I had an emergency C-section three and a half years ago. Not EMERGENCY!!! emergency, though, so not as rough as some.
I refused morphine because it makes me hallucinate, so the first night was pretty painful, but after that I was fine with just Difene. They gave me a prescription to take home with me, but I never bothered filling it. Another advantage of turning down the morphine is that it makes you less likely to get constipated, which is apparently incredibly painful.
I was up, walking and showering within about 12 hours. Standard hospital stay here after a section is 5 nights - after three I was more than ready to go home, but they convinced me to stay the extra two just to make sure we both had the hang of breastfeeding. The day after I got home, I was taking the baby for a walk in her sling (I’d been told not to lift anything heavier than her for six weeks) and it was fine. But yeah, laughing and sneezing were both killers for a few weeks.
Her appetite came in the day before my milk, which made that night pretty rough, but after that I didn’t have any problems breastfeeding.
My big tip: Spanx, or whatever kind of control knickers you can get your hands on. They hold everything in place, so the wound doesn’t move when you move. Made a HUGE difference.
Also, if you’re planning on breastfeeding, you might want to invest in a solid breastfeeding pillow that straps around your back. That way you don’t have to hold up the baby’s weight while you’re feeding it.
I’m pregnant again and have a C-section scheduled for late April - in other words, the whole thing was doable enough that I’m voluntarily doing it again.
My c-section was also an EMERGENCY!!! c-section under general anesthesia. Fortunately, I didn’t have any problems with wound healing or bruising or anything. In fact, there was basically no wound care besides “gently blot with soap, rinse, gently blot dry”. They sewed me up so that all the raw edges were on the inside. Once I got the original surgical dressing off (in the shower at the hospital) there was no more blood.
One thing about it that I really wish I had figured out sooner: they gave me Vicodin and Advil as pain medications after my morphine drip was turned off 24 hours after surgery. I dutifully alternated both for about a week. Then I realized that the Vicodin got into my breast milk, and might be making my baby groggy–and she was a lazy eater, just wouldn’t concentrate on nursing. I threw away the Vicodin and just used Advil, which doesn’t get into breast milk and honestly did a much better job killing pain.
But after the first week, you’ll be taking your painkillers to deal with the breastfeeding more than the incision.
I had several hours of crazytown straight-into-transition back labor before my c-section. The c-section recovery was only about 10% as difficult as the labor had been. It felt like a cakewalk.
OH! Edited to say: buy yourself a 20-pack of Depends and some high-waisted granny panties. You won’t be able to stand anything pressing on your incision for about a month. Wear the Depends until they run out (to catch the lochia), then you’ll want the granny panties. And yes, your maternity pants. The full panel ones. Sorry to tell you that
My first baby was 19 hours of back labor, which included 3 hours of pushing. I was young (24) and though I walked around like a baboon for a few weeks (because my genitalia basically looked like a baboon’s from all that pushing) I felt basically back to “normal” after two weeks. As normal as one can feel after becoming a mother, anyway.
Baby #2 was two years later, and I was only in labor for two hours before they decided to do a C-section because there was a lot of bleeding. Turned out to be abrupted placenta. The baby wasn’t showing any signs of distress, but they weren’t happy about the bleeding.
Procedure didn’t hurt. Strange to feel all that “tugging” down there. Recovery took about 4 weeks instead of 2. Everyone is absolutely right about the laughing and coughing. I got in the habit of doing this really light “huh-huh-huh” in my upper chest when I wanted to laugh, but it was so silly that it usually just made me laugh for real and I had to try to brace my abs with a pillow.
I remember saying at the time that if I had to do it again, I would definitely choose the C-section. Labor hurt like a mofo and took a long time.
Oh, your comment about seeing white made me remember another night … it had to be almost three months after my daughter was born. It was the middle of the night, and the cat jumped on the bed and landed smack in the middle of the c incision (which really, by this point I was already thinking of it as a scar). I’m sure my eyes rolled back in my head with the pain. I had no idea it could still be so bad after so much time had passed … I had thought I was completely recovered, but then again I hadn’t mixed it up with a 13 lb cat, either. I add that as a reminder that even after you feel fine with daily activities, be aware that you don’t want any excessive contact with that area.
I do remember begging the nurses to leave the catheter in an extra day, I was peeing like crazy and getting up and down out of bed was miserable. Partly due to moving, partly that I just wanted sleep.
I really don’t remember that much incisional pain, just the trauma of dehiscence and the very slow healing. Of course I watched my son go into congestive heart failure at 4 days of life, so I was probably just incredibly physically, mentally and emotionally numb
Take all the drugs. Take the painkillers on schedule for as long as your doctor recommends. My wonderful nurse told me the drugs are there to keep pain away. Don’t wait for pain to start. Once it starts, it is hard to stop. Pain interferes with healing, so there is no benefit to trying to brave it out. I was never in much pain, except for day 3, which is the worst for some reason.
Even if he’s at work 8 hours a day, he will be home at night, and that makes a huge difference. I have no idea how truly single moms do it–people that take a baby home by themselves and have no other adult around at all, and possibly have other small children. You know how everyone says that you don’t sleep much with a small baby? One thing I didn’t realize is that not sleeping = more waking. Days and nights get LONG. If you were going to be alone all night, every night (and some women are), I’d say have your mother-in-law over every day that you can even if she’s a demon from hell. If you have support at night and on the weekends, you will be able to be on your own more, and more quickly, during the day. But you may well also find you need the help, and you like her more when one, she’s helpful and two, you have this new common ground to talk about.
I was married, to an alcoholic who was in the process of grieving his father and dealing with some other personal issues. Lots of denial. He also worked 2 jobs. One job 8 hours a week in two 4 hour blocks) and the other 2-3 eight hour night shifts a week. Oh and my baby was pretty medically fragile, needed twice daily injections and medications, and I wasn’t supposed to let my baby cry much at all (stress on heart and lungs). Plus of course my incision wasn’t closed, I was getting packing dressings daily.
I used to go to Mom’s house when he worked night shifts. Those few days were the most I ever slept. Other times I would walk the floor all day and all night with my son. I would walk to the hospital for daily dressing changes on my c-section incision. I had very minimal help with the baby, and ZERO with housework, cooking etc. Sometimes if he cooked something for himself he wouldn’t even ask if I wanted some. Really, you couldn’t made extra fried rice for me? He figured since I was home all day I could make my own food.
When I realized it was easier being a single mom than having him around, I knew I had to do something. It took a few months to end it, but BEST DECISION EVER! Being a single mom post section is HARD, but sometimes its the best way to play that hand. My son and I are very close, and he is also very close to my parents.
Do stock up on easy cook freezer /microwave meals, and even better have things that you can just eat. Suggest people who want to help make you sandwiches or other things that you can just eat when you want. Have a huge stock of your beverages of choice around, especially if you plan to breastfeed, because you will not believe how thirsty it is possible to get. I loved having bananas and grapes around too, something I could snack on easily.
Also there will be a day when you are willing to give anything you have, possibly including the baby :eek: in exhange for someone, anyone, to let you shower or if you aren’t showering yet help you wash your hair. Make sure your husband, or the mom in law is there that day.
Well, my water broke early Sunday morning and my beautiful baby girl Vivian was born at 6:19 am. So far so good other than she isn’t interested in breast feeding and some strong opinions from MIL about everything I’m doing wrong like cuddling my newborn instead of keeping her in the bassinet unless feeding. This hospital is big on skin to skin and I love it so that’s what we are doing.
You cuddle as much as you want. My MiL also felt that cuddling would “spoil” the baby. Ha! I cuddled whenever I felt like it…go ahead! Hold that baby. Kiss her sweet head.
My son was on life support for two weeks. The few times I got to hold him during that time I was in heaven. Once I got him home he slept with me for months. He is nine, still likes cuddles, (on his terms, and not too much, and only on the couch, and a bunch of rules go along with it) You cannot spoil a baby by loving her.
Well, this is largely moot (congrats!!) but here are my experiences:
I had one with my second child and the recovery was a hell of a lot EASIER than with my first (vaginal birth). #2 was an urgent-but-not-emergent situation: I was already in the hospital due to pre-eclampsia, they decided that having me die on them would not be good for anyone, so baby had to come that day. She was breech, so c-section.
Since it was a “today” not “in 90 seconds” situation, the doc could take her time and do a good job without damaging things unnecessarily.
Versus #1, which was an induced vaginal delivery with botched epidural, forceps, and grade 3 tearing that meant I could quite literally not sit up for 2 weeks without being in extreme pain.
If they offer you stool softeners: take them. And ask for more. After any delivery, the innards get pretty traumatized and there’s a fair chance you’ve had some narcotics onboard as well, so you will need the help. And drink lots of fluids - especially if you’re breastfeeding.
If your insurance allows for a longer stay than 48 hours, take it. As much as I hate hospitals with a well-earned passion, that bed was a whole lot easier than at home. Plus unless you have help, it’s easier at the hospital. In my case, the baby was still in the NICU so I really had an incentive to stay put.
Obviously, don’t lift anything heavier than the baby for a few weeks!!
