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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Childbirth

C section recovery

32 replies

Caterpillar0 · 09/05/2013 08:44

I'm having one shortly and would really appreciate any any advice on aiding recovery. I've read arnica is good - is that in tablet form? as a homeopathic treatment? cream?

Also I've seen c section belts on the Internet. Are they useful?

Can you bath normally?

And will the cradle breast feeding position (the only one I've ever used) be ok, say with a pillow over the scar?

Thanks

OP posts:

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Fruitbatyogi · 12/05/2013 00:07

I went home 24 hrs post ELCS on the tube, husband had the babe in a sling..
I was out of hospital sooner than any of the other first time mums I knew.
No problems with breast feeding
10 days later I was going for 5 mile walks with the buggy, midwife, are you ok, me I'm fine, her are you sure, me well I walked to X and back earlier (2.5 miles away) mw - ok you really are fine.

It was a totally positive experience.

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newbie6 · 11/05/2013 00:05

Hi

I had an EMCS and healed very quickly. I honestly thought it was okay and like you had heard horror stories. First few days I felt a little tender but was up walking about and able to take baths etc. I took all the painkillers offered to me but was off them after 5 days. Was back riding my horse in 6 weeks and would not mind if I had to have another one. Obviously everyone will be different but best advice would be to take the painkillers and move about as soon as you can so you don't get too stiff and sore. X

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mikkii · 10/05/2013 20:27

I've had two planned sections due to placenta praevia. After the first I was ready to drive after 5 weeks so waited the normal 6, after the second I was much keener to get back to normal (she was number 3) and I wanted to get my life back having been so restricted during the pregnancy. I was driving after 3 weeks.

Big knickers are the most important, lactulose too as everything (inside and out) has been disturbed and can be tender.

After the second section I drank loads of water overnight so I could wee and get the tube out, the problem was they took out the catheter and an hour later I had to beg to be mobilised as I was desperate for a wee!

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SleepyCatOnTheMat · 10/05/2013 20:15

P.S. My scar still aches sometimes four and a half years later!

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SleepyCatOnTheMat · 10/05/2013 20:13

Make sure you take a natural laxative, e.g. Movicol, as the painkillers will make you constipated. I didn't go to the loo for 6 days after my CS and when I finally went it was excruciating.

It is major surgery, don't feel you have to be Superwoman afterwards (you wouldn't be expected to be after any other major abdominal surgery). It took me far longer than two weeks to recover from mine, I still needed assistance getting in and out bed several weeks later and was going to my GP's twice a week to have the wound dressed until DS was 4 months old (it got infected and took ages to heal).

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Stangirl · 10/05/2013 19:40

I've had 2 ELCS and never used a belt. Off pain meds in 3 or 4 days (though really needed them during that time). Used a My Breast Friend pillow and usual hold (not rugby). Most annoying bit was how "tight" the stitch became before it was removed - felt like I was bending over a really nasty serrated plastic knife whenever I stood up - didn't stop me walking up hills pushing the pram before week was out though. Didn't use any arnica or anything.

Big knickers here too.

Oh and with the second ELCS I had a 17 month old and was picking her up from the day I got home.

PS I'm old and unfit so it's doable for some people of all types.

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Caterpillar0 · 09/05/2013 21:32

MyDarlingYoni - I think I've managed to create something similar by taking the side off an existing cot. Much cheaper. Hope it works...

OP posts:

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MyDarlingYoni · 09/05/2013 17:38

BTW consultant said after section I was most nervous person they had had in a long long time., I have to admit I had a small panic attack when in theatre, just when i first saw it....

However, I don't think about the op now with any bad feeling or fear or anything....I think about the moment she cried and I saw her face!

Compared to first birth whose memory and trauma made me feel like I had been through a dreadful ordeal for five years!

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MyDarlingYoni · 09/05/2013 17:36

www.mumsnet.com/reviews/nursery/cots-cribs-cotbeds/9963-arms-reach-universal-co-sleeper-bedside-cot

Huge aid to my recovery if your not co sleeping, size of it great, out of all nct group I have had best sleep etc...

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LowLevelWhinging · 09/05/2013 16:08

Hmm, off pain killers in 3 days may be quite an achievement... More like 4 weeks for me! But last time I had my tubes tied as well and was still getting internal pains, but nothing unmanageable.

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Heavywheezing · 09/05/2013 15:57

I don't want to worry you, but it's not like that for everyone.

I agree with the big knickers, you'll need slippers or flip flops that you can just put on without hands.

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Caterpillar0 · 09/05/2013 15:52

Right, feeling pumped now!
What about lifting? How many weeks before I can get ds (16 months) out of his cot, do you think?

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octanegirl · 09/05/2013 15:44

I agree with previous posters. It's really not bad. I was off the painkillers after 3 days, didn't need them. Got that horrible burning feeling when sitting up for a while but it soon goes. I was back on my horse at 6 weeks, jumping by 7, skiing by 8!

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iheartshoes · 09/05/2013 15:19

Seconded , after the first week you will feel SO much better

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LowLevelWhinging · 09/05/2013 15:14

don't worry OP. The worst of it is over in 7 days or so. by 14 days, you'll be tonnes better!

and two weeks out of a lifetime is nowt. Honest!

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Caterpillar0 · 09/05/2013 14:17

thanks everyone! v helpful. Yes NCT does psyche you up for a miserable recovery if you end up with a section. I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing. Never had an operation

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CommanderShepard · 09/05/2013 12:57

My biggest advice would be don't assume it's going to be horrendous. I had an EMCS after failed forceps and ventouse, but was mobile (if a little doddery) within less than 6 hours and only needed paracetamol and diclofenac as pain relief. I think to be fair I got lucky but I was so scared about having a dreadful recovery (thanks, NCT...) and it was a load of wasted energy.

Definitely take the pain relief religiously though. Once you're in pain it's a lot harder to treat it.

I never had any problems breastfeeding in the cradle hold; just needed a cushion to bring her up to the right height.

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Omnishambolic · 09/05/2013 12:57

I've had two - one EMCS, one ELCS. Second time they went in through the same scar (but had to make it bigger as baby more than twice the size). Healed fine.

I had baths as soon as I got home, I prefer them to showers, had no problems. Big granny pants from M&S (which I got quite addicted to). Take the drugs but actually found that as soon as I got home so a couple of days after the op I was cutting back substantially. I did get a lot of pain in my shoulder bizarrely the first few days - that was more painful than my stomach and the drugs didn't touch it.

First night or so in hospital the magic moveable bed is your friend - make sure you keep tight hold of the control pad (they left me with the bed controls clipped to the wall behind my head, I couldn't sit up to reach it unaided, but I couldn't reach the call button for help without sitting up, which I couldn't do...)

Breastfed in the reverse cradle just cos that's how I was taught, both times with no problems and a cushion which I would have had anyway to raise the baby up.

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Xiaoxiong · 09/05/2013 12:52

Yes to the trapped wind. Pureed prunes and peppermint oil tablets definitely helped.

Also for breastfeeding - I think I did nothing but rugby hold and lying down in bed for the first week or so, then I added the cradle hold with a bed pillow across my lap. (Now he is 17 months he mostly stands up )

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LowLevelWhinging · 09/05/2013 12:44

oh god, the trapped wind was worse than the contractions! but at least they passed quickly.

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whohellhe · 09/05/2013 12:30

Be aware you might get quite bad trapped
wind! I found that more painful than anything. Peppermint tablets really helped. Good luck.

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LowLevelWhinging · 09/05/2013 12:27

Molotov The recovery was much quicker for the second for me (though I appreciate everyone is different). I cried and cried when I was told I'd have to have DC2 by ELCS, but it really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. And I loved the calmness and predictability of the ELCS compared to the first EMCS under general that I had.

As far as how my body looks ... well, there's definitely a different shape to my stomach now... but the DCs make that pale into insignificance

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MolotovCocktail · 09/05/2013 10:36

LowLevel, may I ask what having 3 sections has been like? Particularly the 2nd compared with the 1st?

I've had 2 babies, one by ELCS. My DH would like another but I'm wondering what a 2nd section might be like, how my body might fare afterwards (how it feels and looks).

Sorry for the slight hijack, OP.

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LowLevelWhinging · 09/05/2013 10:15

Primark seamless knickers!

Soft with nothing to dig in.

And whilst it is difficult at first (have had 3), I found that each day feels better and the worst passes quickly.

Good luck!

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MolotovCocktail · 09/05/2013 10:07

Hiya, I had an ELCS last April. It was a lovely, calm birth :-) In answer to your questions:

Arnica - be careful when taking arnica. Unbeknown to me, my blood is 'runny' (according to the surgeon whilst I was having the CS). This meant that it took longer than usual for my blood to clot. He asked if I had taken arnica; I hadn't. Good job, too, as it acts as a blood thinner (like warfarin) so as to prevent clotting/bruising. Lots of women take it with no ill effects, but I was so glad that I didn't.

C section belts - wouldn't bother, your wound will feel a bit weird to start with. Not painful because of meds, bu you won't want anything tightly pressed against it for a while. Certainly not for the first 10 days so as to prevent wound infection.

Bathing - Let the wound completely dry out first. Bacteria love warmth and damp. Showers are the order of the day for the first couple of weeks; baths when you feel able to get up and down so far. Don't forget to thoroughly pay your woud dry when coming out of the shower (I used a separate, clean flannel, then dried the rest of my bod with a towel).

Breast feeding - whatever position works for you is a goer, as long as baby isn't directly on your tummy or you're not twisting your body. We manage 4 weeks EBF before moving to mixed feeding.

Good luck!!