Following on from my story about cesarean risks, I just wanted to tell you a little about my c section recovery after my third child.
Because I had had a general anaesethic, my initial recovery was less then pleasant. In between being sick, I was left with trying to look after my new baby girl on my own. There seemed to be a baby boom happening and the nurses were run off their feet. I was lucky enough for the nurses to take the baby the first night though, which allowed time for the aneasthetic to wear off.
I had organised for my husbands mother to come down to help, but unfortunately she was put into hospital for an emergency appendectomy the same day I was to have my cesarean. Luckily, my own mother was able to come and stay for the week after I came home, as I’m not sure how I would have coped with a new born, as well as an 18 mth old and a 3yr old, after having a major operation.
The day after my daughters birth, I was allowed to get up and shower. This also wasn’t a pleasant experience as the room spun and the nausea emerged. Feeling the pain in my abdomen I was wishing I had opted for the natural birth as I can remember feeling great only hours after delivery of my first two babies.
On the third day the doctor examined me and announced I was ready to go home. I informed him promptly that I wasn’t ready to go home and managed to get one more night in hospital. As it turned out, I am very grateful that my intuition had kicked in, as after a routine feed, my baby couldn’t clear her lungs and was having terrible trouble to breath and had to have a lot of fluid “sucked out”. I later found out that this is common in babies born via cesarean as a baby born vaginally, is able to clear the amniotic fluid from its lungs, whereas a baby born by cesarean hasn’t had that time during labour.
On day four I was ready to go home. The doctor told me not to lift or stretch for 6 weeks – as if that was going to happen with three children to take care of. After about the seventh day I was able to have the staples removed and then after about day ten I was standing up straight again. All in all my c section recovery went well and I was very grateful that my baby and I were both healthy.
Some women are not so lucky and may suffer from infection of the wound or uterus, heavy blood loss, blood clots in her legs or injury to the mother or baby during the operation. If your concerned about any risks of cesarean, please talk to your doctor until you feel comfortable about the whole process.
Have a great day
Jackie Stenhouse
Tags: c section recovery, cesarean, cesarean risks
Hello Jackie,
I had a emergency c-section with our fourth boy and it was the hardest birht of all to recover from. I spent a long time trying to heal, but had medical problems for many months after the birth. With our last baby I decided to go totally natural, and had to inform the hospital of my wishes. I know that c-sections are necessary and I thank God every day for our beautiful safe delivery of our fourth boy, but I also believe that natural is best when both Mum and bubs can safely birth that way. For all mums that will delivery via C-section, take it easy afterwards is all I can say
Cheers
Lisa