Agonising abdominal pain post partum - ligaments?

[postpartumagony]

Help! Gave birth to 2nd DC exactly 1 week ago. Hard VBAC labour - epidural, ventouse, episiotomy, 2nd degree tears. Was in theatre having stitches for an hour afterwards and lost a litre of blood.

Baby is incredibly well. Stitches etc all healing fine, no stinging there any more. But I am in agony with pain on my right side. It started in a line along the crease under my bump up to just above my hip. It now seems to have shifted up a bit to hurt between my hip and tummy button. Very tender if I prod that area. All focussed on that side. Hurts to move, esp to get up/sit down. Hurts to cough. At the moment the pain is constant.

It was so bad at the weekend that I went back in to maternity triage to ask for help. It's not a UTI - though they did find that my bladder isn't draining properly so I'm now hooked up to a catheter. Bloods showed no infection (though iron was low and have had transfusion to sort that). CT scan showed no anomalies (doctors were considering appendicitis/hernia/haematoma, but is none of those).

So I am home, on a catheter for the next few days, with some stronger painkillers. Does anyone else have experience of this kind of post labour pain? Could this kind of pain result from torn ligaments or muscles during labour? Any ideas about how long it will take to heal? I am housebound as I can't really walk and very frustrated not to be able to help with my toddler. And it is just so sore. I think recovery from my previous EMCS was easier than this and I increasingly wish I'd opted for an ELCS.

NC as this is v outing.

Hi @postpartumagony, first of all, congratulations on your new baby.

We're really sorry you're going such a tough time since the birth. We're just giving this thread a bump for you in case anyone's around to give you some advice and support.

Thank you @JoMumsnet. Seems like this isn't a common birth injury if no one has posted 😔

Are you sure they aren’t after pains? You get them with subsequent births and can be pretty sharp they also don’t feel exacylikr cramps/ labour pains either - some of mine were concentrated on the right side and felt very weird. I genuinely thought something was wrong with me at points they were so bad - another friend ended up taking herself to hospital with hers as no one had told her about them.

If you’re breastfeeding- is it worse then?

Have they checked you for retained placenta parts too- that could be another option?

I think you should go back in and get checked out. This could be an infection as a pp said from some retuned placenta. It could be a kidney infection / issue, especially if you've already had bladder issues.

After pains can be bad, but they are usually not this bad after only your second baby and they are usually more like having contractions rather than one sided constant pain.
It's not really possible for anyone to diagnose you online - I really think you should go back to hospital to get checked out.

@DropYourSword I went back to hospital and they did all those tests. Tested urine and blood, did ultrasound and CT scan. Nothing.

@Panda368 I heard that uterus cramping can be worse after 2nd births but has thought that would be more in the middle? MWs were happy with uterus contracting and doctor did ultrasound to look for signs of placenta/previous EMCS scar rupture - nothing there.

@postpartumagony I definitely experienced a weird pain but more to my left side that was different to my more normal after pains - I put it down to ligaments pulling back in over the uterus but it was quite intense. This came and went though and wasn’t constant also seemed to be affected by what I wore - ie if I tried to put on anything tighter than joggers it was awful.

Hopefully it clears for you

What ended up being the cause?

@postpartumagony what ended up being the cause?

A torn ligament. It took an osteopath to identify what many doctors and nurses could not.

@postpartumagony did you have to do anything for it? Or did it got better with time?

I went to a cranial osteopath and a regular osteopath and those helped a bit. But mainly it was time. It was such a grim start to my daughter's life, I was in agony, and I felt so let down by all the medical staff who couldn't tell me what was wrong with me. I am convinced that the injury was a result of being held in a tiny triage cubicle for hours and not being allowed to move as my body needed because the midwife kept tightening the monitoring band around my stomach.

Are you suffering from similar? I find old MN thread such a treasure trove of advice.

@postpartumagony possibly! I’m not sure. I have a lot of pelvic and stomach tenderness when touched. Twice now, I’ve had these 45 minute almost cramping/after pains by my whole pelvic region that I’m trying to figure out what they are.

Have they done the full gamut of tests on you? My pain was quite focussed on one side. Part of the issue was also that my bladder wasn't draining properly. I can't tell you how sad DH was that his two weeks of paternity leave were when I was housebound with a catheter bag. I will never not be angry at the NHS for making the first weeks of my daughter's life so miserable for me.