Please tell me how some women are up and about hours after having a baby?

[TwinklyfLightAttendant]

Please could someone tell me how, as I have been wondering about this for ages now - I have never been OK enough to get out of bed within at least 12 hours really, let alone go out, do housework etc. and it makes me feel a bit inadequate, or that I must be doing something wrong, when I read other people saying they were getting on with things as usual shortly after giving birth.

My first child was an easyish birth, 8 hour labour, I reacted to the epi I think which made me sick but otherwise there was no reason I should have been feeling awful for a couple of days after. Second birth was at home, 3 hr labour, no major complications but again, felt like I'd been hit by a truck and stayed in bed for a few days. It was mainly the fact my stomach muscles felt like they have been removed, so I couldn't stand up straight iyswim?

Can anyone give me any hints for next time, or reassure me that I'm not unusual, please?

...and no pain relief at all, second time. I thought that would mean I could walk more easily but was still a wreck.

I didn't have pain relief for either labour and I still couldn't walk after either of them.

Don't worry....not everyone is! I had a forceps delivery (no epi) followed by a pph and needing a epi following the delivery for the 60 stitches and 'manual removal of placenta'. I have always been (and have now regained it!) physically fit and exercised right the way through pregnancy...felt absolutely fine. HOWEVER the day after my delivery I felt I had been run over by a truck and could only hobble round the ward VERY VERY slowly, and getting up/sitting down were a struggle. I always remember feeling so demoralised when a lady came up that day from the delivery suite, having just popped out the baby 30 minutes before, and jumped (yes, sprung) up on her bed and sat there cross legged holding her newborn. She left later on that day, walking off like she had just attended a hearing test. I didn't walk like that for at least a fortnight.

I had a ventouse and a bladder that went doolally so a catheter bag on a stand to tote about. So for the first few days I could just about manage to get to the ward bathrooms etc but that was about it.

This is why women used to stay in hospital for such a long time after birth - there was a reason behind this.

Chucking us out of hospital the same/next day is just to free up beds/resources, doesn't mean that you're fine to start running about doing a Nigella!

I've read that it takes 9 months for your body to truly recover from pregnancy/labour, so be kind to yourself.

I have to say that I was up and about quite quickly after having DD (3 weeks today) I also came home within a few hours of her birth. I think I had a massive adrenaline rush that kept me going.

I now wish that I had stayed in longer and taken that opourtunity to recover a little bit more while I had the support of the MW's.
I will deffo be staying in longer with any more children I have.

That first week I came home was hard, I had breathing difficulties, and I could barley walk to the toilet let alone do anything else. Lucky for me my DM was on hand to help me (DH had to go straight back to work as he didn't qualify for parental leave)

With DS I felt dreadful for several days afterwards, extremely sore and walking bent over. That was a 9 hour labour, with two hours pushing and lots of stitches but fairly straightforward other than that.

With DD I had a 6 hour labour and no stitches. I spent the day in bed (DD born 7.46 am) because obviously I was tired because had been labouring in the night but found that getting up and going to the loo and to get a drink etc stopped me from getting too stiff. I was up the next day and doing things such as making drinks, changing DD, going on the PC etc and also attended a first birthday party at a neighbours but still taking it fairly easy.

Twinkly - i had no pain relief at all either with DD who is 6 days old. I have found that wearing magic knickers that come up to under your bust are fantastic for making you feel more "secure" in the tummy/abdomen area and it helps your body get back into shape too (or so it seems!).

I bought some Spanx party knickers, or summat like that, and they are fab fab fab!! Buy them in your pre-pg size and they should be fine.

I was on a ward for my first c-section with a lady who was up and about hours after the operation.... at this point I couldn't even sit up!! I remember being totally amazed and watching her trot around the place with great She frankly looked as if she would have no problem going for a 5 mile run... 4 years later it still haunts me

I had 2 quick easy labours, no drugs, banging to get home minutes afterwards, both were daytime births so not tiredness
Felt 100X better than late pregnancy.
Lcuky I guess
was harder with ds2 as had all night stop start labour so was tired and crashed but next day = took dd to school!

I felt pretty lively straight after all 3 births, but I think it was partly because each pregnancy I'd spent 9 months feeling relentlessly heavy and bulky and tired. Even after quite difficult births (though not a caesarian) I just felt light and mobile and hormonally lively almost immediately the baby was out. I think also it was the immense relief each time of being past the indescribable horrors of pregnancy and childbirth.

But housework? No, i don't think i did any of that post-natally. That is weird, imo.

i went in town the same day i had both my babies, i always feel fine.

this time however i am staying in bed for at least a full 24 hours. i want the rest!

I came out of hospital 6 hours after having ds1 and in an attempt to show how fine i was decided to go out (i'm blaming hormones!) But ended up back in hospital. With Ds2 i knew better and stayed in for a couple of days. Learnt my lesson!

Twinkly you're not inadequate . If you get aneamic it means that you do not have enough oxygen carrying cells in your blood (heamoglobin). Since oxygen is needed to convert energy in the body and make muscles work effectively, you were bound to feel very tired and lethargic. Take iron supplements right until the birth to ensure your HB is as high as it can be before hand. Obviously everyone will lose some blood during birth but some peoples bodies are more efficient at replacing the heamoglobin than others.

I'm always on a high after I've had a baby so for most of them I've been up and about very quickly. However, I have a bit of a crash around the end of the second week where I could really do with a day in bed. But by then everyone else is back to normal so I just have to get on with it.

awayfromhome it sounds like you were in at the same time as me for my c-section I was up and about 2hrs after GA. However, not because I felt great, because I desperately wanted to leave hospital as didn't get much sleep!

You're not at all unusual, 6 months after dd2s bith I'm still not back to normal, physically or emotionally, even though I had to go back to work when she was only 3 months, due to having not had a proper night's sleep in all that time. I had two cs quite close together which didn't help. But with both dds have felt totally inadequate at other mums rushing about and also goingn out in the evening to cinema etc when all I want to do still is have lights out at 9pm. I think I find birth and small children so overwhelming and am so fond of my sleep it takes me about a year to fully recover

I don't know what changed (other than having a homebirth but you've already tried that) with DD4 but I was fine after 30 mins. Still felt like my stomach was going to fall out to my knees maybe the fourth is a charm?
With DD2, they told me I could leave after an hour of having her - I was protesting about having to get up to have a shower after 20 mins! DD1 and 3 similar to DD2.

Housework? Good god.

My labour lasted 40 hours - recorded as 12 - with the second stage lasting 3.5. I had no pain relief and was shaking like a leaf for HOURS afterwards.

I planned a home birth but transferred towards the end of the second stage - my heart leapt when I realised there was a seat in the shower, and again when a wheelchair appeared to take me to the ward!

only read the OP so far but i had DS2 at half 4 am on teh wednesday and was doing 'normal' things that same day, went to toddler group on teh friday but when the adrenaline had worn off on saturday i dropped!

I had a fantastic labour and was on a high.

With ds1 however, although i was in and out the same day i didn't wantto get out of teh chair enever mind do anything else. i think my frst outing with him was to the post box at the end pf the road at 2 weeks old!!!

oh and my grandmother - who was a nurse in a maternity home for years before she got married - thinks all of this is absolutely crazy. 'Her' ladies (in the 1930s) used to get three weeks lying in bed after birth, which they 'needed' to recover, and weren't expected to do ANYTHING! though of course this was only for the privileged middle classes ...

and all those privilged ladies then got blood clots from lying still too long?