Loading ...Emotionally
Most women are just glad and grateful when it’s over. You may feel delighted, or you may be disappointed that you didn’t manage to give birth to your baby vaginally if that is what you were hoping for. If things changed very quickly during your labor, you may still feel traumatised by the shock of what you have been through. It may help your emotional recovery to go over the reasons why a caesarean section became necessary. It’s good to talk about it!
Physically
Everyone knows a c-section is major surgery, but you may still be surprised by how much it hurts afterwards. You may feel you can’t do anything on your own. Trapped wind is another problem, especially by about day three. Tightening the abdominal muscles on an outward breath helps expel the gas. Peppermint water or tea also helps. It will hurt to cough or laugh, but less if you support your wound (with your hands or by holding a pillow over your stomach) as you do so. Wearing boxershorts that are a size bigger than you really need may make the wound feel more comfortable, and you’ll need to use sanitary pads because the lochia, or bleeding from the uterus, is the same as after a vaginal birth.
Going home
You’ll probably have to stay in hospital for about 3 days. It may take your body up to 6 months to recover fully after a section and many women say they don’t feel completely themselves for up to a year. You’ll probably be warned not to drive for 5 weeks, as turning and twisting may cause pain and having to do an emergency stop would be very painful. You shouldn’t lift anything heavy either. You will be encouraged to start gentle postnatal exercises the day after your operation. This will help speed your physical recovery. You should not start a more strenuous exercise program until 6 to 8 weeks after delivery.
The scar
The majority of c-sections these days are lower segment section, which means your scar runs horizontally along your bikini line. At first it will look very red, but as the weeks and months go by it will gradually fade to pink. By 2 years after your operation the scar will probably have faded to a silvery line, and it may eventually be almost invisible.
