Sometimes I wish I could just purchase a 30 second commercial gap during the Superbowl and advertise what I think needs to be considered common knowledge amongst women having babies.
Ya dig?
There are just some things that us ladies need to know BEFORE heading into the delivery room!
{OR before heading home from the hospital! OR before baby's first bath! OR before...etc.etc. etc.!}
Anyway, I felt that way BIG TIME right before heading to the hospital with Carter, and once again, I felt that way in the hospital after delivering Kota Bear!
Here is what surely should be common knowledge in the pregnancy world, but alas, IS NOT:
With each additional child you add to your little brood, the AFTERBIRTH PAIN INCREASES EXPONENTIALLY!
Hey, that would have been nice to know!
Instead I just waltzed into birth, as if I actually KNEW what I was doing this time around, and was blind sided by what is known to many as the common cramp.
Seriously it was the most painful thing I think I have ever endured, and my nurse kindly let me know that if I choose to have a third child, JUST BE READY.
Oh, that's just great, thanks for the reassurance.
Anyway, here is what happened:
About an hour after we became a foursome, and my epidural had been disconnected, I told the nurse that I was having really horrible cramps.
"Oh yes, your uterus is just cramping back down to size."
"Oh, but I didn't feel this with my first...Is everything okay?"
"With each additional baby, it gets worse."
Okay, that sounded logical to me. Oh well....Yes, they were bad but not that bad. No need to freak out or anything.
Another hour goes by and we're still in the delivery room.
"Shouldn't we already be in the recovery room?" I was absolutely exhausted at this point.
"Yes, but you're not stable yet, so I need to massage your stomach some more, and if your uterus doesn't shrink back down to size, I will give you an injection to force it down."
What?
Okay.....
Another hour goes by.
ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch.ouch
"Okay, the cramping is way worse than before...Everything is okay, right?"
"Yes, but I'm going to give you that injection."
One stab-in-my-arm later...
OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH.OUCH
{!!!!!!!!!!!!}
"This is ridiculous! When are we going to go to the recovery room? This is more painful than anything!"
{Spoken only to Chad and not our nurse, thank goodness.}
Nurse comes in.
"I'm going to get pain killers for this, RIGHT?"
"Oh, sure."
You bet your bottom dollar "SURE!"
So anyway, I was eventually rolled up to my room and given those blessed pain killers, but guess what?
It didn't end there!
Every time I nursed for the next four days brought with it a RIDICULOUS amount of pain in the ole' uterine area, ebbed only by the minute effect of over-the-counter pain meds.
Oy.
My point is, had I of known about these outrageous cramps, I might have been able to manage the pain a little bit more gracefully, instead of wanting to chuck our nurse out the window!
And that is my rant.
I have heard of some having these awful pains. I had three babies and never had them. You had them so soon after the baby. I just wonderif something else was happening. So sorry. I am sure the baby is worth it.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, I was too was told that it is worse after the first child. I experienced worse everything, the so called "getting ready pain", then contractions and the after birth part as well. They should mention this after the birth of the first. You know an ole "this was the easy, less painful first birth, if you do it again it hurts MORE!". I must be a sucker for punishment cause I want more. LOL. Hope all is well now!
ReplyDeleteAh thanks for sharing.. This is what's bothering me as a few of my friends have started to have babies and REALLy open up on the 'fun' of giving birth.. I feel I'll be reasonably prepared going in.. But what if I'd been first? What if nobody told me the true gory stuff and I only discovered it as it happened? Why is it all kept so secret anyway??
ReplyDeleteOh wow, that's pretty incredible! I definitely didn't experience that, but what I did not expect was how horrific contractions would be when I went into labor with my third child, one year and four days after my second C-Section. Literally thought I was being ripped in half right at my incision site.
ReplyDeleteWow I had no idea!! We're thinking of adding another soon. I'm glad to be informed! There is definitely soooo much they don't tell you before labor and especially after.
ReplyDeleteWell you sure made all us mommies who eventually will be second, third, fourth time moms aware of this! I had no idea it go worse! ughhh. WHY?! Isnt there enough pain in the whole laboring thing?
ReplyDeleteWhen I had Zoee, after she was delivered, my nurse would come in ever 15 min and massage the clots out of my uterus...oh my GOSH that hurt So bad. I remember squeezing my moms hand and crying!
Thanks for the 411 on future afterbirth, good to know!
{this comment was so long I should have written my own post about it, ha!}
OK. Totally there with you on that one. I have 2 girls (3 and 7 months) and you are so right that the cramps are insane! I had visitors and I was listening to them talk to me, and the cramps intensified and I was biting my teeth together so hard because it hurt so unbelievably bad! I came home and the pain was still ridiculous. I laid in the bath for an hour unable to do anything but moan. Oi. I plan on having at least one more. But so not looking forward to the aftermath :/
ReplyDelete