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December 2011 Moms
NoodleM
member
For those of you who have had babies...
NoodleM
member
... How does your body feel afterwards?
I'm trying to imagine what it will feel like to not be pregnant for the first time in 9 months and how my body will feel once the baby is outside. I think my stomach will feel empty, I think I'll be sore, etc. I'm wondering if I'll be able to breath better right away and be able to sleep on my stomach right away or not.
So just wondering how you felt after giving birth in the following days/weeks 
This discussion has been closed.
Re: For those of you who have had babies...
and after 82 days in the NICU, our little girl is home!
The morning after I gave birth to my DS, the nurses came to check on me, and when they asked how I felt, all I said was, "I slept on my stomach!!" I was so happy for just that.
Your stomach is going to feel like a deflated balloon. You're going to be sore, but honestly things felt a lot more comfortable for me almost immediately. The most uncomfortable thing for me was the next few days when my breastmilk really came in. It was like having rocks for boobs. They would get so full so fast and it would hurt!
Just remember to get that peri bottle that they give you to wash with after using the toilet. Ask for stool softeners if you are worried about your first postpartum BM. And take whatever pain relievers they recommend for you. My hospital gives out Motrin. GL!
Pretty much everything everyone else said. I was in a lot of pain for a few hours after birth which surprised me because I always heard as soon as they were out the pain went away. It was my bottom that hurt WAY more than my vag, and it felt really good to get up out of bed & sit in a chair rather than lay propped up in bed.
The belly is weird, its so smooshy and jiggly which feels strange after so many months of hard belly. Honestly, I really miss my belly which is hard to admit after cursing it so much during the last couple weeks. It doesn't hurt at all though- I've heard some people say they felt like they did a million sit-ups the next day but I never felt like that. I would love to sleep on it again, but the boobs are sore so there's still no stomach sleeping for me- I am able to roll a little farther onto it when I lay on my side than I could though. And it was nice to sleep flat on my back the first night.
Vaginally, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I had a 2nd degree tear and some stitches, but what has hurt worse are my outer labia- they burn like crazy when I pee from being stretched out... it almost feels like a really bad rug-burn, they're totally raw. They give you a squirt bottle to fill w/ warm water and it's awesome to squirt it over the area as you pee to dilute it a bit. I was surprised though that the area hurt a LOT worse on days 3 & 4 than they did on the previous days- don't know if it was like coming out of shock and regaining feeling, but those two days were rough & I definitely kept up on the motrin! I haven't taken any Motrin since yesterday morning though and don't feel like I need to at this point so that's good.
As far as the butt goes, I definitely ended up with some amazing hemmies- even one of the nurses checked me after and when she looked she let out a gasp- there is one granddaddy hanging out that is deserving of it's own name. Witch hazel pads have been awesome and other than being sore they're not crazy itchy or anything. I was scared to death of the first BM though because my mom had freaked me out saying it was worse than the actual birth for her, and she kept warning me it was a "doozy". With the hemorrhoids I was totally preparing for an epic battle, but it really wasn't. They kept bringing me stool softener pills in the hospital and I took miralax at home & it was nothing really. A little rougher than usual and it did pick up my bleeding a bit, but that was it. Honestly I found it harder to pass gas the first couple days.
Thanks for all the replies, everyone!
Rug-burn vagina does sound scary, my SIL was describing this to me last night too.
I'm definately looking forward to being able to breathe, move, get up without huffing and puffing.
I think the weirdest feeling will be not having her inside anymore and feeling her every day. And my stomach dissappearing, I've gotten so used to this big belly that I forget what it's like to have what I had before.
Yup...you feel better right away from pregnancy-related stuff, but then you are dealing with birth-related uncomfortableness. I no longer had sciatic pain or heartburn. I could sleep on my back, although being at an incline was more comfortable for me at first. I could breath again, as well.
My vagina is burn-y...it feels like we had dry sex for HOURS. I'm still scared to actually wipe down there, so I use my water bottle. My stomach is sore - I have no stomach muscles and the pooch is giggly - literally like jello. My boobs were super sore when my milk came in, then they felt better. Although I think I have a blocked milk duct and so one boob is very uncomfortable. The stool softeners help tremendously and I still take them at home. I just make sure I don't push too hard (luckily I never got any hemmies). Also, the "after-births" can be a little uncomfortable...I don't feel it anymore though. I did get a little bit of the "baby blues" but I just had a couple crying sessions and that was it.
I just felt uncomfortable in the vaginal area. I did have some cramping maybe 5 days pp due to my uterus contracting back down (I read FTMs usually don't feel this, I sure did!).
I didn't feel comfortable sleeping on my stomach until 2 weeks pp b/c I was scared that I was going to push a whole bunch of blood out... sorry, TMI
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You definitely will be able to breathe better right away and your need to use the bathroom every 20 minutes goes away immediately too!
I'm glad you posted this Noodle, I hadn't see you around in a while and was wondering about you
BFP #2: 8.31.16 Dx w/ GD @ 28w DD Born @ 36w: 4.21.17
This is what I want to hear! Baby has been sitting high this whole time so breathing sucks right now. But at the same time, he still finds a way to push on my bladder too.
BTW, I love your siggy pic. Harry is looking good!
lageorgiapaperie, I've been staying away from the computer lately and have been working on the house. I'm going through a mild nesting phase of just wanting to tidy and organise everything, just not as extreme as others describe it. I finished work on Thursday so I expect once my cleaning is done for the day I'll be on here a lot more!
My doctor is going to be stripping my membranes at 38w1d. They do it once a week after 38 weeks if we request it, they don't like to medically induce due to the higher c section rate, and they won't medically induce unless I'm 41-42 weeks. I always considered membrane stripping to be something that only works unless your body is truly ready and she warned me to make sure *I* was ready as it could put me into labour. So now I'm in preparation mode as it could be as soon as the next two weeks.
I agree with the "deflated balloon" analogy - maybe a deflated balloon filled with jello - deflated and jiggly... For me I had a pretty rough L&D with DD... So in terms of pain control I needed more PP than I had during L&D and why I say that it's a bigger accomplishment to make it PP without pain control meds than L&D. My abdomen was SO sore that it was a couple weeks before I could go back to sleeping on my stomach. My hip/back/pelvis also got so far out of alignment that it caused issues there too though hindsight 20/20 I should have worked with a PT for getting that back in place.. Heck, the first week after leaving the hospital putting underwear on was painful even if necessary...
Thank you Iluvmylab, and I totally understand about the nesting thing Noodle!
One more thing, the first time I really laughed hard pp was weird, my stomach was all jiggly and I kept trying to stop laughing which of course just made me laugh harder
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BFP #2: 8.31.16 Dx w/ GD @ 28w DD Born @ 36w: 4.21.17