After a c section how soon can you get in a pool / go to a spa?

[ScreamIfYouWantToGoFaster]

May I ask a question of anyone who's had a c section before?

It will be my birthday one month after my scheduled elcs date and DH has suggested booking one night by myself in a yummy hotel with a spa treatment. (A treat to cheer me up after a gruelling pregnancy). All in all I'll probably be spending even less than 24 hours away from home - probably arrive late afternoon and leave straight after breakfast. Not sure if I'll be leaving DH and the baby with expressed breastmilk or just formula but either way I think I will desperately need some time to myself by then or long before!

My question is, one month after a elcs will I be able to enjoy a normal massage and spend time in the spa pool? Or will I need to stick to pregnancy massages (i.e. special table which keeps weight off your stomach) and will I have to stay out of the pool (given all the chemicals like chlorine)?

Please feel free to add in any other spa issues I might not have thought of one month post elcs! I know that if I am breastfeeding at that point I'll need to bring my breast pump along to relieve pressure!

Thanks!

I was still bleeding at a month so wouldn't have been comfortable in a poole. Not sure I'd have managed lying on my tummy either.

I didnt swim until after my 6 week check, but that was a normal pool. I didnt go in to a jacuzzi and probably would have waited until my scar was well healed and dry.

I wouldnt advise a massage that soon and I doubt the therapist will allow it, for insurance purposes.

Have you had a cs before? It is major surgery. Your abdominal walls and uterus need to heal, as well as your skin. 4 weeks is very early on to be doing much at all.

Is this your first baby? If so you might find also that you might not want to be separated for a whole day that early on. I love the idea of planning a treat for after though :-)

I didnt mean that to sound so snippy. Just think you need to rethink a spa break this early on!

I think this is probably quite an individual thing and you may not know until nearer the time. People heal differently and sometimes there might be infections or whatever that mean the scar takes longer to heal.

Me personally, I'm a wimp, and hated the feeling of my scar for quite a while afterwards. (I can still feel it when I sneeze 4 years later! ugh) I wouldn't have wanted to swim or anything, maybe sitting in a jacuzzi at most. But I reckon I'm pretty pathetic and in the minority!

Even if you don't want/can't have a back thumping massage, you could still have facials, pedi, indian head massage etc couldn't you?

The other thing to consider is that despite how tired you will inevitable be, you may not want to leave the baby overnight

Thanks for the pointers. It sounds like the pool would be a no-go that early on due to the wound, which surprises me given my hospital info says I can have a bath from the day after the op. I was only worrying about the chemicals in the pool really, not being submerged.

As for the massage, several people have suggested that might be a problem but I'm not really clear on the reason why? I can understand that lying on my front might still be sore, which is why I might need to book a pregnancy massage. So long as I have the pregnancy massage table, so there's no weight on my stomach, why exactly would a massage be a bad idea?

I don't really enjoy facials / pedis / etc - I'm just totally addicted to massages! I don't think it'll be an issue leaving the baby for a night either, given that my DH will be there the whole time, and probably my Mum as well!

Also, can I say a big thanks to everyone who's taken the time to respond. I am totally clueless as to what it will be like a month after a elcs, so all comments are appreciated!

Scream, you might be absolutely fine with all of the above that you want to do. See how you feel.

And I don't mean that you won't feel like the baby is looked after in your absence, just that you might really like being with him/her! I have no doubts that your DP is more than capable of caring for your baby for one night

I think most massage therapists etc will want to wait until after your 6 week check-up before they perform any kind of treatment on you - this is for insurance purposes, as if you had an adverse reaction, they wouldn't want to be liable. Worth finding out beforehand.

I'm exactly 4 weeks from my elcs with 3 rd baby. I can lie on my front, but dont as breastfeeding so boobs are often a bit full/uncomfy. My back hurts too and my pelvis is still unstable. You will find you will have to express whilst you are there. My cs wound doesnt hurt, it is not painful to touch even. It healed very well though, better than my second elcs. The hospital said i could swim after 6 weeks. Not sure I could be away from DD for a whole day though, would feel odd. Oh, and i am still bleeding off and on, so wouldnt like to be in a jacuzzi or pool just yet anyway.

Wrt the pool, it isn't just the wound but even with an elcs you still get the lochia discharge for up to 4-6 weeks after (think heavy period).

People all react differently to a c section. I struggled to comfortably walk for a few weeks whereas others don't seem to feel as if they've had major surgery!

If you are breastfeeding you may still be establishing bf (it can be tough to get established) and not everyone can successfully express. Certainly a spa day would be great but I'm not sure I'd have really felt like it quite so soon after the birth.

I didn't realise the lochia lasted for so long, I knew it would happen of course but not that it could still be around a month after giving birth. Thanks for the heads up. I agree, going in the pool whilst still bleeding wouldn't be a great idea at all. First thanks for letting me know what your hospital said about not swimming for the first 6 weeks as well. I think the pool idea is definitely out.

Sticking with my massage plan though! The pregnancy massages I had early on used tables that made sure you don't put any weight on your belly or boobs (I definitely remember how sore my boobs were in the first tri!) Also, I think it's pretty unlikely the spa would be willing to massage pregnant women but not willing to offer post-natal massages. Naturally I will tell them about the elcs at the time I book though.

All of your comments have been really helpful, thanks everyone! I'll be booking it all in tomorrow, can't wait! (The hotel and spa have decent cancellation periods as well, just in case I end up with a nasty infection post-cs or anything else which stops me from going - boo!)

I have absolutely no experience with this at all but could you have this as your bday treat but book it for after your 6 week check up? I know it's not the same as having it right on your bday but a bit of a compromise, you might enjoy it more too if you could use the pool etc.

It's a nice idea Sparkle, but actually I think I'd rather have the treat as close to the birth as comfortably possible. In an ideal imaginary world I actually wish I could have a week off right after the elcs and BEFORE the arrival of the baby (ludicrous I know!). It's just been such a rough pregnancy, I wish I could take a breath and recover before jumping into parenthood. Obviously I know this isn't remotely possible, but still the chance to have a day to myself as close to the birth as possible is really the main focus of this whole treat.

I'm not too worried about the pool aspect, the massage is key for me, along with the baby-free night in the hotel! Rather than having a spa day, I'm just going to have the one massage treatment.

Just to add, the difference between massaging a pregnant woman and massaging someone that has just had major surgery is the key here, for insurance purposes.

Will you really want a night away so soon? DS is eight months old and I still can't imagine staying away from him. I know lots of people so, but four weeks seems so soon. I hope that doesn't sound judgy, but don't underestimate your hormones. You may find it more stressful being away from LO than being with them.

Oh, but to answer your question, physically my wound was healed enough for a massage four weeks after CS, but i was still bleeding heavily and, to be honest, wouldn't have wanted anyone that close to me. I also wouldn't have risked it until after six week check, which actually, round here is the eight week check.

I certainly wouldn't have appreciated a spa day and night away at that stage. Way too much pressure when establishing breastfeeding and there are also restrictions on the type of massage and oils that can be used if breastfeeding. I love spa days and would find it irritating in the extreme to have a "watered down" treat with all the incumbent logistical challenges and when still feeling wobbly physically and emotionally after birth/major surgery, even though I was ok from a basic post-op point of view.

Could you look for a postnatal doula who specialises in massage who could come to you at home? I agree with everyone else that I think the chances are no matter what you think now, when the baby arrives you may well find that a spa day is a long way down your list of things you want to do 4 weeks postpartum. I agree you may struggle to find a spa who will book you in that soon after major surgery too. If you are breastfeeding they may insist on using plain oil, even though some essential oils are fine in pregnancy/breastfeeding.

If you want to leave a 4 weeks old overnight, would you plan for it to have breastmilk or formula while you're away? Expressing enough in advance to leave baby for 12+hrs might be very difficult. Often mums who start expressing only manage to get small amounts initially (1oz or less) and it can take several expressing sessions to get enough just for one feed. Given that newborns feed every couple of hours it could literally take a week or more of dedicated pumping to build up enough for the time you plan to be away, and fitting all that in round recovering, feeding the baby and everything else that consumes your life 24/7 in the newborn period could be quite stressful.

I'm addicted to massages. I adore them in pregnancy and would have LOVED one (or many!) after DC3 arrived. DH bought me vouchers. I used the first one when DC3 was 10 months old, as that was the first time I felt comfortable to leave them for the several hours needed and managed to fit it in round everything else. Even with DC1 they were 4 months before I left them for an afternoon (with grandparents and expressed milk).

PS when DC1 was 5 weeks old we went to a wedding. We planned to stay in the hotel overnight. I was really looking forward to it. When it came to it, I didn't feel 'safe' in the hotel (sounds bonkers and felt bonkers at the time too ). That was with the baby and DH. I had a powerful and overwhelming urge to come home and in fact we drove to relatives who lived nearby. As someone else said, you change a lot as a person after baby arrives. Some of it is temporary, like the extreme vulnerability I'm describing. It is really hard to explain in advance.

Please don't pay any money or tie yourself into paying for a spa package that you may not want to actually go on when the time comes.

If you formula feed and are lucky enough to have a quick cs recovery and you are a bit like me and quite meh about leaving your baby it might be fine - but that's a lot of 'ifs'. Give yourself the option to say 'actually it's too soon'. Make a provisional booking but don't commit yourself until the baby is here.

Wow. I am really glad I started this thread because I honestly hadn't anticipated how many new Mums would think this would be a difficult idea! Clearly, with so many people against it, there must be far more complications than I had imagined. I really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to respond, especially QT. In answer to your q's my elcs is in ten days' time and I am in London.

I'd just like to reiterate that it's not a full spa day, it will just be a massage. I fully agree that trying to hop in a pool whilst still experiencing lochia would be very wrong.

I'm glad that a couple of people said that they were able to lie on their front / physically handle a massage, at one month post op. I also note that some people said they wouldn't want a massage so early on, but if it's not a question of pain then I assume it's simply a personal preference, and I know my preference would be for the massage! I'll make sure to double check with the spa for any post op issues when I book, but the massage won't be anywhere near the incision site so I'm sure it'll be fine.

As for the other issues - I'm sure engorged boobs could be a pain, but I think that can be controlled with sufficient pumping during the day. I should be a pumping pro by then! It's my intention to express from the very start, and if that leads to mixed feeding or exclusively ffing then that's just where we end up. I would definitely choose ffing over ebfing without expressing. (This comment isn't intended to spark a debate about bf vs ff by the way, I'm comfortable with my choices and not asking for anyone else's approval).

I appreciate that lots of new Mums don't like to leave their babies for extended periods, and I totally respect that. You'll just have to take my word for it though that I'm not like that. I know people will say "hormones change everything" but the fact is that everyone is different and it's simply not true to suggest that ALL Mums are unwilling to be parted from their babies for a night. I, for one, will be gagging for some time to myself.

If all else fails though I am at least making my bookings in places which allow you to cancel up until the last minute. So if I get an infection post-cs and really can't make it then I will just have to postpone it :(

I don't want to come across as if I'm not looking forward to this baby by the way. I'm sure I will adore her. I just wish wish wish I could have a chance to recover from my pregnancy before jumping into parenthood, and this day off will be the closest I can get to making that dream a reality. The entire point of the day is having time away from the baby, and to remember who I was before I started my awful pregnancy. The massage, the luxury hotel, and a yummy meal in the eve are all just ways for me to spend a few hours recharging my batteries back in my old life before heading home to deal with newborn stresses!

Well, good luck with it then. Please come back & let us know how you get on.