Hi Mama,
When I had planned my birth I did not expect to have a C-section. That means I didn’t do any research about a C-section or the recovery that would come after a C-section. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to walk on the stairs in the beginning and probably the first two weeks were going to be really hard but that’s all I knew.
Today I want to share my C-section recovery experience with you so that you can have some idea of what to expect if you end up having a C-section as well.
This is the fourth post in my five-part birth story series.
My birth story in chapters:
- Deciding between the ECV and a scheduled C-Section
- Being surprised by my daughter’s early arrival
- Emotions in the hours and few days after birth
- Recovering from my C-Section
- My birth plan went out the window (and I’m okay with that)
And so, the story continues….
My C-section Recovery Experience
Get the “Miracle-Lax” at the first sign of constipation because you do NOT want to find yourself crying on the thrown wearing a poop covered rubber glove wondering where your life went wrong.
If you had a C-section then you were probably told that the typical recovery time would be about 8 weeks (compared to only 6 weeks for a vaginal birth). My doctor told me the same and even claimed that I would be feeling like myself after 2 weeks. Hearing this I was optimistic. And in the beginning of my daughter’s life I had a lot more to worry about than how I was recovering. Was she getting enough breastmilk? Gaining enough weight? Was she sleeping enough? Sleeping too much?
-P A I N-
The first week was extremely hard since I was managing my pain from the surgery. Being the wimp that I am, I can’t swallow pills. I was taking children’s liquid Mortin and later children’s chewable Tylenol. They worked as long as I took a high enough dosage and took them on time. But the first few days I struggled with getting in and out of bed, breastfeeding positions, and even sleeping (I was used to sleeping on my side but after the surgery I needed to stay on my back to avoid pain). The incision hurt and I was also afraid to even look at it! I didn’t have the courage to look at it for about 3 weeks after my birth.
-N U M B N E S S-
I mentioned in my 5 things I wish someone told me before my c-section post that something I wish I had known about was how numb my abdomen was going to feel post-surgery. Since the doctors had to cut through the nerves I had lost feeling in a large area on my abdomen. This obviously didn’t cause physical pain because I couldn’t feel anything in that area, but instead caused me some emotional pain. I wasn’t expecting it and when I asked other moms about it, I found out that it’s possible that the area will never truly regain the same level of feeling as before. That was a shock to me, and even now at 16 weeks postpartum I don’t have full feeling, though it is getting a bit better than before.
-P O O P-
Now, let’s talk about POOP. I have A LOT to say on this subject so sorry if you don’t like to hear about this subject.
Throughout my pregnancy I struggled with some mild constipation. The entire pregnancy I was under the impression that once the baby was out, the poops would start to flow a little more freely. But oh noooo how wrong I was! I’m sorry if this is TMI but I was extremely constipated after having my c-section. I was taking stool softeners daily and added prunes to my diet but it wasn’t helping.
I got to the point where I was convinced that I was going to need to go to the emergency room because I could not poop! I was in so much pain that I was crying on the toilet. Like, for real, I’m sorry how disgusting this is about to get but if you read my content you know that the last thing I want to do is sugarcoat things for new moms. So here’s the deal: I was LITERALLY using my finger to pull the hard stools out from my butthole. Yeah.
I called my doctor’s office because I was like what the literal fuck. How come this is happening? I was drinking about 100oz of water a day because I was breastfeeding, so that was not my issue. They claimed it was because the poops are taking longer to go through my digestive track (hormones) so the water that was inside them gets absorbed by my intestines before the little turds have a chance to reach the end of the track. Great.
She told me to try a glycerin suppository to try and get the massive turd that was stuck to come out. Do you know what a glycerin suppository is? Basically a piece of hard wax that you shove up your bum hole and hope that it will induce an explosive bowel movement. I tried to use it a few times. I had abdominal pain. I was sweating. My butt was burning. I was regretting using it and yet was so desperate to get that honking turd the heck outtttt.
Welp, after 2 hours of trying it was not successful. The next day I was in so much pain. I really needed to get this out TODAY. So I sat on the toilet. I wished to hard until I pooped, praying that my incision wasn’t about to bust open. And guess what? It came out. Wanna know what else? That mega turd was so big that when I went to flush the toilet it could not fit down the hole. I shit you not. I had to then take a plastic bag and fish it out as though I was picking up some dog poop. Then I walked my dung bag out the door to the trash can outside. But I was overjoyed! I felt like a new woman!
After this traumatic experience that I thought was almost WORSE than birthing my child, I started to take Miralax daily. Don’t know why this wasn’t recommended from the start but after taking my daily dose of Miralax with lunch I was totally fine. About 2 weeks ago I stopped taking the Miralax and have been having normal bowel movements since. So yeah, get the “Miracle-Lax” at the first sign of constipation because you do NOT want to find yourself crying on the thrown wearing a poop covered rubber glove wondering where your life went wrong.
-S W E A T-
I’m pretty sure this is true for everyone recovering from birth, but for nearly 2 months I would wake up in the middle of the night completely soaked in sweat. It didn’t matter what I was wearing (or not wearing), the temperature of the room, if I used a blanket or not. I would just sweat uncontrollably. I would have to get a towel to sleep on for the rest of the night because the sheets were so wet that they couldn’t air dry on their own. It was also really cold trying to sleep on wet sheets but the towel was all I had the energy for. I wasn’t about to do laundry every night at 2am.
-B R E A S T F E E D I N G-
I kind of mentioned this in the pain section of this post but I really struggled with breastfeeding. I know that breastfeeding is already difficult because mom and baby both have to learn how it’s done, but having an incision to worry about made it so much more difficult. I kept getting told to try the “football hold” to feed her since that would avoid putting pressure on the incision, but I could not figure it out for the life of me. I ended up using the cradle hold and just dealing with the pain because I wanted to make sure she was fed no matter how it happened. Of course now that I’m healed and we both have a ton of experience I find breastfeeding to be both easy and enjoyable!
-R E S T-
I’m the kind of person that is always busy, always active, and very productive. So when I had to take it easy in order to heal, I felt really strange. I wanted to be up and cleaning the house but instead I was sitting in bed all day with my baby. I felt like I was doing “nothing” even though I was doing the most important job of all, caring for a newborn baby. I felt a little crazy being home all the time so after the first 3 weeks I started to go out for walks to aid the recovery and get some fresh air. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t always great because I had Mia at the end of January. It was cold and got dark early. But I believe that light walking is good for recovery both physically and mentally so I’m glad I started walking early.
Now that I’m 16 weeks postpartum I’m starting to feel like myself again. I am able to be active without feeling pain, and have been seeing improvements in the appearance of my scar. It’s no longer swollen and doesn’t look like it’s about to bust open at any moment. I started using Mederma Scar Gel on my incision scar as well as on my stretch marks on my hips in hopes that it will help them to fade away. It might take a while though.
If you’re currently recovering from a birth, share your experience in the comments! I know some women heal faster than others so it will be great to hear multiple experiences!
If you’ve read this far and you haven’t signed up for my email list, I invite you to do so now. 🙂 I would love to have you join The Fawn Squad!
xo
Mother of Fawn
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