Post section recovery...give it to me straight - how long will engorgement, belly overhang, and lust for chocolate last??

[lilKelBel]

Hi ladies and babies

This is my second time round in babyland so you'd think I'd have it figured out by now. Alas. Any advice from anyone out there recovering?

I had an elective section a week ago, BF for 3 days then decided to exclusively FF as I encountered major issues with BF. Went cold turkey - maybe that was stupid, because holy engorgement!! When will the pain end???

Also, my CS wound is looking decidedly puffy - is this normal? It's like the Irish Sea down there, waves of flesh rippling around, what with the remains of the bump, then the wound, oh dear...!!! I've 7kg left to lose and feel like it's entirely in the area below my navel!

TIA -

I had an emergency section with my first baby and the overhang reduced gradually and went by about 9 months I think, but exercise is the only way to shift it - I don't think you can do it by weight loss alone. It only took 3 months to lose the weight but the fat was re-distributed around my belly

I'm trying to remember what my scar looked liked but it is a while ago. I think the puffiness is normal...

Regarding the engorgement, can you express a little milk by hand to ease the pressure? This helped me when I stopped BF. Just enough to make the pain go away.

As for the chocolate - does that ever go away?!

I'm having an elective section on Tuesday, so I'll have recent experience next week!!

6years and counting. Not the engorgement but the others.

Hi lilkelbel,
I also had an elective c/s one week ago today. It's my third child after two previous vaginal births so I didn't really know what to expect.
I can't advise re the wound as I haven't had the courage to look at it yet! Husband and midwives assure me it is fine and it doesn't hurt at all. I've been wearing huge Primark knickers which seem to have caused a rash on my tummy and bottom.
As for belly overhang, well I've just looked down and realised that I can now see my pubes for the first time in about six months so I must be making progress! My tummy has always been my weak area so I'm not unduly worried yet.
Physically, I felt pretty rough for the first few days in hospital but I stopped taking my painkillers yesterday and feel fine.
I can now climb up and down the stairs easily, sit up without any pain, roll over in bed, put laundry on etc so feel that I am getting back to normal.
I had a delayed start breastfeeding but milk finally came in two days ago and I'm quite relieved about it mainly due to the extra work involved in getting bottles ready. It was quite painful when they were engorged- do you have access to a breast pump or are there any drugs that can help?
Overall I've been very pleased with my c/s experience. The surgical team were fantastic and my baby did have a very big head as predicted so feel I did the safest thing for my pelvic floor and more importantly baby.
Enjoy your babymoon period- I'm surprised by how besotted I am again third time round.

IME you just have to wait out the engorgement - pressing hard on the breast wth the heel of your hand might help.
As for belly overhang - you mean that's supposed to go away?

I remember feeling very tender around my scar for ages - certainly painful for the first 5 - 6 weeks, and then very tender for a good while after that.

3 years later it's still 'odd' - numb mostly but feels weird. And I've still got impressive overhang...

Congratulations on your new baby! As for the painful boobs when you take a shower try combing (yes with a comb) stroke towards the nipple and all the way round. I had engorgement a couple of months ago whilst away on a course and someone recommended this and it worked for me. Obviously it may just take time. As regards to your CS scar it will be tender and swollen for a while. I couldn't even bear to look at mine for ages and it was painful especially if I had overdone things. It will be months before you lose the overhang but once you can begin exercising it will go.

9 months up, 9 months down. If you only had your c-section a week ago, don't be TOO impatient...

Exercise is the key. If you lose the weight, you will just get saggy skin and a flabby tummy unless you also tone up those muscles. Actually, I think the saggy skin is probably with you for life - sorry!

I had my second c-section nearly 4 months ago and my tummy is now looking almost acceptable again, but that's doing sit ups, lunges, etc twice a week plus a long walk with the pushchair every day.

Just thought I'd add something re c-section scar. i had DS 20 mths ago and and now 4mths preg with No2. I've started using Bio Oil to help prevent (fingers crossed) stretch marks, and also to help prepare the section scar as I think I may want a vbac this time round. Anyway, to cut a long story short - my scar had healed very well, and quickly, but always felt weird, numb and sometimes tender if I touched it. But the Bio Oil has been fantastic. Only been using it for a couple of weeks and already the scar feels much much better. Best of luck with your recovery!

Hullo

Reading this with interest, had emergency cs 3 months ago with firstborn, and very numb in a band about 2 inches above scar, and have fab overhang! Naive I know, but is the overhang a special gift only CS ladies get?! is it because the muscles are all cut? Do you think pilates would help? Have been doing crunches etc, but cant feel anything as am so numb!

Alocin, I had my c/s 4 years ago and I still have a numb band exactly where you describe. As for my overhang, if it's still here after 4 years then I think it's here to stay

I only have a small numb area over my scar, not the surrounding tissue and that is after 2 years. I am now VERY pregnant so obviously have no overhang at the moment.
But there is hope - I did get rid of mine, it just takes lots of exercise! The thing that made the biggest difference to me was taking up running... I ran in the race for life last year and during training I noticed that my waist was finally trimming down and the overhang was reducing. About 9 months - 1 year after the section I was overhang free (not completely flat tummied you understand, but the dreaded over-hang was no more)
I will definitely be taking up running again after I have recovered from this next section!

all this is really helpful, thanks!! I'm especially curious how the scar behaves in subsequent pgs - NOT THAT I'M THINKING OF IT quite yet of course

I was told quite often during my section that it was beneficial to me that it was my first - which makes me wonder how much riskier/difficult it is to have a second section. bit off topic but any thoughts on that?

big devotee to BioOil already so guess I'll need to stock up! I'm sure it helped me avoid stretchmarks both times...

also am keen to start running again so am glad that will help. not so keep to start crunches & lunges though - [lazy cringing emoticon]

Lilkelbel, each subsequent c-section takes a bit longer because they have to cut through scar tissue. Having said that, my first c-section took 4 minutes between first cut and getting baby out, and second was only 7 minutes! So not THAT much longer.

Agree with RedFraggle about the exercise. I got rid of my overhang through exercise, but without the exercise I don't think it would ever have gone.

Hi LilKelBel,

Re scar behaviour in second pregnancy, I'm currently 38 weeks pregnant with baby two and have noticed a fair bit of tenderness around the scar area over the last couple of weeks, only when baby is being particularly wriggly or when I've been having strong braxton hicks. It is not massively painful though - just a bit twingey and uncomfortable. Will let you know about second sections next week!

ok keep me posted fraggle

must say I'm wondering how my skin might cope with another pg as my bump was really stretched-out-feeling the whole time and sore. Imagine a scar would be sort of like a bad tattoo, and skin would be even tighter!

Lilkel....take things easy for at least six weeks....just cos the scar on the outside is OK doesn't mean all the inner layers are fine.

Hope you can get a bit more sleep (I know how you feel, for the last three weeks I've been getting an hour and a half at a stretch, and last night BH contractions were waking me up every hour until 4:30, then I managed 2 hours straight.
DS is probably reacting to all the change going on with the LO . sorry just realised that was from another thread

Before I got pg, four years after my c-section, scar still quite numb in that I could cig my fingernails in and it didn't hurt, and I still had a bit of an overhang (dreading waht I'll look like after this c-section). also, cos DS stretched me more on the left side than the right side, it's all a bit squint and my pubes now look higher on the left than the right.

babe dont worry bout it it takes as long as it takes

scar does fade

enjoy your beautiful baby

Probably been said before, but i can't stress how brilliant arnica is at speeding up healing both inside and out.

• and yes scar does fade

Lilkel, I've just had cs no3, 3 weeks ago, it took slightly longer to get the db3 out than the other two, but equal recovery time. The surgeon 'got rid' of one of the existing cs scars (I asked for a tummy tuck as well but she just laughed )and you can hardly tell now where the old one is. I have overhang big time and for me it normally takes a couple of months until it goes away but it always stays a little numb around the scar area.

i still have overhang 11 weeks later but that was my third section - so will take a while for muscles etc to get sorted. My wound felt fine after three weeks - but I was taking arnica and I have always bathed my wounds with a few drops of tea tree oil in warm water - never had any problems with wound area - puffiness went very quickly.

in 2nd and 3rd pregnancy no problems with scar and no problems with numbness. No1 was 6lb and no2 9lb 7oz so much bigger 2nd time round and no problems with scar. The only problem was with my third cutting through scarring to get to babe and it took a little longer than the other two. WIth no2 and 3 - they also cut out a lot of the scarring and so you had just one wound/scar area iyswim - well they did with me.

I had my c section 13 weeks ago....they dont tell you about the over-hang smelling sweaty either in this weather!

And the pain when you walk along way, when cloths rub your scar, or scar pain when your period is due!

Top tip though...wear your knickers over your scar, if you wear it on it, it makes the overhang worse!

Hi LilKelBel,

Hope you are feeling a bit happier now and that the engorgement etc has settled down.

I promised to keep you posted about my second section so here it is...

I had my second section on Tuesday and it took about 25 minutes. I was allowed to come home on Friday afternoon and feel fine. I'm a bit tender but no worse than last time (in some ways it feels better than last time as I hadn't been in labour first!)
My scar is very neat and healing really nicely. The overhang isn't too huge and my tummy is reducing nicely.
Only thing I'm having issues with if breastfeeding as it took forever for my milk to come in and my little boy is like a permanent limpet on my breasts - getting rather painful now....

Haven't been brave enough to get on the scales yet!