What actually happens if you lift after a section?

[LissyGlitter]

I had a planned section 23 days ago. Everything went really well. However, I keep forgetting I can't lift and lifting my 2.9 yo DD1. Plus I have had to catch her a couple of times as she threw herself off chairs or tried to climb places she shouldn't. Is it really so bad? I have no pain or anything, just a bit of scar stinging which seem unrelated to anything I do, and a touch of spd remains in my hip.

Also, the physio told me I can't push the double buggy for three months. What would happen if I did?

Ive had 3 c sections on 2 I did exactly as I was told by number 3 i thought I knew better I didnt.

I lifted and stretched and carried - i got infection after infection and was ill on and off for a year.....your body need rest to repair itself from a major op- you need to look after yourself and your health and take the professionals advice.

I also thought I knew better by my third. I didn't either. It's incredbly hard when you have other children to lift and catch but you really need to try not to!!

I have had 3 c- sections with my 2nd my 1st dd was 22 months and i lifted her and pushed the double buggy with my 3rd my dd's were 4 and 2 and i lifted the 2 year old and pushed my buggy and was fine both times but everyone is diffrent so just be aware of how your feeling and try to rest allot too.

About a week after my section, I was late for a doctor's appointment for my toddler and forgot about the no lifting rule, and picked him up and ran for about 10 minutes. Cue heavy bleeding! Nothing terrible happened, but my body clearly wasn't ready for that sort of exertion.

I got an infection in the scar and I think just not resting enough contributed to it. Didn't have to lift other children as it was my first, but I did too much trying to get out and about when I should have grabbed every chance to sleep.

However I'm surprised about the buggy thing - I found walking around with a large pram a lot easier than with no pram. It's something to lean on. As long as you avoid hauling it up kerbs etc (you can usually find a flat bit).

lack of cleaning causes an infection, not heavy lifting you silly bints

Who are you calling a silly bint! Healing and the immune system are massively aided by resting and by sleep. Obviously there have to be some germs around to get in - but I followed the hospital instructions very carefully.

Highlander that was rather nasty - actually being very rundown and anaemic causes infection.......ignorance is no excuse for rudeness you nasty cow!

Highlander get your facts right. "Lack of Cleaning" has naff all to do with infection. Anyone who has a caesarean does all they can to keep the wound site scrupulously clean (tea tree oil, salt baths, carefuly drying, air-drying of the scar....) and it still won't preclude you from infection if you're unlucly. A myriad of factors contribute to it; mostly the introduction of infection during the course of the operation, which obviously you can do nothing about. How your body deals with that infection can be greatly influenced by overexertion, anaemia, post-natal ill health.

I speak from someone who had a haematoma behind my scar (all that delicous old blood wwas a Grade A breeding ground for infection as you can imagine. I took prophylactic antiobiotics and was scrupulous about cleaning and wound care (I had a hole at one eend of my scar which the blood from the haematoma leaked out of for six weeks) but my healing was slow - hampered by chronic anaemia (confusion over my notes meant they 'forgot' to give me a blood transfusion following months of continual bleeding from placenta praevia and a haemorrhage during my caesarean) and 'overdoing it' by caring for premmie twins.

Poor hygiene will make an infection hang around for long/potentially worse but the best hygiene and wound care still won't prevent you getting one if you're going to get one. The majority come from 'within' the wound rather than because we all sit there dropping biscuit crumbs and picking at our scar line with dirty fingernails. To suggest that problems with healing post section is down to poor hygiene is perhaps not the most sympathetic comment to make to people struggling with this problem.

I have had 2 sections, nothing happened when I lifted before I was supposed to, (with the last one I lifted my half full hospital case onto the hospital bed as there was nobody around to help me) but, if you pull a large double buggy filled with 3 stone of children and and a huge amount of bags, over a soft sandy beach, you will bleed like mad and open an end of your scar leaving a hole that takes months to heal...........

13 days after the section I meant to add.........

you'll get a hernia, or wound rupture.

I had my 4th c-section 12 weeks ago and was told to be extra careful
after a few weeks of doing nothing, i thought it would be ok to get back to normal, as it was unfair for Dp to deal with all the cleaning cooking and childcare for 4 children and myself

A week later i found my scar was weeping at one end and no amount of cleaning helped it or removed the smell that was coming from it

A trip to doctors found that my scar was open at one end because of the strain on it, and it had got infected, a tube of cream and 4 more weeks of rest helped sort it out.

My advice to anyone whose having or had a c-section is REST AND DONT PUSH YOURSELF or you'll suffer later

I lifted ds, who was 3 and heavier than average earlier than I should have done and experienced heavy bleeding requiring many changes of maternity towels half an hour later. I also got the hoover out and vacuumed, with exactly the same result.

Don't do it, call in any support you can and rest. You've had major abdominal surgery and after no other such surgery would you be expected to manage 3 kids + a baby without help and support.

I got a lot of painful swelling and bruising around the incision (which thankfully, remained closed) along with that lovely barbed-wire-sawing feeling, and then got told by my doc that I'd yanked the healing layers of muscle underneath. Apparently the skin heals a lot faster than everything under, which makes sense, I suppose. Like the others, I was running around lifting my toddler.

Haven't had a C Section but have had stomach surgery for other things.

Think about all the layers of skin and muscle etc that they've cut through and then sticthed back up. You need to give this time to heal and strengthen before you put too much strain on it and risk pulling the wound apart.

Tamlin's right - the wound you can see is the last one you should worry about.

I've got a section booked in 9 days time. I've found this thread invaluable for advice. Sorry for hijack!