C-Section Recovery Tips

How to quickly recover from a C-section

Your c-section recovery will naturally take longer than recovering from a vaginal birth, after all, it is major abdominal surgery.

How quickly and easily you recover from a c-section varies from person to person, but lot of it depends on your tolerance for pain, your attitude and how well prepared your were for surgery

Some women spring back right away, others take a bit longer but the average short term healing time is about 2-4.  100% full recovery could take as long as a year.

Here's a general breakdown of the C-Section recovery.

• The average C-section surgery takes about 30 minutes to an hour. This depends on whether this is your first c-section or it is a subsequent C-Section.  Subsequent C-Sections can sometimes take longer, particularly if there are C-section adhesions present or if there are multiple births or C-Section complications.   
  
• Your recovery room stay is about 1-3 hours - There's always a recovery room stay to make sure your vital signs remain stable as your anesthesia wears off. 

• Hospital stay about 3 days.  In years past hospital stays could take up to 5 days.
  
• Average home Recovery is about 2-4 weeks, for some it may be as long as 4-6 weeks.

C-Section Recovery Tips for Each Step or Your Healing

Once the c-section procedure is over, you will be wheeled to a recovery room where you may have your baby with you or you may not.  This depends on your doctor, hospital practices and what requests you have made beforehand. 

If a mom had a long labor before her c-section she may be very tired and wish to sleep in recovery.

One thing to be aware of in the recovery room is that this may be the time when your anesthesia will begin wearing off. The key here is to stay on top of your pain.

The very moment you sense pain coming on, make a request for additional pain meds. It's harder to get relief once you get behind the pain curve.  

Once you leave the recovery room, you will be transferred to your hospital room. If you haven't already begun breastfeeding or bonding with your baby, you will soon be able to do this. If you're not brought your baby right away, you may want to ask.

It may be difficult finding comfortable positions for feeding. Typically, the football hold or laying baby down next to you works well for most women.  Use your hospitals breast feeding team to work with you.  This will help you more than you know, especially for breastfeeding at home.

At about 12 hours from surgery, someone will come by to get you out of bed to help you start walking. This is the single most important thing you can begin doing to gain strength and energy, and believe me the nurses will be showing up to make sure this happens!

You'll be sore, but keep moving, it does get easier.  A strong mindset and lots of perseverance will help you. Before walking ask for additional pain meds if you think you'll need them. This can make movement a lot easier.

By the time you are ready to go home you should be able to walk pretty good.  You may be slow and still somewhat sore but walking nevertheless.

You'll have guidelines that you need to follow and things to watch out for so take precautions, don't rush around, keep moving but go slow. The more you move the easier it becomes, really!

Stay on top of your Pain Meds even at home.  Our instincts tell us not to take medications if we don't have pain but in those first few weeks after surgery you don't want to let your pain medication schedule lapse.  If your pain gets ahead of you it's often hard to get it under control again, then you will be taking more medication than you need just to begin feeling better. 

If you find that your pain medication just isn't enough,  an abdominal binder can offer significant relief.  It works by holding your muscles and incision in place so that things like getting out of bed, walking and just general movement won't hurt as much.

Remember when you would laugh and the nurse told you to hold a pillow tight to your belly because it lessens the pain? An abdominal binder works the same way only it holds your belly all day long.  In fact Abdomend makes a c-section abdominal binder designed specifically for C-Section moms.

Consistent care for your C-Section incision after surgery can be the difference in a smooth C-Section recovery or a long, painful recovery.  

Always keep your incision clean and dry. Don't do any heavy lifting or stretching as you could pull the internal stitches.  You could also break open your external incision causing bleeding and opening you up to possible infection.

Clean your incision every day with warm soapy water. Don’t rub the area, instead lather up a sponge or wash cloth using an antibacterial soap and squeeze the lather over your incision, then gently rinse the soap from the incision in the same way, by squeezing clear water over it. 

Gently pat the area dry or simply let it air dry. I also suggest that for the first few days, cover the area with a topical antibacterial ointment like Bacitracin or neosporin then apply a sterile pad so that your clothes won’t rub against it.

Each day, with proper care your incision will begin to look better. In time it will begin to diminish in size and color, however this will take several months, however the better care you take of your incision the less noticeable your Cesarean scar will be.

Here's more on how to avoid a C-Section incision infection.

Caring for your baby at home is often the biggest challenge for new moms because you're sore, you're tired and you have a baby that needs 24 hours a day.

Try to make it easy on yourself.  Keep the baby in bed with you and if you are breastfeeding, do it laying down.  If you have someone that can help out with chores and housework, take the help, this is no time to be super woman.  Keep up your walking routine but take adequate rests when you can.

Your job for the first month should be to take care of you and your baby and that should be your only priority.

Resuming your activities again

Soon you will be feeling like your old self again. For some women it will come sooner than for others but don't be fooled, doing too much too soon can cause your incision to break open, heavy bleeding and over all excruciating pain, not to mention it will prolong your recovery.

Things like having sex, driving, housework, exercise or going back to work varies for each woman.  For example, having sex after a C-Section, in particular is a very individual thing.  Your mood, fatigue and even your feelings toward your c-section scar can make a difference as to when you will be ready to resume these activities again.

Listening to your doctor and your body are key to a full and healthy recovery.

One major rule of thumb in resuming activities is to listen to your body.  If it doesn't feel right to do something, don't do it.

For lots more help, tips and personal advice with making critical decisions regarding your C-Section, Planing, avoiding pain/risks and Recovering quickly including getting your life & your shape back, please see the Worry free C-Section at www.worry-free-c-section.com.

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