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photo from Better World Books
Having a C-section can be rough—emotionally and physically. I know because I had one, and it was not fun. I was in a lot of pain afterward. The drive home was excruciating. I could barely walk for weeks, I couldn't lie down to sleep, and it hurt when I laughed or coughed or sneezed. I wish I had lilsugar's five tips for easing a C-section recovery.
1. Pillows. Hold a pillow to your incision when you laugh, sneeze, or cough to ease the pain.
2.Get a good, slow driver. Ask whoever drives you and your baby home from the hospital to take it slow. You'll feel every bump, pothole, and quick stop throughout your abdomen.
3.Go for a walk. It may be difficult, but the sooner you get out of bed, the faster you will recover. A short, slow walk in the first 12 to 24 hours of a C-section will help get bowels moving, prevent constipation and blood clots and make you feel better.
4. Don't do stairs. If you live in a multi-level home, keep baby wipes, diapers, ointment and anything else you need on every floor so you don't have to go up and down the stairs.
5. Eat a lot of fiber. High-fiber foods and stool softeners will help ease the pain and fear that are associated with the first bowel movements after abdominal surgery.
Did you have a C-section? What was your recovery like?
Comments (9)
I agree with the getting up and walking part. I was up within 10 hours of my c-section. I HATED my nurse but it did get easier. We slept on the first floor of our house - where my daughter's room is - for the first six months.
I wish I had known about the BM issue before hand, because that was painful the first couple of days!
I didn't think about using a pillow while laughing. It might've been helpful, and saved me pain,lol. Walking did help me. I did a lot of walking in the hospital, it was boring in my room and depressing, so walking put me in good spirits, and helped recovery.
my first was a c/s and the recovery wasnt as bad as i was fearing. but i do think i did too much too soon. then i had a VBAC with my second and what a difference! recovery from vaginal is nothing compared to a c/s!
My c-sec was pretty traumatic, but 9 hours later I was up and walking at 4 a.m. A lot of water helped too...pillows definite made some transitions much easier.
I love Stephen Colbert but trying to watch him in the hospital after my c-section was impossible, pillow or not. Lol!
But yes all of these things help. And I think that because I did them, I recovered quicker than I would have had I layed about for 2 weeks.
My c-section was awful and my recovery was worse. But when i had time to tend to myself i found that a bag of frozen vegetables( or and ice pack if you wanna be fancy) over my scar helped sooooo much! You probably shouldn't do it for long or too soon after the surgery but around the 3rd or fourth day it can be very soothing.
after giving birth to 2 baby vaginal then my 3rd i had to have a c-section.. i would rather be in labor and give birth, then the after math of a c-section. it really sucked,, i could not even pick up my 2 year old that was really hard,, the pillow thing did not work for me,, if i just held my belly with my hand's that was alot better,, the walking really helped, and my husband was a miracle daddy,,,, he helped out so much that made a big difference,
The take a walk idea is absolutely true. The nurse told me to walk as much as I could the day after I gave birth && I did. I walked everywhere in the delivary ward. By the second day, only sneezing && coughing hurt me. I recovered extremely well except one of my staples became infected a few weeks later.