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

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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?

i went shopping with ds the day after he was born but not the day he was born. the day he was born i went home, ate a chinese and went to bed

I was up and about pretty soon after both my wee ones were born. Both went to church when they were 2 days old, in fact I was preparing meals for visitors when both were only a day/2 old. I plan to stay in my dressing gown for a week after number 3 - getting up and about really isn't all it's cracked up to be!

With number 3 I wrote an announcement card about 2 hours after he was born and then had to have a long lie down. I was shattered.

I think it's hormones in a lot of cases and a huge adrenaline surge. I had an em cs at 10pm and was up the next morning, packing and re-packing my hospital bag, showering, pacing the ward with cabin fever etc. 3 days later I cooked a big meal for the family and washed the curtains (no idea why).

On day 6 I took dd to register the birth, got halfway into town, sat on a bench, sobbed with exhaustion and had to be taken home by dh. The adrenalin had worn off. I took it easy for a few days after that!

I've never ahd a problem post birth- its always been the pg that has done it for me. Swings and roundabouts perhaps? With ds1 I was being transferred between hospitals (had to be monitored for 5 days- eclampsia and IUGR) and amanged tos top and do a weeks shop (stupid stupid woman). Even with the others though, was out walking in a day- just never been an issue. never ahd stitches or anything like that mind.

My questions are "How can some women possibly manage to have a sex drive/randy phase in the mid trimester of pregnancy? It's not possible".

And "Who are these freaks who claim to enjoy childbirth? Surely they're making it up?"

Post-natal liveliness, fine. but those other two issues. Bizarre, and a million miles from my experiences. we all have different good and bad parts of having children.

Fennel - I'm saying nothing about your first question - about the second - I wouldn't say I enjoyed it - but I'm glad to have done it.

After having DD we were in hospital for nearly a week due to her jaundice so I was confined to a ward. By the time we were let out I was raring to go as I had severe cabin-fever by then!

After DS (in hospital for 36hrs) I was instantly up and about. However, I'd had really bad SPD for the last few months of my pregnancy which improved dramatically the instant I gave birth. I literally went into the delivery room on crutches and came out minus crutches with a spring in my step .

Incidently, when DS was about 4/5 days old I went into our little town with DS. We went into a shop where I got talking to the elderly(ish) shop assistants -they were that I was up and about so soon. They said that in their day you had to be in bed for at least a week and then not leave the house for a certain amount of time either.

In "the old days" women were less healthy, less well nourished. Many of them were worn out by endless pregnancies and births. Also there were some pretty grim and long births back then before epidurals etc.

It's possible people are more active now after the birth because mothers are more healthy than in the past.

Sorry I was one of those up and at them ladies after giving birth especially to DD2.

Before she was born like bettyspaghetti I was hobbling with SPD, felt like my fanjo was at my knees with the pressure, my lungs were by my ears I was so breathless, had horrendous heartburn and was on atnibiotics for sinusitis.

She was born at 4am on Thursday morning it was as if someone has taken 2 stone off my front, my insides immediately went back to where they should have been, all the heaviness and SPD pain lifted. I felt on such a high.

Had a shower at 5am, DD1 came into bed to join us at about 6.30am and met her new sister, DP took her downstairs I had an hours sleep then was bored by about 9am so got up and put on a washing. DP forbid me from doing anything else but I lay on the sofa most of the day and played with DD1.

Next day we went to the hospital to get her checked over and went shopping. I was back in my size 10s as well (not a hope in hell after DD1 though).

I was one as well Imdreaming. Within minutes in fact. The midwives kept trying to make me sit in a wheelchair to go back to the ward . And wouldn't let me carry the babies in case I keeled over.

Why? I don't know. I've always been quite fit and all my labours were relatively quick and easy.

Don't go down the 'compare yourself to other mothers' road.

I was one of those lucky mothers who was up and about, labour hour and a half duration, no pain relief, no stitches, everything pinged back into place, all great (the wonders of being 17!!)

However, wasn't all a bed of roses, found breastfeeding supremely difficult, thought it was more agonising than labour. Also felt (emotionally) shit for years.

I would have traded a couple of days of hobbling around for feeling in inadequate, useless mother who was crap at breastfeeding, believe me.

The grass aint greener.

I always felt physically fine, but being up and around is totally over-rated! best advice I ever heard was from Mary Cronk, the midwife:

"Mum in dressing gown is someone to be looked after. Same mum in jeans and T shirt is someone doing the looking after."

My advice is to stay in bed for as long as possible and bond with your baby.

We are all different. I had a CS and was up and about as soon as they removed the cathetar, I literally run out of the hospital I was so eager to leave! I was off painkillers within 24 hours and once I was home I just carried on as normal as I felt fine.

However I am insanely jealous of women who look fantastic within days of giving birth, I still have a jelly belly (3 and bit years later) and I still have that permanent knackered look on my face!

Having a baby is the ultimate reason to take it easy and relax as much as possible. Personally i wish i had taken my own advice when i had dd, but i was so keen to show everyone i was coping that i was up and about far too much. I definitely felt i had something to prove. And then i got PND. don't know if the two things were linked but i suspect so. Newly delivered mums should do nothing but eat, sleep, feed baby, and more sleep and perhaps see the occasional visitor, for at least the first 2 weeks. What's the rush after all, take advantage of your partner's maternity leave, because once it's gone and he's back to work you'll wish you had done.

I had to get moving after I had DD. MIL said she would stay "as long as she was needed" - aaargh! Had to demonstrate clearly that there was no necessity for her to stay any longer than the two days she was planning anyway.

I felt pretty awful, mostly because I'd had 2 hours sleep in 48 hours (oh, and had a baby too), but was determined...

Everyone is different. I was in labour for 6 days, and established labour (after they broke my waters) for 27 hours - it was hell on earth. Suffice to say, I was drugged to the hilt - ds was born at 4am, I was up and about at 9am - epidural had just about worn off enough for me to move. I'd had really bad SPD since 18 weeks - and it got so much better straight after the birth, I think I wanted to walk without being in pain !! As a result, I got a bit too carried away with myself, went down to the foyer in the hospital to make a few calls - and collapsed in reception ! (Due to blood loss). Still, went home the next day, and was moving around - although slowly, quite alot, and then collapsed again in Cafe Nero 2 days later. For the next month, I was a hermit, and looked like a tramp !!

I absolutely, positively abhor a mess and about the only thing I hate more is being waited on or having to sit still.

I am also impatient and hate waiting around, so I pack my own travel kettle, powdered milk, tea and snacks/food in my hospital bags so I can get making my own asap, as well as my own hot water bottle, pain meds, sleeping tablets, etc.

I had a forceps delivery with DD1. She was born at 4.05PM and at 7 I was up getting myself to the toilet. I got up to wash my face and brush my teeth before bed.

With DD2, I had a drug-free delivery.

I immediately got up to get my tea stuff out and make a cuppa and have some snacks.

I just hate being burdensome, having to rely on others to do things for me or just waiting around.

So I'm up within hours of just about anything.

I hate being in hospitals so much, I have signed myself out AMA several times.

I'd rather just go home and get it myself.

After my first two births I found it hard to get up, but I was remarkably mobile after DD3..she was a homebirth and had some difficulty establishing breathing, so the midwife called an ambulance within about 10m of her being born, so I had to get out of the pool and get dressed pretty quickly and take her to hospital, where I spent most of the next four hours on my feet.
Apart from being scared for DD3, I felt perfectly fine, a little tired; I put it down to this being a water-birth, and not having G&A (which I had quite a lot of with the previous two)

I spent what was a long 10 nights in hospital after an ECS and DS got missed for the jaundice requiring a prompt move to transtional care which kept us in as he was so poorly I cried the day before we left as I needed to prove he was still putting on weight so that last night I was willing the weight on and when we were released DH,DS and I headed straight for the pub, I was sick of being confined to a small room!

I was on the go from the moment we got home as DH paternity leave had been used up on the time I was in hospital and I don't live near family and what made it less fun was I had been let out of hospital with a 'wound', that is my scar was bleeding so getting full mobilty back took a while but was helped by a kind community MW who was interested in helping my scar heal properly!

(I am hoping next month doesn't see a repeat, though am having a planned cs.)

I was flattened after ds1

After ds2 I could have happily gone home and pootled around - I didn't - i went to my local midwife unit and malingered for 3 days - ds1 was a difficult age and I fancied a nice rest.

I think the idea that women were invalid after a birth was put about by compassionate midwives to ensure they got left alone by their husbands while their ladybits recovered, and to ensure that women who did need the rest (no blood transfusions in those days, remember) actually got it.

Unless they were poor, anyway.

Well, after 7 months of SPD, heartburn, a varicose vein on my you know where, four days of stop start labour with just gas n air and a second degree tear, I felt a curious mix of hit-by-a-bus and HOORAY-I-can-walk!

I was only in hospital for one day before dp announced that his family were coming down to stay though we had no beds/bedding and the house needed a clean "oh, and they're already on their way" so I had to get up and go home to help tidy up.

Of course as soon as mil arrived she announced that she'd be here for a few days (nine, as it turned out ) and that I wasn't allowed out of the house for 10 days which gave me instant cabin fever, especially as our house is miniscule, I was uncomfortable with my stitches and just wanted to cry, and was trying to learn how to breastfeed, whilst constantly under her nosey gaze (couldn't really manage the stairs to do it in my bedroom as they're really steep and I was terribly bruised)

So I demanded to go food shopping two days later just to get out of the house, never has walking round tesco looking for beans and binbags felt so liberating!!!

Next time I'm staying in hospital until they crowbar me out, and mil can bloody wait a few days.

not read the whole thread, but for me I felt as tho I had been hit by many many trucks!!!!!!!

I took at least a week after DD1 and DD2, not least cos my pelvic floor had left the country, let alone the building, and every time I walked it was not nice (sorry for the TMI!

plus, from DC2 onwards, the after pains were just hidious (have had 5 DC's now).....was all I could do not to pass out by DC4, let alone the fact that I pretty much vomited from the pain for the first couple of days.

of course, none of this was helped by the well meaning comments of, "ooh, this has hit you hard. never known anyone react this bad before", ,making me feel sooooooo much better!!!!

altho.....i was one of those women who snapped back into shape after birth and could leave hospital in sz 10 jeans after!!!!
probably got given the rough recovery and after pains as some kind of cosmic swap[fwink!!!