3rd trimester and unfortunately it looks like they're here to stay. Same with pain during sex, but this has improved dramatically since the 8 week mark and I am sure it will continue to improve with time.

A couple of months to recover.
My daughter is a year and a half now and I've accepted that I will probably always wee myself a little bit if i sneeze or cough.

Natural birth.

With DS1 I had a natural labour with G&A. It took me nearly a year to recover physically and mentally. And although in hindsight labour was fine.. the shock of the experience lasted for ages.
With DD2 physically I was fine within a month. Mentally it took me longer because I found it difficult to breastfeed (24 hours a day - thats what it felt like) and keep up with all my other responsibilities.

This must be your first baby congratulations, how far along are you?

I had three straight forward births using gas and air with no tears. I recovered quickly after giving birth once you push them out the nurses are trying to shove you out the door, next baby mother please.

When I had my fourth child my god I am just recovering now 3 years later. I had to have an assisted birth which involved them neatly cutting my vagina and then using forceps to pull him out. I had to inject myself everyday for a week to thin my blood I think I lost 1 1/2 pints of blood or it may have been 1 pint I cant remember. I had a limp because while I was trying to push him out my leg cramped. I didn't know when I needed the loo because my bladder was so big. I had to see a physiotherapist because my middle was stretched and pocking out. It took me a little while to recover possibly 3-6 months. Mentally it took me 3 years to recover.

What ever happens will happen as long as you and baby are healthy and relatively happy.

#1: about a fortnight bar odd episiotomy twinge. Brow presentation stuck baby born with forceps.
2#: about a month. Huge baby appeared very fast with no proper medical assistance leading to huge tear and massive blood loss. Had to carry on due to DH needing to be back at work on day 4 and we had a 21 month old, but fuck me I was miserable.
#3: about a day. Medium sized baby, medium length birth, no damage. Perfect birth (for me).

With first it was possibly about 6 weeks or so, he was only 7lbs, G&A and normal labour but has a 2nd deg tear. I think mentally it took a lot longer though and I remember sex being painful for a good year. 2nd child also 2nd deg tear, I remember feeling ok after 48 hrs or so, then fine after a few weeks. Remember the dr asking about Intercourse at the 6 weeks check and I was fine.
I’m due baby 3 in March, hope this goes as smoothly as the others

Ds1 -home waterbirth with a graze and then a womb infection - about 3 weeks
Ds2 - back to back vaginal hospital birth with no tears/grades or interventions - about 2 weeks
Ds3 - straightforward quick hospital birth with no complications - about 2 weeks
Ds4 - elcs and ds5 - failed induction, crash c-section and sepsis - about 3 weeks to not need continuous painkillers, about 6-8 weeks to not need any painkillers, about a year for the twinges when I lifted stuff etc to stop. Still can't wear jeans or anything like elastic or seams touching my scar 5 years later.

Natural, relatively quick labour in birthing pool (around 7hrs from first noticing the non-painful contractions), - no stitches and only G&A. Birth itself wasn't as hellish and painful as I expected. My recovery, on the other hand, was awful.

After birth I could only walk very slowly for around 6 weeks - I have no idea why, I just simply couldn't move faster than that. My core was completely shot so everyday movements became quite difficult. My pelvic floor was fucked too - I had to do Hab-It DVD and pelvic floor exercises for months to get it back to some form of support. I had hemerroids before birth but they were fucking hideous afterwards. Thankfully they went down within a week. But, I had pain going #2 for around 5 months afterwards, which would hurt when I went and last all day long. It really impacted my bonding with DS and I barely remember the newborn days, other than memories of being in pain and dreading the bathroom! On reflection I'm quite certain I had PND as a result of this - obviously this meant that I wasn't emotionally recovered until around the 12 month mark.

Essentially, everyone is different. You never know how it'll be and it seems each birth is different too. FWIW if I have another I'm going down the ELCS route as the risks to my pelvic floor and perianal issues resulting from natural just isn't okay with me!

11 months on and I still haven’t recovered from my 74 hour active labour and 3 hour pushing phase. Pushed her out but had an epidural , serious tearing and no ongoing issues with pelvic prolapse (rectal and cervical). Pregnant again so having a c-section this time !! Sorry if that’s a bad answer. I am still traumatised by my first labour and delivery.

Forgot to say she was back to back with an asyclintic head, which probably accounts for some of the awfulness.

Natural birth, second degree tear and stitching and I was pretty much fine by the morning (I had her at midnight). I was walking around shops the next day.

Bleeding stopped around 3 weeks but was manageable. Stitches healed completely within 2 weeks and caused me no bother at all.

Straight forward birth, no intervention bar stitches afterwards (5?). I was sitting down carefully for about two weeks. Squeezing water over my bits to wee for about a week. I felt normal again after about 6 weeks I think. I'd be back to my pregnancy figure by now if I didn't like sweets and cakes so much. Pelvic floor is not great but I need to get serious with my exercises. Baby is 13 months.

It took me a few weeks, I can't remember exactly, but I was induced, had episiotemy and a haemorrhage. I felt very woozy for the first week or so, but to be honest it is all hard to separate from the fact I had a really difficult time trying to breastfeed for the first two months (got through it and still breastfeeding now at 11 months). I am now fitter and stronger than I have every been, however, and fully recovered.

Mentally, 5 years
Physically, not yet. She's 12.