caesarean recovery?

[Susiemj]

Hi -

I was just wondering if you could give me your experiences of recovering from a caesarean?

I had an emergency c-section 10 days ago. The baby was transverse and apparently they had to be 'quite rough' on me to get the baby out.

I know some people who cope only with paracetamol for the first few days. But I'm in real pain even taking co-codamol and voltarol as much as I can. Can anyone tell me if this is normal. It really hurts....

BTW - Midwife says everything to do with scar is fine. She thinks I have some internal bruising and collections of blood.

Hi Susie - I was fine on paracetamol for first week, then had to go on co-codamol too as pain increased. They used forceps to get DS out so like you I really felt it. It only got better when I took it very easy for a few days, I was trying to do too much. Just focus on your baby and yourself and forget everything else!

Caesarean recovery is hugely variable. With my second, I only needed paracetamol afterwards and felt fully recovered 2 weeks later. With my first however, the pain was so bad I needed a morphine injection the next day, was on heavy drugs for a couple of weeks and it took months to recover.

Sounds like you had a bad time - I imagine getting a transverse baby out is very rough on your body and you will have lots of bruising, and you probably needed a larger incision than normal. Are you taking arnica? That can really help. The other thing is bed rest...

I think arnica would help too. It does vary but as long as the MW is not concerned, I would take as many painkillers as you need to (there are no medals!) and rest as much as you can.

I had a very "easy" cs, took 5 mins to get a 5lb baby out - and still needed morphine for 3 days, was on paracetamol/codeine for weeks. There are a lot of people on here who seemed to be jumping up and down and running round the ward the day after their cs, but I don't know how they did it! My scar healed well but the internal pain lasted quite a while. Take it very very easy - do you have much help? Congratulations by the way!

Thankyou very much. That makes me feel much better!

I was completely demoralised after reading a c-section thread on here in which scores of people trah-lahed about how it had been a breeze and barely hurt. I bloody beg to differ. I was in absolute, sodding agony for weeks and, like you, had been pretty brutalised during the delivery. They knackered my epidural and so had to knock me out with a general anaesthetic at which point my Consultant clearly thought he had carte blanche to hammer his way in with an axe. They used forceps as Twin 1 was stuck fast and completely hammered my pubic bone (still bruised 18 months on) and the pain was horrendous. I also had a haematoma behind the scar (a large bleed) which also added to the pain/complications/whole delightful saga.

I took every painkiller known to man and they gave me some extra ones for good measure - Tramadol, which took the edge of things a bit more. The trick with caesarean pain is to not be heroic and don't chase the pain; get in there with the painkillers before it starts to take a hold, otherwise you'll never do more than take the edge of it. Take the painkillers regularly (I set my alarm on 4 hourly intervals!) and, if you can, try and stand tall. the natural instinct after having your innards torn to shreds is to hunch over to protect them, but actually standing as upright as you can really helps.

Finally, don't let anyone tell you that caesareans are a walk in the park; they aren't. The incision isn't skin deep - they go through the skin, tear and cut through the abdominal muscle, tear and cut through the abdominal sac (muscle cover) and then cut and tear through your uterus. This all gets clamped back by nice metal clamps as several surgeons with big hands rummage around and prise your baby out of you. Then afterwards they stitch you all back up and offer you a couple of paracetamol and an anal suppository for the pain. Why thank you, don't mind if I do!!!

It's exactly the same operation as a hysterectomy, except that they leave the poor old mangled uterus behind and yet, funnily enough, no one expect hysterectomy patients to be up and running and caring for a newborn the next day.

So don't worry - take things as easy as you can and remember that it's normal to feel severe pain after a caesarean. Your body has been through a lot. You are NOT a wimp - you're entirely normal.

Kx

Kitstwins, I could not agree more, and my cs was a walk in the park compared to yours! Am very glad I didn't read any of the cs aftermath threads on here just after my cs, I would have felt a terrible wimp and completely demoralised. Good on you if you were leaping around with no painkillers the next day - but it is major surgery and it's not wrong to be in a lot of pain.

Susiemj, I didn't think my first 2 csections were that bad, but I was still on as many strong painkillers as I could get at 10 days! And considering trips up and down stairs very carefully.

Take it easy, and keep reminding your dh / friends that you have had major surgery.

Kitstwins - I'm not sure about the cs being the same as a hysterectomy. My 3rd cs (4 weeks ago) was a hysterectomy too and its bl**dy awful. Although like you, I suspect its more about how much bashing around they do while they're in there. And the GA doesn't help.

Right, I'm off for a lie down.

Thanks agaain for your support. I'm taking your advice.

Can I ask, did anyone get a sort of dragging feeling inside?

p.s. Hello fruitful
Hope you're recovering well and enjoying all your babes!

Felt the dragging pain you describe - as if my uterus was sloshing around in there and about to drop out. It was deeply unpleasant. The good news (and it is GOOD news) is that you will feel better every day. I felt a lot better after the third week and, suddenly, four weeks later I was back to normal. The first two weeks were grim though and I thought I'd never get better. It hurt to do anything; sit, stand, lie down and I remember being completely shocked at how incapacitated I was. I thought I was completely abnormal for feeling so knackered.

The trick is to do less than you feel you ought to be doing. I got home and flapped about lugging babies up and downstairs (not really much option with twins) when really I should have flung myself on the nearest sofa and stayed there.

Liegeandleaf - sorry to hear you're feeling so rough after your hysterectomy. I think it is a far bigger deal than a c-section but then I think my c-section was far from the norm and having a general anaesthetic made everything so much worse; recovery is so much slower, not least as you don't have the epidural as pain relief. And that's without the complete headf*ck that is not seeing your babies being born - my life's greatest regret.

Kx

yes. it feels like stitches inside are dragging and may come undone. i know this doesn't really happen but it's a horrid feeling.

My problem was just that I was showing off. I decided it would be fine for me to walk the transpennine trail 14 days after my c section, 10lb baby, mangled scar. When I nearly passed out with the pain I had to take a good look at myself. I was just trying to say, hey I can cope with anything. But its ok not to. As Beansprout sayd there are no medals, all you can do is listen to your body. Everybody is different, so when folk start gloating about "hooow eeeeeasy" their c sec was, just smile and let it wash over you xxxx

By the way, it took me 3 months to feel anything like normal. I had a bad infection which slowed things down, but it seemed to take a long time, still. Is your partener v supportive about you having lots of rest? x

thanks trebuchet - dh is great. has been making sure i get a good sleep every night. i'm very glad i didn't get a 10lber - it was predicted - she's ateeny 6lb6oz

everyone's experience is so different. Dp had a section and was up and around with no problem the day after - we went shopping at Brent Cross shopping centre 5 days after her section!

I had a section and went to my GP on day 18 convinced there was something wrong - it was so painful and I could still barely stand up straight. Was told all was fine and that it just takes time...

It took me the full 6 weeks to feel OK and be able to walk to the local shops without crying and breaking out into a sweat.

Keep taking the painkillers - I took co-codamol and voltarol for weeks. It will get better but unfortunately it just takes time.

completely agree with all the comments above - i had a c section on 11th December following 48 hours in labour after my waters went.

that was nearly 5 weeks ago and my scar goes from being fine one day to aching the next. Or the area around the scar, i should say

glad to hear i'm not the only one not completely back to normal in 5 minutes flat.

Thanks for all your reassurance. Am not feeling as unsure about it as I was. And I am doing less. I thought I was doing almost nothing, but in fact I've a way to go!

Susie - for some people it does take a long time to feel normal and you do need to take the drugs. Mine was a breeze and even I took the drugs (I eschew painkillers normally but in this case I was there with my hand out at the nurses station ten minutes before they were due!)

The whole 'insides sloshing about' thing is particularly irksome, I remember it well. But it does take up to three weeks for things to start going back to their rightful places and generally up to a month for internal bruising to subside. I had massive internal bruising and bleeding after a car accident and it was months before it stopped hurting and it didn't feel like my guts were going to fall out any minute.

Congratulations on your baby too

Hi all.
Have been reading through this thread, as had a c-section on the 28 Dec. I was getting worried that I seemed to be taking longer to heal than some of my friends, that bleeding keeps stopping and starting and was this normal. I was one of those people who jumped out of bed the day after and felt great for the 1st wk, but now pain relief has worn off feel like crap and in so much discomfort and pain.

I now feel better and realise that I'm not abnormal. That maybe my friends have not been completely honest. Thanks for making me feel better about my recovery, I'm off to dose up on the strongest pain relief I can find.

Thanks

thankyou to all who replied. have now got feet up much more and not worrying. you're all fab!

Ive had 2 ceasareans.
First was an emergency one, and i was quite sore for about a week afterwards but i think it was because they were quite rough in getting ds1 out. Everytime i walked i felt as if my stomach was going to fall out, but i was uncomfortable sitting down so i did try and get up and about quite a bit. I think we went into town shopping at day 8 and took ds2 to see the people i work with when he was 10 days.
Ds2 ws born by planned cs on 13th dec and i was up and about the same day, came home on the 14th and was out shopping on the 15th and doing mild housework. I had very little discomfort at all.

I really think it depends on how urgent its been to get the baby out and the babies position.
Just relax as much as you can, take the painkillers and accept as much help as you can get

Don't want to worry you now you're not, but my midwife was wrong when she said the pain I was in after my cs was normal (as was the gushing blood, swelling and bruising) -- since I didn't know better, I didn't go to the gp for another week and had endometritis for 3 months (might still have it ). (A junior dr also said what I was complaining about was normal. And so I felt like a complete wimp.)

So I guess what I'm saying is go to the dr if you're worried (even though it might be nothing).

thanks for the tip.

Poor thing take it easy on yourself (insofar as you can with a newborn!)

Incredible really that most people after surgery not nearly as drastic as a c section are told to have bed rest and given lots of sympathy (ie my FIL with his blinking hernia what a fuss was made!). But we are expected to battle on after what is a pretty drastic operation and look after the baby and all that goes with that.

Echo Chaotica though be assertive to the medical people if you are in pain. I was surprised at the lack of pain after my c section but guess everyone is different.