Recovering from a C-Section
Okay friends, let’s talk about recovering from a C-section. If you had a C-Section, you will have a little more mending to do.
A C-Section is considered major abdominal surgery, which takes approximately 6-8 weeks to fully recover from. Have no fear — you’ll be just fine!
Recovering from a C-section is a rollercoaster of emotions and bodily fluids, but with a sense of humor and a lot of patience, you’ll make it through.
It’s a journey that requires both physical and emotional healing. It is a time of vulnerability, where the body and spirit are in need of nurturing and care. The incision site may ache and throb, reminding one of the power of the surgeon’s hand and the miracle of life.
The following accounts were written by various readers about their experiences with having and recovering from a C-Section — hopefully you’ll find some comfort as well as great tips from their stories.
“So, you had to have a C-Section for one reason or another. Maybe you are heartbroken because of it, maybe you wanted it, or maybe you fall somewhere in between. At least you get to skip all that horrific bleeding, right? Right?! Eh, not exactly, although c/s moms tend to bleed a little less than their vaj-delivery counterparts.
Because you’ve just had surgery, you may be gassy (more gassy than your normal pregnant self) and bloated, even uncomfortably so. Ask for Simethicone in the hospital (or at home) if it gets really bad and remember walking around will help get your bowels moving again.
For the first 3-4 days, walking is a difficult task. You will probably need help. You might need help showering. Or, you might just not shower (if you are me). Either way, it is pretty hard to do much more than exist for the first few days. It’s ok, just go with it.
Back to the bleeding – like with a vaginal delivery, you will be bleeding anywhere from 4 – 6 weeks. Still no tampons, just the enormous pillows they send you home with to use as pads. Some advice? Take as much of those mesh undies home as you can, because you best just throw away anything you are wearing for the first two weeks. After that, it should start to taper off.
Unfortunately, constipation, incontinence (ever hear of snissing?), and hip/knee/back pain are also prevalent even with a ‘section’.
Your incision will be painful at first. It also looks terrible, but it will get better very soon. Your doc will remove your sutures or staples in the hospital after a few days, although they may opt to do it later at their office after you’ve been discharged. Don’t worry, the removal is not very painful. They may also use glue on your incision, which will slough off on its own.
Don’t pick at your scar. Let soapy water run over it (once you are able to bathe) and pat it dry. You can put a little triple antibiotic on it after the first week. Don’t worry, the incision is very low, so it’s not going to show in your underwear or in a bikini. After time, it fades very nicely.
Be careful about what you wear. You don’t want much pressure on your abdomen, so maternity pants or sweats it is! You might have some trouble with stairs at first, you shouldn’t drive for about two weeks, and no lifting anything heavier than the baby. Really, just take it easy.
Even though you will be up and at it soon enough, it will be a very long time until you are 100% healed. At four months postpartum, I STILL get some pain around my incision.
Some women say they are running again two weeks after a C-Section. I call them liars. Two-week recoveries after labor are like unicorns; everyone would like to believe in them, but they don’t exist. They say it takes a woman’s body 18 months to recover after a pregnancy. So don’t balk at an 8-week span before you start to feel a bit like your old self.”
Angie A.
“Like many, I tried to avoid all c-section topics in the irrational pregnancy belief that if I didn’t known about it it won’t happen… however my irrational plan didn’t work and my baby was breech. After going through an unsuccessful version, I had to have a c-section hence I read every material I found on sections and I have to say… I got really depressed.
All everyone talks about is how recovering from a c-section is so difficult. All the restrictions, recovery time, no sports etc. It really put me in a funk. In the end, it was all for nothing! Yes we did stay in the hospital longer, but I was cleared for exercise (and sex) when the baby was just 4 weeks old, I was in pain for only about 3 days and then so much better each day. Yes, my body was weak but I am sure it would have been after a vaginal delivery too. Plus… there are all the benefits, mainly no labor! I think it’s worth to tell that story too! Not just the bad ones.”
Karina
“So you think you may end up with a C-Section? Fear not, it happens to the best of us. I was totally psyched to birth my baby under a rainbow in a pool of natural spring water in the woods (totally kidding) when my stubborn baby decided being head down was for the birds. So C-Section it was! If you’re in this boat, or think you may want or end up with a C-Section, try not to stress; every lil thang gonna be alright.
As far as c-section recovery goes, it’s definitely no walk in the park. The main thing is it’s major abdominal surgery, which any other time would be a reason for you to take it very easy and get lots of rest and not do too much lifting or activity. Only… you just had a baby so that’s absolutely impossible. Repeat this mantra- ‘Baby your baby, baby yourself.’
So there you are being wheeled into the postpartum room, and they’re likely going to hook you up to this weird contraption that wraps around your legs and sounds like Darth Vader. This is to massage your legs to help prevent blood clots that are a risk in almost any surgery. They’re also going to withhold food from you until you toot and/or poop. Since they just did a lot of fooling around in your abdomen, they have to make sure your intestines and digestive whatnots are in proper working order before they’ll let you put them to work digesting food again. So as soon as you pass gas? Go ahead and let everyone know. Loudly. Hit the call button and tell the nurses (can you tell I was starving?).
The next thing to know is your nurse is a sadist and will make you get out of bed at some point. Just kidding, she’s likely going to be a wonderful old pro. It really helps to get your body moving, as miserable as it feels. You will feel like an old lady who’s been hit by a truck, but it’ll get better the more you’re up and moving. Just don’t overdo it.
The drug I was given for my ‘family centered C-Section’ (also called gentle cesarean, look it up, really pretty cool) was called Duramorph and its pain killing powers wore off 24 hours after administration. Right when it wore off, I was hit by a coughing and I’ve never been in so much pain in my life. Don’t let this happen to you. I must’ve sounded like I was dying when I hit the call button because a bunch of nurses busted through the door like the Kool-Aid man. So to prevent that from happening, ask about your pain options and frequency and have your husband/partner/mom/whoever set alarms for you to call for them. You will sound like a total junky calling the nurse every few hours for your pain meds, but if you don’t, you won’t get them on time and you just don’t want to go there.
Anyway.
At some point, they’re going to want to remove your catheter; they asked me at about 10 PM if I wanted it removed, which I postponed due to reeeally not wanting to have to get up in the middle of the night to pee, so I had them remove it the next morning. Score!
As soon as you feel up to it, take a shower. If the bandages are allowed to come off, take some baby oil with you to wash the sticky adhesive off your skin. Try not to look at the incision, it will look terrible now and just freak you out. It will look waaaay better down the road and there’s no reason to get upset and see it in its worst condition. Ignorance is bliss at this point, trust me.
As far as when you leave the hospital, just remember your mantra: baby your baby and baby yourself! The laundry and the vacuuming and the dishes can all wait, you just park your butt on the couch or in the bed and take it easy. You’ll bleed and hurt and be sore, have random referred pain in your shoulder and weird burning and pulling sensations in your incision, but you will feel back to normal in a few weeks. As rough as it is, just try to relax and not worry so much, and soak up your sweet new baby!”
Sydney S.
“Dermabond Advanced ‘glue’ is available for wound closure, but is not widely accepted due to lack of data. We sometimes use it for small laparoscopic incisions, but I avoid it for anything larger and prefer staples or suture [for C-Sections]. I give the patient the option. Suture dissolves on its own and I can make it look “pretty” right away, but the staples come out before the patient leaves the hospital and usually result in the same, nice cosmetic effect in the end. If staples are removed too early, there may be some skin separation that takes longer to heal.
My answer: I like suture for healing and cosmetic effect. Staples are faster, but may have higher chance of wound separation. Dermabond has not been studied in a large trial to demonstrate its superiority to these other two methods and is much more expensive.”
Dr. Jennie Hauschka
A the end of the day, recovering from a C-section is a journey of transformation, a time of letting go of the old and embracing the new. It is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and a reminder of the power of love. As Maya Angelou once said, “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.” And so, with each passing day, the body and spirit grow stronger, and the journey continues.
Good luck, mamas!!
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Hello,
Well people may not believe me but I had a C-section in October 2019 and I had no pain during the recovery. I am not lying ! I was even worried that the day will come when I will feel pain but NOPE! It never came. The nurses and my OBGYN will say that I had high pain tolerance but trust me, I do not! I will tell them that I didn’t have pain. I thought the anesthesia was still working but they told me it wasn’t. I am really interested if any one out there. Since October until now I never experienced pain and all I remember is that as soon as I had my baby I started walking the day after and since than I have not stopped. I don’t know how that happened since I hear all these stories about how painful and uncomfortable was. Please if anybody had the same experience as me please let me know. I am curious to know if maybe we did the same thing that helped us not to have pain.
Same. I just had my baby June 4th and no pain well very little. More like tightness than anything. This is my third c-section so I thought something was wrong because I knew what to expect for the most part. But boy by far the easiest one physically. I had to remind myself that I just had a baby and even though I don’t feel pain, I did just have surgery and to rest. Congratulations on the baby!
I’m was the same way. I rolled off the surgical bed into the recovery bed minutes after my surgery. I know the anesthesia was still working then, but I never felt weak or in pain. I was walking to the bathroom the next morning, which was only a couple of hours later since I had the c-section at 8pm. I spent 4 days in the hospital and most days I gave my pain rating a 1-2 and that was only because it was a little sore to sit up and breastfeed my baby. The nurse were in shock, because I took a shower as soon as the bandages came off (around 30 hours after surgery). When I went home I did have 1 very uncomfortable bowel movement, but I was organizing and doing chores around the house by day 4. I’m on day 9 now and I forget to take my pain medication most days. There is still the random soreness when I get out of bed or get out a seat. I can’t believe the healing time is 4-6 weeks. I feel fine already.
I also had absolutely no pain. I suspect it is just because we had really good surgeons.
Same here, no pain with the first
C section. Everyone told me the pain is extreme when you are first told to stand up and walk, i didnt feel any pain – only out of balance so had to hold on to my mom who was with me at the time. This was for the first few steps and it was fine. Not much pain afterwards either. I did take arnica 200c as soon as i was allowed water and took mint oil caps to relieve gas, my guess is these helped a lot. I am expecting my second in a month and i hope my experience remains the same this time as well. I didnt take heavy pain meds (sever adverse side effects)- took tylenol and ibuprofen in combination and stopped after 4-5 days
I wanted to share my c section experience for anyone out there who has a rough go of it: I had an emergency c section after 3 hours of pushing. The little guy was just too big. When the doctor cut my incision, my skin was so swollen it continued to tear and I have a very long scar as a result. The c section also healed slightly crooked so i have an area of skin that hangs over the incision. I am 5 months pp and walk everyday. My incision gets sore after I walk but the pain subsides overnight until I walk again the next day. I haven’t seen a lot of commentary on the internet for people with c sections who are still experiencing soreness after 5 months, so I just want to let anyone else out there know you’re not alone!
Thank you for sharing I’m 6months after C-section and still have lower abdominal pain that really hurts from time to time but my doctor used internal staples which some of mine still haven’t fully dissolved
Thank you for sharing. I found this thread because I’m 5 month pp & noticed that as I’m gaining my feeling back in my incision area I’m having internal pain. It’s nothing like my initial recovery but still very uncomfortable. I also have pretty crappy back pain too. I’m so glad & grateful for my sweet girl. & at least my scar doesn’t look as ugly as I thought it would! Lol those are the only positive things I have to say about a cesarean! Lol
Read everyones comments and am stronger than before.
I just had my second c section June 5th. I’m on my 3rd week of recovery, I do feel better, however my incision has been bleeding/ leaking fluid a tiny bit. I called my OB office and spoke to a nurse, she said it sounds normal. Has anyone else experienced this?
Yes, it’s happening to me now. I gave birth to my son January 14, 2021 and my incision on one side had opened back up and is leaking fluid. I called my OB doctor she brought me into the office Thursday for a incision check. She took off my white sitches and seen where it was fluid leaking. The fluid was brown and it stink so bad. She gave me antibiotics (pinicillion) and check for signs of a infection. I go back this week coming up for her to check my incision again. In praying it close back up but so far it’s still open and draining.
I had an emergency c section in April. With little to no knowledge on c sections as I have had two previous VB delivery’s so assumed this time would be pretty much the same. Well my baby was suddenly breech and the cord wrapped around her. I must say that the experience was obviously very scary but The procedure was also amazing. Everyone worked like clockwork to get her out safe and the recovery has not been the pain I thought it would. The day after and the first ‘walk’ was pretty painful. And I remember my first day home and needing my other half to basically shower me and feeling useless, wondering how on earth id lay down in my bed and crying thinking this would be life for a Long while but it Really was not. Every day I Honestly felt sooo much better and was able to do more. I felt much like my usual self again after the six week recovery period and my scar is now two months on just a pink line. I’m currently decorating a new home and it’s at least a 30 min walk there and back I’m doing a day and feel a bit sore in the evenings around the scar but it’s completely gone again by the morning. I think you can feel if you’re overdoing it and what works for you. My experience has definitely made me see how amazing our bodies are
Hi there mommies. All the comments here are really encouraging. I’ve had my first c section on the 1st July 2020 (going on 28 days today). However it is burning a great deal, most times. The Nurse indicated that it’s just the dissolvable stitches doing their healing… It’s just too much. It’s not pain but it burns.
Just thought I should share and see if anyone went through this and how long did it take? I’m going on 4 weeks now and the incision burns too badly.
I also had my first c section on July 1st, and I still get burning on my scar specifically on a part that is bumpy.
I just had my third c section on June. Going on my 7 week pp and I’m still feeling pain in my incision. Really itchy and harp pain that come and go all through out my incision. I was told that it’s because I’m healing and in those areas i might have lots of scared tissue. Just the other day I noticed what seemed to be a stitching pocking out of my incision. Not sure if normal. Eventually came out. You would think I would know everything about recovery and used to it since it my third one, but no each one healed different.
I replied not to long ago as well. This is my 3rd C-section as well and having draining
Hey ladies! Okay so I had a emergency c section on July 15th.. so I’m now 4 weeks pp.. well on Sunday I had to go to the er for bleeding they did a ultrasound and the ultrasound tech was literally pressing the probe right on my incision 😖. Well now it’s a little swollen and hard a bit above the incision… I’m assuming it’s just irritated because I’m only 4 weeks pp and it’s still healing. But I just want to know if that’s normal… I have a appointment on Monday so I’m obviously going to ask my doctor but I just want a little peace of Mind before then
Melissa,
I had my c section July 21. I am 4 weeks today. My bleeding Stopped after two weeks and then with a clot the size of a golf ball around 2 and a half weeks pp it kicked back up again and my incision wasn’t looking so great. I went to ER and they also did an ultrasound and could see some small clots inside but nothing too concerning. They gave me antibiotics for the incision as it was beginning to be infected. It cleared up. Today I went to my doctor as I am still passing clots. Doing another ultrasound tomorrow to see what the heck is going on. So…. I don’t have answers for you but I am in the same boat. It’s very frustrating aaaaaaand totally nerve wracking.
A
I just had my 1st C section on December 10th 2020 and on my right side I had what started as a peas size lump which now isb the size of a small brussel sprout. Its under my scar. Anybody else had this?
I had my first C-Section on 19th May’20 after three normal deliveries. Its been 8months and i still have pain inside the incision that im useless around the house, i need to slow down while walking as i get pain most of the time. This is just frustrating.
I have done my third c-section in December. I am 8 weeks going into 9 weeks pp and I have no pain but my abdomen burns constantly and my back hurts like crazy. I realize that whenever I wear my back brace the pain lessens but the burning hardly ceases.
I also had an infection scare!
Feels better to know that I’m not alone going through this. Had my 2nd C section on 21/12/2020 but my lower abdomen the skin is burning so bad that it hurts to touch my belly.The burning doesn’t stop at all. Have complained to my OB and says it could be the nerves tightening, gave me an ointment which didn’t work at all. My first c section was ok but this one was very painful and taking long to heal.
Hello ladies!I had my c.section done on 22 December and upto now am still bleeding I stopped at 6 weeks then started irregular bleeding is it normal or has anyone gone through this,my incision also hurts badly
Im 3 months postpartum, I went to bed last night feeling fine but about 2am I woke up with sharp stabbing and pulling pain on the left side of my incision, it hurt when I moved but only ached when setting still so I took tylenol with no relief. Woke up several more times throughout the night with immense pain more tylenol no relief, I usually get minor aches and pains but this feels like the surgery just happened is this normal???
Im 3 months pp. I didn’t dilate after being induced. Babys heart rate dropped and i had a c section. I feel kike something is gunna come out of my vagay at the end of the day still. Not every day but al least every other day. I feel like my uterus just shrunk bc my tummy is looking flatter. I just look chunky but no pregers. Im not experiencing pain on my incision. But if you were to imagine the cooch as a triangle, i have a discomfort in the middle. Anyone else?
I’m about 10 weeks pp. I had an ultrasound just before I was induced and my lo was head down. My labour was 8 hours, from tiny contractions that I couldn’t or barely felt most of the time to big ones near the end. Near the end, the nurses told me they couldn’t find my cervix and the doctor checked and said they felt a butt. My cervix went from 2.5 cm to fully dilated within like 30 minutes. I was rushed for an emergency c-section. They said the epidural (that I demanded to have not long before) hadn’t fully taken affect, but they needed to start. They pricked me a bunch of times, I felt 3 and nothing else. Afterwards during recovery my right side really hurt, like a razor blade kept cutting me feeling every time I moved for the first two weeks and at the end if the second week I felt it instead on the left side for another week, then it was just a tight feeling. My bleeding stopped after like 6 weeks, just small blood clots randomly. Have some ppd from that. I couldn’t do much for like 6 weeks. My doctor says I can do what ever I want now, but I randomly get sharp pains where I felt the razor blade feeling.
Thanks for sharing! Glad you are feeling better – that sounds rough!
Meg
It’s been nearly 15 weeks since my c section. ( I have had 2 c sections previously ) I was rushed into hospital 4 weeks back as I wouldn’t stop bleeding they treated me for an infection of the womb, since then I have been spit bleeding on and off.. now my stomache is very sore especially above my scar area, still very tender to touch and although I have been told my scar looks fine that is now very tender to.. GP also thinks I have a hernia. I am exhausted with the recovery of this section and also so worried something is terribly wrong.. anyone else going through the same? I read that it takes 6-8 weeks to heal I’m nearly 15 weeks now!! So worried!!
I know it gets riskier with each c-section you have. I hope you feel better soon!
Good day
I had my first c section done on August 27th 2022
It’s been 9 months now, but I am still experiencing pains inside my incision area, and it’s painful
I don’t know what to do bcos it’s my first time after having 3 normal births.
Anyone experienced this before, can you please help me?