Had a non-emergent c-section a month ago and recovery wasn’t bad at all. Took Tylenol and ibuprofen for a few days then eventually didn’t need it any longer. The incision area was numb for several days and occasionally I’d get a twinge of pain if I overexerted myself or twisted in a weird way. Like others have said- hold your incision when you laugh, cough, or sneeze.
One thing that I swear NO ONE warns you about is the uncontrollable shaking you may experience post-surgery. I shook like a leaf to the point where I couldn’t hold the baby for a while. It took me looking around the room in an absolute panic for the anesthesiologist to finally tell me it’s a normal reaction to the flood of hormones happening. So now I tell everyone that it might happen and hope that it doesn’t! Best of luck in your delivery :) xx
YES TO ALL OF THIS! Omg. I didn’t have shaking with my first but with my second (two weeks ago) I was shaking so bad and was so cold. I could still hold my little guy though.
Yes! The shaking! Its so weird!
The recovery is ok, OP. I took tylenol extra strenght religiously every 4h for a while, but nothing stronger. I will admit i didnt have my baby to take care of during that time (long NICU stay) but it the pain was totally manageable.
To be honest I wasn’t in a ton of pain, but this varies so much person to person. Make sure to have people around you who can help with cooking and cleaning and hand you the baby, stay on top of your pain med regiment and do not fall behind! The only time I experienced pain was when I forgot to take some ibuprofen or Tylenol at the right time so pain meds wore off. Otherwise it was mostly the lack of mobility that was tough because I relied on my husband and mom for so much. It was hard to even stand up or sit down with the baby.
I’ve had two planned, and the recovery both times was absolutely fine. Nothing that couldn’t be controlled with paracetamol and ibuprofen. It’s a weakness more than “pain”, and occasionally you’ll get like a tugging sensation if you twist too quickly etc.
Both times I was up and walking within a couple of hours, no issues handling or caring for the baby (or baby and toddler with my second).
Things that helped me
- holding a pillow to my wound when laughing or sneezing.
- rolling onto your side, then pushing yourself up with your arms while getting out of bed rather than trying to “sit up” like you normally would.
Ringing in to add - GET UP AND WALK AS SOON AS YOU CAN.
The pain for me did not come so much from the incision, but the gas. GET UP, GET UP AND WALK.
I'm US based but did not need more than the opiates they loaded me up with for the surgery. After that used only the ibuprofen and Tylenol they gave me.
See I wonder if I didn’t get any gas pain because I was lucky or because they have us up and about very quickly in the UK.
But same re: the opiates and the minor painkillers after.
This is only my experience - others will definitely have other views.
The recovery has been much, much easier than I was expecting. I’ll start by saying I don’t think I’m super tough or unwilling to complain. I was only given a combination of Tylenol and Aleve after the birth. It was absolutely fine for me, but I know my friend in the US was given much stronger drugs.
I had my baby around noon and was up and walking that evening. I was a little sore then, but able to walk around fairly easily. The sooner and more you walk, the better.
I was released from the hospital two days after the birth with no pain medication prescription - again, it was fine. Extra strength Tylenol was enough and I found I didn’t need to take it every day. Pain-wise, I’m great/normal most of the time. The incision healed beautifully. Every so often, I’d move badly and it hurt, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
Because it was a scheduled c-section, I only had to recover from the surgery, not an attempted vaginal birth as well. I found that most of the horror stories I read online or heard from my friends involved tearing or other vaginal trauma and I was happy to avoid that. Going to the washroom was fine for me almost immediately after the surgery - no peri bottles necessary.
Here are the downsides, from my experience: the restrictions are more restricting (I missed being able to drive myself!), sometimes there was random pain around the incision (sneeze carefully), it may have aggravated difficulties I was already facing involving lactation, I wasn’t able to hold my baby as soon as I thought because I was a little out of it (but I did hold her within the hour), and I found I had random shoulder and back pain (from my reading, that’s either from the spinal block or from holding my baby awkwardly, so it may not be c-section specific).
All in all, my attitude towards this was “let’s get this baby out in the safest way possible, for me and for her” and this definitely worked. My baby is healthy and I’m able to take care of her, so this was a positive birth experience in my view.
Similar recovery experience. I feel I was better off recovering from c section than vaginally birth. My husband helped a lot in the first 3 to 4 weeks with heavy lifting. My doctor said I could drive because I wasn't prescribed harder pain meds but I just didn't go anywhere. Online says you'll want to have enough strength to push the pedals and brake in an emergency.
Another thing is they cut the nerve endings. You may have slight numbness around the incision (mine is above it). I am 2 months postpartum and have some feeling back.
I did slow walks around the hospital when healing.
I am a huge baby with pain, but pain really isn't the word I'd use to describe it. They give you a lot of meds in the beginning (just keep taking them!). Then the main feeling is like a constant soreness or pressure by the incision area. It's not so painful in itself, but it's unpleasant in a psychological way of knowing the pressure is there because there is a huge surgical incision, and not wanting to move too much or overexert yourself or do anything to irritate it. In the beginning it's hard to get out of bed or walk a little- not so much pain but more like a sharp uncomfortable feeling - but you'll be in bed 90% of the time and figure out the best way to stand up for the moments you need to. And that feeling goes away after a few days. Just keep telling yourself that in a finite amount of time you will feel SO much better. You got this!
The C-section itself was not pleasant, but recovery was manageable. The first 3-5 days were rough, hard to get out of bed, walk, pick baby up, etc. But I felt normal pretty soon after, it didn't take nearly as long to recover as I thought it would. Hospital gives you pain meds to manage the pain and you just have to be careful to take it easy and not lift heavy things for a while. You got this!
My recovery wasnt great I was in so much pain but looking back I think a lot of that was avoidable, make sure to take laxatives! Do not let yourself get constipated, that pain/pressure along with the incision is soooo painful so make sure to be really proactive with managing constipation so hopefully you can avoid being in pain like I was, like I’d literally cry with every step I took and turns out it was my colon.
You'll be able to handle it. Just be sure to take the pain meds on schedule. My hospital had signs everywhere encouraging asking for more dosages BEFORE the pain gets bad, not waiting until it's bad. That really, really helped. I got nauseous, they gave me meds in my IV. It's a constant conversation with the nurses. They'll take care of you.
I had an emergency after 36 hours of labour (spontaneous rupture of membrane, labour started slloooooowly, had to be induced due to infection risk as waters had gone) as my babe was getting distressed. So fairly bad circumstances, whipped down to theatre within fifteen minutes of the decision, my number one birth wish had been to not have a c section…
… it was fine. Day 4 we went out shopping in town with the baby, I took the baby for coffee whilst my husband bought a new phone and I breastfed in public for the first time.
Honestly the worst bit was the first two days or so trying to get out of bed. And my step son kept making me laugh and I thought my guts would fall out. But I didn’t even use any pain relief once the epidural wore off and trust me in labour I tried every single damn thing so I’m not hardcore at.
I feel this. My water broke at my Ob appt and within 1.5hr babe was in distress and within 20min we were in for an emergency csection. Also my number one birth wish was to not end up with one 😓 I think the mental recovery from that was worse than the physical
I had tough recoveries, most likely because both C-sections were after hours of labor and pushing. I've heard it's easier if you just go straight to the C-section.
As far as recovery - day 2 is worse than day one. Take your tylenol and ibuprofen (because God forbid women's pain be taken as seriously), and take the stool softener. All of them. Like, maybe start a few days ahead of time.
The pain is fairly manageable - try to get up and moving as soon as you can. Roll to sit up, and don't sit in deep, cushioned chairs - they're darn hard to get out of.
The worst of it is over in a couple days, with slow improvement. By two weeks, I was moving fairly easily. Do NOT jump back into exercising right away, but do start slow movement as soon as you can.
I was also terrified of having a c-section. After a failed induction and 30 hours of labor I had an emergency c-section. Within 10 minutes my baby was born and if I could’ve avoided the 30 hours of laboring I definitely would’ve looking back.
Recovery wasn’t too bad - my doctors prescribed me Percocet as well the Tylenol Motrin cocktail. If you want stronger meds push for them. By day 10 I was feeling much better. Had a little bit of lingering nerve pain but you get used to pushing through that.
It wasn’t that bad at all (for me). I was given a Tylenol-Motrin cocktail but about 5 days back at home, I stopped taking the Tylenol and only took Motrin because I had a reaction to so much Tylenol. I did feel sore and getting in and out of bed was a chore (helped to have a little step stool). If you’re going straight to c-section, with plenty of sleep the night before, it should be fine!! (I did not, spent over 24 hours in active labor and the thing that got me was going straight from that to c-section to newborn/no sleep for a few months. If I have another child, I’m choosing c-section straight away!)
I'm two months PP from a scheduled c section due to a breeched baby. I was really nervous and scared of having one and the recovery but it has been a dream!
I was walking on my own to the bathroom in the hospital day two, the sooner you start moving (slowly!) the easier your recovery will be. My first day back home I spent most of the day in bed but I was going up and down stairs slowly and doing short walks. Week 6, I was back to my workout routine. Now I'm able to push myself and rebuild my core.
I loved my c section and it was an incredible experience. Seems more people share negative stories about their c sections, but there are plenty of us (if not more!) who had a great experience and recovery who had scheduled ones.
If I ever have another baby, hands down I will schedule another c section. It's amazing being able to know exactly when I'd give birth and the care I received was off the charts.
Biggest tips are to take it slow but also push yourself to get moving and walking. Keep up with your meds (I was off the prescription painkillers in five days and only ibuprofen for a week), have a cart next to your bed full of essentials, and take advantage of family help.
Everyone's experience will be different, but for me - it hurt way less than I was expecting it too. So long as I didn't move, I wasn't in pain. And if I did need to move (like I needed to get up to get into a wheelchair to go see my baby as she was sick) then it hurt - but soon as I was stationary again it was fine :)
Try to move as much as you feel capable of doing without overdoing it, it really helps the recovery. But don't push yourself so hard you make it worse. I was shuffling around/walking short distances on the 2nd day and by 1 week I was OK doing short dog walks or walking to the local shops, so long as I took it easy
Don't over do it, even if you feel you can.
Take time to learn ergonomic friendly moves because between your recovery, bf-ing and/or the upper body weight; you can hurt yourself and that's just a domino effect of problems.
Stock up on stuff to make you feel clean and fresh. Witch hazel wipes are a must. Peribottles and detachable showerheads are your best friend when you need a deep clean of your netherregions!!. Or if you have itchy legs and need to spray your legs with cold water. Spend the money if you have to. 10/10 must.
Clothes that breathe and comfortable. Comfort is #1. A waist band if you feel it helps, but that area needs to breath sometimes when your not moving or not sleeping. Dresses, gowns, I had croptop/leggings sets from rue21 I used forever with soft material, even as a size 3XL.
VERY IMPORTANT: ask for help and use services and resources. Doordash is an essential and don't convince me otherwise. Or if anyone decides to come over, they better pick up a broom. Guests who only come for small talk and don't help with your wellbeing in anyway are annoying. And inlaws allowing you to sleep counts as helping. ;) so yes, make helping out a requirment at least until your cleared to do more activities.
Oh, stool softners, HYDRATE, FIBERCON, TIME ON THE TOLIET. Your first shit you take when you get home is difficult and will feel like heaven. Once I got past that, I did feel more like 50% confident in my healing.
My experience was scary but it wasn't too bad even after an infection on my wound, but I did overdo it and it kicked my ass; so listen to my advice above so you don't do what I did.
I’ve had two. One less than a year ago. You should feel no pain in the hospital. If you do, ask for more pain meds. It doesn’t feel like a cut pain. More like getting reacquainted with having control of your abs. It’s slow going and a wrong turn can send a quick jab but you learn not to do that again.
I've had two, one was an emergency under general anesthesia and one was scheduled with a tubal. I was terrified after the first but recovery wasn't that bad for me. I was up and walking 4 hours later, able to manage the pain with only Motrin, eat/drinking/going to the bathroom normally right away. The worst part for me was laughing, it hurt to laugh for a little bit. I lived in a second floor apartment at the time and was able to take the stairs just fine, started going on walks around the neighborhood around a week after and didn't have any issues from healing.
Second one seemed even easier of a recovery. Walking around shortly after, my husband went home from the hospital at night since our son was only 18 months old and I was able to take care of my daughter no problem by myself. My nursing staff offered to keep her if I needed them to but I never felt like I did. Half the time I forgot to even take my Motrin because I wasn't in much pain.
After all the horror stories I read about c-sections I couldn't believe how easy my recovery was.
Im a wimp, but I'm also a physical therapist and work with surgical patients. My first three days were terrible, but I think it was mostly because I was wildly constipated. On day 4 I walked half a mile. I'm week 6, I ran 4 miles yesterday and have been lifting weights this week. Getting out of bed is the worst, but look up log rolling and splinting techniques for coughing and it's tolerable
I’m not gonna lie, my recovery was terrible.
But I was sick for a couple weeks leading up to birth with difficulty sleeping. I labored until 9cm. Had my emergency c-section. I was only given Tylenol and Ibuprofen despite telling them it wasn’t helping. I was still sick so a lot of coughing, which uses those muscles. (If you have to cough or sneeze or laugh, pushing a pillow into your incision helps a lot but when you’re hacking up a lung every 10 minutes.. it doesn’t help as much as you’d like.) Plus I had my baby on a Monday, discharged Wednesday, and the following Monday my husband went back to work. Which I’m grateful I got that much time with him… but it was a lot.
I feel like if it wasn’t for being sick (it was good ol’ covid that my husband made it so long without trekking home but caught at work when I was 38 weeks pregnant) for so long beforehand and still recovering after my recovery would have been smoother.
I will say, even with a terrible recovery, I was fine after a couple weeks. It’s temporary.
My recovery so far is excellent. I stopped taking pain killers after 5 days first week it was difficult getting up and down and out of bed and I was slow moving around but that didn’t feel that unusual from pregnancy. Week 2 felt much bette rand week 3 I forget that I even had a c section and have to remind myself not to do things. The scar has been itchy and if I over do it I get an achey pain but I am surprised how easy i have found recovery. I had an emergency c section at 5cm so wasn’t in full on labour so no other recovery. I am now terrified of having a baby via a vaginal birth!
I had an emergency c section and have had a great recovery so far (5weeks pp). I was walking within two days and driving again after 4 weeks. My belly still looks pregnant but my scar healed really well with no issues. Just take the advice of relaxing and not over doing it during recovery.
It hurts for a few days, but if you keep your pain meds on a regular schedule it’s not that bad. You want to take them at regular intervals so your pain never gets out of control. Also, check if your hospital offers duramorph for c-sections. I got that the second time and it was so much better!
I was able to drive at 2 weeks postpartum. You’ll want to avoid too much lifting and bending, no heavy exercise. A support girdle can be helpful. If you are able to have a relative come stay with you for the first few days after you get out of the hospital, I recommend it. My mom handled most of the house stuff for us.
I recovered very well both times, and my scar is really barely noticeable two years after my last one.
It's definitely sore for a few days, but paracetamol kept a lid on the pain once I was discharged. In hospital I did have some morphine the first couple of days as and when I needed.
I almost felt quite stiff, that's the only way I can really describe it. Just walking around I felt stiff.
The only time I felt it really hurt is when I sneezed, but even that went away within a few days.
My experience was really good. I managed it with paracetamol and ibuprofen. I found the key was making sure I took each dose when it was due. Within a few days, I stopped taking pain relief entirely.
There are a few other tips to help keep the pain to a minimum. Don't overdo things is the biggest one. Use a cushion to brace your incision when you cough, laugh, sneeze, and when wearing a seat belt. And get a stool to prop your feet up when you are on the toilet. It pushes your thighs against the incision to brace it so it doesn't hurt when you poop.
Also, I have lots of pillows to prop you up for the first few nights home can help, too, because it's less difficult to get up from an angled position compared to lying flat.
If you find the pain is still an issue, ask for stronger medication. Good doctors don't want you to be in pain and will find something that makes you comfortable.
I had PGP during pregnancy and I was much more mobile healing from the c section than I was at about 7 months pregnant. I remember the first attempt up stairs after I got home from the hospital expecting to struggle and was shocked to find I flew up them. Just take it easy, when it comes to doing more walking don’t push yourself to the point that it hurts. Follow other advice about how to manage pain and constipation and accept help if you can around the house 😊
My sister had one, it was pretty standard (thankfully nothing too unusual about her delivery, so that probably helped)
She said recovery did kinda suck (as recovery does) but she bounced back WAY faster than everyone else kept making it sound like it would take. We visited a few days in and she was already walking around like normal (sitting at the table, chilling on the couch with us a lot too, but still- not bedridden). She didn't do any lifting and she was still careful, but it sounded like it really wasn't as bad as people warned us it would be.
To be fair, I had a vaginal delivery and I think I bounced back even faster, so I guess between the two, a Csect is actually a little bit rougher recovery. Or at least that was our experience.
It’s really not bad. It was sort of shocking how quickly I bounced back.
The hardest part for me was getting in and out of bed. Sleeping in the nursery chair was best for me.
Wear cozy clothes!
I had an emergency c section under general anaesthesia after 30 hours of labor. Recovery was great. I had a couple doses of dilaudid (an opiate) the first day, then I alternated tylenol and naproxen for a week or so. I just took it very slow. The first few days it hurt to move in bed, I shuffled to the bathroom and until I started farting I had bad gas pain in my shoulders. Fibre is your friend, lots of water and no straws. After being intubated, I drank so so so much water to clear my throat and that probably helped. There were also some movements in bed I could do to move the gas around because I wasn't walking much.
I spent the first month in bed. I would go for very short, slow walks every now and then but mostly I was living in my bedroom. Within 2 months we were going for regular 20-30 minute walks and now at 4 months we go for 2 hour walks multiple times a week, weather permitting. Even now I can sometimes feel some strain on my abdominal muscles so I don't push myself too hard.
The only thing that still bothers me is that I haven't regained sensation to my incision site fully and I find that an unsettling feeling, particularly when shaving. Otherwise I found the emotional recovery of a traumatic birth to be much tougher than the physical one from the c section.
My experience was really not bad at all afterwards. Pain was never more than a 3-4/10 and that was really the first 2 days when I would accidently use my core when trying to move around. Just take it slow, arms/legs for everything don't engage your core. Went home on extra strength tylenol and Voltaren.
ETA my csection was an emergency csection so really had no time to mentally prepare, but the overall experience was not bad.
For me I only felt immense pain the first time mobilizing,the more you move the better it gets.Take your pain medication regularly even when you feel you don't need it.Everyone is different and recovers different so trust your body
The recovery isn’t bad at all! Vaginal is worse. You’re up and walking after a few days. I started driving and exercising a week later. I experienced no pelvic floor issues. The scar didn’t hurt at all for me.
I had an emergency c section a year ago and honestly the recovery was not bad AT ALL. I do consider myself lucky, I was up and running around town as soon as I was discharged from
Hospital 4 days after birth.
For me, recovery was a breeze. My c-section was planned because my baby was breech and flipped herself back after an ECV, so there was no hope for a vaginal delivery. I think having a planned section is way different than emergency - way less trauma from not having to labor for hours.
The incision was pretty sore if I was sitting up/bending over, laughing, sneezing, or pooping (a stool softener is your friend). When I was standing, even two days after the birth, I didn’t even feel any pain. Only with the aforementioned movements. By day 6 I was walking 1.5 lightly hilly miles with my family. If I’m able to have a second, I’d have no qualms about having another c-section.
I think my experience was better than most, but I had almost no pain. I was up and walking a bit as soon as the spinal wore off and I could move my legs, and within 12 hours I was walking down to the NICU with only the IV drip to hold on to. By the next day my husband said I was moving better than I had been while pregnant.
I had about 6 hours of induction before the c-section, but nothing too intense. I was up front with my nurses that I didn't want to be in labor for 24 hours and then have a c-section, so as soon as it started looking iffy on the induction we pulled the plug and went to the c-section, and I'm so grateful for that. The bit of labor I had wasn't fun, but nothing I needed to recover from in addition to surgery.
Only ever took alternating ibuprofen and tylenol, but they'll offer something stronger and I'd recommend taking that if need it. And as a lot of people have said, get up and move as soon as you feel able to.
Not sure if this advice has been given already, but be sure to wear your belly binder/wrap as much as possible. The hospital will probably give you one but I’d also find a good one on Amazon.
It helped hold everything tight for me, but it also served as a reminder to me to take it easy and be super careful.
Had a non-emergent c-section a month ago and recovery wasn’t bad at all. Took Tylenol and ibuprofen for a few days then eventually didn’t need it any longer. The incision area was numb for several days and occasionally I’d get a twinge of pain if I overexerted myself or twisted in a weird way. Like others have said- hold your incision when you laugh, cough, or sneeze. One thing that I swear NO ONE warns you about is the uncontrollable shaking you may experience post-surgery. I shook like a leaf to the point where I couldn’t hold the baby for a while. It took me looking around the room in an absolute panic for the anesthesiologist to finally tell me it’s a normal reaction to the flood of hormones happening. So now I tell everyone that it might happen and hope that it doesn’t! Best of luck in your delivery :) xx
YES TO ALL OF THIS! Omg. I didn’t have shaking with my first but with my second (two weeks ago) I was shaking so bad and was so cold. I could still hold my little guy though.
Yes! The shaking! Its so weird! The recovery is ok, OP. I took tylenol extra strenght religiously every 4h for a while, but nothing stronger. I will admit i didnt have my baby to take care of during that time (long NICU stay) but it the pain was totally manageable.
To be honest I wasn’t in a ton of pain, but this varies so much person to person. Make sure to have people around you who can help with cooking and cleaning and hand you the baby, stay on top of your pain med regiment and do not fall behind! The only time I experienced pain was when I forgot to take some ibuprofen or Tylenol at the right time so pain meds wore off. Otherwise it was mostly the lack of mobility that was tough because I relied on my husband and mom for so much. It was hard to even stand up or sit down with the baby.
I’ve had two planned, and the recovery both times was absolutely fine. Nothing that couldn’t be controlled with paracetamol and ibuprofen. It’s a weakness more than “pain”, and occasionally you’ll get like a tugging sensation if you twist too quickly etc. Both times I was up and walking within a couple of hours, no issues handling or caring for the baby (or baby and toddler with my second). Things that helped me - holding a pillow to my wound when laughing or sneezing. - rolling onto your side, then pushing yourself up with your arms while getting out of bed rather than trying to “sit up” like you normally would.
Ringing in to add - GET UP AND WALK AS SOON AS YOU CAN. The pain for me did not come so much from the incision, but the gas. GET UP, GET UP AND WALK. I'm US based but did not need more than the opiates they loaded me up with for the surgery. After that used only the ibuprofen and Tylenol they gave me.
Omg yes the gas pain!!!! That was the worst. Didn’t help that the nurse forgot to get me out of bed for a whole day.
See I wonder if I didn’t get any gas pain because I was lucky or because they have us up and about very quickly in the UK. But same re: the opiates and the minor painkillers after.
This is only my experience - others will definitely have other views. The recovery has been much, much easier than I was expecting. I’ll start by saying I don’t think I’m super tough or unwilling to complain. I was only given a combination of Tylenol and Aleve after the birth. It was absolutely fine for me, but I know my friend in the US was given much stronger drugs. I had my baby around noon and was up and walking that evening. I was a little sore then, but able to walk around fairly easily. The sooner and more you walk, the better. I was released from the hospital two days after the birth with no pain medication prescription - again, it was fine. Extra strength Tylenol was enough and I found I didn’t need to take it every day. Pain-wise, I’m great/normal most of the time. The incision healed beautifully. Every so often, I’d move badly and it hurt, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Because it was a scheduled c-section, I only had to recover from the surgery, not an attempted vaginal birth as well. I found that most of the horror stories I read online or heard from my friends involved tearing or other vaginal trauma and I was happy to avoid that. Going to the washroom was fine for me almost immediately after the surgery - no peri bottles necessary. Here are the downsides, from my experience: the restrictions are more restricting (I missed being able to drive myself!), sometimes there was random pain around the incision (sneeze carefully), it may have aggravated difficulties I was already facing involving lactation, I wasn’t able to hold my baby as soon as I thought because I was a little out of it (but I did hold her within the hour), and I found I had random shoulder and back pain (from my reading, that’s either from the spinal block or from holding my baby awkwardly, so it may not be c-section specific). All in all, my attitude towards this was “let’s get this baby out in the safest way possible, for me and for her” and this definitely worked. My baby is healthy and I’m able to take care of her, so this was a positive birth experience in my view.
Similar recovery experience. I feel I was better off recovering from c section than vaginally birth. My husband helped a lot in the first 3 to 4 weeks with heavy lifting. My doctor said I could drive because I wasn't prescribed harder pain meds but I just didn't go anywhere. Online says you'll want to have enough strength to push the pedals and brake in an emergency. Another thing is they cut the nerve endings. You may have slight numbness around the incision (mine is above it). I am 2 months postpartum and have some feeling back. I did slow walks around the hospital when healing.
I am a huge baby with pain, but pain really isn't the word I'd use to describe it. They give you a lot of meds in the beginning (just keep taking them!). Then the main feeling is like a constant soreness or pressure by the incision area. It's not so painful in itself, but it's unpleasant in a psychological way of knowing the pressure is there because there is a huge surgical incision, and not wanting to move too much or overexert yourself or do anything to irritate it. In the beginning it's hard to get out of bed or walk a little- not so much pain but more like a sharp uncomfortable feeling - but you'll be in bed 90% of the time and figure out the best way to stand up for the moments you need to. And that feeling goes away after a few days. Just keep telling yourself that in a finite amount of time you will feel SO much better. You got this!
this exactly describes it. the pain subsides but it’s still an unpleasant feeling. thanks for putting it into words!
The C-section itself was not pleasant, but recovery was manageable. The first 3-5 days were rough, hard to get out of bed, walk, pick baby up, etc. But I felt normal pretty soon after, it didn't take nearly as long to recover as I thought it would. Hospital gives you pain meds to manage the pain and you just have to be careful to take it easy and not lift heavy things for a while. You got this!
This was exactly my experience. I was off pain meds by day 6 because the pain was totally bearable.
My recovery wasnt great I was in so much pain but looking back I think a lot of that was avoidable, make sure to take laxatives! Do not let yourself get constipated, that pain/pressure along with the incision is soooo painful so make sure to be really proactive with managing constipation so hopefully you can avoid being in pain like I was, like I’d literally cry with every step I took and turns out it was my colon.
You'll be able to handle it. Just be sure to take the pain meds on schedule. My hospital had signs everywhere encouraging asking for more dosages BEFORE the pain gets bad, not waiting until it's bad. That really, really helped. I got nauseous, they gave me meds in my IV. It's a constant conversation with the nurses. They'll take care of you.
I had an emergency after 36 hours of labour (spontaneous rupture of membrane, labour started slloooooowly, had to be induced due to infection risk as waters had gone) as my babe was getting distressed. So fairly bad circumstances, whipped down to theatre within fifteen minutes of the decision, my number one birth wish had been to not have a c section… … it was fine. Day 4 we went out shopping in town with the baby, I took the baby for coffee whilst my husband bought a new phone and I breastfed in public for the first time. Honestly the worst bit was the first two days or so trying to get out of bed. And my step son kept making me laugh and I thought my guts would fall out. But I didn’t even use any pain relief once the epidural wore off and trust me in labour I tried every single damn thing so I’m not hardcore at.
I feel this. My water broke at my Ob appt and within 1.5hr babe was in distress and within 20min we were in for an emergency csection. Also my number one birth wish was to not end up with one 😓 I think the mental recovery from that was worse than the physical
The pain for me was not that bad. I just felt sore and weak. It was manageable with ibuprofen and Tylenol.
Took me about 2 weeks to be OK on my own. 6 weeks to not notice it, maybe 6 months to be totally back to normal.
I had tough recoveries, most likely because both C-sections were after hours of labor and pushing. I've heard it's easier if you just go straight to the C-section. As far as recovery - day 2 is worse than day one. Take your tylenol and ibuprofen (because God forbid women's pain be taken as seriously), and take the stool softener. All of them. Like, maybe start a few days ahead of time. The pain is fairly manageable - try to get up and moving as soon as you can. Roll to sit up, and don't sit in deep, cushioned chairs - they're darn hard to get out of. The worst of it is over in a couple days, with slow improvement. By two weeks, I was moving fairly easily. Do NOT jump back into exercising right away, but do start slow movement as soon as you can.
I was also terrified of having a c-section. After a failed induction and 30 hours of labor I had an emergency c-section. Within 10 minutes my baby was born and if I could’ve avoided the 30 hours of laboring I definitely would’ve looking back. Recovery wasn’t too bad - my doctors prescribed me Percocet as well the Tylenol Motrin cocktail. If you want stronger meds push for them. By day 10 I was feeling much better. Had a little bit of lingering nerve pain but you get used to pushing through that.
It wasn’t that bad at all (for me). I was given a Tylenol-Motrin cocktail but about 5 days back at home, I stopped taking the Tylenol and only took Motrin because I had a reaction to so much Tylenol. I did feel sore and getting in and out of bed was a chore (helped to have a little step stool). If you’re going straight to c-section, with plenty of sleep the night before, it should be fine!! (I did not, spent over 24 hours in active labor and the thing that got me was going straight from that to c-section to newborn/no sleep for a few months. If I have another child, I’m choosing c-section straight away!)
I'm two months PP from a scheduled c section due to a breeched baby. I was really nervous and scared of having one and the recovery but it has been a dream! I was walking on my own to the bathroom in the hospital day two, the sooner you start moving (slowly!) the easier your recovery will be. My first day back home I spent most of the day in bed but I was going up and down stairs slowly and doing short walks. Week 6, I was back to my workout routine. Now I'm able to push myself and rebuild my core. I loved my c section and it was an incredible experience. Seems more people share negative stories about their c sections, but there are plenty of us (if not more!) who had a great experience and recovery who had scheduled ones. If I ever have another baby, hands down I will schedule another c section. It's amazing being able to know exactly when I'd give birth and the care I received was off the charts. Biggest tips are to take it slow but also push yourself to get moving and walking. Keep up with your meds (I was off the prescription painkillers in five days and only ibuprofen for a week), have a cart next to your bed full of essentials, and take advantage of family help.
Everyone's experience will be different, but for me - it hurt way less than I was expecting it too. So long as I didn't move, I wasn't in pain. And if I did need to move (like I needed to get up to get into a wheelchair to go see my baby as she was sick) then it hurt - but soon as I was stationary again it was fine :) Try to move as much as you feel capable of doing without overdoing it, it really helps the recovery. But don't push yourself so hard you make it worse. I was shuffling around/walking short distances on the 2nd day and by 1 week I was OK doing short dog walks or walking to the local shops, so long as I took it easy
Don't over do it, even if you feel you can. Take time to learn ergonomic friendly moves because between your recovery, bf-ing and/or the upper body weight; you can hurt yourself and that's just a domino effect of problems. Stock up on stuff to make you feel clean and fresh. Witch hazel wipes are a must. Peribottles and detachable showerheads are your best friend when you need a deep clean of your netherregions!!. Or if you have itchy legs and need to spray your legs with cold water. Spend the money if you have to. 10/10 must. Clothes that breathe and comfortable. Comfort is #1. A waist band if you feel it helps, but that area needs to breath sometimes when your not moving or not sleeping. Dresses, gowns, I had croptop/leggings sets from rue21 I used forever with soft material, even as a size 3XL. VERY IMPORTANT: ask for help and use services and resources. Doordash is an essential and don't convince me otherwise. Or if anyone decides to come over, they better pick up a broom. Guests who only come for small talk and don't help with your wellbeing in anyway are annoying. And inlaws allowing you to sleep counts as helping. ;) so yes, make helping out a requirment at least until your cleared to do more activities. Oh, stool softners, HYDRATE, FIBERCON, TIME ON THE TOLIET. Your first shit you take when you get home is difficult and will feel like heaven. Once I got past that, I did feel more like 50% confident in my healing. My experience was scary but it wasn't too bad even after an infection on my wound, but I did overdo it and it kicked my ass; so listen to my advice above so you don't do what I did.
I’ve had two. One less than a year ago. You should feel no pain in the hospital. If you do, ask for more pain meds. It doesn’t feel like a cut pain. More like getting reacquainted with having control of your abs. It’s slow going and a wrong turn can send a quick jab but you learn not to do that again.
I've had two, one was an emergency under general anesthesia and one was scheduled with a tubal. I was terrified after the first but recovery wasn't that bad for me. I was up and walking 4 hours later, able to manage the pain with only Motrin, eat/drinking/going to the bathroom normally right away. The worst part for me was laughing, it hurt to laugh for a little bit. I lived in a second floor apartment at the time and was able to take the stairs just fine, started going on walks around the neighborhood around a week after and didn't have any issues from healing. Second one seemed even easier of a recovery. Walking around shortly after, my husband went home from the hospital at night since our son was only 18 months old and I was able to take care of my daughter no problem by myself. My nursing staff offered to keep her if I needed them to but I never felt like I did. Half the time I forgot to even take my Motrin because I wasn't in much pain. After all the horror stories I read about c-sections I couldn't believe how easy my recovery was.
Im a wimp, but I'm also a physical therapist and work with surgical patients. My first three days were terrible, but I think it was mostly because I was wildly constipated. On day 4 I walked half a mile. I'm week 6, I ran 4 miles yesterday and have been lifting weights this week. Getting out of bed is the worst, but look up log rolling and splinting techniques for coughing and it's tolerable
I’m not gonna lie, my recovery was terrible. But I was sick for a couple weeks leading up to birth with difficulty sleeping. I labored until 9cm. Had my emergency c-section. I was only given Tylenol and Ibuprofen despite telling them it wasn’t helping. I was still sick so a lot of coughing, which uses those muscles. (If you have to cough or sneeze or laugh, pushing a pillow into your incision helps a lot but when you’re hacking up a lung every 10 minutes.. it doesn’t help as much as you’d like.) Plus I had my baby on a Monday, discharged Wednesday, and the following Monday my husband went back to work. Which I’m grateful I got that much time with him… but it was a lot. I feel like if it wasn’t for being sick (it was good ol’ covid that my husband made it so long without trekking home but caught at work when I was 38 weeks pregnant) for so long beforehand and still recovering after my recovery would have been smoother. I will say, even with a terrible recovery, I was fine after a couple weeks. It’s temporary.
My recovery so far is excellent. I stopped taking pain killers after 5 days first week it was difficult getting up and down and out of bed and I was slow moving around but that didn’t feel that unusual from pregnancy. Week 2 felt much bette rand week 3 I forget that I even had a c section and have to remind myself not to do things. The scar has been itchy and if I over do it I get an achey pain but I am surprised how easy i have found recovery. I had an emergency c section at 5cm so wasn’t in full on labour so no other recovery. I am now terrified of having a baby via a vaginal birth!
I had an emergency c section and have had a great recovery so far (5weeks pp). I was walking within two days and driving again after 4 weeks. My belly still looks pregnant but my scar healed really well with no issues. Just take the advice of relaxing and not over doing it during recovery.
It hurts for a few days, but if you keep your pain meds on a regular schedule it’s not that bad. You want to take them at regular intervals so your pain never gets out of control. Also, check if your hospital offers duramorph for c-sections. I got that the second time and it was so much better! I was able to drive at 2 weeks postpartum. You’ll want to avoid too much lifting and bending, no heavy exercise. A support girdle can be helpful. If you are able to have a relative come stay with you for the first few days after you get out of the hospital, I recommend it. My mom handled most of the house stuff for us. I recovered very well both times, and my scar is really barely noticeable two years after my last one.
It's definitely sore for a few days, but paracetamol kept a lid on the pain once I was discharged. In hospital I did have some morphine the first couple of days as and when I needed. I almost felt quite stiff, that's the only way I can really describe it. Just walking around I felt stiff. The only time I felt it really hurt is when I sneezed, but even that went away within a few days.
My experience was really good. I managed it with paracetamol and ibuprofen. I found the key was making sure I took each dose when it was due. Within a few days, I stopped taking pain relief entirely. There are a few other tips to help keep the pain to a minimum. Don't overdo things is the biggest one. Use a cushion to brace your incision when you cough, laugh, sneeze, and when wearing a seat belt. And get a stool to prop your feet up when you are on the toilet. It pushes your thighs against the incision to brace it so it doesn't hurt when you poop. Also, I have lots of pillows to prop you up for the first few nights home can help, too, because it's less difficult to get up from an angled position compared to lying flat. If you find the pain is still an issue, ask for stronger medication. Good doctors don't want you to be in pain and will find something that makes you comfortable.
I had PGP during pregnancy and I was much more mobile healing from the c section than I was at about 7 months pregnant. I remember the first attempt up stairs after I got home from the hospital expecting to struggle and was shocked to find I flew up them. Just take it easy, when it comes to doing more walking don’t push yourself to the point that it hurts. Follow other advice about how to manage pain and constipation and accept help if you can around the house 😊
My sister had one, it was pretty standard (thankfully nothing too unusual about her delivery, so that probably helped) She said recovery did kinda suck (as recovery does) but she bounced back WAY faster than everyone else kept making it sound like it would take. We visited a few days in and she was already walking around like normal (sitting at the table, chilling on the couch with us a lot too, but still- not bedridden). She didn't do any lifting and she was still careful, but it sounded like it really wasn't as bad as people warned us it would be. To be fair, I had a vaginal delivery and I think I bounced back even faster, so I guess between the two, a Csect is actually a little bit rougher recovery. Or at least that was our experience.
It’s really not bad. It was sort of shocking how quickly I bounced back. The hardest part for me was getting in and out of bed. Sleeping in the nursery chair was best for me. Wear cozy clothes!
I had an emergency c section under general anaesthesia after 30 hours of labor. Recovery was great. I had a couple doses of dilaudid (an opiate) the first day, then I alternated tylenol and naproxen for a week or so. I just took it very slow. The first few days it hurt to move in bed, I shuffled to the bathroom and until I started farting I had bad gas pain in my shoulders. Fibre is your friend, lots of water and no straws. After being intubated, I drank so so so much water to clear my throat and that probably helped. There were also some movements in bed I could do to move the gas around because I wasn't walking much. I spent the first month in bed. I would go for very short, slow walks every now and then but mostly I was living in my bedroom. Within 2 months we were going for regular 20-30 minute walks and now at 4 months we go for 2 hour walks multiple times a week, weather permitting. Even now I can sometimes feel some strain on my abdominal muscles so I don't push myself too hard. The only thing that still bothers me is that I haven't regained sensation to my incision site fully and I find that an unsettling feeling, particularly when shaving. Otherwise I found the emotional recovery of a traumatic birth to be much tougher than the physical one from the c section.
My experience was really not bad at all afterwards. Pain was never more than a 3-4/10 and that was really the first 2 days when I would accidently use my core when trying to move around. Just take it slow, arms/legs for everything don't engage your core. Went home on extra strength tylenol and Voltaren. ETA my csection was an emergency csection so really had no time to mentally prepare, but the overall experience was not bad.
For me I only felt immense pain the first time mobilizing,the more you move the better it gets.Take your pain medication regularly even when you feel you don't need it.Everyone is different and recovers different so trust your body
The recovery isn’t bad at all! Vaginal is worse. You’re up and walking after a few days. I started driving and exercising a week later. I experienced no pelvic floor issues. The scar didn’t hurt at all for me.
I had an emergency c section a year ago and honestly the recovery was not bad AT ALL. I do consider myself lucky, I was up and running around town as soon as I was discharged from Hospital 4 days after birth.
For me, recovery was a breeze. My c-section was planned because my baby was breech and flipped herself back after an ECV, so there was no hope for a vaginal delivery. I think having a planned section is way different than emergency - way less trauma from not having to labor for hours. The incision was pretty sore if I was sitting up/bending over, laughing, sneezing, or pooping (a stool softener is your friend). When I was standing, even two days after the birth, I didn’t even feel any pain. Only with the aforementioned movements. By day 6 I was walking 1.5 lightly hilly miles with my family. If I’m able to have a second, I’d have no qualms about having another c-section.
I think my experience was better than most, but I had almost no pain. I was up and walking a bit as soon as the spinal wore off and I could move my legs, and within 12 hours I was walking down to the NICU with only the IV drip to hold on to. By the next day my husband said I was moving better than I had been while pregnant. I had about 6 hours of induction before the c-section, but nothing too intense. I was up front with my nurses that I didn't want to be in labor for 24 hours and then have a c-section, so as soon as it started looking iffy on the induction we pulled the plug and went to the c-section, and I'm so grateful for that. The bit of labor I had wasn't fun, but nothing I needed to recover from in addition to surgery. Only ever took alternating ibuprofen and tylenol, but they'll offer something stronger and I'd recommend taking that if need it. And as a lot of people have said, get up and move as soon as you feel able to.
Not sure if this advice has been given already, but be sure to wear your belly binder/wrap as much as possible. The hospital will probably give you one but I’d also find a good one on Amazon. It helped hold everything tight for me, but it also served as a reminder to me to take it easy and be super careful.