Post c section rules

[Angeliki159]

I had a c section on Saturday (5 days ago)
Does anyone know when I'm allowed to have a bubble bath?
I know I can shower and have a plain bath now.
And I have heard I cant drive for 6 weeks but nobody mentioned at the hospital...is that right?

Is there anything else I

Anything else I might not be able to do?

No driving, heavy lifting, hoovering. You may feel fit to to do this before 6 wks are up though and GP can clear you to drive but double check with your insurance company!! No getting pregnant for next 12 months although I was advised 24 mnths was better. Baths with lavender/tea tree oil for healing but soaps can and will irritate your incision/wound. Getting in and out of the bath isn't easy so have someone on hand to help. Take it easy. You have had major surgery ☺

Driving just ask your insurance company mine didn't need gp sign off they just said as long as I felt I could do an emergency stop. Take it easy and even if your not sleeping put your feet up takes away swelling.

I was told not to do sit ups or work my abs for a year. Your stomach muscles have been cut and need to recover. The scar may look healed but there are many layers of stitches and healing fully takes a long time.

No sit ups for a year?? Bloody hell. I’m having a c section and nobody told me that? How are you supposed to get your tummy back in shape with no sit ups?

Lots of myths about c sections. The 6 week driving thing isn’t true, like a previous poster said it depends on when you could comfortably perform an emergency stop without hesitation. Could be 4 weeks, could be 8 weeks.
Also stomach muscles aren’t cut with every section, depends on how your surgeon does it. Mine makes a smaller incision, separates the muscles and uses forceps to bring baby out. So not cut muscles, I could do a sit up within weeks.

When I had my section many years ago I was told that you could drive if you could comfortably do an emergency stop and felt able . I drove within 2 weeks .

I could do sit ups within a few weeks. But I was told I shouldn’t do sit ups for a year, or any other exercises that involve the lower belly bulging up and out. My physiotherapist said it would put outward pressure on the incision and on the pelvic floor, and would train the abdominal muscles apart instead of pulling them back together. I was advised to do only exercises that worked the abs by pulling them in and together (eg Pilates) along with low impact cardio. Then after a year when you’ve fully healed (internally as well as externally) and your GP or physio has examined you and confirmed that you have no diastasis and your abdominal muscles have knitted back together, then you can exercise as normal.

Don’t take my word for it - a quick google search will tell you the same thing.

My daughter is 7 weeks old on monday and i was signed off to drive by my midwife on day 10. I honestly felt absolutely fine, i could bend, twist, pick things up, but having read a post above im now wondering if that's because my stomsch muscles werent cut and instead were moved out the way? I have 2 other toddlers so was already looking after them...and we were all going stir crazy stuck at home!

I think the biggest myth for me was someone needs to pass you your baby in hospital, ive had 2 c-sections and have never needed that. Getting up and about is the best thing you can do, big pants and high trousers they arent on your wound. Just take things at your own pace, but you might be back to normal quicker than you think

There Is a good reason for not driving for 6 weeks. Externally and personally you may feel fine after 2 or 3 weeks, but the internal wound takes much longer to heal, I had a nurse nicely lecture me on this. Not worth the risk IMO.

I'm almost 11 months post section and it's only recently that I would have felt comfortable to do sit ups. I would say I was 95% recovered within about 6 weeks but the last 5% has taken forever.