What to Expect in Hospital after a C-Section
If you’ll be having a c-section, your hospital experiences will be somewhat different than if you delivered vaginally. Your hospital stay will also be a few days longer as well.
Because you will be having a surgical birth there is a fair amount of preparation that must be done to get ready for surgery. While the hospital and surgical staff will be doing everything they can to make your c-section birth as pleasant as possible, knowing what to expect in hospital both during your c-section procedure and in the few days following can help a great deal with stress and anxiety.
Let’s take a look…
Before the actual c-section procedure, you will be given an IV (intravenous) line in your arm so the anesthesiologist can give you fluids and medicine to make you comfortable. A regional anesthetic block of some kind (spinal or epidural) is also given so that you don’t feel any pain in your lower body during the operation but you can still talk to the doctor. Also, a catheter is placed in your bladder to drain it of urine while you are in surgery.
Your Hospital Recovery
Typically, if you have a c-section, your hospital stay goes from 24 hours to about three days. Your baby will stay in the hospital as well until you are ready to leave.
After the c-section, you are wheeled into a post-anesthesia care unit (PACU). It’s a recovery room where nurses will monitor your situation immediately after surgery. Your stay here could be as long as a couple of hours. The anesthesia will begin to wear off and you will again feel your legs and the pain of the operation.
Once you are safely in your room, you will be hooked up to monitors to check your blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation. You will still be on IV fluids at least for another 24 hours. That goes for your bladder catheter as well. When the doctor feels it is time, you will be asked to get up and walk around.
Walking soon after your procedure reduces the risk of blood clots. Blood clots can form after surgery from lying on the O.R. table for long periods of time. Blood clots can lodge in your heart, lung or brain and cause potentially fatal consequences.
If you are going to breastfeed, a lactation nurse will visit and help you to begin this procedure. It can be a bit tricky and painful with the c-section incision but they will coach you on easier ways to handle breastfeeding such as lying on your side with pillows.
The nurses will check your incision site as well. The doctor may require draining devices to draw excess fluid from the c-section incision. Monitoring the incision is important to avoid infections.
Before you are allowed to leave the hospital, you must demonstrate to the nurses that you can do the following things:
• Urinate
• Pass a stool
• Properly care for your incision
While the overall c-section recovery timeline may be different for everyone, most c-section patients take on average six-weeks to recover and while in the hospital, the nurses and your doctor are there to ensure that you have a good start to your recovery before you leave.
For a faster, pain free c-section recovery try using a c-section abdominal binder found in the C-Section Recovery Kit consisting of a soft 100% cotton binder that helps reduce pain, swelling and tearing giving your abdomen and your incision maximum support and protection.
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What a great post. So informational. And it’s something most Mom’s never even read about before hand. I know with all three of my pregnancies I never read about a c-section, and you just never know when you might need one.
Nell
I’m so glad you mentioned that Nell, it’s true — you never really know if a c-section might come up. That’s the very thing I hope to help and prepare women for. It was a huge surprise when it happened to me and the experience could have been so much more rewarding if I had been prepared.
I seriously wish I had this information before having my son. He was an emergency c-section so we were no prepared at all. Thanks for sharing the info – it’s important for every mom-to-be to know what might happen and be prepared!
Great info, c-sections are usually emergencies the first time and we are completely unprepared. Don’t forget the “shakes” I had horrible shakes the first time due to a stronger spinal, almost the entire time I was in recovery. Second time not as bad, also not an emergency.
Barbara, yes those first ones are generally emergencies and they catch us off guard every time it seems. There are so many surpirses and procedures that, when you’re not ready for them, can be hard to take. That’s why I’m so for women at least having some idea of what to expect. Having your first baby should be enjoyable not miserable. Thanks for your great input!
Nice post! Thanks for writing about this! I am about 8 weeks post c-section. This was my second. I definitely knew what to expect the second time around. The firts time…not so much..
I did not experience a c-section with my daughter or my son but I have heard the stories. This is a great informational article that I will be sharing the time I hear someone is expecting. This will a way to get the information in front of them and at their fingertips.
After c section, it is important to have a blood test done.
I’m due to have a section in about 3 weeks, my 1st was emergency so I didn’t have time to be prepared really. However, I do feel a lot better this time knowing what to expect and knowing what will happen! Thanks xx
As a PA, I have seen so many patients will pelvic floor problems later in life due to giving birth naturally. In my honest opinion I believe having a Caesarean is a better way to go..