As someone who has had two Cesarean sections, one being unplanned and another scheduled, it is familiar territory for me to know how to recover. While they both had recoveries that were night and day in their differences, due to laboring with one and not the other, the recovery still were similar in terms of, yes, a c-section is a major surgery. With my unplanned I had 0 idea or thought that my birth could even end that way. It did and I was as unprepared as possible. I talk about the differences between unplanned and planned csections here. These are things that I made sure I had the second time around, or even didn’t need both times that may just be a cash grab for trying to get you to spend more money.
A belly binder is something that people feel the need to have. For me, I couldn’t imagine anything remotely tight around my middle. People like this to apparently hold your incision as you move and bend, others say it helps the belly go back to place? I’ve read that when it comes to healing doing nothing is better. As someone who just followed the basics with their incisions, both mine healed well. The big things were to 1) make sure that you keep your incision clear/dry. So after a shower once you have the bandage off, make sure laying on your back if you are larger, like myself, to have a dry face cloth to gently run alone to make sure that it is dry. This helps prevent infection and 2) make sure that you don’t over do it. This is so that you don’t accidentally twist the wrong way to hurt yourself. If you aren’t careful you could be doing something that could seriously hurt your healing process and become a major set back to prolong the recovery. As easy going as my second section was, I was still reminding myself that “Yes, I did have major surgery, be careful” to make sure I didn’t cause any set backs.
I will also state too, I never had a wound vac with either incision. My first I don’t think it was really a thing, and with my second I declined it. This is a battery pack that lasts about a week and goes in your incision to better heal yourself? However there is no real research that it really aids healing or if its just there. You have to also meet certain criteria to have this. While I declined my reasoning was that I did not want to have to deal with going back to the hospital or a doctor to have it removed after the week. I already had enough appointments I did not want to have anymore either.
High waist-ed underwear was a must. Lucky for me, I always wore high-waisted underwear because I have a belly and with low rise they felt like they really pushed my gut up. If you don’t have any though I strongly recommend getting a few pairs because the last thing you want is anything irritating your scar as it heals. Not only is it annoying but it could irritate it a lot. Which again could hinder the healing. Some people swear by the mesh underwear, I actually hated them. I found they were rough and very tight which was the last thing that I wanted.
Pain medications are a must. Since I am in Canada I’m not entirely sure what else where does BUT for us here this is what they do. So in the hospital I was given Neproxen (I think how you spell it!), and Ibuprofen. With my first section I went to the drug store after to see if I can get Neproxen. They didn’t really have any and what they did wasn’t even worth the headache. And I just basically took Advil. Extra strength, 2 tablets to make 1000mg every 6 hours. The thing with healing as crummy as it sounds is moving. If you can move around within your limits obviously, then you will have a speedier recovery. The other key is whatever you are taking to help with pain, take it on the proper time frames. Even for a few days. If you wait for the pain to be back it will take a lot longer to manage that after it hurts than it is to take pain medications as a preventative measure. With my unplanned Cesarean section, I took Advil extra strength every 6 hours for the first week or so, and then a little bit at night time because I found that to make the pain feel stronger from moving and getting back to a routine. With my scheduled Cesarean section, I took it every 6 hours which was for the first 4 or 5 days after coming home from the hospital.
Loose clothes is also a must too. Those low rise jeans can wait, trust me. Again with the high waisted underwear, you do not want to have anything rubbing against it. Think when you have a cut somewhere and you have something that is rubbing and lint and stuff sticking to it. This is no different except it goes across your entire belly.
And lastly, thank me later, though this is more so if you have a planned one and you can start taking directly after your section, some sort of stool softner! The last thing you want is to be “pushing” and having your belly aching preventing you. If your having a scheduled section you can start taking it a few days ahead to help things get a bit loose. If you have an unplanned, start taking it while in the hospital and then days at home too. This was such a life saver and it was something I probably never have thought about until I was on the toilet straining. Hormones after and even during pregnancy really put your digestive system out of wack.
Hopefully some of these are things you may not have thought of, whether your sitting in your hospital bed recovering or you are trying to search how to make your scheduled one go more pleasant. I know for me, I was thankful I had this information the first time after it all happened, and even the 2nd when I knew what was happening long before it did!
Stacey J. Girard 