How soon did you drive after your c-section?

[Wintersun]

I was told by HV to wait for 6 weeks and that my insurance wouldn't cover me before then anyway.
However, I've heard that many women drive before then if they feel ready and that most ins co's don't have a policy on it anyway.
I'm 5 weeks post section and feel ready(and desperate!) to start driving.

Insurance companies don't have a hard and fast rule ime. Mine just told me that as long as I hadn't been given medical advice not to drive, then I was OK.

You have to be able to do an emergency stop, and I think you know in yourself if you are ready. After ds I was driving at 5 weeks - after dd (funnily enough a much easier section and recovery) I just knew I wasn't ready until 7 weeks. I couldn't put my finger on how I knew, it was just a feeling, but I didn't doubt it.

I drove after 5 weeks. Ring your insurance company. I rang mine to check - they didn't care!

Mine told me I had to get my GP's agreement or I wouldn't be covered by the insurance.

I think the difficulty comes if you have an accident- if you hadn't been to the GP first your insurance company could probably wriggle out of paying up

Message withdrawn

All insurers have slightly different policies, and you need to check what yours is, because in the unlikely event that your insurer banned you from driving for 6 weeks post-section and you had an accident during this time, you wouldn't be covered.

Most insurance policies let you drive earlier than that. A lot of them don't even mention c-sections by name, and it's just classed as any other health issue which might prevent you from driving, which usually means you can drive as soon as you feel you could physically do an emergency stop.

I drove 4 weeks after my first c-section, and 3 weeks after my second. I rang my insurer both times and they said it was up to me.

I had to get a letter from my gp and send to my insurance company to say that it was Ok to drive or wait 6 weeks.
Didn't bother getting the letter as the first appointment I could get was 2 days before my 6 weeks were up!

I didn't feel ready to drive until about 4.5 weeks.

I drove after 4. My insurance co. said I was covered.
I was told a good way to test if you are ok to a emergency stop is to either stamp your foot down hard or jump off the bottom step without it hurting

I drove at 5 weeks 5 days and it was okay but I was very tentative and lifting the pram in and out was a killer.

4 weeks, did the emergency stamp thing. Insurance company were happy for me to drive when MW was happy. She was happy for me to drive when I could do the stamp.

Insurance company didn't have a policy on it - just when I felt ready. Drove for the first time at about 3 wks but only short journey (10 mins) along country lanes to my parents. I'd agree with NAB that the bigger hurdle is getting the pram in and out of the car, and also older siblings if they're not big enough to climb in and out themselves yet.

2 weeks, gentle school run with dd 3 and baby. Dd is very light though. I felt pretty fine after 2 weeks.

2 weeks with GP approval

5 days (as soon as stitches out)

3 weeks with GP approval. She said and I quote 'you live in a village, how else are you going to get out, if you crash I'll write to the insurance company and tell them I said you could drive'

12 days as nobody had given me any advice about how long I should wait!!

Message withdrawn

6 days. felt fine, easier to drive down and do shopping than walk and carry it all back.

3 weeks,I phoned my insurance to check their policy, which was they go with what the doctor said. well my doc said nothing so I drove. Felt fine just regretted wearing my jeans taht I had squeezed into! Check with your insurance compnay though not worth risking it.

I checked with the ins. co. today and they said that as long as the dr hasn't said that I can't drive then I could. So I did!
It was great to able to take a trip to the park today so ds1 could feed the ducks and jump in some puddles(though it is hard getting a toddler and 5 week old ready and out of the house!).