Huge great tummy after C-section

[litdog]

I had an elective c-section a week ago and my tummy is still ENORMOUS. I know it was only a week ago, but I am slim everywhere else and my tummy feels hard and it is just not going down even the tiniest bit.

My baby was big and also I had a lot of fluid, so my tummy was huge pre-delivery, which was fine, but I don't want to be stuck like this for ever. I even wondered if my baby was twins and there was still one stuck in there that they hadn't noticed!

This baby was my third - I had two vaginally and my tummy shrunk back pretty quickly, even though I had to do a bit of work six months or so later to get it back to how it was. But this one is so weird as I still look about 8 months pregnant and it doesn't seem to be getting any smaller at all day by day. I'm not dieting at all because firstly I'm breastfeeding and secondly I can't be bothered unless I have to, but with my first babies my tummy just slowly shrank back. But this just ain't going nowhere!

Is this normal? Has anyone else got this? I'm not neurotic but am just annoyed it doesn't seem to be going down even the tiniest bit and want to know if this is a caesarean thing no-one warned me about?

Thanks!

hi

after my c section i was told that it was full of air due to it being opened. i was told to basically fart the air out and was given peppermint oil to help it along. i was also told to eat lots of fibre and avoid any white pasta etc for a few days. It was still quite big a few days after and they were a bit concerned as they thought it could be internal bleeding but it did go down so all was ok. if you are worried ask your health visitor. I'm sure it will go down though in time!

Thanks Sonia. Now you say it, the air theory sounds very likely, as I can sort of push my tummy around as if there is air inside it.

I'd better up my All Bran intake...

Thanks!

Hi Litdog. Like you, I had 2 vaginal births and my third DC was born New Year by c-sec. My stomach was HUGE! Not only that, but my entire body thighs down swelled to ridiculous proportions with water. I had no idea about the amount of water our bodies hold on to during pregnancy and the "unnatural" birth doesn't do much to relieve it. I honestly couldn't understand how my body was reacting because with the first 2, I lost everything really quickly.

12 days after the birth I pee'd during the night and lost 1st in weight! My stomach also took a long time to contract and go down. Almost 5 months on, I am very pleased to say that whilst I still have one stone in weight to lose, my stomach is perfectly in proportion with everything else, albeit a little untoned.

So my advice is take it easy, drink lots of water and lots of Peppermint tea to help with the wind/air. You will pass a lot of wind but if you don't, you may also find you get a lot more tummy pains. Try to eat fibre too and fruit to get things going IYKWIM. My post-partum poo took me 4 hours of sitting on the loo (tmi)....

Thank you Can't Think - sounds like you had just the same thing and I am glad to hear your tummy is in proportion now. Think I'd better buy some peppermint tea. I've already been eating lots of fruit as DH's work sent us a fruit hamper (best post-baby present EVER).

What you say about the unnatural birth not helping the body rid itself of water makes sense, too.

And with you on the post-partum poo bit - ohmygod how painful was that! Not least because this pregnancy gave me the worst piles I could ever imagine... The hospital gave me lactulose but just looking at it makes me feel sick, so I'm determined to try to sort things out another way.

I have to say that after two normal births, a c-section was so amazingly untraumatic and lovely - this is the price to pay for such an easy ride I suppose!

Thanks again.

Litdog, on the pooing thing, if you can't face lactulose, can you face liquorice? Might help things along a little....

Litdog - same here on the piles . I always suffer with v bad constipation during pg but honestly! I was downing a big carton of orange juice, a big carton of prune juice (yuk) and taking lactolose daily, plus lots of water. Would still go a week without and when the time came, I had to go there and then and would often literally be stuck for hours. I remember taking my DD1 into school an hour late once because I couldn't get off the loo and .

Really do take as much to help things along as you can and don't do anything strenuous at all for 6 weeks. Small walks once you feel up to it are ok, but be warned, even though you may feel fine at 2-3 weeks post, even a little exertion really makes you tired.

Congratulations btw!

Haha Can'tThink - totally understand the DD being late to school. I sit there for HOURS! And nothing is more important than, um, resolving the situation!

Sure you're right about taking things easy, but it's quite tricky isn't it? I have two toddlers plus newborn, and even though I have some help (au pair plus DH on paternity leave) there is so much to be done that I just can't lounge around (much as I would love to). Yesterday I found myself hoovering the entire downstairs because the toddlers had been 'cooking' and it was only afterwards that I noticed my bleeding had got worse and then I read somewhere that you shouldn't hoover for six weeks!

Having said that, here I am on the internet while the older two are having their tea, so it's not all work round my house!

And Polendra - love the licorice idea. DH drove me to the supermarket today (cupboards BARE and he doesn't get the right stuff when he does it alone) and I discovered some mini licorice allsorts in the glovebox. DH1 and I tucked in - yum!

x

Has your Midwife checked it. my stomach was big after a csection and it turned out to be infected so i had to go back in hospital. Hopefully this is not the case but worth getting checked out.

After my EMCS I was HUGE for at least a week - bigger than pre-birth. And it was hard as well, which really confused me as I expected it to go all saggy once the baby was out (like you litdog I though they must have left one in there)!!

After about a week it started to subside, by 2 weeks I looked about 6 mths pg, by 4 weeks about 4 mths!

Take it easy, it's early days yet. Your tummy will shrink soon!