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I had the double whammy (one twin born vaginally and one born c-section) and it was much easier recovery than I expected. Both areas healed well and quickly. My husband does claim I have amnesia about the whole post partum time though, so I could be wrong.
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Way worse! I was so worried about actually delivering the baby that I didn't bother to prep myself for PP. Oh sweet goodness... it was rough.
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I didn't really have any ideas about what recovery would look like other than that I assumed I would be able to spend lots of time at home on the couch. We ended up with an extended nicu stay so I think it took me longer to heal than I thought it would.
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Worse. I did not expect the tear or the episiotomy.
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I had a c-section and it was much easier than I expected. Besides that first day being in a lot of pain, i didn't think it was that bad and I bounced back pretty quickly. The only thing that I hated was the month or so of night sweats, I didn't expect that!
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Much worse. Silly baby came out with her hand on her head, ugh!!!! My stitches were always jabbing me and I had more pain, swelling, and bleeding than I expected. Then I got mastitis. I should have say yes to the pain meds before I left the hospital.
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@twodoghouse: oh, wow! you are a tough cookie!
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Wow you all are scaring me! I had a c section w #1 and recovered pretty easily. I'm considering a vbac for #2 but am scared of the tearing, stitches, etc.
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I've been a postpartum doula so I knew what was normal, but mine was a bajillion times worse than expected. I mean there was a reason (multiple third degree tears, etc), but damn. It was bad. Mentally and physically.
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Easier than I expected, but definitely not easy.
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I had a super easy recovery, really felt normal pretty immediately. Fortunately I didn't tear, so that really helped.
Also, after the first week-ish we had to go to the NICU, so that was probably a big distraction from any discomfort. -
Slightly worse than expected. I had an episiotomy + 3rd degree tear, which I didn't really expect to happen. But, for what it was, it honestly wasn't THAT bad. Just a long process. It's weird. In a normal world, that would have been a TERRIBLE pain, but I didn't even care really since I had my sweet LO as a reward for it all!
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It just wasn't at all what I expected, so I'd say worse. All the immediate stuff people warned about - sleep, pain, moods - were nothing compared to the things nobody (even nurses/doctors/books) mentioned... Like vaginal pain even after cesarean, sex being painful way beyond six weeks, pelvic bones/ligaments feeling too loose for most exercise even months later, and how messy (literally, like soaked clothes) breastfeeding can be. I felt ready to be my active, sexual self within about two weeks, but my body had other plans and that threw me for a loop.
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@rachiecakes:
I am seeing a new midwife/OB group who confirmed that I have trapped nerves/scar tissue where I tore and along my episiotomy line, so I'm having it revised. How fun. One birth, two episiotomy procedures
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Worse! I was clueless! My recovery (from a vaginal birth, but with lot's of tearing) also took way longer than "average"
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Mine was better then I expected it to be, but I also had a rather easy delivery with no tearing. I was up having a shower after doing skin to skin and up and dressed for the day early the next morning. It hurt going to the bathroom for a couple of days and sex didn't stop hurting until 6 months pp (had internal brusing) but pp wasn't bad enough for pain killers or anything. Just hoping I'll have a similar experience when we have #2
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@Boheme: I am so sorry. I used to have vulvar vestibulitis about 10 years ago (unrelated to childbirth) and I remember how painful it was. Having pain in that region can have such an awful effect on intimacy, self-esteem, mood, etc. I hope that the revision, as awful as it sounds, provides you with some relief.
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So much worse.
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I voted other because it was worse in some ways (GAS pain, constipation, pain around c-section incision, how it felt like my guts were going to fall out anytime I stood up, etc) and others were better than I imagined (was able to move around sooner than I thought, I took to motherhood easier than I thought, etc).
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@anandam: Wait...what? Vaginal pain even after caesarean? Sorry if this is dumb...but I thought a perk of a C-section was avoiding a sore hoohaa.
FYI I haven't experienced either yet, so this is good to know. -
#1 - about what I imagined.
#2 - way easier than I imagined! -
@Arden: you had me all talked into a vbac
way to change my mind back! Haha -
@Kiwibee: I know!!! I can't explain why and neither can anyone else apparently, but I had shocking pain with penetration at six weeks and it's still lingering though bearable at 3 months. Not related to dryness or anything I can think of (we've tried ample foreplay/lube/patience!) I have talked to other women with similar experiences. I did labor before the surgery, so maybe that's part of it? Not saying this to scare you, but I do wish I'd known to expect it because it really made me feel like somehow I was broken. Like, not only am I unable to give birth normally, but I can't have sex anymore, either? Lol luckily it is getting steadily better.
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@Mrs. Lion: Ha don't let my story dissuade you - I had a really unusually traumatic birth that my doctor was mostly responsible for. You have a good doctor.
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easier.
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I wasn't allowed to walk for over 24 hours due to drugs I was on and walking was worse than I thought at first. It felt like I was wearing leaden shoes. Everything else was way better than I expected.
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I expected it to be bad but it was SO much worse - i couldn't sit right for over a week, I had a pretty bad tear that is just starting to feel a little better at 2 weeks post partum. I was in so much pain for a week after birth that while it really sucked to have LO in the NICU for a week I have no idea how i would have taken care of him when it took me forever to get out of bed and to stand and move around! I kept telling my friends that postpartum recovery has been so much worse than labor and delivery combined - i would go through my labor and delivery 10 times over!
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I selected much worse than I expected because my body as a whole had issues that I didn't mentally prepare or know about. My C-section area recovery was better than expected but the other body parts had issues that took forever to heal. I had severe carpal tunnel that didn't go away until about 7 months PP. The pain would peak at odd hours of the day. I couldn't take the meds that would help the ache because it made me sleepy and irritable which was unsafe for me to solo parent. So I just cried through the pain and tried to carry onward as best as I could. PP insomnia was awful and finally went away when baby hit 13 months, the tingling sensitivity in my stomach area is mostly gone now at 15 months PP. I feel like I am finally comfortable in my own body again almost 16 months PP.
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#1: ouch, what just happened to my body!?!
#2: I've done this before, not so bad.... -
The initial recovery was about what I expected (awful) but the long term stuff was rougher than I thought. It was a year before I could have sex and I had no idea that was a possibility. I also had months of ridiculously loud surprise farts without warning.
@anandam: Are you BFing? My doctor said that was the likely cause of my vaginal pain. I think he said in some women the hormones thin the vaginal lining so nerves are closer to the surface. My doctor gave me hormones to help but it hurt me to even apply them. I waited it out but it took until I weaned before we could have sex.
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Way easier. I had a c-section and was walking around the same day. I always thought that you'd be stuck in bed for ages after surgery.
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@anandam: Are you still breast feeding? I had the same issues and it finally got better once I weaned at 16 months pp.
Mine (c section) was what I expected. Painful afterwards but I was back to normal within two weeks.
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Somewhere in between. I had a vaginal birth and was surprised at how good I felt right after birth - lots of energy but then I spent too much of it. I'd pretty much jump out of bed (which I think in the hospital made me pop a couple stitches too soon), I tried to take our big dogs on a walk the day I got home (2 days pp), started going on 3 mile runs a week after birth. I ended up sore in a lot of places, the walk with the dogs really made my already sore abdominals even more sore and then came down with mastitis at 2 weeks.
My abs and some hip pain really took a long time to clear up so I didn't ever feel 100% like I could give it my all running until around 8 months pp, which I was surprised and frustrated at how long that took.
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@Corduroy: @travelgirl1: Fascinating! Yes, EBF. And it's going well otherwise so I don't plan to stop anytime soon. What a cruel bummer, though I'm glad to hear weaning helps. I guess that's another mechanism behind BF as birth control...
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@anandam: Thanks for your reply. This is certainly eye opening. I should be super duper prepared whenever my time comes...thanks to HB
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Worse. I never really had much expectation that it would be bad if I didn't get an episiotomy or C-sect. No one prepared me for how long I bled (I think on/off still at 6 weeks), the constipation, everything hurting down there.
And how painful BDing would be for months after, @anandam: THIS.
way to change my mind back! Haha 
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