How long post birth before you feel normal again?

[angels1]

Not sure if pg is quite the right forum, but figure lots of you have already had at least one baby and those who haven't might be interested in the answers.

I don't mean how long before my lady bits recover from the pysical trauma of birth, I mean how long before your hormones settle down and you finally feel yourself again?

I have a history of reacting crazily to hormones (tried a number of contraceptive pills but all give me bad hormonal side effects which don't settle and when I finally stopped taking a pill I was on for a couple of years it took a year to feel normal again and months of bad headaches/dizziness etc as my body adjusted. I'm 26 weeks pg and have had a horrible pg so far with myself and my body feeling terrible from all the hormones - I can honeslty say I haven't felt my usual self since a few days before my BFP) and so am worried that my current 'I'll be fine as soon as I get this baby out' mantra won't quite be true and that realistically I should be planning to feel rubbish for quite some time after birth as my body gets back to normal.

Any experience of what it's like to get back to normal post baby especially if you too have crazy hormones would be great to hear (good or bad).

After 10 days I think the mega hormonal fog had lifted and I thought I was back to normal but in reality it was probably about 8 months.

I agree with mrsjuan. I found it happened so slowly that I didn't notice it happening. Just that I could look about and realise that I was feeling far more like me again. And looking far more like me!

I would agree with the others. My DD is 7 months and I'm just starting to feel like a woman again and not just a mum if that makes sense. They say it takes a year to recover properly.

Minimum 4 months, much better by 6 months!

After my first I was definitely mad and hormonal for months and months. But after my second (horrible pregnancy) I felt AMAZING within a couple of days - the sheer physical relief made me feel almost euphoric and very much more like me. Proper even keel does take longer but you might be suprised at how good you feel - just depends on the cards you're dealt I think.

Am like you, never found a pill to suit, slave to hormones at times. Am pg with dc2, ime first six weeks very hard....hormonal, teary and sleep deprived, eased off a bit after that, felt better again at about 3 and half months and by 6 months a lot more like my old self. But have to agree with bollockstothis....think it varies wildly and am hoping easier after this one as found being pg this time very hard.

EMCS - "lady bits" - no problem
physically well - 2 weeks
emotionally well - 12 months

I suffer with the hormones during pregnancy too, I had ante-natal depression in 2007 and again now (I'm 18 weeks) I take anti-depressants but after my DS was born I felt a whole lot better within a week and by the time my section scar healed and I was back to my mobile, non-nauseous self I felt like me again. I think good support and help in the first few weeks can make a huge difference. I was off anti-d's by the time I went back to work when my DS was 8 months and had no emotional problems. Good luck. x

sorry to say that I was still quite moody and hormonal when DD 6 months old then got pregnant again and already the hormones are worse!!!

I read somewhere a while ago that while you feel much better quite quickly, there is still a slow recovery to complete normality that takes around a year.

I certainly just felt off and weird and a slave to my hormones/body for the first year but it became easier and easier past about 4 months until I woke up one day when dd was about 1 and thought 'gosh I do feel more like me again'.

I too have reacted badly to the pill in the past. However I seem to feel very much normal during pregnancy (I actually really enjoy it).

With dd1 I got pnd afterwards and it took about 18 months to feel normal again.

With dd2 I was fine and I felt back to normal after a couple of weeks.

One thing I did differently was to spend 2 weeks in bed after dd2. Just not bothering to get dressed and to just enjoy being with her. I think during the second week I spent some time downstairs in my pj's cos I was a bit bored but you get the idea.

Definitely do not rush into trying to be back to normal. After dd1 my community midwife told me to go out round the shops on day 3 to cheer me up. I lasted all of 5 minutes and felt like crap afterwards.

I had HG throughout my pregnancy and I stopped being sick about 4 hours after the birth, and stopped feeling sick about 6 hours after birth, so most of the full-on hormones must have gone out of my body by then. I felt on a high/low rollercoaster for about 10 days and then things settled down.

...but to be honest I'd say I didn't feel totally back to myself until I stopped breastfeeding totally (at 12mths). But I didn't really notice that until I stopped bfing so it wasn't as bad as it sounds, just more like that feeling after you came off the pill when you looked back and thought 'whoah, that really wasn't working for me' if you see what I mean .

thanks for the feedback, seems it's a bit of luck but chances are I won't feel normal again completely for a few months. sigh. I guess at least if I know I am prepared. Would be nice to go back to my usual self straight away though before I forget everything I could do/was like before

I felt as if my head had exploded after I had my DD. I can remember two years later, lying on the floor in front of a roaring fire and announcing to my DH that I felt like myself again.

Don't worry angels it seems each one of us is very different. It's a life changing experience and maybe we never go back to "normal" because life is so different, after all you have become a parent and that lasts forever! Personally I find the being pregnant much harder than being a new Mum. I've found the need to rely on other people very difficult but the wider support network you have the easier things are. Try and go with the flow and not worry about maybe's (easier said than done, I know!) I'll cross all my fingers for you that once baby is born you feel better quickly. x

Prob after your 4th stage of labor at 6 weeks x

7 months - emotionally & sexually
16 months - physically (in terms of weight) & hormonally

but my life has improved so drastically from having a child, I don't dwell much on life beforehand tbh