Forceps birth

I had an episiotomy and forceps birth 5 days ago and I am still in a lot of pain, how long have other people taken to recover?
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Sorry to tell you but about 3 months. Slowly got easier and less painful but it was a slower recovery than I was expecting Get some ice packs, plenty of Ibuprofen and paracetamol, maybe some Epsom salt for baths and be kind to yourself! It does eventually get better, just takes time.

Just to say the pain got less and less and by 8 weeks was baiscally gone. And some people recover faster!

First 3 weeks were torture for me, then it started to ease off. Was alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen.

I had really bad pain for 3 weeks to the point I couldn't walk unaided. It was discovered I had an infection. Since having that treated, I have no pain, but I'm uncomfortable at times. It's now been 5 weeks for me

8 weeks currently, 4th degree tear with episiotomy from forceps, ended up with a hemorrhoid and currently on 5th set of antibiotics. Still in quite a bit of pain :/

I hope it doesn’t take you as long but for me I had to be on round the clock painkillers basically for 2 weeks and then I was sore for until around 2months. The Spritz for bitz spray was a life saver for me though, and I used special ice packs too. + congrats on your new baby! :)

I think I was quite lucky, by 2/3 weeks it was pretty much pain free and I didn’t need to take any pain relief after that, just occasionally felt abit tender. Now at 6 weeks pp and it feels much better! Just don’t do too much too soon!

I’m the same as maddie, I had mine two weeks ago and I’m taking a very traditional role of staying inside the house for the first month. No trips to the shops, no heavy lifting, no gym or cafes etc. I’m mostly pain free now and if I look after myself I think I’ll be fully recovered (except for my pelvic floor issues) by the end of the month. Time for some self care ❤️

I was religiously taking the painkillers for 2weeks twice a day and then once a day for an extra week. Also daily washing. I used spritz for bits, perineal ice packs (highly recommend) and also sth you will find as ‘witch hazel pads’ in amazon (also really good for discomfort relief). The pain became just discomfort and that also stopped after that. I was just feeling the area a bit heavy and stretched and doing pelvic floor exercises helped. I started going on short walks on day 5 as recommended by the midwife. Hope this helps!

I’m afraid to tell you that it took me 5 months to heal from forceps and episiotomy but it did get infected. It will take a good few weeks to feel better even without any issues - it’s quite a trauma

I had the exact same birth as you and recovery took a while. MSG me if you want to chat about it more x

@Nicole oh the pelvic floor issues are delightful aren’t they! Mine have slightly improved now, hoping that continues!

I had the same and took around 2/3 weeks for the initial pain to go it got much better after a few days for me but sitting down was the worse trying to get comfortable and I was constantly worrying about my stitches. I don’t know if anyone else had this but it took a few months for the scar to stop feeling like it was pulling it that makes sense like when I used tampons etc it did feel sore initially like my scar was stretching. My little girl is 9 months now and honestly don’t feel anything from it anymore x

I think it's different for everyone. I had episiotomy and forceps 4 weeks ago and no pain at all afterwards.

@Samantha sorry… you had NO pain at all from being cut open and sewn back together and having metal prongs stuck inside of you to pull out a watermelon sized baby? I know everybody is different but come on lol. Maybe all your nerves are damaged down there or something if that’s the case…

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@Jess Absolutely nothing at all, I'm very surprised myself. Recovery has been a breeze so far, I must be very lucky or have some kind of nerve damage. I kept rejecting pain relief in the hospital after birth and the midwives were surprised. I reluctantly started taking ibuprofen on day 4 to help with the swelling

@Jess to be honest I was surprised by how little pain I was in following forceps and episiotomy, I had rotational forceps as well so was preparing for the worst. The worst bit id say was the stinging down there from the cut!

I had the same birth as you! I’m just over 4 weeks postpartum and I feel very good! I stopped bleeding around week 2-3 and my stitches don’t hurt anymore. I really struggled to stand up from my bed or the sofa for the first 1-2 weeks but it wasn’t to do with the stitches, I had very bad pain in my coccyx which is now starting to improve. The only time I experience any soreness now is if I sit directly on my coccyx for a long time- apart from that I feel absolutely fine now! I’d say my recovery has been quite fast- hopefully it’ll be the same for you:) x

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