Post by lizlemon19 on May 11, 2017 13:58:30 GMT -5
my c-section recovery was not as bad as I expected it to be. I will say, you should follow the guidelines and not over do any type of exercise as to not open up your stitches. I was walking around (slowly) by day 3 and at home was walking around but minimal stairs and no lifting or driving for 5 weeks.
Ditto getting up and moving ASAP, even if it's just very gingerly.
I drove at 1 week post c-section. Either no one told me not to, or I was so zoned out I don't remember. Oh well!
I think I started out by walking slowly, then briskly, then increasing my distance, then running. Just listen to your body - if it feels uncomfortable, don't do it. I will say I still occasionally feel tightness around my incision at almost a year and a half out. I was probably back to working out at close to my regular amount/speed by 6 months pp. I took it super slow, though...
Scheduled c-section at 37 weeks. Recovery was a breeze, the first 12 hrs before they removed the catheter sucked but that was the worst of it for me. Before c/s I walked 2ish miles 3-4 times a week. Within a week post c-section I was easily walking with a stroller 1 mile a day (my daily trip to Starbucks). Hoping your baby flips before then but no matter what wishing you a speedy recovery
Ds1 was a CS after 24 hours of labor and 3 hours of pushing. Recovery sucked. I went into labor on my own with ds2 a few days before my RCS date. I had the CS before labor got difficult; recovery was a breeze.
A few thoughts - - Don't plan on doing much the first 2 weeks. I stayed in the hospital 4 or 5 days each time. Basically as long as they would let me. Get up and walk as soon as you can. It sucks and you'll feel like you'll never feel normal again but I promise you will. Days 2-4/5 are the worst. Recovery speeds up after that. - I didn't drive until 2 weeks either time. My dr's guideline was if you could stomp your foot, you're ok to drive. Stomping your foot uses core muscles you'd need to hit the brakes quickly which is the thought there. - Start colace asap. I was asking for it in recovery, lol. I never had any issues in this department and partly credit the colace. - Stay on top of the pain meds in the hospital. It's hard to get back in front of it once we fall behind, so don't try to power through those first few days. Once home, I was ok on just ibuprofen. - Ask for a belly binder in the hospital on day 3-ish. - Take high waisted undies and pants. I took yoga pants with the fold over waist and pulled it up over my belly. I was so swollen from all the fluids the first time. The 2nd time I walked out on my own. - After 2 full weeks, I was taking ds1 to daycare alone. I could lift the bucket seat in/out of the car fine, was just conscious about twisting with that much weight. Ditto for my 27lb ds1.
I took a walk on day 5 with ds1 and was pretty wobbly. By 2 weeks out I would have been fine with a short, easy stroll both times.
Listen to your body - you'll know if you're overdoing it. Both times, my incision would start to spot when I did too much. It's concerning (I was very zomg about it, lol) but not uncommon.
I had a scheduled C-section at 39 weeks. My recovery was much easier than I expected, and I was able to do everything completely independently by about 10 days after delivery. DH took 2 weeks off from work, and even with a super smooth recovery, I don't know what I would have done without having him (or someone else) with me during that time. I think part of the reason I recovered so well and so quickly was because DH didn't just "help", he literally did EVERYTHING 24 hours a day except breastfeed the baby. It allowed me to heal without any setbacks. If I would have been trying to take care of a kid or two in the first week, it would have been a shit show.
I got cleared to drive at my 2 week incision check appointment. Tips: Walk AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Everyone has already said it, but it really did help. Take the colace! Since my section was scheduled, I started taking colace twice a day about a week ahead of time to make sure everything was in good order before I had surgery, and I think that helped. I didn't experience any issues with horrible painful poops that people talk about. Wear the abdominal binder. I wore it pretty much constantly the first week. It helped support everything when going from sitting to standing, etc. I bought the C-panty and started wearing it at about 2 weeks post-op and really like it for the support over my incision area. It makes wearing normal pants much more comfortable.
Good luck! I know it is different for everyone, but I was extremely happy with my c-section experience and recovery.
Post by awkwardpenguin on May 12, 2017 15:43:37 GMT -5
I haven't had a c-section, but I did have a successful version. My practice offered me the option of doing it at 39 weeks with a spinal and if the baby couldn't be turned they would have proceeded directly to c-section. It has slightly less chance of success than a version at 36 or 37 weeks, but it's still close to 50%. Just wanted to mention it might be an option. Versions are more successful in second time moms.
Oh man. I was in so much pain the first week. I had to drive earlier than I should have because I had a UTI, DH was back at work, and I needed antibiotics ASAP. But damn. A c-section is a huge incision! I had a difficult time with stairs, getting in/out of bed to nurse and pump in the middle of the night, and carrying my baby. I couldn't carry him in his car seat for a few weeks. Looking back I really wish I had hired help, or insisted DH take more time off from work. I also pushed myself more than I should have because I didn't know any better. Or rather, I didn't feel like I could ask for more. Or didn't feel empowered to insist it.
It was a really, really hard transition into motherhood for me. Recovering from surgery and caring for an itty bitty baby is no walk in the park.
Do whatever you can to prepare in advance.
A postpartum doula would have been AMAZING. Someone to check on me, hold the baby while I showered, maybe run an errand or two, load the dishwasher, make sure I'm eating, and be available to answer questions. If I ever have another baby, I will, without a doubt, hire some help to support me after birth. (Would have repeat c-section.)
The older DS gets, the sadder I am looking back at how helpless and in pain I was during his first couple weeks of life. LOL.
I did take the advice of some people on here and had a few baskets around the house with bottles of water and granola bars. Really helpful those first few days when it hurt to get up and/or I was feeding DS and was hangry myself.
msniq had a normal-to-easy recovery the first time. There was one day she worked in the garden a little earlier than she probably should have, and another day that she skipped the oxycodone but probably shouldn't have. But I think after a week, she was going up and down stairs a little.
The second time was harder. She didn't need any extra painkillers, but it took longer for us to walk to the coffee shop a couple of blocks away. And it took a longer amount of time for the walks to get longer. By 6 weeks I think things were back to normal, at 10 weeks she walks all over North Seattle.
I had a month paid leave, so I could help out a little here and there. Even as a brand new baby, Tavi remarkably well in the snugabunny while msniq took a shower.
Crap, the stairs! We have a bathroom on our main floor but not a shower.
I never had an issue with stairs either time. I preferred not to carry him down/up them for the first week or so JIC but all our bedrooms and showers are upstairs. I actually found it easier once I didn't have a huge belly to navigate.
My instructions were not to drive for 1 week, and as long as you are still taking the pain killers. I tried weaning off around 1 week, but ended up taking them a little longer, maybe 10-11 days or so. I can tell when I've walked too much/pushed myself too far because my internal sutures really start to ache and bother me. I don't remember them hurting this much the first time around, so I don't know if this is normal or not. I am 4 weeks out now and could easily walk a mile. I imagine I would've been fine, going slowly, around 2 weeks-ish.
Crap, the stairs! We have a bathroom on our main floor but not a shower.
My bedroom is on the third floor of our townhouse and I made it up there just fine (though slowly) the Sunday evening after my Friday csection. Getting in and out of bed was tougher than handling stairs for me. You should be fine.
Eeeeeek. What's the plan? Do they want to schedule a CS or try to flip him/her or...?
Regardless, you are so close! Good luck!
Not yet. OB won't do a vaginal breech delivery, so that's out (I'm not sure I'm open to a vaginal breech delivery anyway). OB says if she can flip at 40 weeks, she can flip again so while he would consider doing an ECV for me but I'd be too worried about it being successful only for her to turn yet again after that, because clearly she has all the room in the world in there lol.
I have another appointment on Thursday where we'll talk about our options if she's still breech. If she moves back to vertex by then, I will probably ask about getting induced asap even though I might feel guilty about feeling like she might not be ready to come out if she's still doing somersaults in there this late in the game. My plan this whole time was to get induced by 41 weeks no matter what, but now I have to consider whether it's worth scheduling something even later than that to give her more of a chance to flip back. If I still want to keep that 41-week limit for myself (it was my plan all along, not anything my OB recommended for medical reasons), then I'll pick the scheduled CS. But I need to give myself at least a few more days to decide what I want to do. Gah, this is hard. I'm not terrified of a CS as a procedure, just more terrified of the unknown since I didn't have one last time.
Or I could go into labor on my own while she's breech and get a CS anyway. There is something to be said about not having to make a decision!
I had an awesome c-section for a breech baby. Went super well; very little pain. But you just don't know. I only had to avoid driving until I was off pain meds (which was fast), and I could have done stairs pretty quickly. I had a second c-section 2 years later and that also went very well but a little more pain. If you re sick from anesthesia let them know right away so they can medicate you. I WAS sick after the first, but not much after the second.
That said, I would be really gentle with yourself and even milk it a bit b/c there's no point pushing too hard and risking issues. I had a 2 & 4 year old at the time of the first c-section and my OB was like, "Well, if you have to lift them, just be careful and try to support the weight so you aren't putting pressure on your mid-section. I'm really not sure exactly what happened or when and suspect it may have been during my fourth pregnancy, but at some point I got a hernia on my c-section scar. It's not very noticeable and is painless right now but will likely have to be fixed at some point. I kind of think I pushed myself too much during pregnancy and also after delivery.
Eeeeeek. What's the plan? Do they want to schedule a CS or try to flip him/her or...?
Regardless, you are so close! Good luck!
Not yet. OB won't do a vaginal breech delivery, so that's out (I'm not sure I'm open to a vaginal breech delivery anyway). OB says if she can flip at 40 weeks, she can flip again so while he would consider doing an ECV for me but I'd be too worried about it being successful only for her to turn yet again after that, because clearly she has all the room in the world in there lol.
I have another appointment on Thursday where we'll talk about our options if she's still breech. If she moves back to vertex by then, I will probably ask about getting induced asap even though I might feel guilty about feeling like she might not be ready to come out if she's still doing somersaults in there this late in the game. My plan this whole time was to get induced by 41 weeks no matter what, but now I have to consider whether it's worth scheduling something even later than that to give her more of a chance to flip back. If I still want to keep that 41-week limit for myself (it was my plan all along, not anything my OB recommended for medical reasons), then I'll pick the scheduled CS. But I need to give myself at least a few more days to decide what I want to do. Gah, this is hard. I'm not terrified of a CS as a procedure, just more terrified of the unknown since I didn't have one last time.
Or I could go into labor on my own while she's breech and get a CS anyway. There is something to be said about not having to make a decision!
Crap, the stairs! We have a bathroom on our main floor but not a shower.
This is fine! don't worry about that. What I did was take the stairs twice a day - so I would go down in the morning, and then back up in the evening. That was with dS1 though, I know with a second kid it would have been harder. But so like the morning we had our newborn pics, the photographer came over at 10 and they were going to be in the nursery, so I just didn't go downstairs until after she left. Or if I was tired and wanted to shower and rest but wasn't ready for bed, I still just went upstairs at 7 pm (this actually worked out well bc sometimes I left DS downstairs with H, lol.)
I don't know when I started taking the stairs more often, I don't think it was until after my two week apt. I prob could have taken them more often earlier but I figured if I could hold off, I should.
I had a scheduled C-section a week ago today and I'm not taking any pain medicine anymore. Occasional ibuprofen, but I am doing really well. First few days are not great, but it went so smoothly that I would recommend it to anyone
Post by nextbigthing on Jun 7, 2017 6:30:28 GMT -5
I had a scheduled c with a breech baby and it went great, I would do it again in a heartbeat.
I think there is a big difference between a scheduled c and an emergency c. The first few days I was obviously very sore but staying on meds made it manageable. I was out and about after about 10 days
UPDATE: She ended up flipping head-down for good at my 37-week appointment...except it wasn't for good. I had a growth ultrasound and BPP at 39+6 yesterday where she was happily head-down as she had been for 3 weeks, and then when I wasn't feeling her usual peak morning movement this morning, I went to the OB and discovered she had flipped back to breech, on her due date no less. So I am glad I posted this thread because I'm re-reading all of the helpful comments again!
I am putting the cart before the horse here, but figured I should prepare myself anyway.
I'm 36+2 right now and at my appointment last night, we discovered that baby flipped back to breech (she flipped to vertex before my 34-week appointment after many weeks prior of being either breech or transverse). My OB offered a version around 37-38 weeks but I decided against it because I really want to hold out until June (due on the 6th) because of my work/leave schedule, so I don't want to risk a May delivery in case the version causes distress to the baby. My OB has seen a lot of late flippers so he's not worried at all yet, but I'm preparing myself for the likelihood that she'll remain breech and I'll need a c/s this time.
I don't know much about c/s recovery and exercise. My plan if I were to have an easy vaginal delivery recovery like last time was to verrrrrry gradually work my way back into exercising (I've done nothing pretty much for the last year). Our daycare center is half a mile from the house so I figured with the weather being nice and all, I'd take daily strolls to and from daycare with both kids for DD1's dropoff and/or pickup starting right away and then work my way to gradual, low-impact exercising after my 6-week checkup. But now I don't even know if long walks are appropriate with a c/s. OTOH, I vaguely recall at least one SIL not being able to drive for a short while, so it seems crazy to me that I can't walk OR drive anywhere so I must be missing something here.
Can you guys share what you were able to do after your c/s and other suggestions so I'm prepared if she doesn't flip back to vertex? Thanks!
My god. I read that as "BFP at 39+6 yesterday" I was so confused.
"Hmmm, haven't had my period since August, I really should see what's up..."
Aw, sorry she's being quite the gymnast! DS did the same - each visit towards the end was a surprise. She definitely still has room to flip. Hopefully she does before you go into labor.
I know what you mean about hoping the decision will be made for you (either she flips or you go into labor while she's breech and head right for the c-section). For DD, I wanted a VBAC. But at the same time, I was scared of a vaginal delivery since that was my unknown. Also, I really didn't want to labor and then end up with an emergent c-section anyway. So while I had hopes of a VBAC, when they discovered she was breech during an NST at 40w2d, it took all the second guessing away. Automatic RCS at that point.
Anyways, hoping she cooperates, but honestly my two scheduled c-sections were super easy. Wishing the same for you if you have to go that route. Happy Due Date!