Surreal moments after just having a baby

[TheOddity]

It can't just be me who had this please say it isn't as I already think I'm a bit nuts.

The next evening after I gave birth, I distinctly remember going to Asda to buy some medication for all my sore parts. I insisted on driving there alone while DH stayed with baby as I basically wanted to escape the baby hell hole for half an hour.

The whole Asda experience was as close as I've ever been to a 'trip'. I remember thinking how no one realised I'd given birth less than 24 hours before. Everyone was still just living their lives, being normal, coping. I felt so weird, I can't describe, it was like a psychedelic dream.

Did anyone else have this surreal feeling? Strange stuff you did immediately post birth?

I remember on of the first nights I was at home with ds I woke up screaming at dh, hitting him and trying to move him. I thought he was asleep on top of ds. Ds was actually fast asleep in his Moses basket. I was so convinced dh was killing him the feeling was horrible.

After my cs with DD1 i remember being wheeled back from theatre and the MW asking DH how he was feeling and him saying he was fine but that I was "pretty out of it". The midwife giggled and said "oh god" and I grabbed her arm and yelled at her "HE'S NOT THE MESSIAH, HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY!"
I still cringe every time I think about it.

After dc2 was born, I remember giving him a quick cuddle, then just handing him to my birthing partner and ignoring his existence. I don't recall much else for a while. Turns out I was quite severely hypoglycemic. A couple of packets of their sugary gloop soon sorted me out.

I was fine till I had gas and air. Then I hallucinated that both midwives began talking in irish. Then I accused the midwife who was sewing me up of trying to sew my labia to my inner thighs!! I was fine once the gas wore off. Loved the gas! First labour it did sod all, second labour it felt amazing.

Gas and Air made me puke up green and orange puke. The injection made me feel so drunk I didnt care I was in pain. Epidural did absolutely sod all for me.

Oh my God thank Heavens this wasn't just me! I thought it was because I had too much gas and air during the birth. I also saw my daughters face everywhere around and had this really odd sensation that she was more than just mine and DHs daughter... Like she was part of everyone I had ever loved or had loved me so I kept seeing glimpses of my best friend in her face and then glimpses of my first love that I hadn't seen in ten years. It was really fucking odd.

I'm so relieved reading this as I thought it was just me! The night after my daughter was born (c-section) I hallucinated spiders running up the walls of my hospital room. I was too scared to tell anyone about it for ages as at the time I thought they'd take the baby off me if I said anything. Wish I'd known at the time it seems to be quite common.

Yes my mum had this recently while in intensive care - not post birth obviously! She went absolutely bonkers, convinced the nurses were actually some sort of criminal gang, masquerading as nurses, saw all the equipment as ancient and filthy (it was all pristine) and rang me in the middle of the night to see if I could help her escape and then when I tried to reassure her, thought that I must have been brainwashed by them. Absolutely awful. It only lasted 24 hours but apparently 50% of people in intensive care experience some kind of hallucination and paranoia and I wish I'd known that before she went in as I would have been less upset by it if I had known it wasn't a dramatic start to Alzheimers but a fairly common experience.

Had ds1 in hospital - epidural, g&a and pethadine - put me off the planet and away with the fairies apparently I was talking to the mw about how the ghosts were hovering around the bed and one of them was going to choose to inhabit my baby when he was born.

Then when he was born and put up to my chest I immediately threw him at Dh and demanded a bowl and proceeded to throw up everywhere none of which actually made it into the bowl

All I could then think about was I wanted to clean my teeth as I was dammed if my baby's first memory was going to be his mum having bad breath!

They then transferred me to a bed to take me up to the ward and I tried to get off again despite having no feeling below my waist cos I NEEDED to clean up the blood and fluids before the midwives saw what a mess I had made - thankfully Dh caught me before I collapsed in a heap on the floor.

colinfirth my DD was born in July 2001 and I remember sitting on the sofa on Sept 11th watching the second plane hit and all the aftermath. I was on my own with her- exP had told me 2 weeks previously that he wanted nothing to do with us.

I remember feeling exactly the same as you- what kind of a world have I brought my baby into?

I remember trying to convince my DH that I'd met one of the doctors before on a platform at our local station. And I could hear my breast pump saying "LACTATE, LACTATE, LACTATE!"

Being wheeled out of operating theatre after emergency C I saw a mobile notice board with placentas in plastic bags pinned on it. OH didn't see it and no one I know who has had a C has seen one. Still convinced it was real

Had a crap start with DD1 and after being admitted again and finally getting home about 14 days after birth I woke up at 2am in a blind panic as I hadn't counted her fingers and toes to make sure there were 10 of each. Queue creeping into her room to count them whilst trying not to wake her!

I'm due in 6 weeks. This thread is terrifying me.

I'm not even joking

This thread brings back a lot of memories for me.

The birth of my first DC was 'interesting', and included a hefty dose of pethidine. I do remember telling DH that having pethidine was like a pretty good acid trip I've never done acid in my life and that he should ask the midwives for some for himself DH is the very last person on this planet who would do drugs

Afterwards though, my grip on reality was a bit shaky to say the least, and of what I do remember, it was fucking scary. When someone (I cant rmember who) worked out that I wasn't on planet earth in the slightest, and that I also had Capgras syndrome as well, I ended up in a mother and baby unit.

Birth no2 was a completely different experience though, mainly because I had the phrase 'no pethidine to be offered, or administered under any circumstances' written in my notes in several places. It does seem to be a reoccuring theme on this thread that the people given pethidine appear to be the ones hallucinating.

oh this thread has made me feel really emotional. my eldest is nearly 16 but there are so many aspects of his birth that i remember really vividly.
i remember being in the pool and using the gas and air and the sound of the gas being perfectly in time with the music i was listening to and thinking this was really funny.
after he was born i didn't want anyone to touch him except dh and got all twitchy and resentful when people wanted to hold him. and yes to being convinced i was going to fall downstairs while holding him!

goodnightdarthvader1 try to think of it in a positive way; you may not actually hallucinate or go a bit crazy and if you do then you'll already know that it is a very normal part of childbirth (and painkillers, it seems).

You'll be ok, I'm sure. A bit battered like the rest of us, sure, but it makes for a good war story.

After having DS he was placed on my tummy still wrapped in a towel to latch onto my breast, but my milk hadn't come in so he wad just suckling at my nipple for no reason. Prior to being pregnant I'd enjoyed oral nipple stimulation as part of sex and remember thinking 'this feels SO weird!' Very surreal feeling. For what its worth my breasts haven't felt like they're 'mine' or felt like sexual things since I gave birth to DS 12+ years ago. My DCs snuggle into my chest for cuddles and comfort and they both flubble my ample bosom (and tummy, and backside when I'm bent over the sink naked whilst cleaning my teeth) for amusement.

This thread has also terrified me!

Hilarious stuff! Placemarking for later when I'll add some stuff and nonsense of my own

This is partly why I don't want Pethedine. My DH can't understand my reluctance. I may show him this thread.

goodnight I didn't have pethidine, just gas and air. It's the lack of sleep!

Pethedine didn't make me mental, it just made me sleepy, which at least gave me a chance for a bit of rest before it was time to push. Although my body was already pushing with each contraction and I do have the delightful suspicion that I slightly wet myself with each one.

Sorry that wasn't reassuring, I didn't mean to press post! Meant to say with my first, I didn't have any experiences like that. And many of my friends have said they haven't experienced anything weird either. It's just one of those things. It passes, and you'll soon get to the stage where you wonder what life was like without your baby!

I didn't have pethidine for childbirth, but have had it for pain relief before and it made me feel verrry spaced out.

Problem with pethidine is once you've had the injection, you have to wait for it to wear off, so I opted out of having it during childbirth.