Sunday, September 11, 2011

C-Section Recovery

It's hard for me to believe, but it's now been three and a half weeks since my c-section. So, how was it? Well, not nearly as bad or painful as I imagined! I know everyone is different, and this is my experience only, but I thought I'd share and document it so that I can remember.

The weirdest part about the c-section was getting the spinal epidural. As it wore off, my legs were tingly and fuzzy feeling and I remember trying so hard to wiggle my toes, to no avail. It was such a strange feeling! Eight hours after my surgery, two nurses helped me out of bed and into a chair. They told me that sitting helps something or other, and that I was to sit in the chair for an hour. Getting out of the bed for the first time and walking three feet to the chair was... painful. I think I had remnants of morphine in my system at this point still, and I'd say the pain level was maybe a 6 out of 10. So not horrendous, but uncomfortable for sure.
(insert cute picture here so that you'll continue reading)

I started sitting in the chair at 3am, half of the time sleeping and the other half playing on my phone. I watched the clock turn to 4am.. no nurses. I watched the clock turn to 5am.. no nurses. So, I kept sitting. I did not want to maneuver myself back into the bed alone. At 5:30am a nurse finally came back in, thank goodness, because by that time I really needed to use the bathroom. The walk to the bathroom was maybe 10 feet, which I took very very slowly. It hurt. Sitting down on the toilet was worse.

The first day after the surgery was the hardest, but day by day the pain lessened. For pain relief I took motrin, every six hours. I was offered percocet as well, but I had horrible experiences with that drug when I got my wisdom teeth taken out, and I refuse to go near it again! Sitting still, I had no discomfort. When moving around, the pain was basically a dull ache near my incision. Laughing and coughing hurt the most out of anything.

Three days later when I was allowed to leave the hospital, I felt good, not great. I actually thought I felt great, but judging how I feel now to how I felt then - no comparison. I guess you could say I felt great given the circumstances. The doctor told me I wasn't allowed to drive or go up and down stairs for two weeks. Obviously they weren't aware that I don't live on ground level! I also wasn't allowed to carry anything over ten pounds. No exercise for a long time, and absolutely no ab workouts for three months!
So yeah, although recovery is ongoing and will be for a while, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it might be! I am counting my lucky stars. One thing for sure though is that you will need help if at all possible. My parents were an absolute lifesaver. A couple of days after returning home, I stopped taking any medication because I didn't feel like it was necessary, plus I kept forgetting. My lower stomach is numb to the touch and it will take months for the nerves to grow back. I can walk at a fair pace, but nowhere near as quickly as before. The way my belly hangs now is really weird and kinda moves around while I walk, so the faster I go, the more jiggly it becomes, causing pain. Just the thought of jogging hurts.

I'm excited to be able to get back into exercising and I dearly, dearly miss going to yoga classes! Downward dogs are not in the books for me yet though. Soon enough!

3 comments:

  1. I think you did absolutely wonderful considering that you had major surgery. When we first saw you in the hospital it was hard to believe that you even had a c-section. I remembered when we made you laugh and you said it hurt... oops... sorry for that. We were so happy to be able to be there for you, M and your boy and to be able to be with our granddaughter during her first 10 days of life. It was wonderful. I miss her so much but I know that I will see her in less than a month... yay!!

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  2. When I saw you you were walking at a 55 year old's pace! And I was thankful for it. lol Cause keeping up with M and his dad is crazy!

    Baby M was 15 days old when we arrived and you seemed great all things considered, as you said.

    You should mention that you were wearing your pre-pregnancy jeans as well! Very impressive :)

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  3. You looked a hundred percent when I saw you, wouldn't have even known you had surgery. You never complained once :) I hope you continue to have a good recovery.

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