What do they not tell you about c-section?

[Anonymous]

Plan to sleep sitting up for at least a week. If you have a recliner that's good, or you can prop up on pillows. But the act of sitting up from flat stresses that whole area.

[Anonymous]

Make sure if you bring pants to wear home from the hospital, they hit well below your incision. Or if you're going to wear them above the incision, make sure they are super, super loose... like a size bigger with a tie string to just barely stay up.

And I second what someone above said about pounding water ASAP afterwards. And also, start adding a stool softener to your water ASAP as well.

I couldn't eat until I passed gas and a certain amount of fluid. I also had to have a BM for some reason... maybe discharge? I can't remember why now, but yeah.

[Anonymous]

I had a planned c-section that became an early emergency c-section, but I had read up on c-sections beforehand and the information that helped me the most for my experience was this:

when they start giving you the spinal block medication it can mess up your blood pressure and you might feel nauseous or (for me) your vision may go black and white and your hearing start to go--it's bizarre and scary if you don't know it could happen. Speak up--tell the anesthesiologist or whomever is up by your head because they can give you a medication through the IV to fix all of those things almost instantaneously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Plan to sleep sitting up for at least a week. If you have a recliner that's good, or you can prop up on pillows. But the act of sitting up from flat stresses that whole area.

ooh yes, this. We have a foam wedge pillow for my husband's occasional reflux and I used that once at home and it was amazingly helpful.

[Anonymous]

Take ALL of the stool softeners that you are allowed to take!! Ask your nurse which ones you can have and ASK! They sometimes don’t bring them automatically! And drink a shit ton of prune juice. You will have a lot of anesthesia meds, and then pain meds for at least a day even if you refuse them after a day (which I don’t recommend). You’ll be constipated and pooping HURTS.

[Anonymous]

The first time you poop is brutal. Do everything you can to make it easier.

[Anonymous]

You'll blood/tissue vaginally afterwards but it is significantly less than with a vaginal birth. The hospital should give you a bunch of pads to take home so there is no need to stock up beforehand. Get some after, if needed, once you know your situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You'll pass blood/tissue vaginally afterwards but it is significantly less than with a vaginal birth. The hospital should give you a bunch of pads to take home so there is no need to stock up beforehand. Get some after, if needed, once you know your situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, buy stool softener in advance for your recovery

Yes! And start taking them immediately, way before you feel like you need them.

[Anonymous]

I had an unplanned c section and it was much easier than I thought it would be.

There’s a long time between baby being born and you being able to see them. They stitch you up before you can hold baby and that process felt interminable to me- maybe 20 minutes but torture bc I could hear her crying and couldn’t see her.

There is a lot of people in the room as a matter of course- anesthesiologist, OB, nurses, pediatrician. I was surprised but it’s normal apparently.

You shouldn’t feel pain but you will feel a lot of pressure- it’s a very odd feeling like they are pushing you down to get the baby out.

I took Colace in the hospital (not before because it wasn’t planned) and my first poop was fine. NBD.

My scar is really low, below the hair line, and, 2 years out, I can hardly see it. And I do still have no feeling in part of my lower abdomen.

My core strength was ruined post C section and took a long time to rebuild. I seriously had trouble even like sitting up in bed.

[Anonymous]

Take the oxycodone. It will make it easier for you to get up and move around and heal faster. Don’t deny yourself one of the few simple pleasures available to you as a consolation prize for having a C section! Ask for oral zofran if it makes you nauseous. Seriously- don’t deny yourself

[Anonymous]

I've had two:

1) Start with miralax as soon as possible. Do everything you can to keep the poop moving. Agree the first poop is brutal an even with stool softeners and high fiber diet, many women go many days without being able to poop.

2) Steal all the mesh underwear from hospital. It is so comfortable with the incision. Don't plan on wearing anything below that incision -- with a planned, they cut low. Wear something high waisted and soft, like lounge pants.

3) Sometimes you get weird referred pains like shoulder pain.

4) Some doctors use staples instead of stitches.

5) They put a big sticky cover over the incision. If you're allergic to sticky on bandaids, tell them in advance. I had a massive allergic reaction over my incision, and it was brutal.

I slept flat and it was fine, but I rolled over to sit up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Take the oxycodone. It will make it easier for you to get up and move around and heal faster. Don’t deny yourself one of the few simple pleasures available to you as a consolation prize for having a C section! Ask for oral zofran if it makes you nauseous. Seriously- don’t deny yourself

Ehh, this is a personal pain thing. I didn't take anything but ibuprofen after the IV drugs wore off and I wasn't uncomfortable at all--bonus, it was easier to get my digestive system back in functioning order afterwards. I'm very sensitive to drugs in general. And, not everyone has that much pain--so I'd say take the drugs if you have a lot of pain, but don't feel you have to just because they are offered.

[Anonymous]

I've had two c-sections (1 "unplanned" and 1 "planned") and if I decided to have another kid, I would have another.

They were infinitely easier to recover from than I expected. Do not let up on pain medicine, but you really don't need the strong stuff after the first 3 days or so.

Also, ask for these long ice packs. It's something about the cold and pressure that really helped me.

Get up and walk around. You're not going to feel like you can, but you can and you should.

BUT, send your child to the nursery/nurses station if your partner isn't in the room with you. My son started choking in the bassinet and I didn't feel like I could move fast enough to help him. (he was fine, but moment of panic on my part).

The boppy pillow is your best friend.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Yes about nausea after getting the spinal! Tell them immediately if you start to feel gross after they lay you down, and they'll give you something in the IV. Or, tell them before you get it, and they'll put anti-nausea drugs into your IV. I've had 3 c sections. I got the shakes really badly with the first, but that's likely because I was in labor for many hours prior to the c section. WIth the other two, which were scheduled c sections, I did not have the shakes. 100% to getting up and moving as soon as they'll let you, and 1000% to starting the stool softeners before the day of the procedure. I stayed on the hard drugs plus the tylenol my entire time at the hospital becuase it is easier to stay on top of the pain than try to control it once it has overtaken your body. I stopped taking them pretty soon after coming home. Keep them, though, in case you need them.