C-section moms

[ladygrey]

Two recovery questions:

1. If you has numbness around your incision afterwards, how long did it take for that to disappear? My understanding is that because nerves are cut during the surgery, it can take some time for them to regenerate, correct?

2. How long did it take for your stomach to start looking (relatively) normal again? I'm particularly interested in knowing if I can expect that lovely section of abdominal fat above my incision to shrink down, or if I will have a permanent lower belly roll.

[Saudade]

1. Still numb at 16 months
2. I think this depends more on the person's body type than the surgery. The c/s pooch went away fairly quickly, before 6 months, but I still have my small, usual, genetic pooch that is there.

[formerlyllizzyb]

1. Less than six months. I don't really remember.

2. I'm a freak who became underweight while BFing, so it didn't take long, maybe 2 months. Now that we weaned and back to my normal healthy weight my stomach is softer and I look like I have first tri bloat permanently. But that's not from the c/s. My scar is the only indicator I had a c/s.

[Deleted]

I am 10 months out. I still have a teeny tiny bit of numbness on my left side. My OB said it should go away eventually, but in some cases it's permanent. FWIW, I had my wisdom teeth out in 2007 and I still have some slight numbness on the left side of my chin. So there's that.

Also, the lower belly poofiness is starting to fade now, but I am also starting to work out again. I hadn't done much of anything until recently. The good news is, yoga pants hide it

[formerlyllizzyb]

Jul 11, 2013 20:53:13 GMT -5 formerlyllizzyb said:

1. Less than six months. I don't really remember.

2. I'm a freak who became underweight while BFing, so it didn't take long, maybe 2 months. Now that we weaned and back to my normal healthy weight my stomach is softer and I look like I have first tri bloat permanently. But that's not from the c/s. My scar is the only indicator I had a c/s.

Edit. 2. Less than a month my stomach no longer looked like I'd had a c/s. it was just still looser from pg at that point. I misunderstood your q.

[Deleted]

3 months out and I still have numbness.
As for pooch - I dunno, I hope sooner rather than later.

[mrsjrd23]

1. Mine is still numb 7 months pp. And sometimes painful.
2. I have a bad diastisis recti, not from the c/s, just from the pregnancy so I still look about 5 months pregnant. Been going to PT for that.

[spankswife]

3 yrs. still numb on right half. Pooch.

[thejen626]

1. My scar was still numb 3 years after my first cs.

2. I'm very short waisted. It took me 5 months to fit into pre-preg jeans, and 2 years to be happy with how my stomach looked. At 2.5 years my stomach looked awesome!! Then I screwed it all up by getting pregnant again

[Deleted]

1. About 4 months (I'm 16 months out). My incision is still often itchy though, and I have to pay attention to the rise on my pants, because some sit right on the incision and it's very uncomfortable. I ditched those pants and bought new ones with a higher rise. If I went lower, I would have a muffin top.

2. I'm the same weight I was pre-PG, but my tummy is nowhere near what it was before. All the elasticity is gone. Flabby above and below incision. Granted, I'm not working out to fix that area or anything.

[faith194]

1. I don't remember numbness. I am sure I had it, though!
2. Still have the pooch. I was 196 when I got pregnant, and was down to 188 or so within a month or two. I am down to 161 right now, and still have a pooch(I am only 5'1"). I don't think it will ever go away, but we shall see!

[runblondie26]

1) About a year

2) I never got the roll. My incision was almost invisible down in my bikini line after about 5-6 months. We'll see if my skin can be as resilient this time. I know a few women who've had repeat c-sections and their scars are almost invisible. There's hope

[jenjen]

Mine was kind of tender/numb for 6 mo and still will feel weird if i touch it (13 mo).

This depends on your body type and stuff beyond your control. I would say mine looked normal 12 weeks out. That's when I fit in all my prepreg pants. I have a very small pouch over the incision but you can't see it in a bikini. There is hope!!

[statlerwaldorf]

1. Still numb 4 years later

2. It is the same as before, but I never had a flat stomach.

[djc315]

1. still numb, going on 9 months.

2. I think it's back to normal, but I did have a sort of pooch there before anyway. The only difference is that now it's wrinkly from the stretch marks.

[Deleted]

I never really had the numbness, at least nothing significant that I can recall. 

I still have the pooch and my stomach still looks weird, but I'm not sure how much of that is because of the pregnancy and how much is because of the c-section. DS is 14 months. 

[my4girls]

1. mine is still numb, been 15 months since my last c/s.
2. I don't think my pooch is ever going away. I have the lovely genetic always there pooch even when I was underweight. now it's just way more pronouced and looks like a shelf

[morgie44]

Jul 11, 2013 20:59:57 GMT -5 mrsjrd23 said:

1. Mine is still numb 7 months pp. And sometimes painful.
2. I have a bad diastisis recti, not from the c/s, just from the pregnancy so I still look about 5 months pregnant. Been going to PT for that.

Not to thread-jack, but can you tell me more about this?  How did you find out that you have it?  In google image searching, some of the pictures look very similar to my post pregnancy belly.  My upper abs are pretty toned, but then from about 2 inches above my belly button down, everything is super loose, jiggly, saggy and any other gross adjective.  I thought that it was fat that I needed to lose, or loose skin from the stretching and releasing of the skin.  I have always been more toned on top and carried some pooch around and below my belly button, but now it is way way way worse.  I am 15 lbs under prepregnancy weight, but my prepregnancy pants are still pretty snug.  Could this be (part) of my problem? 

To answer the OP questions:
1.  13 months PP, and still numbish, kind of painful if I run my hand over the incision point. 
2.  See above   still not even close. 

[carolinagirl831]

numbness, still have but only 4 months out

- never had that - my belly is still soft it needs to harden up but its only been 4 months. It's relatively flat. But it was before and I worked out.

[leonard131]

Still numb

Had a pooch for about 2 months. I was obessive about getting my stomach back. After I was cleared I did tons of Planks. When he was doing tummy time or on his mat I would just lay with him and do Planks. I would always do them at night when H was giving him his bed time bottle. Take this with a grain of salt because I do realize I have some body issues.

[rootbeerfloat]

1. Several months
2. I always had a pooch, and it's still there, even when I lost weight.

[BAMFMrsB]

Jul 11, 2013 20:49:37 GMT -5 ladygrey said:

Two recovery questions:

1. If you has numbness around your incision afterwards, how long did it take for that to disappear? My understanding is that because nerves are cut during the surgery, it can take some time for them to regenerate, correct? 9 months? Its fine now. Feels totally normal.

2. How long did it take for your stomach to start looking (relatively) normal again? I'm particularly interested in knowing if I can expect that lovely section of abdominal fat above my incision to shrink down, or if I will have a permanent lower belly roll. Pretty quickly. Everything looks exactly as it did pre-pg, except for the scar line. I had a bit of a pouchy look for 3-4months but it went down fairly fast.

[mrslisa]

1.  I had 3 c/s's in 28 months and have pretty much no feeling around the incision.  I just had c/s #4 and it didn't close all the way.  I have to have it cleaned and packed every day so now I am glad for the numbness .

2.  After #3 the pooch went away after about 4 months.  I am only 10 days out right now.  I can't wait to heal and be able to exercise.

[pescalita]

I'm really sorry about this, but my kid is 19 months, I'm due with 2.0 in September, and I still have the numbness and the fat flap.