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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

What happens after you've squeezed the baby out?

55 replies

hippieshake · 25/04/2012 15:33

As you've probably guessed, this is my first baby. I feel like I am fully prepared for the actual birth itself now... but I haven't really thought about afterwards.

I'm planning on bottle feeding, not breastfeeding. Do I need to take formula to the hospital and make it up there? How many bottles do I take? Would the hospital have any of these things etc...

Also, what happens to your body after the birth? This is a topic all the baby books seem to miss out. Will I lose a lot of weight during the birth? Will I have a big empty tummy for ages afterwards?

Any advice would be great :)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

BlackOutTheSun · 25/04/2012 18:07

That the tea and toast you get is the best meal in the world

Destrier · 25/04/2012 18:22

Please have at least a go at bf. I thought, I would ff, but here I bf ds1 for 2.5 years, ands ds2 at least as long... It's up to you, but you never know... At least try for the colostrum

wickedfairy · 25/04/2012 18:47

Ah, the poo thing. I second the advice of "holding" your front bits while doing it, really stops feeling like everything is going to fall out.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned yet - obviously the baby is born and comes out of your vagina. However, it feels like it is coming out of your bottom, it's horrible. I think that is why everyone hates the thought of the first poo - you start to feel the pressure and think, "oh no".....

Anyway, the actual event is never as bad as the thought of it" (the poo, I mean).

Deflated, jelly belly definitely. Even BF-ing a little brings it down quicker, quite amazing. Will still feel like jelly though!

monkeymoma · 25/04/2012 18:51

oh and one last thing about clots, you don't push them out like poo or wee, they just kinda fall out it's a very wierd feeling that doesn't really feel like anything I'ld experienced before

KnitterNotTwitter · 25/04/2012 21:17

Original poster

hippieshake · 25/04/2012 21:39

Haha. I'm doing okay with the thought of it all. It's actually been good to read all about it so at least I'm prepared. It seems like the MWs and all the pregnancy books build you up to the birth, then neglect what happens afterwards. I might have to invest in some spanx :) and eat a lot of raisins haha! x

OP posts:

monkeymoma · 25/04/2012 22:42

I agree, wish there was more post natal info for the mum, its all sleeping/feeding info about the baby, which is useful, but would be nice to be able to check that what's happening to YOUR body is normal too!

amothersplaceisinthewrong · 25/04/2012 22:45

When the baby is pushed out, you get on with the next 21 years of rearing it! :)

Babyno3tobe · 26/04/2012 00:07

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it but hospitals advise you to bring your own formula now as they are trying to encourage BF and said they no longer stock formula they may do for emergencies but when I had ds1 they were doing the change over and then with ds2 last April had made it clear their was no formula available I had to cope with a crying baby cause he was hungry and I had dried up (luckily it did come bk after a day or two)

Babyno3tobe · 26/04/2012 00:10

Ow and your mw should go through it with you all pregnant woman are meant to be given a letter on what to do if you plan to ff

monkeymoma · 26/04/2012 00:38

oh and you DO NOT need to sign up to Bounty to get a child benefit form, you can get them in the post in advance or (I think) when you register the birth or many other places. They sell your details to aggressive marketing firms. I got mine when I was waiting for EDD on mat leave.

and you may see their reps on the ante-natal wards outside of visiting hours when you have noone there to stand up for you!

next time I'm making a no bounty sign to hang on the end of my bed, they were so pushy and aggressive (and then downright horrible when I refused to sign up )

autumnchild · 26/04/2012 07:48

I really felt that the whole pregnancy had been focused solely on the giving birth with very little consideration as to afterwards. Labour is really such a small part of it and no matter how much you plan, it will go how it wants to anyway.

roundtable · 26/04/2012 08:01

I didn't realise that after the initial bleeding for however many weeks, it would then turn yellow. (not as much though). I thought I had an infection!

My uterus didn't go down for ages and was quite achey when it contracted.

queenrollo · 26/04/2012 08:44

the two things that I was unprepared for.

how cold I felt after delivery. I thought i was shivering from shock and not having eaten for hours (which was an element of it) but I soon realised that actually I felt incredibly cold too and my midwife said that was quite common.

That I sweated alot in the weeks after the birth. Admittedly DS was born during a hot August but my friend had her baby in the October and quietly asked me about it as she thought something was wrong with her.
My HV said it was something he saw quite often post-natally.

rudbekia · 26/04/2012 10:17

be prepared for the fact that you probably won't have much in the way of bladder control for the first 24-48hrs....it will come back and you must do your pelvic floor exercises, but this one took me by suprise (cue running a bath at home, needing a wee and not managing to get to the loo before it all happened on the floor )

I had a superb jelly-belly but this shrank pretty quickly - one thing, if you BF it causes your womb to contract back to its normal size more quickly. If you're planning to bottle feed get the painkillers and hot flannels in for your boobs - obs they will have geared up to produce milk and may well become painful and swollen for a couple of days. It will settle down.

Different hospitals have different feeding policies - basically, if you want to bottle feed then yes, you will need to take all the required stuff with you including formula. It would be wise to read up on how to prepare a feed now and if you're unsure you can call the NCT on 0300 330 0700. They have infant feeding specialists available who will be able to talk you through what you'll need/how to do it etc I do know there are some hospitals where they won't give you this information.

Make sure you rest! I know you've prob heard this alot but I remember just being high on hormones, not resting enough and getting myself in a right pickle...sleep when you can, eat well and don't worry about anything except you and the baby.

rudbekia · 26/04/2012 10:19

btw - there's something about babies and childbirth that means from now on in poo and blood, but specifically poo will become a hot topic of conversation!

Oneof4 · 26/04/2012 10:53

The weeing! I had forgotten! I honestly think I peed 5 pints after I gave birth - it just wouldn't stop coming.

But what I really struggled with was feeling so abandoned after the birth. I had to stay in for the night and the baby just cried and cried and cried and wouldn't feed. I felt so battered, couldn't walk very well, had been awake for the best part of two days and just didn't know what to do. Plus he was keeping all the other mothers awake. Eventually, I took the advice of a lovely young midwife and gave him 10ml of formula (having been trying to BF) and he went out like a light. The relief. I honestly think that was one of the worst nights of my life - I felt such a failure and there didn't seem anyone around who could help for so long. Couldn't wait to get out the next day.

Best of luck OP.

theressomethingaboutmarie · 26/04/2012 12:40

don't forget to keep a jug of water in your bathroom so that you can pour it over your vagina when you're peeing. It's quite soothing to do that if you've had stitches and your wee is concentrated. Concentrated wee stings!

misslinnet · 26/04/2012 17:36

Regarding formula feeding - the hospital I went to for DS's birth had a policy of not providing formula or bottles on the post-natal ward, as they were a "breastfeeding friendly" NHS trust. All bottle feeding mothers were expected to bring their own formula & bottles in with them.

The hospital did actually have stacks of ready made formula and disposable bottles on the neo-natal ward (DS was 6 weeks early so we spent a bit of time there), but I guess they weren't allowed to share it with the healthy full term babies

So check with your hospital whether you need to bring formula or not.

The midwives also demanded to see 2 wees within a few hours (forget how many exactly) of birth. Otherwise they'd have been in there with a catheter.

cece · 26/04/2012 18:34

After pains - they seem to get worse with each baby, so shouldn't be too bad with your first one.

Original poster

hippieshake · 26/04/2012 21:57

Thanks for all of the replies everyone :)

I actually feel much more relaxed about the while thing now that I know what to expect. I'm hoping that I don't have to stay in the hospital for too long and then hopefully I can come home and settle down with things. x

OP posts:

Babyno3tobe · 26/04/2012 23:32

Ow yes forgot about the sweats wake up soaked from head to toe having to turn the duvet an pillow over in the middle of the night and put a towel down over the sheet i was terrible think my last sweats lasted about 2 month max with the rare occasion now and then with my 1st only lasted about 3wk

monkeymoma · 27/04/2012 15:53

ah another thing, you're pregnancy head comes straight off and you feel very differently so don't set anything in stone prior to the birth re visitors/ILs etc as you may feel very differently afterwards. I thought it'd be nice to have snuggly private time - in fact I was DESPERATE for as much company as I could get and was happiest with a full house. So don't make any rules especially re visiting in advance.

The second (or was it third?) night of DS's life was the worst of my life! I was a hormonal emotional mess, it was like a sort of nightmare. Its passed and was fine but it was a shock, "babyblues" is way too cutsey a name for it IMO!

MoonHare · 27/04/2012 18:06

I second everything the others have already said and would like to mention the weird sensation I had in my abdomen for about a week afterwards almost as if I could feel all my organs shifting back into their usual places, not very comfortable. Don't know how common this is. I really needed to take plently of painkillers so stock up on ones that are safe while BF (just in case you change your mind on that).

Have LOADS of maternity pads in the house, you are likely to need many more than you think and the big, thick, soft specialist pads are so much more comfortable than ordinary ones. Buy several pairs of cheap big pants too, I even wore DHs boxers the first couple of days. Oh yes and those sweats.......phew!!!! Was I HOT at night.

Best wishes :)

cece · 27/04/2012 18:51

OMG the third night blues.... now they are bad! Crying unstoppably despite being so happy. Yet desperate for your baby to go to sleep so you can sleep! Such fun.

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