Shakes after birth

aylafsu88 · July 2013

I am curious if any other moms have experienced shaking after delivery? After I delivered LO I got the shakes really bad, my whole body was shaking like I was really cold. I asked my doula about it and she told me it was all the birth energy leaving my body. At the time I was to preoccupied it LO and getting stitched up to question this further. Did anyone else have the shakes and know why they happen?

laceylavallee · July 2013

It happened to me... From what I understand its due to the immediate shift in your hormones during and after labor. I would imagine it also has to do to the intensity your body goes through while laboring. Think of when you workout and physically exert yourself, afterwards you may shake some.

aylafsu88 · July 2013

laceylavallee:
It happened to me... From what I understand its due to the immediate shift in your hormones during and after labor. I would imagine it also has to do to the intensity your body goes through while laboring. Think of when you workout and physically exert yourself, afterwards you may shake some.

Thanks. That makes perfect sense. I figured there was a better explanation than the birth energy one!

sschwege · July 2013

I had that happen with my second. I think everything just happened so quick and my adrenaline was pumping, that afterward I was shaking. My mother asked if I was cold, I said no, and my MW said it was totally normal, but didn't explain beyond that.

SarahinMD · July 2013

Yep. Happened to me and must be pretty common because in natural birth book we got for DD (describes a home birth--hard to get in this country, ordered from the UK) it describes the mom getting shakes, and that it's very normal (goal of the book is for kids to know what's normal and expected).

abell77 · July 2013

yes, this happened to me after my first birth. I remember the nurses telling me it was normal, but I forget exactly why. I didn't have the shakes after my second birth.

oliversmommy32912 · July 2013

Yep I had them pretty bad. I was afraid for them to hand the baby back to me after they cleaned him off because I was worried I would drop him.

Sawyerplus1 · July 2013

Yep, it's happened to me and as a doula I've seen it happen to clients. Normal. Has to do with all the hormones.

rooftop · July 2013

O goody the things I have to look forward to... at least I'm getting a heads up

nicholssquared · July 2013

I got them both times. I was under the impression that more people got them than didn't.

erb82 · July 2013

With my first I actually started shaking during transition which made it hard to relax. The next two, I got the shakes about 20 minutes after delivery.

babywisher · July 2013

I had them too. It might have been a combination of that and the fact that I had it so cold in the room and I was sweating. I froze once I had her!

2junebabies · July 2013

Another shaker here as well.

mlrafiki · July 2013

I definitely had them.... I didn't really consider the physiological reasons, just assumed it was because I was sort of in shock.... the birth was so fast that I wasn't really prepared to have them suddenly hand me an infant. I was shaking so hard, I was afraid I was going to drop him! The hormonal shift makes sense, though.

bleusimp · July 2013

Oh wow, I knew about shaking during transition, but not about after the birth. I tend to go into shock (have lost consciousness before), after surgery or high adrenaline events have concluded. I've been working for years on controlling the shock and staying conscious, but would have been worried if I started shaking after and didn't understand why. Thank you for the heads up!

hamiltks10 · July 2013

I, too, had the shakes after giving birth to my LO. But I only had them in my legs. The rest of my body was fine, but my legs were shaking like crazy for a good while. And it wasn't immediately after giving birth. It started after I was stitched up and my mom and sister were allowed in the room to see us and the baby.

But, by the time I was wheeled from the delivery room into my room, they were gone.

SweetPeaK26 · July 2013

Happened after my second delivery. I was shaking so bad I couldn't hold the baby! I kept asking for warm blankets, and ended up raising my temp to over 100... I still couldn't stop shaking. It took an hour or two, and then was over.

I've heard hormones, the sudden temperature shift from not having another body in you, blood loss etc. it has happened to several women I know, both from natural delivery and medicated.

L0L0 · July 2013

I had them right after the birth. I remember getting out of the birthing pool with the umbilical cord still coming out of me, such a weird feeling! I felt super weak and I ate some applesauce right away and it helped a lot. Giving birth is like running 5 marathons.

boogerbearoriginal · July 2013

I had them too, it was tough trying to be still while Dr was fixing things up lol. The nurse laid a nice warm blanket on me and that really helped.

There are lots of cultural explanations, giving energy to baby, etc. But I think the modern medical explanation is the dramatic hormonal shift that takes place.

In any event, it's very common and normal experience.

MadameFancyPants · July 2013

As a doula, the thing that drives me nuts is that many nurses won't allow shaking moms to hold their babies. Snuggling baby actually helps the shakes go away faster!

Most of my moms get them to some degree.

JoyfulW&M · August 2013

aylafsu88 said:

laceylavallee:
It happened to me... From what I understand its due to the immediate shift in your hormones during and after labor. I would imagine it also has to do to the intensity your body goes through while laboring. Think of when you workout and physically exert yourself, afterwards you may shake some.
Thanks. That makes perfect sense. I figured there was a better explanation than the birth energy one!

The Birth Energy one is just an nontechnical Old Fashioned way to say it lol. It is what used to be said before we understood the chemistry of birth etc. So She was right, just not being technical. lol.

greenmama2013 · August 2013

I had them really bad as well! I figured it was just the adrenaline from pushing. I hope I don't get them so bad this time around--it got annoying after a few hours!

McAllie05 · August 2013

I got them really bad with both of my births. I didn't like that I couldn't control the shaking, but other than that it was NBD. The nurses said it was normal and attributed it to adrenaline.

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