I'm not a mum and I won't become one soon, but I love reading these stories! (they are great to learn what not to do when you have or when someone else have kids)
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By "horror stories" I mean things that people did/said that weren't appropriate at all!
My mother in law sent me links for gym classes and post pregnancy weightloss 6 weeks after I had my baby. My baby was premature in special care, out of hospital, back in due to slow weight gain. 
I have lots, my mother in law told me she thought I was incapable of giving birth (for my first) 
For next one, I came home from hospital all seemed ok, my leg started swelling up really badly. Midwife was doing weekly checks and said oh that's totally normal to have one swollen leg after birth. Was back in hospital 2 weeks later with deep vein thrombosis
For next one, I came home from hospital all seemed ok, my leg started swelling up really badly. Midwife was doing weekly checks and said oh that's totally normal to have one swollen leg after birth. Was back in hospital 2 weeks later with deep vein thrombosis
With my son, he was born on the Wednesday, my husband's sister insisted she visited on the Saturday. They arrived at 8am!! We were all still in bed! His other sister told me I needed to start on my tummy exercises on day 7, I had a sacral dysplasia during labour and couldn't even stand up without help!
With my daughter, we were keeping her arrival to family only until our son had met her, to suddenly start receiving congratulations texts from friends as my husband's family had announced her arrival and tagged us in their posts on fb!
With my daughter, we were keeping her arrival to family only until our son had met her, to suddenly start receiving congratulations texts from friends as my husband's family had announced her arrival and tagged us in their posts on fb!
My first one was about traumatic. Split from front to back because I didnt listen to the midwifes. Had to go into surgery for stitches. Took weeks to recover.
Second I was in slow labour for 5 days. Thought people just made it up! Tom her shes to come out. They tryed to use catheter I was having none of it. Finally got to the toilet, she started coming then! 3 emergency alarms but I listened to the midwifes. Just a few stitches. I was walking about 10 minutes later having a shower getting her dressed.
Second I was in slow labour for 5 days. Thought people just made it up! Tom her shes to come out. They tryed to use catheter I was having none of it. Finally got to the toilet, she started coming then! 3 emergency alarms but I listened to the midwifes. Just a few stitches. I was walking about 10 minutes later having a shower getting her dressed.
When my daughter was born (5am) we had to stay in overnight and I kept falling asleep obviously, every time I woke up a new person was visiting and when we did get home my brother in law, his wife and two kids were waiting for us I was exhausted
My second was born quickly on the dining room floor. Mum arrived to watch the eldest who was still sleeping so we could go to the hospital but came in to find me on all fours, she caught the baby literally two minutes later. 
Paramedics arrived just after and I walked to the ambulance with her (placenta still inside and cord hanging out!!)
Not really horror it was amazing!!!
Paramedics arrived just after and I walked to the ambulance with her (placenta still inside and cord hanging out!!)Not really horror it was amazing!!!
With my firstborn, I had an em/cs under general anaesthesia. My son spent an hour or so in NICU due to complications after he was born. When I woke up in recovery, I was very groggy and āout of itā when they brought him in to me. It was about 5am and all I remember is my mum hovering about, moaning about how she had to drive home (about an hours drive away, not even) and wanted to hold him before she left.
She literally interrupted my skin to skin with him, took him off me just so she could get a hold and gave him his first bottle feed (Iād decided not to breastfeed, but still), and then gave him to my husband for a quick hold before they left. The nurse was apparently fuming as sheād told her not to interrupt the skin to skin. I was fuming later when I was made aware. My husband was, very rightly, fuming also. Iād made it clear that if I couldnāt hold him first then I wanted his dad to. Then when I was on the ward, she brought everybody up to see us (I ended up being in hospital for a week as Iād developed sepsis during labour and baby had an infection).
This was on day 3 when all my hormones were raging and I was very emotional/weepy. Not one person asked how I was, I sat there while they all played pass the parcel with my baby, and I just felt so forgotten. Then when everybody else was distracted with my son, my mum started talking about how I needed to start Slimming World and lose the baby weight.
Iād had my baby 3 days before. We almost didnāt make it, and sheās sitting there telling me I had to lose weight.
When my second was born, I said I wasnāt having any visitors at the hospital. I wouldāve banned my mum too, but she was looking after my son and I wanted him to meet his baby brother so she brought him to the hospital. Then she started hounding me about my older sonās struggles (he was being assessed for autism at the time) telling me what I āhadā to do with him. I was very short with her that time and shut the conversation down quite sharply. My husband was the first person to hold our second born. That whole day up until then had been amazing, a far cry from my traumatic first post-natal experience.
She literally interrupted my skin to skin with him, took him off me just so she could get a hold and gave him his first bottle feed (Iād decided not to breastfeed, but still), and then gave him to my husband for a quick hold before they left. The nurse was apparently fuming as sheād told her not to interrupt the skin to skin. I was fuming later when I was made aware. My husband was, very rightly, fuming also. Iād made it clear that if I couldnāt hold him first then I wanted his dad to. Then when I was on the ward, she brought everybody up to see us (I ended up being in hospital for a week as Iād developed sepsis during labour and baby had an infection).
This was on day 3 when all my hormones were raging and I was very emotional/weepy. Not one person asked how I was, I sat there while they all played pass the parcel with my baby, and I just felt so forgotten. Then when everybody else was distracted with my son, my mum started talking about how I needed to start Slimming World and lose the baby weight.
Iād had my baby 3 days before. We almost didnāt make it, and sheās sitting there telling me I had to lose weight.
When my second was born, I said I wasnāt having any visitors at the hospital. I wouldāve banned my mum too, but she was looking after my son and I wanted him to meet his baby brother so she brought him to the hospital. Then she started hounding me about my older sonās struggles (he was being assessed for autism at the time) telling me what I āhadā to do with him. I was very short with her that time and shut the conversation down quite sharply. My husband was the first person to hold our second born. That whole day up until then had been amazing, a far cry from my traumatic first post-natal experience.
I started to go through labour and had been struggling for hours. The consultant popped in on his way home ... had a feel around, demanded that the nurse get the scanner asap. She said, āYou donāt think ...?ā Turns out my baby was breech and an emergency c-section was booked. I knew he had been breech but my midwife said that he had turned. I hadnāt felt him turn but just went with their expert knowledge and advice. A simple scan would have shown otherwise. Thankfully our son was born safe and well, although later was diagnosed with a heart murmur and heās had a couple of ops but is fine now (heās 13).
The consultant came to apologise. Thank goodness he decided to check on me as I worry in hindsight how dangerous it could have been for the baby and I if weād been left to struggle on regardless.
The consultant came to apologise. Thank goodness he decided to check on me as I worry in hindsight how dangerous it could have been for the baby and I if weād been left to struggle on regardless.
Having my first baby 4 weeks prematurely and they said they were going to have to give me a spinal block and try emergency forceps before a caesarean and MY MIDWIFE said "oh I feel so sorry for the student midwife, she desperately wants to see a natural birth" 
funnily enough it wasn't exactly what I had planned either!!!!
funnily enough it wasn't exactly what I had planned either!!!!Oh my godddd thatās awful! My friend is a midwife and she said the amount of women who feel the need to lose their pregnancy weight and get back to āpre pregnancy bodyā is unbelievable. I doubt Iāll ever fit back into my size 4ās again but itās so worth it for the life Iāve bought into this world!My mother in law sent me links for gym classes and post pregnancy weightloss 6 weeks after I had my baby. My baby was premature in special care, out of hospital, back in due to slow weight gain.
The facebook things awful. My step dads mum announced my pregnancy on Facebook! Were not even friends on there and barely see her (max twice a year). We had not told alot of our friends and family we like and see.
The visitor thing really also annoyed me. Luckily we didnt have chance together visitors in hospital with our first.
Our second my mil brought my daughter down. My mum was there at both births but left very shortly after.
People popping around the day after we got home was sooooo annoying. It got to the stage where we was just sat on the back garden chilling, baby in her moses basket outside (summer baby) and didnt answer the door. We also closed the gates on our drive so could hear if anyone was coming
My mum announced my pregnancy on facebook before I could, all because I told her she could tell some of her friends... (in person)
Sorry, this is long and more of a medical horror story
I was in and out of hospital in the few weeks prior to giving birth as I couldnāt feel movement anymore. My placenta was anterior but Iād been able to feel her before so I was worried. Then I had contractions for a week but nothing happened, ended up so stressed out and admitted to hospital for MH reasons. The midwife told me the ācontractionsā might be a result of a UTI and gave me medication even though the test came back clear. To reassure me that everything was fine, they sent me for a scan. The sonographer found that I had polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid) and immediately I was categorised as high risk and told I would need to be kept in hospital. I had no idea what was going on
That night I went into labour during changeover and was in agony as the midwife took over an hour to come. When she came, I was 4cm dilated and she injected pethidine into my thigh which caused me to bleed everywhere but I didnāt care at that point. Went down into the labour ward, had an epidural, everything was okay for a few hours. Then when the time came to push, the epidural failed(?) and I had excruciating pain around where the pethidine was injected. I started vomiting everywhere and the next thing I know, Iām half conscious and overhearing the midwives talking between themselves about the babyās heart rate dropping and having to take me to the operating theatre. Ended up giving birth in there, with a NICU doctor on standby, I think about 10 people in the room
Luckily she came out fine though struggled to breathe at first. She was born at the cusp of 37 weeks. No NICU needed. However, she was born with an unusual feature and different staff kept coming in to have a look at her. She was one of those babies who never slept so I was knackered and it pissed me off. I also got really bitter because it was a sign of her not being ānormalā and on reflection there was evidence of that in my medical notes even before the scan. It seemed wrong for them just to be popping in and lightheartedly being like ālook at this!ā
A week later I got out of hospital and straight away family members were expecting me to dress her up in complicated girly outfits which were too big, uncomfortable and stressed her out. I said duck this and she lived in sleepsuits for the first few weeks
I would go through it all again in a heartbeat. Sometimes pregnancy and birth can be traumatic and you can have horrible feelings but itās such an amazing feat
I was in and out of hospital in the few weeks prior to giving birth as I couldnāt feel movement anymore. My placenta was anterior but Iād been able to feel her before so I was worried. Then I had contractions for a week but nothing happened, ended up so stressed out and admitted to hospital for MH reasons. The midwife told me the ācontractionsā might be a result of a UTI and gave me medication even though the test came back clear. To reassure me that everything was fine, they sent me for a scan. The sonographer found that I had polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid) and immediately I was categorised as high risk and told I would need to be kept in hospital. I had no idea what was going on
That night I went into labour during changeover and was in agony as the midwife took over an hour to come. When she came, I was 4cm dilated and she injected pethidine into my thigh which caused me to bleed everywhere but I didnāt care at that point. Went down into the labour ward, had an epidural, everything was okay for a few hours. Then when the time came to push, the epidural failed(?) and I had excruciating pain around where the pethidine was injected. I started vomiting everywhere and the next thing I know, Iām half conscious and overhearing the midwives talking between themselves about the babyās heart rate dropping and having to take me to the operating theatre. Ended up giving birth in there, with a NICU doctor on standby, I think about 10 people in the room
Luckily she came out fine though struggled to breathe at first. She was born at the cusp of 37 weeks. No NICU needed. However, she was born with an unusual feature and different staff kept coming in to have a look at her. She was one of those babies who never slept so I was knackered and it pissed me off. I also got really bitter because it was a sign of her not being ānormalā and on reflection there was evidence of that in my medical notes even before the scan. It seemed wrong for them just to be popping in and lightheartedly being like ālook at this!ā
A week later I got out of hospital and straight away family members were expecting me to dress her up in complicated girly outfits which were too big, uncomfortable and stressed her out. I said duck this and she lived in sleepsuits for the first few weeks
I would go through it all again in a heartbeat. Sometimes pregnancy and birth can be traumatic and you can have horrible feelings but itās such an amazing feat
I was a size 6 uk before pregnancy, usually a size 8 in the years before that. I didn't give a f*** about my weight. Thought I'd lose it slowly over the year and needed rest and food to breastfeed at that stage. Initially I laughed at the message but it festered and really hurt. I bought some size 12s jeans at my biggest and I'm back to a size 8 now after a year. I really think people should think before they speak about someone's weight post pregnancy.
100%! I had my baby 11 months ago and I am now in between a size 8-10. My hips are so much more wider now and I doubt Iāll ever be able to fit my arse into size 6 trousers ever again
As someone who went through an eating disorder during my teens, my mother (Iāve never been incredibly close to her) made comments that were a ājokeā. For example, she once pointed at a man with a beer belly and compared it to my pregnant body. Maybe Iām just a bit sensitive and extremely insecure but I cried for hours that night to my partner. I just wish there was less expectations of women to bounce back once theyāve had a baby. Pressure on women in todayās society is absolutely dreadful!
My first was traumatic, baby was in distress, had blood taken from her head, I was only young & spoken to like a pile of tit by all the staff, but my labour wasnāt too long 10.5 hours, my 2nd child I was huge with but Iām big myself anyway, went 10 days overdue, waters broke & at 7.45pm, rang hosp & was told to stay at home, finally got to hosp 10.30pm, I gave birth just after 1am, to a 10lb 5oz baby, his head & shoulders got stuck & had to be yanked out didnāt cry for what seemed like an eternity, only had gas & air, my 3rd again overdue by 9 days, midwife took one look at me & said I didnāt look like I was in enough pain to be in labour?! & would send me home after examining me, I was 6cm dilated & an hour later I gave birth 9lb baby this time! My 4th I got to hospital at 7.45am & was 8cm dilated & gave birth at 8.20am so not bad 8 days overdue this time just under 9lb!
Mine isn't so much a horror story but I was 4 days away from my due date it was about 8pm and my boyfriend had finished work. He wanted me to go to his parents as it was his mums birthday which was about 45 minutes away.
I didnt realise at the time how emotionally abused I was and never used to stick up for myself.
Luckily my parents said something to him as I went in to labour (He said to my parents he was going to take me to hospital)
I then went to hospital and everything happened so fast and my son was born within half hour with no pain relief.
I don't remember much about the labour or much of his first year of life.
As my then boyfriend made me live between 2 houses with a baby.
When my son was 5 days old I was expected to go and stay with his parents (Anyone knows how emotional you can feel after having a baby) I ended up severely anaemic due to the control. He used to say to me its not fair your parents see him more.
Nearly 3 years later and being in a situation where the emotional abuse and control then to physical I left him.
The sad thing for me is not having those happy memories of my little boys first few years of life. ( and that might of been my only chance).
I didnt realise at the time how emotionally abused I was and never used to stick up for myself.
Luckily my parents said something to him as I went in to labour (He said to my parents he was going to take me to hospital)
I then went to hospital and everything happened so fast and my son was born within half hour with no pain relief.
I don't remember much about the labour or much of his first year of life.
As my then boyfriend made me live between 2 houses with a baby.
When my son was 5 days old I was expected to go and stay with his parents (Anyone knows how emotional you can feel after having a baby) I ended up severely anaemic due to the control. He used to say to me its not fair your parents see him more.
Nearly 3 years later and being in a situation where the emotional abuse and control then to physical I left him.
The sad thing for me is not having those happy memories of my little boys first few years of life. ( and that might of been my only chance).