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.

Transition each time - I WANT to die!

Worst bit during labour, definitely the head crowning....after, I'd say the stitches. I couldn't wee for a fortnight without crying my eyes out.
In fact overall, I'd say that the state your body's left in has to be the worst

...breastfeeding, I really hated it although I tried, tried very hard for very long, posibly if somebody had spotted that I had trush and that there was something that could have been done regarding my very sore and bleeding breasts, things would have been diferent, unfortunately I was just an ignorant first time mother with no family, friends with children or a good HV around who could have stepped in to say that it didn't have to be as painful as it was.

Worst bits for me was during the crowning stage as I had missed the last birthing class (because I was giving birth ) and didn't really understand what was going on at this stage. MW kept telling me to push and I kept yelling back "NO". Also the MW using a tampon to soak up the blood before putting in the stitches, I think that the screaming and swearing I did at that point matched that of during the crowning stage. My eyes are starting to water just thinking about it and I'm considering a 2nd........

3 bits:

1. the agony of being stitched up afterwards - gas and air just did not do the trick in the same way it did for labour pains

2. afterpains every time I fed - the suggestion of paracetemol to help was just laughable

3. the day or two when my milk had just come in - will try to use the time to express some milk for the freezer this time - see if that helps.

shoulders.........I thought the head crowning was meant to be the worst, but mine had little heads and broad shoulders, and DD had her thumb in her mouth at the same time - lots of stretching there

Best bit follows on from that, it's that wonderful sense of relief and lack of pain as soon as they come out.

Why doesn't anyone tell you about transition before you have children? I'm sure projectile vomiting was never mentioned to me or that it would be bright yellow because of the entanox (but then I did get through a lot of it!)

After birth - discovering how bad sleep deprivation really is.

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Dinosaur - dd now 20 months and very sociable so will definitely come to other get-togethers. Oliveoil - I laughed when I saw that you were rude to your midwife - dh told me afterwards that when my two midwives were being really nice and trying to cheer-lead saying stuff like 'Good girl, you are doing a grand job' etc - I suddenly reared my head out of the birth pool and pointing at them both accusingly said 'Will you two shut the f... up?' Tee hee

having had two c-sections.. one emergency and one elective - I can't comment on the pain of actually giving birth...

BUT

Dd1 - not being able to hold her when she was born - she was rushed to NICU as she had a heart defect that we knew about. The pain of stitches etc for the first day or so.

Dd2 - thrush in my nipples when trying to establish breastfeeding - toe curling agonising pain!!!

The worst thing for me was when having my fourth baby I was 3cm dilated and going straight to 10cm upon getting in the birthing pool within minutes and the gas and air not working....it was the worst pain I had ever experienced in my life over my other three births and then afterwards losing quite a lot of blood and stopping bleeding then starting again due to an infection......6 weeks on and have only just recovered from it all....my DH wants this to be our last.....me.....well can you believe would do it all again!!!!!!!!!

Childbirth was FANTASTIC! Painful but in a lovely, satisfying, grunting kind of way! But I lost it when it came to stitches afterwards - gas 'n air no help at all- just massive unbearable pain and humiliation - uuuurgggghhhh!

Breastfeeding pretty gruesomely painful too to start with.

definatley after birth was the worst part - when i had to take a kid - or two kids second time, home

not being able to hold DS straightaway coz of having stitches

the sleepless night after birth in agony with urinary retention and the 36 hours on a catheter wondering if I would ever be able to wee properly again!

i know in the scheme of things not too major, but not v. nice at the time!

The birth was fine. it was the stitching up afterwards that was unbearable!!

first dd....worst bit was the midwife sitting on a milking stool ,my legs in styrups her doing some embroidery sampler between my legs!...with dd2 had retaines placenta so 2 days after giving birth had to have a d znd c [hoover out] under general annisthetic [i was sure i wouldnt wake up]and dd3 perfect...............

Birth was even more painful than I could have imagined but the bit I really hated was the sickness from the gas and air. Ds's first day on earth I spent hanging over a bowl. Nice.

Oh, and the third degree tear was quite painful too. Anyone reading this who is pregnant, do your perineal massage!

i remeber saying i dont want pain relief they said try the gas ,,,i didnt like it ,,they said try again ,,then if any one would have trid to take it off me my head would have spun round like in a horror film lol

For me it was that the hospital shop had nothing nice to eat and closed really early so lived on chocolate and crisps - established labour went on for over 24 hours and after DW finally spat DS out I fainted and then threw up and then was asked if I had fits.

for her think it was when she did first big push "I felt something that time" "yes dear you've weed"

Neither of us seemed to mind the whole birth plan going out the window as arrival was safe and sound.

The bed collapsed into a V shape as I was lying on it as staff did not put it back together properly after I had been examined.

Staff arguing how to work the torch that was attached to equipment used to measure blood/oxygen levels.

Ever changing midwives throughout labour.

By far the worst thing though was the post natal "care" (hah!!) afterwards. Staff overstretched with the result that any kind words or compassion went out of the window. We were treated as a nuisance. I still remember one of them standing at the head of the entrance to my particular bay (there were four of us in there) and saying, "Some of you will be back in a year's time".

I have not returned

At the very end, I had my legs in stirrups, was exhausted and very frightened. I was screaming my head off and when I looked up there were about 10 people in the room watching. I keep having flashbacks (shudder)

For me it was poor dh being told right after ds was delivered in front of everyone that he shouldn't be wearing the blue doctors outfit the midwife had given him to go into my emergency cs. They were really horrible to him and went on and on about it. I told them he was told to wear it but they wouldn't listen. I still wish I had complained about it as dh was so mortified.