Ah, yes, the hernia after the baby story. Right after I pushed my daughter out into the world, it felt like a hot knife sliced me across my stomach. When I mentioned it, my OB/GYN said her job was done and that I would have to take it up with my doctor.
Fast forward two and a half years later. I had trouble doing any type of exercising after birth (specifically anything abdominal, so I could try to tighten up and lose the baby fat) as well as I started to get deep, stabbing pains. Eventually the pains got to the point where I'd have them in the car when I was driving to work. I was deathly afraid I'd have an attack and have an accident.
I finally (2.5 yrs after daughter's birth) got my doctor to send me to the surgeon. I told him my symptoms. He asked me how the doctor checked me. I said I was always lying down. He told me to stand up. Then he poked me right in my belly button. I about fell on the floor unconscious, the pain was so bad. I said how come my doctor couldn't find it? He said because my doctor wasn't looking for it correctly.
I had a belly button hernia. When the surgeon went in to repair it, he said it was actually quite bad; he even had to use surgical mesh to shore up the surgical site (which I'm not excited about, as I don't like having anything foreign in my body).
I still have occasional issues with some twinges and little aches and pains once in a while, but now I can actually live with it. And I can exercise, although I have to be careful and cautious when doing anything abdominal.
Did you actually have your hiatial hernia while pregnant? Or did you get one while pregnant/after birthing? You're positive that is the type of hernia you have, that it's not a different type, or that you didn't suffer another hernia?
I do know that doctors these days are opting for less and less hernia surgeries as well as hemmrhoid surgeries. I'm not sure why. Someone told me once that the outcome usually isn't that good, that many hernias rerupture or don't heal very well and that hemmrhoids usually reappear. However, given the intense, stabbing pains I was having and the fact that the hernia was VERY BAD when the surgeon went in, I am having a hard time believing that doctors won't go in and fix these things. But I also blame it on our current healthcare situation and "cutting costs."
I would definitely look into this a bit more, with a different surgeon, if needed.