C Section - What do I need to know?

[SPR1107]

Long story short, I need to have a c section.

What do I need to know that the hospital don't necessarily tell you?

Any tips that i can do to prepare myself before hand or to make my life easier afterwards?

I also have a 2.5 year old - any tips there? How long will I need someone else around to help me etc?

Get yourself some lactulose for afterwards. You want to be ready for constipation.

Be proactive with pain killers. Take them before the pain starts, as by the time it's there, it's too late. If you are planning to breastfeed, ask for advice on appropriate painkillers.

Get yourself up and about as soon as possible and try to focus on straightening up. It feels awkward at first, but it's necessary and will help in the long run.

Some people recover more easily than others. Take the horror stories with a pinch of salt (it’s possible, but may not be what you will experience).
Move little and often to build your strength.
Laughing coughing and sneezing will be agony.
Big knickers are your friend. Buy all of them.
Leggings are also a friend.
Get the 2yr old to help. They will love fetching nappies, and things.

Standing upright is fine, you won't pop open!!

Get lots of windeze. Eat them all day every day.

You will probably feel a bit down the first week. It's hard going and particularly painful when trying to get in and out of bed. Sleep on propped up pillows.

Walking up and down stairs is hard aswell but every day gets easier and better.

Get more windeze.

If you need Clexane anti-clotting injections, pinch a section of skin before triggering as the needles respond better to a firm surface.

Yes to painkillers on time, before it starts hurting. Take it easy and good luck.

Take a book, magazine, colouring book to read/colour whilst you are waiting to go down. I've only had emergencies because my children are awkward but all my friends who have had electives had to wait around quite a bit.
Get them to drop the drape so you can watch, it's amazing.
Get up asap and get moving, stand straight backed.
Make up a busy bag/box for both you and dc1 when you get home. So maybe some new toys, colouring in book, magazine, snacks, drinks for them and snacks/drinks etc for you whilst you are stuck under a baby.
Once you are healed up, start by stroking the numb area around the scar, moving towards gentle massage. I was told to do it by a Doctor in NICU with my first and I have zero numbness across my lower tummy despite 2 sections and was told that I had barely any scar tissue to remove when they did my second. Obviously I can't guarantee it made a difference but the Doctor had 3 and swore by it.

I've had 2 very easy recoveries. No pain killers after what I was given wore off in theatre, no need for the lactulose I suspect because of the lack of pain killers and back doing the 3 mile roundtrip preschool run with the pram by week 2. It will vary but plenty of women bounce back.

Get the biggest pants you can find
Put a maternity pad over your wound, and if you need to sneeze or cough, hold the pad against it

Get a box or small stool to put under your feet when you have poos for the first week (like a squatty potty!)

Get a dressing gown belt or similar and tie it to the head or foot of your bed. Use it to pull yourself up in bed so you don’t put any strain on your abs

Big, supportive pants. I got these -
https://www.amazon.co.uk/wirarpa-Underwear-Waist-Knickers-Control/dp/B0772JNDW9/ref=pdawwsbs7552/260-4635213-2285526?encoding=UTF8&pddrdi=B0772JNDW9&pddrdr=6bab8a2e-469b-11e9-ab3e-6d5c0e271945&pddrdw=Xo2DB&pddrdwg=QMqto&pffrdp=d9539b3c-75e6-4bff-a48d-94806c2c2f83&pffrd_r=X7EB8DG8002HF6575ZJ5&refRID=X7EB8DG8002HF6575ZJ5&th=1&psc=1
They've been wonderful!! Soft leggings are also good. New Look maternity I've found particularly comfy.

Stock up peppermint tea, you get a lot of gas. A big jug so you've always got water/squash/whatever to hand.

Agree with pp that the comfiest way I found to sleep was propped up with many pillows. I needed something solid to hold and pull myself up to sitting, and to get out of bed - my bedframe was great; you could do a test run first and if yours isn't find something else that works. Hope that makes sense!

Hold a pillow firmly against your incision when you cough or sneeze. Helps a lot.

Peppermint tea is a God send for trapped wind.

Sleep propped up on pillows. Comfier and easier to get out of bed. One of those v pillows is awesome.

I stuck stickers on my paracetamol and ibruprofen boxes and write on the times I needed to take each then ticked it off. Otherwise struggled to remember when I had each.

Good luck! I was back riding my horse in 8 weeks so recovery can be fine. It was painful the first two weeks (but I don't think that's any different from a vaginal birth!)

Once back on the ward get your heels resting on a pillow and get someone to massage them.

While you can't move your legs your heels will start to develop bedsores or pressure remarkably quickly & they really hurt!

Also, if it's a planned c-section eat at least one bag of dried apricots a day in the run up

When you have a shower and take the plaster off the scar soak that plaster so so much and peel slowly. It ripped my skin off the 1st time.

Dont feel bad about asking for pain meds.i was so bad the second time around and had dihydrocodien. After pains were worse on the second too.

Special c section pants. Super comfortable and supportive. Well worth the £30. I still wear mine sometimes as a treat 🙈

If you need codine or any other opiate based medication then do take a stool softener. You don’t want to be pushing a poo with a c section wound.

Yes take medication like clockwork and make a note of when it’s all due and tick off.

If you can, literally do nothing for a week, apart from pottering and baby care. Seriously sit on sofa and feed baby, Potter about house but do nothing else. No popping the odd wash on or ironing. You will speed your recovery up much more.

I too was horse riding within a month of first c section. Was more like 6 weeks with second.

the day after, you'll feel fab due to painkillers etc.....so you'll overdo it. Made this mistake twice! During the C-section, it may feel like they're pulling you inside out (not painfully - just very tuggy) - don't worry. The stitching back up takes much longer than the initial op - which is why you shouldn't worry too much about stitches - they'll have done a good job layer after layer after layer. An elective is surprisingly calm - might find a baby v indignant at being woken p!

Take the pain relief. Honestly it is absolutely fine. I had one 2nd time round and it was so much easier than my first very difficult one. Couple of weeks of discomfort then I was fine. Obviously everyone is different but it really isn't that bad. Good luck with it all

Oh yes, if you breastfeed your uterus contracts and obviously hurts like billy oh, plus you bleed a bit more. No one told me this and I thought my scar had ruptured and I was dying 😱. So I ended up on stronger pain killers for a couple of days and was then right as rain. (Apart from being very embarrassed)

If second baby also be aware of after pains which are similar to the above. I didn’t get them with first baby.

I had a planned section and it was a fantastic experience including my recovery (so much better than my first labour) My son just turned 3 last week so similar age to you lo.

*Big knickers and loose bottoms
*Keep on top of painkillers
*Move as often as you can - I felt so much better getting up and about
*roll out of bed on your side, I found it much easier
*don't do too much too soon. I recovered really really well but could tell when I'd had a busy day.
*salt water baths / pour it on your stitches and pat dry and leave to air

Good luck and congratulations x

It was such a great experience.

Take a puzzle book to occupy you whilst you wait.

Keep on top of painkillers.

Walk around. I did 0.5 mile after a few days and just built up very gradually.

Let your wound dry properly. 10 minutes letting it air after a shower.

Not sure why some of my post is in bold - wasn't intentional, sorry x

I've had 2 planned c sections and found recovery relatively easy. Lots of good advice on this post. The 2 things that immediately occur to me are big comfortable pants and to keep on top of the painkillers. My second c section was twins who were in special care and where I was going back and forwards I kept on forgetting to take them. The hardest thing I found to be honest were the injections after - I'm a complete wimp and couldn't do it myself and my husband wasn't much better! Also don't underestimate the amount you will bleed. It is also worth considering what you will do if you need to stay in hospital longer. With my first c section I was out in 2 nights but with my second was there for 4.

Brilliant. Thanks everyone. All really helpful!

Ask to see a physio, they are around the wards, to show you how to get out of bed. At first you won’t be able to get out of bed by yourself.

Do I need to have bare nails? Just so I don't waste money on getting them done beforehand

Yes to bare nails

My tip is to get one of those grabber things so you don’t have to bend to pick things up-make sure you set your phone timer for meds as it can be agony when they wear off, Ive got a high pain tolerance but found it unhelpful when other ladies kept saying they didn’t need meds and were up and about within a day or two! I was up and about the next day but then the anaesthesic (sp?) wore off and I needed a walking stick to do a short walk.

I found lifting the baby out of the cot in the hospital ok as it was quite high up. Bending to put them in/out of a Moses basket at home was painful so prepare your partner to hand them to you for night feeds and put them back afterwards for a couple of weeks.
Also keep changing stuff upstairs and downstairs so you don't have to keep going up and down. Get someone to help you in and out of the bath/shower the first few days. I was actually up on my feet and felt quite normal within 3 days so I decided to go for a walk. I made it about 200 yards before I needed to go and sit down! Luckily dh was with me to help me back.