My first time pregnancy story
I am pregnant for the first time and I live on a small remote island. This is my story.
Blog Chapters
Pregnancy blog: front page
Chapter 1: I'm pregnant! The initial emotions
Chapter 2: Sharing our good news
Chapter 3: The unwelcomed symptoms of pregnancy
Chapter 4: Initial midwifery appointment
Chapter 5: Hello baby!
Chapter 6: A healthy growing baby
Chapter 7: The happy second trimester
Chapter 8: Gifts & preparations
Chapter 9: Our plans for home birth
Chapter 10: The start of the third trimester
Chapter 11: Birthing options - a decision finally made
Chapter 12: An unplanned trip to the hospital
Chapter 13: Newest third trimester sensations
Chapter 14: Last minute preparations & more gifts
Chapter 15: A scare! Has the baby moved today?
Chapter 16: We are ready for the home birth
Chapter 17: The woes of late stage pregnancy
Chapter 18: The excruciating waiting stage!
Chapter 19: Scanning & sweeping
Chapter 20: Trapped in town (an indefinite hospital stay)
Chapter 21: Baby's birthday! My delivery & birth story
> Chapter 22: A quick recovery
Chapter 23: Final thoughts. . .
Chapter 1: I'm pregnant! The initial emotions
Chapter 2: Sharing our good news
Chapter 3: The unwelcomed symptoms of pregnancy
Chapter 4: Initial midwifery appointment
Chapter 5: Hello baby!
Chapter 6: A healthy growing baby
Chapter 7: The happy second trimester
Chapter 8: Gifts & preparations
Chapter 9: Our plans for home birth
Chapter 10: The start of the third trimester
Chapter 11: Birthing options - a decision finally made
Chapter 12: An unplanned trip to the hospital
Chapter 13: Newest third trimester sensations
Chapter 14: Last minute preparations & more gifts
Chapter 15: A scare! Has the baby moved today?
Chapter 16: We are ready for the home birth
Chapter 17: The woes of late stage pregnancy
Chapter 18: The excruciating waiting stage!
Chapter 19: Scanning & sweeping
Chapter 20: Trapped in town (an indefinite hospital stay)
Chapter 21: Baby's birthday! My delivery & birth story
> Chapter 22: A quick recovery
Chapter 23: Final thoughts. . .
Chapter 22: A quick recovery
Warning for TMI (too much information)! Then again, you are reading a pregnancy blog, so that’s to be expected.
The recovery period was just as easy and uneventful as this entire pregnancy and the birth had been. I was also extremely amazed at how quickly my body recovered from such a huge ordeal!
Firstly, let me point out that it’s such a pleasure to be able to stretch my back, reach my toes and not have to go to the ladies’ room every twenty seconds! The heartburn is gone, my wedding ring is back on my finger, where it belongs and my gums no longer bleed when I brush my teeth. It’s three weeks after Ron’s birth and I feel great!
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I had suffered a second degree tear during delivery (1st October), meaning that after giving me some local anaesthetic the surgeon sutured the muscles and the skin of the perineum area. I remember the whole area afterwards looking extremely swollen and bruised but I felt no pain.
The anaesthetic had worn off and I felt a lot more uncomfortable the second day - I felt so sore that even paracetamol and ibuprofen taken together didn’t much help to numb it! I hobbled when walking and was using a pillow on a chair to help cushion the sensation but it was so uncomfortable, it felt as though I was sitting on tennis balls. I was bleeding a lot and struggled to get in and out of bed, it was difficult sitting down and standing up, and walking took a bit of effort.
A few days later (4th October), once we were back home I had a couple of big blobby looking blood clots fall out of me in the shower, which really freaked me out. They were really yucky - firm, a little bigger than a 50p coin, dark red and resembled chicken’s liver. I called the maternity unit and they asked me to email them some photographs, then they confirmed that this was normal, the blood had simply congealed whilst I was sitting down feeding the baby for a long period of time. Then it happened again and we were back on the phone, just to check that I wasn’t going to die, basically! I was happy when these stopped and there were no further weird things happening to me! The bleeding had slowed down by 11th October and seemed to completely stop by 21st!
I started reducing the painkillers the day we got back home, 3rd October although it made me feel less comfortable. As days went by and I stopped taking drugs altogether, the general discomfort got replaced by a bruised / used muscle (oh, it was used alright!) feeling and a stingy sensation of individual stitches. The midwife said that there was a gap in the stitches, but that I would heal well regardless. She also said that I should do the kegel pelvic floor exercises - not just for now, but for the rest of my life, to avoid incontinence issues when I was 60 years old! On the 8th October the midwife said that my uterus has shrunk back to its original pre-pregnancy size - it only took 8 days and it was back to normal! How amazing is that? Three weeks later I felt completely back to normal, stitches are no longer bothering me at all!
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The emotional backlash kicked in fairly soon after birth - it was the 3rd of October and we were back home when I started balling my eyes out over just how perfect little Ronnie was. Luckily, I had dealt with all the demons of my life by this point, so when the hormones had crashed on me the only thing my brain could come up with was that Ron would get married one day and leave our home! Somehow this made me cry for hours, hugging my little boy for dear life! I was also crying over how I never wanted any harm or pain to come his way and how I wished he’d stay this little forever. A sentiment I no longer feel - I am proud of how well he is developing and growing up!
I was ever so happy with life and my baby boy, but the lack of quality sleep (I was now sleeping with one eye open) made me feel tired, irritated and grumpy. Luckily, James and I have a really well established relationship so this didn’t affect either of us. A week later (10th October) I felt a crash of emotions, a sort of imploding feeling, leaving me feeling numb and unexcited, but this was a good time to realise that our lives haven’t changed a great deal and that I was very happy with my new job and role of being a Mum! Three days later, I felt completely back to my normal usual self!
I will have a final check-up 6 weeks after the birth, sometime during the second week of November, but I feel like I’m back to normal (19th October) and completely recovered.
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