Saturday, July 11, 2009

Ok here it is...top 10 things someone should have told me before my c-section:

1)Do not cough no matter how bad you have to cough
2)You will not be able to laugh until about 3 weeks out without it hurting
3)Do not sneeze (hold your finger under your nose as hard as you can and your sneeze will go away)
4)Just get someone to help you out of bed for the first 2 weeks. Use your cell phone and call someone if you are in your bed alone and need help
5)During the c-section, your husband will not be in the room until the baby is about 4 seconds shy of coming out
6)You will have these leg pump contraptions on your calves that squeeze your calves so you don't get a blood clot for the first 24 hours
7)The first time you get up the pain is extremely bad...I would describe it as an intense burning/ripping feeling =) Each time you get out of bed the burning/ripping feeling gets less and less (but it still hurts)
8)Don't wait for the pain to come, just take the pain medicine
9)The scar will likely get poofy all around it, this is normal
10)You will not really get to see your baby until 4 hours after a c-section, only briefly in the OR

Overall c-sections suck...I am about 4 weeks out (4 weeks on Monday) and things are about 75% normal, I still walk slow, bending down is by far the hardest thing to do still, and I can't pick anything heavier than the baby up. I would not say that a c-section is as bad as I thought it would be (I had built it up to be pretty bad in my mind)...I mean it is bad, but having a baby the other way, especially if you have an episiotomy, can be equally as bad (I would know), with alot of other problems down there. With a c-section you really only have one problem, the incision.

So if someone you know might have to get a c-section I would say to them that the first 2 weeks are pretty hard, but that after 2 weeks it starts to feel manageable, and then at week 3 better, week 4 even better, etc (I hope).

1 comment:

stevis said...

you are doing a great job, I can tell you feel better every day.