Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

Although having a C section isn’t a normal thing, it doesn’t mean that it endangers the mother or the baby. Nonetheless there are some women thinking about C section recovery and they should know that most probably after having the procedure they will feel mixed emotions.

How do you feel during the recovery from C section?

In the majority of the cases women feel both euphoria and they feel overwhelmed when they hold their baby in their arms for the first time. Besides the typical postpartum issues you will also have to recover from the surgery so you need to take really good care of yourself.

The good news about recovery from C section is that women have to spend only 3-4 days in the hospital and after that they can go home. If you have other children as well, getting home could be quite tiresome and so you should plan in advance and have all the help that you can get.

How about pain relief?

Regarding C section recovery it is important to think about pain relief. For women who have a spinal epidural, during the procedure, morphine works very well and it has the advantage that is doesn’t make women groggy like the other painkillers and it is effective for at least 24 hours.

Some of the anesthesiologists leave the epidural in place for 12-24 hours after the surgery as part of recovery from C section to help the patient with pain management. Once this medication wears off, you will receive other systemic pain killers. It is possible that ibuprofen can also help with the pain.

Women who have general anesthesia and don’t have an epidural, as part of the C section recovery the doctors will give systemic painkillers right after the surgery. Most likely you will get an injection of pain killers every 3-4 hours or you can administrate the pain killer for yourself.

The advantage in this case is that you have more control over the recovery from C section because all you have to do is to push the button to get some pain relief medication through the IV. There is a machine controlling the dosage to make sure that you won’t get too much medication.

There is a nurse overseeing your C section recovery and if you experience any discomfort, make sure to let her know and ask for some pain medication. There is no need to be shy and keep in mind that the longer you suffer in silence the more difficult it will be to control the pain.

Also you should let the nurse know whether the medication you received during the recovery from C section is working. If she can’t help you, you should talk to another doctor or obstetrician. It is important to be comfortable to be able to care for the baby.

What are the first few days like?

During the C section recovery it is possible that you will experience some nausea and it is also possible to be groggy. Your nausea could last for 48, but there is some medication that you could be taking. One of the funniest things to know regarding this period is that some mothers feel itchy all over their body.

Recovery from C section shouldn’t interfere with breastfeeding and you could start right in the recovery room. Ask the nurse to help you with the position of the baby and make sure that there is no pressure on the incision.

As you can see there is nothing special about C section recovery, you should just focus on yourself and on the baby.