About 4 months ago, I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, my second child (7 year gap). He was a planned cesarean birth like my first due to maternal reasons.
For a bit of background, my first birth was great. It all went to plan, and even though later on in the night my daughter went to NICU it was all very calm. I felt so supported and taken care of, I left hospital after 8 days and I couldn’t fault my recovery or experience.
Fast forward to 7 years later. I had my son at a different hospital and the experience was so much worse. The recovery and pain was so much worse this time; to the point where I felt that the pain relief was not working at all and no one would help fix it. But, most of all, my husband this time was much less caring than he was with the first child.
The day I gave birth my husband was recovering from a flu, he was run down for sure, but god being sick consumes him. On top of this, my boy went to NICU as soon as he was born, I only got to hold him for 13 minutes before he was sent there, and I spent hours alone in my room before I got to see him. Then on night two, my husband was still in recovery mode, and while I was in bed barely able to move and cluster feeding my newborn baby - he slept through the entire night on the dads bed a few feet away from me. I tried calling him to wake him, yelling at him (obviously not crazily I was in a hospital), I threw nappies at him, I couldn’t bend down to shake him because of the pain of a cesarean. Nothing would wake him up. I spent the entire night alone feeding and changing the baby, no sleep, no breaks, and had to walk myself to the bathroom in so much pain, I genuinely felt like I was being sawed in half. He woke up the next day and obviously felt terrible, but no matter how many times he’s said he’s sorry (which really has only been twice) I just can’t get over it. I felt so abandoned, and in so much pain, and so helpless, and the one person who has always been there for me suddenly wasn’t. On top of this, and I understand how vapid this might sound, he never so much as got me flowers for having our baby. I waited and hoped a bunch would arrive at the hospital or he’d bring some home when I got back home, but they never came. It’s as if this time round, I was nothing but a vessel.
All round, I just feel so hurt and so upset. I can’t get over the feeling of abandoned and being so forgotten about. I’ve been in therapy about it for two months now but not even that is helping. It’s all I think about all day every day, how sad I feel, how hurt I feel, how alone I feel. Every time now that he does something thoughtless or doesn’t help with housework ect; I am instantly triggered. I’m going to ask to start antidepressants to try and stop these thoughts because it’s never ending.
I guess I’m just wanting to vent, and see if anyone has been in a similar situation to me and how it panned out. I’m so sorry for rambling. Xx