C-section pain

[BCA23]

So I ended up having an emergency c-section. What I'm wondering is, are there any tips anyone could give me with regards to controlling the pain?
Whilst I'm still in hospital I can have morphine, but obviously they want to get me off that as I can't have it at home. I'll only have access to crappy paracetamol and ibuprofen 😔 Those alone aren't working and I'm in agony without the morphine. It's to the point where it can take me almost an hour to just be able to sit up in bed so I can make my way to my baby and attend to his needs.
I can't stay in this sort of pain for however long it's going to take me to heal from major surgery. What am I supposed to do??

I too had an emergency c section nearly 6 weeks ago now

The hospital should send you home with either oramorph or some other form of painkillers?

Sleeping on your back will be the easiest thing for the first week maybe longer. Lots of pillows to keep you propped up and help you get in and out of bed.
Keep on top of your meds even if it doesn't hurt. Maybe set up a little station at home so you don't need to keep moving (baby stuff and snacks / drinks for you)

Easier said than done by try and get up and walking just a little each day as this will help you recover quicker, even if it's just to make a cuppa.

Get your partner to help as much as possible if you have one.

I promise the pain will go away soon... the recovery may be long and it is shitty I know, but I'm at week 6 on Friday and I'm hoping to be able to drive this week as I'm feeling up to it. I no longer hurt and it does get easier.

Sending hugs

Oh and congratulations on the baba! 🤍

How long ago was the section?

When I had mine (4 months ago) I was sent home with “only” paracetamol and ibuprofen but they really did help. You have to stay on top of it and make sure you’re taking the max safe amount at the correct times, alternating one the other. Codeine would help too but you can’t take that and ibuprofen and it can make you really constipated.

Otherwise, in the first few days try and rest as much as possible, and then try and get up and mobile, just doing some short walks around the house will help. Try not to twist or lift your baby too much, get your partner to help as much as poss.

Congrats on your new addition. It definitely does get easier

I had a c section, they'll send you home with pretty strong pain killers, they work pretty well. Unless I moved in a funny position I honestly couldn't feel that I had just been cut open.

@2020firsttimemum
They've told me just to take paracetamol and ibuprofen when I go home and haven't mentioned anything to send me home with either.
I've been on my back since as I haven't been able to get into any other position, I'm desperate to try and lay on my side as I've always found side sleeping comfy. But getting up from laying on my back is so damn difficult, even in a hospital bed that moves into different positions. So I con only imagine it's going to be 10 times more difficult to get up in a permanently flat bed.
At the moment the hospital staff are making sure I take the tablets regularly.
I have to get up everyday here at the hospital, if not for the baby, to go to the loo so I'd imagine it'll be the same when I go home.
I'll only have my partner at home for 2 weeks, but after that I'll be completely on my own.
Sounds like you're almost there with your recovery, well done and good luck for getting back in the car as a driver.
Thank you, congratulations on yours too.

My advice (as someone who's had 2)is take all the pain relief you can, if you need the morphine, you need it. Once you're sore, it's so difficult to get comfy again. Don't let yourself get so sore you can't move.
As a nurse, and I mean it so kindly, take the pain relief (as much as you need) and get moving. The longer you lie for the worse it'll be. You can roll out of bed, whichever way is easiest for you. On to your side, use your 'top' leg to get you over and push up with your 'underneath' arm. And in reverse to get back in.
It might be you need a bit more analgesia for 24hours and then you'll start to feel a bit better. When did you have your section? I found after 24 hours it all felt a little easier. It's so flipping hard though!
Congratulations on your little one!

@ShirleyPhallus
It was 3 days ago.
I'm taking it as often as I'm allowed, and I'll keep it up when i go home, but I'm still dreading it as there won't be the morphine to top it up with.
I do sit and lay for long periods of time, only getting up when I need to, but it also makes it worse when I do have to get up as it hurts so much more. When my partner is visiting, he does help as best he can (he's got zero experience with babies).
Thank you, you too. I really hope it will soon, I'm not coping with this pain well at all :(

@Nymeriastark1
Sounds like you got lucky being sent home with stronger pain relief. They haven't said they going to send me home with anything, just that I need to take paracetamol and ibuprofen once I'm home.
I can feel every little movement I make right now and it's been like that since the spinal block wore off.

@Tyrannosaurusdrip
I keep asking for the morphine, but as they want to send me home very soon, they won't let me have it, as they want me off of it before going home.
It's difficult to get comfy at all really, I can't get myself onto my side which I think would be easier for me, but won't know until I can try it.
Most of the time when I can't move, it's first thing in the morning after having slept a few hours, so at that point I have no control over my movements.
I wish I could have something more, it would so help and I'd be able to be more mobile.
I had it 3 days ago now and it doesn't feel any different pain wise, unless I've had the morphine. Other than the pain, I feel absolutely fine in myself and all the obs I've had done have been mostly fine, so in that sense they're happy for me to be at home, but aren't happy with my pain.
Thank you, I am so enjoying him already :)

I slept on a sofa the first couple of nights when I got home (recliner), with baby and partner in front room to avoid stairs. I was given co-codamol to take home. Would they give you those? Partner helped passing me baby etc and pushing recliner down when I wanted to get up etc. I walked around slowly etc, but meant I didn't have to do the more painful stuff like stairs etc. Sorry if tmi, but I'd also have some fibrogel or something as post op constipation is horrid.
Breast feeding pillow helped as did heated wheat packs. (Can also use feeding pillow if not breast feeding). It does get easier, although obviously everyone is different. I sailed through my first section and got a horrid shock at how excruciating it was next times round. When you are at home, partner will be around to help you more. All hospitals are different. When I told a friend how I'd struggled in and out of bed in agony in hospital to try to settle baby, she said that the nurses always handed her baby to her as she'd just had a section. I don't know which one of our treatments is the norm.

At home, partner can pass baby to you etc in night and you can use your energy on less painful manoeuvres to start. Lots of pillows in bed helps too. You'll also get more sleep at home.

Congratulations on your baby OP x

If you're still in that much pain I'd be getting them to have a damn good check for any infection.

Sorry to scare you OP but this was my experience after my first emergency section. I assumed that much pain was normal. Sadly it wasn't and I went home after 5 days but ended up back in hospital with an infection. I eventually healed 5 months later.

When I had my second I realised how different it was to the first. The infection was causing the pain.

Bless you must be so sore. I agree with above poster, that 3 days down the line you should be feeling a bit better and all getting much easier. If you can, please be firm with the midwife/doctor and tell them exactly how you feel. Be calm (it sounds like you're doing well!) and explain how the pain feels, how bad it is, where it is. Maybe there's an acute pain nurse or anaesthetist you can have a chat with. You do need a full physical exam and maybe bloods as well, just to rule out anything else.
And to be honest, if you need the meds, you need them. It wouldn't do any harm going home on oramorph for a few days to get you over the worst.
It's hard, the more sore you are, the less you move and the more sore you get. Can you borrow a pram and take the wee one for a walk (even just up the corridor) with your partner? Not sure if you'd be up for that?
Sorry you're so sore.

Congratulations OP on your baby. I had a section 2 weeks ago and can honestly say day 2 and 3 were the worst and then I found I improved rapidly. I know it’s hard but you need to get as mobile as possible it really helps regular walk around the ward, sitting up in the chair etc. I also found a hot water bottle excellent. I went home with paracetamol and ibuprofen and taking them regular has been fine. However if you feel you need more ask to speak to one of the doctors or call your GP to request something for home.

Day 3 was my worst day (first day off morphine with just paracetamol/ ibuprofen at home). Really didn't know how I could cope but from following day was better. Tie a tie/scarf to your bed at home to pull up on. I slept almost upright on loads of pillows for 2-3 weeks I think. Didn't lie down at all!

Are you getting dihydracodeine as well ?

@locked2020
If we had a recliner that could be a possibility for me, but we don't and because of the sofa we have, it'd worse to get up from. I'd then also have to go upstairs for the toilet everytime.
I've just asked about them sending me home with any pain relief as so far they had been unclear as to whether or not they would, it's a definite no.
I haven't got any of those to try, I'll have to see if a hot water bottle would help at all.
From reading all these responses, it seems each hospital has their own ways and rules about these things, also seems this one is very strict about pain medication.
Yeah, I'm glad he'll be around for 2 weeks to help. I definitely will get far more sleep at home, my baby so far pretty much sleeps through the night, it's the other babies on the ward waking me, not that I'm complaining about that, it's what they do of course, but it would be nice to get a little more sleep.
Thank you.

@Hercwasonaroll
I hadn't even thought about that, I'll get them to check if I can. Hopefully it's not an infection and I'm just getting awful pain from it all. Just hope it starts to ease off soon, not sure how much longer I can take the pain if I'm being honest.
That's really crappy you went through five months of healing because of an infection, soumds like your second section went better!

I was given some tramadol when I was discharged as I'd been given some when I was in hospital recovering, I ended up not needing it but it was nice to have it there just in case.

Honestly, I was just like you, I was in so much pain (particularly on my right hand side) and couldn't get out of bed to see to my little one. The best advice I was given was to stay on top of the pain, take the ibuprofen and paracetamol religiously and don't wait until you can feel the pain again before you take your next dose. It won't feel like it now but it's surprising how quickly you start to feel better, particularly when you're home. Take it easy on the stairs, let your baby sleep at your partners side of the bed so they can get them in and out and night and make sure you keep moving even if you don't want to, it really helps.

Congratulations, I'm 9 months down the line now and can barely remember my recovery. The fragmin injections were miles worse than the c-section pain, I remember those clearly!

@Tyrannosaurusdrip
I knew I'd be in a lot pain having to have a section, I didn't have a clue as to how long, but I honestly thought it would be until I was healed up. However reading all of this, maybe I'm not meant to still be this bad. I don't know.
I've cried in front of several of them because it's that bad I don't cry when I'm in pain unless it's really, really bad. Plus explained it to so many of them now as the staff are nearly always different on this ward. So clearly they don't get it.
If there is one I don't know about them and they certainly haven't been mentioned to me at all, the only time saw an anesthetist was when I had my epidural, spinal block and in theatre. As for an acute pain nurse, didn't even know there was such a role.
The nurses/midwives on this ward are doing regular obs, but no full physical has been done at all.
I'd love to go home with a whole bunch of oramorph, but I'm not getting anything to go home with.
I'd have to use the cot to go for a walk anywhere outside the room I'm in with him, heard someone else get told not take their baby out without them being in the cot. Not sure there's somewhere to walk the way this place is set out.

Have they looked at your wound site at all? I'd be pushing for that if they haven't.

Yes it is painful but it shouldn't be like you describe. Have you been moving? Getting up and about does help.

I was in a lot of pain post section. They sent me home with some Voltarol suppositories to take alongside paracetamol. They were a bit undignified but bloody brilliant.

Are your bowels moving okay? That and trapped wind can cause a surprising amount of discomfort and the morphine tends to bung you up. Lactolose, whilst disgusting, really sorted that out for me and then I felt less pain in my scar for some reason.

I thought I was going to be in agony for months at your stage, I was so sore and fed up. But actually once I could get up and about I felt so much better. I was off all painkillers within a fortnight, going on short and slow dog walks within three weeks and pretty much back to normal within five weeks.

You'll get there. Congratulations on your baby

Sorry just seen your later update (started my reply earlier then baby woke up). Tomorrow morning ask to speak to the midwife in charge. If they don't listen just keep repeating your request to anyone that comes near you. Politely but firmly explain that you are not coping with the pain and ask what she proposes. If that doesn't help insist on seeing a consultant. I can understand them not wanting to send you home with oramorph but there are other options.

Unfortunately sometimes we have to be pushy to get what we need in hospital. It's barbaric. If men had babies there would be a lot more pain relief as standard.

I'd echo pp, be pushy, you should not be in this much pain and they need to help you mange it and form a plan for going home.

I had a combination of codeine, diclofenac and paracetamol with both of mine for a few weeks, designed to be able to take something every couple of hours and keep on top of the pain (very difficult to get back under control if you don't keep it in check). Your GP / visiting midwife should be able to continue pain prescriptions for you once you're home.

General tips -
make sure you leave at least 1 dose of something to take in the middle of the night so you don't wake up in agony.
Only bathe / nappy change / dress on a proper changing table at right height - don't be bending over / on your knees.
Avoid stairs as much as possible but do get out on gentle walks and push the pram to build your strength up.
Avoid lifting anything other than baby, and if possible get other people to wait on you (food / drinks / bottles if using) so you're not up and down like a yo-yo.
Make sure you have plenty of pillows / cushions in bed / sofa so you're properly supported.
Tense your pelvic when getting up from bed / seat to support those core muscles
Get plenty of rest - let DH take baby for a while so you can sleep. Pain is exacerbated when you're tired and rundown, and you are recovering from major surgery.
Where dresses / high waist joggers and huge knickers to make sure you're not putting any undue pressure on your wound.

I was starting to feel much more human after ~2 weeks, fairly independent by 4 weeks and pretty much back to normal at 6 weeks. They only thing I had an ongoing problem with was waist bands that rested near scar.

Hope you feel better soon

To all of you who have replied to this I just want to say a huge thank you. I've stopped replying individually as there are so many of you who have commented. You've given me so much info, different views and experiences, ideas and helpful suggestions.
I've made a loose sort of plan of what I'm going to do once I leave the hospital, my partner is going to be around to help until the end of August. Regardless of anything else that is said or done, I'll definitely be contacting my GP as soon as I can.
Like a few suggested, I got my wound properly looked at, there's definitely no infection going on, the only thing that was said was that there has been a very tiny amount of blood that has oozed out at one end. They said this is absolutely nothing to worry about. Plus it's going to be checked over again in a few days when the dressing comes off, so a second opportunity to double check everything is definitely ok with it.
To those asking, I'm getting up and about as much as I can within reason, but also taking plenty of time to rest.
My toilet habits are basically back to normal, the number of times I've been asked by the midwives, I've lost count. Definitely no trapped wind to add to the pain.
I'll be extra careful and take my time with the stairs once I am home. Not really much I can do to avoid using them unless I lay I bed all day and night, as our bathroom is upstairs. If I were to just lay in bed and not move, I wouldn't be getting the movement in that I need to help with healing.
I will keep referring back to all your replies to my first post, as I know I'll forget things, as I'm sure you'll all be familiar with :)
Once again, thank you all for your replies. Also thank you for all the congratulations!! :)

Ah nice to see your update today! I was just coming on to see how you were doing today!
Glad you got looked at properly. Are you managing about a bit easier today?

I feel cheated now. I had csection 5 months ago and they sent me home with absolutely nothing! Told me to buy paracetamol on my way home. Which DP did luckily as I wouldnt be able to walk around a shop. Anyway I slept sat up on the sofa for a week, I have one that you press and part of it lays back a bit, if you prop yourself up with loads of pillows you'll be much more comfortable. This really helped, also just make sure everything you need is in one place so you don't have to move around too much and overdo it. But do try and go for a little walk around the house a few times a day as it helps you to recover a lot quicker.