9w post c-section, still infected - please give me hope!

[MummyJuly2023]

My daughter turned 9 weeks yesterday and my c section scar is still infected.
it started with an allergic reaction to the dressing which made my wound open very slightly. It wasn’t healing back together so at 3 weeks I went to the GP who took a swab and told me no news is good news - 10 days later I woke up and all of a sudden couldn’t bend at all and was in a lot of pain, and I found 3 pencil sized holes along my scar. I went back to the GP who discovered no one had realised my swab had come back positive and I should have been on antibiotics 10 days previously. The infection keeps coming back. So far I’ve had 3 courses of antibiotics and I’ve just been phoned by my GP to say my wound swab is yet again positive for the same infection on the one patch of open wound that’s left and hasn’t healed any further in 4 weeks.

I’m fully breastfeeding and the antibiotics give my daughter tummy pain, so I’ve asked to try an antimicrobial ointment (probably Fusidic Acid) first, before more flucloxacillin.

When the wound first opened I never thought I’d be one of the mums on here saying their wound hadn’t healed x number of weeks down the line. It’s really getting me down. Can anyone give me some hope from their own story of repeated infections?

Hi @MummyJuly2023 - I was wondering what happened with your wound and infection in the end? I'm in the same boat and beside myself with it :(

Hello! First things first, I promise you in a year’s time this will all be a distant memory and forms such a small part of your newborn days. Mine healed at 12 weeks, but it should have been a lot earlier.
My wound had hypergranulated, meaning it wouldn’t heal ‘with time’ as the GP kept telling me. The hypergranulation was keeping that section open, which is why it kept getting infected.
Once I realised what it was, I asked the GP for the steroid cream to treat it but they refused. I ended up getting my hands on it from a friend who was using it for her skin condition. I did 3 applications and it was healed within 48 hours.

You will get through it! Keep going back to the GP. Keep badgering. Keep pushing. Look up hypergranulation and see if you think that could be it. Don’t let the GP keep telling you to watch and wait, push for answers!

Also, I had multiple courses of oral antibiotics that never cleared it fully. Then I asked for fusidic acid cream which is an antibiotic cream, and it helped more than any of the oral antibiotics ever did. Keep it covered, keep the wound moist as that’s best for healing. Don’t do any of this malarkey like blowing hairdryers at it.

I had similar issues to op. My wound kept getting infected and wouldn't heal. They tried to fob me off initially saying. It was normal (oozing down my legs) but eventually I pushed for referral to wounds team (can't remember the proper name, my cousins who is district nurse told me to ask). They refused to see me but gave advice to nurses at my doctors. They prescribed some fancy dressings (they asked if I was allergic to shellfish but I can't remember what was in it) and they started dressing it every other day at the practice. It healed around 15/16 week.
I agree with op though, felt dismal at the time (different anti biotics, the smell, the oozing, on and off the ward, back and forward to the doctors, different dressing etc) but can barely remember the detail now.
Mine was also granulation and I had some failed stitching. I think it probably escalated from being stitched up too quick due to blood loss.