C-Section Recovery – Useful Tips For Cesarean Delivery & Recovery

One of the C-Section questions women often ask me is what’s the difference between an Epidural and Spinal Anesthesia.

This is a great question because although most anesthesiologists have their own preference on what anesthesia to use, you can make your own choice, so understanding the differences between the two may help you make that choice.

Both the Epidural and Spinal are used as partial numbing when having a C-Section and both are completely safe and effective,  but these are the primary differences.
Read more »

Last month there was a study done in The international journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica (AOGS) that said women who have Tokophobia, the fear of childbirth, were more likely to have a C-Section.

You can read the full Science Daily report here

In fact the statistics were sited as saying that induction of delivery, which often results in having a C-section, was more common among women that had a fear of childbirth as compared to women without such fears.

Also women who fear childbirth were more likely to request they deliver by C-Section.

This follows suit with a post I did back in August, 2008 about Tokophobia, which at the time, was not something I was very familiar with, but I soon found out that fear of childbirth was a severe debilitating disease affecting about 1 in 7 women. Read more »

Have you had a C-Section or perhaps shared in the C-Section experience with a spouse or loved one?    If so,  please share your story with us.

Was your C-Section a good experience or a bad one?

Share with us what you’d most like other moms to know about having a C-Section.

Give it all to us, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Sharing your personal C-Section experience, your likes, dislikes and how you might have done things differently helps other moms and families, so we”d love to hear your story 

If you are suffering with pain from abdominal adhesions after having had a C-Section,  you may want to consider post C-Section massage.

Why Post C-Section Massage?

Because having a C-Section is abdominal surgery, you are left with adhesions.  These adhesions can cause abdominal pain and even gastrointestinal complications.  They’ve even shown that adhesions can prevent pregnancy.  This is rare but it does happen. Read more »

One of the worst things about having a C-Section is the pain, so easing your C-Section pain quickly is essential to helping you feel better and getting  your life back to normal.

What Just the Thought of Pain can do

Pain can be both psychological and physical.  For example just anticipating the pain of having a C-Section can be so unbearable that it can make you prone to experiencing more severe pain.

Looking back on my first C-Section experience, that was my perception of having surgery and sure enough for me right after surgery I had a few hours of horrible, excruciating pain.

Would it have been better for me if I’d had a better attitude about surgery?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it’s interesting to note that I did have a more relaxed attitude with my second C-Section and the pain was much easier to work through.

But everyone will have some degree of C-Section pain to work through, unfortunately that comes with having surgery.  But there are things that will help you.

Here’s what you can do for Easing Your C-Section Pain

Take your pain medication.  I know that’s stating the obvious,  but it’s important that you keep taking your medication and not stop taking it once you start feeling better.  If you get behind the curve with pain it’s takes much longer for your medication to work once you finally begin taking it again.

While you’re healing you may sometimes feel sharp stabbing or shooting pains around the incision.  This is usually normal.  The nerves around the area are healing and regenerating and this can cause some additional pain.

Of course if you feel like something isn’t right, always go with your instincts and call the doctor.

Breastfeeding after a C-Section can be a challenge.  Find comfortable breastfeeding positions that work for you and make good use of your hospitals breastfeeding team.  If you’re still having problems, the Le Leche league can also help.

Constipation and Gas are also common after having a C-Section.  In fact it’s not unheard of to feel sharp pains in your ribcage area that go up into your shoulders.  Air can get trapped in there and cause discomfort.

To relieve this discomfort, drink plenty of fluids and take short walks as often as you can.  Your doctor may prescribe a stool softener or mild laxative if you need it, but sometimes these cause additional pain so be cautious of that.

If easing your C-Section pain just won’t go away and you’re still finding it painful to get out of bed, chairs and walk,  try an abdominal binder.  It will help stabilize your abdominal muscles and your incision so that movement is easier and much less painful.  And you’ll find that helps your mood as well

It’s recommended to compress your abdomen after a C-Section as compression immobilizes your abdominal muscles and your incision which is what relieves your pain and speeds your c-section recovery. Read more »