Feel awful after long hospital stay

[Pinkstuffs]

Is this normal? I had my second baby by csection on Christmas Day. It was a semi emergency section; a repeat section but I went into labour which was fairly established when I got to hospital. I’ve had a section before but my uterus was very thin, on top of this the surgical team were worried they had cut into my bladder during the surgery. I’ve had to spend an extra week in hospital having tests/scans to make sure my bladder function is ok. I also had a haemorrhage which caused my bloods to be all over the place.

We were finally allowed home last night and now I feel absolutely terrible. Achy all over, exhausted, stiff and mentally slightly traumatised as I’ve been so worried about myself over the past week (baby has been fine!) - at one point doctors were seriously talking about me having to have a urostomy bag and further major surgery - all whilst I was on a ward watching people take their babies home!

Do you think this is normal? After my last section I was home in 24 hours and walking round Sainsbury’s a couple of days later feeling ok.

I'm not a doctor at all but I can't imagine anything other than feeling dreadful after the trauma you've been through!
The lack of sleep, worry and blood loss could all contribute to feeling achy and exhausted. I think you need to be kind to yourself and rest and eat and drink will to help you recover.
Its also been a very busy time of year and if its a second DC, I imagine you will have been busy in the weeks in December leading up to go into labour. No wonder you're feeling drained and mentally wobbly. Your body needs time to heal.
And congratulations on your new baby!

Yup I think it's normal. I had a two week stay in hospital years ago (I was very poorly) without any of the the extra trauma you have had and I was exhausted in every way after getting home.

Huge congratulations on the arrival of baby!

God yes! Take any and all support you can get, take your iron tablets (if they don’t agree with you, try ferriglobin syrup in a glass of orange juice) because being anaemic makes you feel like shit. Ask to be referred either for a debrief or to the maternal mental health team for help to process. You have walked in a healthy young woman expecting a baby and then basically done ten rounds with Mike Tyson. it’s going to be a shock.

Try to do a little very gentle stretching for the aches & if you can go for a gentle massage. Or see if your partner would rub the worst bits.

Firstly, congratulations. Sounds like baby is healthy and happy. You will be feeling crap because your iron levels might be still recovering, you will have lost muscle tone while bed bound, nobody sleeps properly in hospital and you are probably very traumatised. It’s going to take a while to get a to stage when you feel normal. Start with the sleep. (Easier said than done with a newborn, I know.) Schedule a follow-up appt with GP or Nurse and see if you need further tests or supplements.

Oh also take your painkillers! Take them regularly!
and congratulations on your lovely baby!

I think this is absolutely normal.

It’s easy to underestimate the stress that’s involved in being hospital at all, never mind in your situation. Lying in bed and resting isn’t the same as being at home in bed and resting by any means. You’re in a strange environment, not knowing from one minute to the next what’s going on, so it’s not restful or easy at all. Now you’re at home, that stress can ease off a bit hopefully and you can slowly get back to normal. Take your time with this, you’ve been through a huge trauma, let your body recover in its own time.

The hospital really stuffed up. I’m worried you might be battling an infection. Did they give you antibiotics while you were there??

Congratulations on your new baby, but so sorry that the first few days have been traumatising for you. I would say it's not normal to be walking around Sainsbury's a couple of days after major surgery, or even after having a straight forward birth. Your body and mind need time to recover. I hope you have good support, and can take things as easy as possible, so you can fully recover. Have a low threshold for consulting with doctor / midwife if your symptoms are causing concern. Best wishes and I hope there are no further complications x

Completely normal.

My son ended up staying in hospital for 10 months and actually had a stoma bag for 9 of those months, we're just approaching the 1 year mark where he was finally discharged and those first few months or so at home were harder than I expected them to be. Every thing is very 'go, go, go' in hospital and it was always about we need to do this step followed by this step and then this one and that one that I don't think I processed any of what had actually happened until we got home.

Watch yourself for infections/sepsis and straight for help if you have any of the symptoms.

We have slowly found our new normal again, I can't believe he's been home for almost exactly a year now and before you know it, it will be next Christmas and you'll be celebrating your lovely baby's 1st birthday and you'll be thinking the same thing xx

Yes I’ve been on IV antibiotics most of the week and still have 3 days to take at home so not worried about infection. I don’t have a fever or anything like that. I’m just incredibly achy and stiff all over, feel like I’ve not been able to focus on my csection recovery at all as everything has been focused on my bladder! My iron is very low atm, I was anaemic before surgery and my hemoglobin has fallen from 104 to 90. Before this ordeal I was very physically fit and last night I genuinely struggled to walk across the car park!

Antibiotics cause havoc. Get yourself some pre and probiotics. They can also make your thyroid go out of whack so talk to the doctor if your throat is feeling lumpy as it can interfere iodine absorption, which will also make you feel lousy.

Christmas Day was only six days ago, no wonder you are exhausted and aching after everything you've been through.

Congratulations on your baby!

When you said long stay in hospital, I expected it to be months..yes, normal,it's not normal to be out shopping in Sainsbury's after a couple of days post major surgery. I spent 10 days in after my cs, I was already an inpatient because of hypertension and pre eclampsia. Everything is done for you there, now you are home, even if you are just pottering about,there's more mental and physical load. Add to this, the blood loss.. some people get "institutionalised", very quickly after a short stay in hospital and are nervous about being outside and basically then responsible for themselves and you have another human to look after as well. Unfortunately,things do sometimes go wrong,at least they kept you in, and kept you under observation. I know a lot of people who unwisely self discharged and regretted it. Every birth is different, every operation is different. Good luck 💐

I felt like this after DD2 (not a c section) and everyone told me not to worry, no fever, labour is like running a marathon, all totally normal etc. Then about a week after giving birth, I felt like I was having contractions, went to the loo and passed a huge piece of placental membranes. So id just keep an eye on yourself in case, despite the antibiotics, there is still something going on. I needed a swab and an internal ultrasound just to make sure that there was nothing else left. I know its less likely with a c section but you never know.

Yes completely normal I've had some long hospital stays and you need to slowly build yourself back up and get moving about but be kind to yourself you've been through a lot they say every day day in hospital takes about 1 week of recovery.

Could you possibly be anaemic? Get your ferritin levels checked - if they're really low ask for an iron infusion.

It’s normal to feel like you do after such a trauma. Be kind to yourself and rest.

Yep this is a helpful reminder that your first is NOT a useful benchmark.

Gentle walking if you can, at a v leisurely pace and in short spells.

You've been on edge and probably barely had any sleep. Is there another parent on the scene?
Have you got help at home? Can you buy in help with cleaning, laundry meals (and can someone else organise it for you) so that OH can focus on doing nappy changes, helping to settle the baby and looking after you?

My DH has been amazing, he has stayed in hospital with me and has done a lot of the nappy changes etc for the duration, he also slept downstairs with baby last night so I could sleep. I’m definitely severely anaemic and have iron tablets.

It’s interesting what people are saying about csection recovery as if you read some of the threads in pregnancy you are a failure if you’re not up and running again a few days post section!

It’s more unusual that 24 hours after your first section you were walking around Sainsbury’s feeling ok.

my section absolutely floored me.

look after yourself.

It is not just the section though, it is the blood loss as well so quite a bit to recover from. I lost so much blood and had transfusions and it took months to fully feel strong again so give yourself some time.

Be gentle with yourself op. Try abd eat well, rest, get a little exercise and fresh air. Hopefully you will improve each day.

There’s no role for testing ferritin as a marker of iron deficiency so soon post op.

I think it's the relief of getting home, you can relax and allow yourself to feel how you feel. You sort of hold it all in while you're in hospital, or that's how I felt. Hopefully a couple of days resting and you will feel more yourself.

Oh god yes, this is completely normal. I feel like absolute shite after a hospitalization even WITHOUT surgery. And maybe read up a bit on hemorrhage recovery, so you know what to expect. It’s also completely normal to feel the way you’re describing for some time after both a hemorrhage and major surgery, so combined… I mean, in the olden days, you would have been “convalescing” at a hospital for a month after what you’ve just been through. It’s a lot for a body to go through! So give yourself time, to get over the mental, physical, and emotional aspects of all that you’ve been through. But yes, I would expect it will be at least a few weeks before both the mental shock and physical discomfort of what you’ve been through even start to wear off.