# Tailbone pain after birth...HELP!



## Phoebe (Jun 12, 2003)

Please someone tell me this will heal!! I had a fantastic HBAC with a tear that is healing fine. But I am left with this terrible pain in my tailbone that has not improved since the birth. I just did a Google search and what I read was not encouraging. I was hoping that like my other swelling and stitches, that this pain would slowly subside as the days go by. It's only been 9 days since my son's birth but the fact that there has been no improvement kind of scares me.

I will go see my chiropractor next week. I really want to know if it will get better on its own though. My chiro is out of network and very expensive and I really want to be able to sit and play with my 2.5 year old again.

This is hard.

Anyone? Please feel free to share the good, the bad and the ugly details...

amy


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## courtenay_e (Sep 1, 2005)

My chiro told me that he COULD adjust it, but that it was likely to hurt...a LOT. He said that it was better if I waited a few weeks (I found sitting on the boppy helpful, if I needed to sit), until the bruising and swelling in my tailbone went down a bit, before he adjusted it. It DID start to slowly feel better, and then when I was able to have him touch it without wanting to cry, he DID adjust it, and it felt almost perfect.


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## hubris (Mar 8, 2003)

I had a TON of tailbone pain after Griff was born - he was OP and I wanted a LOT of counterpressure during my labor, my poor mom nearly sprained her wrist! Later she said that it was possible that my tailbone broke, since I had so much pain afterward. Combined with a hideous episiotomy, there was no earthly way for me to sit down afterward for over a week, ow ow ow ow ow!

It did finally, and slowly, get better. I didn't need any intervention from anybody, I just left it alone and time healed it. I don't remember exactly how long it took but I know it was a matter of weeks, not months, and I had no residual pain. And good news...my second son was also OP but I didn't want/need counterpressure and didn't have any tailbone bruising with his birth, hooray!

Non-painful tailbone thoughts headed your way.


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## timneh_mom (Jun 13, 2005)

I had many hours of counterpressure too during DS's labor... we got him turned though so he wasn't posterior anymore when he was born. My tailbone wasn't right for several weeks, I just tried to stay in a position where I wasn't putting pressure on it. Eventually it stopped hurting on its own. 9 days isn't long, can you maybe try some heat or a cold pack and see if that helps at all? I have a friend who broke hers (she fell) and she got a couple of different cushions to sit on, one of them had a slot in it so it didn't put pressure on her tailbone.


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## Phoebe (Jun 12, 2003)

I have been sitting on my boppy like courtenay_e suggested. That has made a world of difference. It still hurts but at least I can get comfortable some what. Yall made me feel a bit better. I just wanted to know that it will get better. This "injury" has made this recovery really suck. I just want to get back to playing with my oldest boy









I just feel so messed up down there







:


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## crunchy_mama (Oct 11, 2004)

I had some pain for a year,at some point after that it did subside, but I don't remember exactly when. However, it wasn't horribly painful the whole time, just at first, then it would only be in certain situations.


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## bamamom (Dec 9, 2004)

ouchie. well, with dd, i never saw a chiro after she was born, and it stayed out of whack until i gave birth again 22 mos later.

With ds, the midwives and chiro told me that it was really important to try to get adjusted within that 2 week frame after birth, so it could heal properly.

I did get adjusted, about 10 days pp, and it only lasted a few weeks, maybe a couplemonths.

It is ouchy..i'm sorry.


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## awinkler (Jul 26, 2005)

I had a lot of tailbone pain -- it was hard to sit in most chairs or to sit up in bed for me for a while... maybe 2-3 months. For the first few weeks, I tried taking ibuprofen and I also tried taking arnica (a homeopathic remedy for bruising). I'm not sure what helped - time, or anything else.. it just seems that one day it didn't feel as bad. I definitely used a lot of pillows when sitting and nursing, though. I hope you feel better!


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

i had a lot of tailbone pain after the birth of our first baby over two years ago, and i had it again after the birth of our second baby about two months ago. it took a good month after their births for it to finally dissipate to a normal level. i do still occasionally get some pain towards the end of the day but it is minimal and i can lay down and after a night's sleep it is usually much better.

i highly, highly recommend seeing a chiropractor as often as you need to during the first weeks. it helped me tremendously in that first month. i only went when i felt i needed to and i think i ended up seeing her about 3 times. i also brought our baby in with me so she could do some craniosacral work and chiropractic with him, too. (giving birth is hard work but so is being born.) i'll be going again this week as my arm and my back have been bothering me and my hips are finally starting to settle into the post-pregnancy not-so-loosey-goosy state and our baby is having some stiffness and some resisting when we're trying to dress him.

~claudia


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## kim_nz (Jun 11, 2004)

I have had very bad tailbone pain since my HBAC 6 months ago! If i sit down too long it hurts so bad, i have to sit on pillows and i have found that my big birth ball is coming in handy. I went to my chiropractor 8hrs after he was born and weekly from then on until now. Sometimes it feels like its getting better sometimes i cant handle the chiro touching my lower back.


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## mommy2madison03 (Jun 27, 2004)

I gave birth to my second daughter on July 16 of this year completely natural. I felt so great after delivery EXCEPT my tailbone. I told my midwife that it felt like someone took a sledgehammer to me and she then patted my daughter's head and said, "this is your sledgehammer". I had to sit on a donut for over a week. It probably took a couple of months for the pain to go away but even now if I sit down on my hardwood floor it still feels a little bruised. I haven't did anything for it and it's getting better on it's own.

Oh and my daughter was not posterior either. She came out facing down so I'm guessing it's either because I pushed her out fast or the position out pushed her out in.

Hope you start to feel better!


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## huggerwocky (Jun 21, 2004)

I had the same problem after birth and it is slowly getting better. The softer it is the less it hurts. Now she's 10 weeks old and it only hurts if I sit longer stretches. I think it will go away on its own some day. My midwife suggested the chiro but I honestly have better to do than juggling appointments with a nursing baby at home ( don't kill me!)


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## chiro_kristin (Dec 31, 2004)

The reason why it hurts is because there are a lot of nerve fibers down there that sense pain. There are a lot of nerve fibers down there that don't sense pain also - where do you think they go? Damaged nerves are nerves that don't function like they are supposed to, hence the cells they supply don't function like they are supposed to. Go to the chiropractor. Yes, a subluxated coccyx is often a painful adjustment, and I'm sorry about that, but if you can do a HBAC (yay!) you can handle it.


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## TurboClaudia (Nov 18, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *huggerwocky* 
My midwife suggested the chiro but I honestly have better to do than juggling appointments with a nursing baby at home ( don't kill me!)









couldn't you just bring the nursing babe with you? i sometimes bring both my nursing babe AND my 2.5 year old to the chiro with me, but she is a family friendly chiro specializing in pregnancy and post partum and working with babies and children.


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## huggerwocky (Jun 21, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TurboClaudia* 
couldn't you just bring the nursing babe with you? i sometimes bring both my nursing babe AND my 2.5 year old to the chiro with me, but she is a family friendly chiro specializing in pregnancy and post partum and working with babies and children.

I don't have a car so ANY appointment means a big ordeal of my husband having to take of work. Regardless, appointments stress me out due to the unpredictable nature of babys...







:. I hate having to plan to be on time.


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## chiro_kristin (Dec 31, 2004)

oh goodness, a good pediatric chiropractor wouldn't bat an eye if you were late as long as she didn't have some out-of-office meeting to go to or it was the end of the day. At least I would hope so. My patients who have newborns are alllllllllways late. And my staff is really good about holding babies while mamas get adjusted. And if a baby needs to nurse or something else, I just go on to the next patient or three and come back to her in 15 minutes.

The car issue I can't help with. Sorry that you have to deal with the pain!


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