# Recovery After Birth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 16, 2002, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152 "2002-12-16T20:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152/41 "2002-12-18T12:37:17Z")
One thing I find amazing about childbirth is how darn _primitive_ it is. We have technology that transmits color photographs live from the surface of Mars, and THAT’S how we give birth? I’ve had 3 children. As soon as you give birth & you see your new baby it’s all worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152/42 "2002-12-18T12:42:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Duck Duck Goose \* > \*\*The part in _The Good Earth_ where the heroine gives birth, silently, and then goes back to work in the fields 20 minutes later? That’s fiction. > > \*\* Curiously enough, I recall a case discussed in Professor Keith Simpson’s memoirs - could look up the details when I get home. But, basically, it involved a man and his heavily pregnant wife-or-girlfriend waiting for a train … at some point, the wife-or-girlfriend excused herself, went to the ladies’, and returned, _seven minutes later_ by the station clock, no longer pregnant. Of course, she wasn’t doing anything more strenuous afterwards than travelling on British Rail … and Keith Simpson was a forensic pathologist, so, for the case to have come to his attention, it had to have ended badly … (His book, _Forty Years of Murder_, is an entertaining and informative read.) The human body can do some pretty incredible things in the right circumstances. (This does not imply that it _should_ be made to do incredible things on a regular basis. I am most emphatically _not_ suggesting that maternity leave should be cut to seven minutes … ) ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152/43 "2002-12-18T13:10:44Z")
Thanks guys. I will never give birth. I will stick to kittens. ---
**Author:** ![Diane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2acd7d/32.png) [@Diane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diane)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152/44 "2002-12-18T19:08:52Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, let’s all scare the newbie with our horror stories, why don’t we? I was deliberately trying to avoid that. Thank you for so sensitively picking up on that… I have three kids. I had an cervical block with my first one and it hurt like hell. I was also scared because it was my first and I didn’t kow what to expect. My second child was born 7 weeks early and came so quickly that there was no time for anything for the pain. It hurt so bad that thought I was truly going to die. In fact, due to some other complications, I almost did. I was on a full epidural block with my last child and didn’t feel a thing. The nurse had to tell me that the reason I was getting tired and worn out was that my body was going through a lot of physical stress even though I couldn’t feel it happening. My labor room was full of family and friends, we watched the Brady Bunch on TV, played poker, and had a birthing party (they were all there at the birth as well). Fact is, is that all births are completely different. I don’t think anyone is scaring the newbie with horror stories. It would be a disservice to tell her it is all rainbows and butterflies with just a few cramps and have her think something is horribly wrong when it hurts more than she expected. Or not. It may be rainbows and butterflies, but who knows. Every birth is different. Ana is correct, this is GQ not IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152/45 "2002-12-18T19:13:29Z")
I am not a mother, a doctor or a baby, but wouldn’t it somehow be categorized as a disability because of the mother’s inability to be separated from the baby for any length of time if she’s breast feeding? let’s pretend her ass feels great and she’s ready to work. If she’s breast feeding, doesnt’ she need to be with the baby like every two hours? And don’t her breasts hurt if she’s not? ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152/46 "2002-12-18T22:13:47Z")
in the frist 6 weeks, bf’ing is only being established so you generally need pretty close constant contact between mother and baby. Of course now everyone will tell me about women who pumped and were dedicated 😉 but in general for successful breastfeeding, you need physical access. But, jar, I don’t think bf’ing is valued enough that women are given 6 weeks off to establish a bf’ing relationship. Breasts do hurt if you don’t feed the baby – hell sometimes they hurt even when you do! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recovery-after-birth/143152.md?page=2)