what was the worst bit of giving birth or afterbirth for you?

[ogri]

mine was, had to have an emergency c section, so had a drain in the cut. the next day i was in agony , felt like the drain was rubbing on something inside me. i couldnt move.
i couldnt let the doctor or nurse take the drain out as it was so sore. i had to eventually pull it out little by little myself. it was in a good 6 inches, not 2 inches like i was told. as soon as it was out i was like a new woman. i was up and about. couldnt believe a little tube could cause so much pain.

With dd1, the worst bit was the epidural-induced headache the next few days. And the blood patch procedure to fix the headache.

So vile. Mde me determined to avoid an epidural with dd2. Was tghus surprised to find myself begging and pleading for one after 3 hours of labour!

(thank god mw had read my birth plan and wouldn't let me have one!)

The disgusting food in the hospital was by far the worst thing about my preg/labour/post birth experience

The urge to wee and poo during childbirth - definately the worst. After the syntocinin induced contractions!

no one else find the smell gross?

Really NDP? I gave birth twice in Worcs Royal and it wasn't as dire as I expcted it to be.

(Not good, you understand, but not THAT dire!)

marjorie snap on timing

The new one ? It is hideous

the smell of what? gas and air?

are you local to me then sassy ? I live about 2 mins walk from the new hospital & about 10 mins walk from the old one.

meat
i htink

eeuww!
I will sniff for it in December

When the time came for me to eat something I was shuffled out into the hall to the trolley with all the hot 'food' on it. I asked what they had and she lifted the silver lids on all the compartments, the smell was rank, the look was khaki & congealed. Even the pre-packed sandwiches looked curly and anaemic. Thank God I was only in for a few hours post birth

dd1's heartbeat dropping and being rushed into theatre for emergency c. Dh's face whilst it was happening.

Realising I wasn't going to get an epidural with dd2 as I was already pushing. I was a teeny bit rude to my midwife.

In Stourport NDP.

Agreed Cod, good timing. (And don't remember smell BTW)

Worst bit with DS1 was having stitches (last one on gas & air only as local anasthetic wore off) then coping with them for days afterwards, I could hardly walk up the stairs they were so tight. Oh and milk coming in and cracked sore nipples.

I think I was really lucky with DS2 as it was a very quick labour (2 hours from start to finish ) which didn't hurt that much, had a little graze but no stitches and that stung a little when I peed.

dinosaur, yr post made me want to cry too.
How very very scary.
My worst thing was certainly stitches being done, yuk! Also afterpains bad when first feedign dd (2nd baby) appalling (worse than contractions) with ds2 (3rd baby - sorry to any 3rd-timers out there!)

The pain of my milk coming in.

Ugghhh!

I could even stand a t-shirt touching my boobs so there was no way on earth I could have breast fed.

For me, that pain was 100 times worse than labour.

not being able to go for a wee for about three weeks afterwards without crying in pain. Internal scratches ooochhhh !

have changed mind

PILES

Night sweats in the week after birth - waking up in a pool of sweat with wrinkled fingers!! Think I hated that so much becuase no-one had warned me about it.

Dinosaur - I just wanted to say that I think they give everyone a photo when their baby is in SBCU/NICU. You don't have the baby by you, so you have the photo. We certainly had one, and DD wasn't critical at any point (just early, and small). So it may not have been specifically that they thought your DS wouldn't make it - in case that makes you feel any better!

The worst bit for me was the first time I tried to get out of bed after an emergency c section. The pain was unbelievable-I will never forget it. I would rather have contractions than that! Also showering with wires and tubes all over me- with a nurse watching, degrading.

sleep depravation zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Without a doubt it was the problems with breastfeeding and getting ds to latch on (which he never really did), and the first 6 weeks of HUGE anxiety, feelings of failure and weapyness due to ds' continuing weight loss, blood sugar tests, jaundice and guilt-ridden top-up formula feeds.

He's a right old chubster now, don't know what I was worrying about, but it was definately the most stressful few weeks of my life.

dinosaur, what a horrible experience

saw your post about the state of the postnatal wards on the other thread - hope this doesn't sound trivial, but how awful not to be looked after properly when you were going through all that.