How you feel after labour... what i would have liked to have known New mummys

[Rosie2011]

Firstly i was not prepared for this overwhelming LOVE i have for this little person. There is nothing in this world that could ever compare to this feeling. Im besotted!

I didnt realise you would bleed for about 5 weeks after pregnancy. No one explained this to me, i thought maybe a few days but not so long. So my advice is to stock up on maternity pads from Boots. Also nursing pads johnsons.

Breasts were so painful - so make sure you have some nurofen on hand. I would also suggest frozen peas in the fridge! This helped me alot. I started producing milk about 3 days after.

Also if you tear or have a graze like i did, i got some chamomile oil and every eve after baby arrived i had a warm bath with three drops of the oil. Im sure it helped.

When people wonder if they are having contractions like i did...all i can say is when you have one there will be no doubt about it whether or not its a contraction. It will feel very different to anything you have felt.

Dont wait to go into hospital. if i had waited i would have had my baby in the footwell in the car. My contractions were every 5 mins for 30 mins then within minutes were two minutes apart. My labour was 2.5 hours!

Gas and air- This is brilliant but make sure you use it properly and really take in the gas slowly. I started to panic and as i was breathing so fast it wasnt doing anything. The minute i slowed down it started to work. Brilliant stuff!

Birthing Plan- Sorry to say this but it goes out the window. You have no idea what position is comfortable for you until you are in labour! i ended up sitting on a stool with my husband behind me on another stool! Not what i had planned! But it worked :-)

Get as much sleep before your baby turns up and dont be so anxious to get them out like i was. I tried everything to rasberry leaf tea to walking up hills. I know its frustrating but i believe my baby was ready because on the day i went into labour i was so chilled out. Had a lovely walk with the dogs and then had a bath. 1.09am first contraction.

Its hard work with your partner especially if its your first... you are both so excited but at the same time trying to do everything right and are over tired after the first few days. Really easy to snap at eachother. So just make sure you just listen to eachother and not argue.

Good luck everyone. Im now sat cuddling my very new 2 week year old baby harry xx

I wouldn't necessarily agree with the 'don't be so anxious to get them out' bit. Pregnancy is probably the toughest thing I have gone through in my life.

When you have hyperemesis, combined with a mental health issue in my case, believe me you'll do anything to get the baby out as fast as possible! 39+2 here and over analysing every single twinge in the hope that something is starting soon. I can't wait to have my body back, not feel permanently sick and to get my brain to normal.

But it's lovely post :)

'How you feel after labour... what i would have liked to have known'
I wish I knew

• the pain might not be bearable
• it's bloody gruesome
• I felt no sense of achievement, just disappointed and baffled that it was so bloody hard
• you might feel like you've been hit by a bus
• recovery might take an age (4 and 1/2 months and counting)

This is just in response to 'how you feel after labour' by the way. How I feel about the baby is pure love, but the labour, birth and recovery shocked me and I wish someone had told me it might be so hard. Everyone seems to think 'it's just a day'. It might not be, it might be many many days of pain or discomfort. Sorry to be negative but I really wish I'd known.