I am all booked in to have an elective c section at 38+6 and baby will be taken to NICU immediately after he is born and of course I am not happy about being separated so soon so will be wanting to follow asap. Just wondering how soon you were out of bed after a c section?

I am also really worried about the recovery in general... pain, lack of mobility etc just wanting to hear from some ladies who have been there

ps must have c section for medical reasons so please no hassles smile

Hi...I can't remember exactly how long it was before they let me get up..maybe about 10 hours?? I was home after 2 days. Recovery wasn't too bad. Just remember to take it easy. No heavy lifting, or excessive stretching or bending...

Hey Miss Bee - if i was to have another baby, i would have an elective c/sec!

I wasnt out of bed until the following day - still had a catheter & those funny pressure balloons on my legs, but after that there was no stopping me.

My baby was with me tho - but i did see other mums when my #1 was in NICU being wheeled in wheel chairs & stuff to be with bubs!

I went home on the third day, was walking my son to school by the second week. I was back to normal within 2 weeks, with the exception of lifting things up off the floor, or the washing, those obvious things.

As for pain management, just a panadol every 4 hours for the first few days & nothing after that - unless i was having a good ole chuckle - that was a bit tender & tight!! LOL

One thing that they didnt warn me about was the fact that your milk wont come in as quick - usually 7-10 days cause your body is busy trying to repair the major surgery that its just had, not making milk, so bubs will be feeding like a demon - mine was every 2 hours until about day 8, but we got there & i just had to be patient.

I understand that i have probably been pretty lucky, but compared to my natural birth experience, it was a walk in the park.

HTH
good luck

I had mine at 2pm, got out of bed at about 10 the next day. I felt really good about 4 days later. You might feel a bit sorry for yourself the next day once the spinal block has worn off a bit so look after yourself.

My third bub was an elective C/S and she was taken to special care once we were back on the ward because she was so small. I was not able to go to her that night, but the next morning I was able to get in a wheelchair and be taken to her. Although she was brought into me all night for feeds etc.
Good luck with your birth!!

i had an emergency cs at 1:10am and wasnt allowed up until the nxt day.

I was up with 24 hours with both my c-section. I was home within 4 days with my first and my second i was home in 2 days.

I had my (emergency) C-section at about 5pm and was up at about 7am - and that was after throwing up till about 4am.

I was out of the bed in 24 hours, then traveled from my maternity hospital, across town to the Childrens hospital everyday from day 2 until I got out of hospital myself

thanks ladies.
I grilled my doc about it today but he was a bit flakey bout it... I guess they don't like to make promises as not everyone manages the chair on the same day maybe?
Good to know I should be up and walking the next day at least. DP will just have to go and give bubs lots of cuddles on my behalf.
My mum said 'dont worry, just enjoy the chance to get some sleep you'll need it' lol thanks mum....

dd1 i had her at 2 ish and wasnt out of bed until after breakfast the next day.

dd2 i had her midnight and was out of bed at 7am, after i had breakfast. I highly recommend if youre given the choice waiting until you have eaten something, otherwise you might feel too weak. That was my issue with dd1, i almost fainted the first time i tried to get up.

You will feel a bit sorry for yourself, especially if you have to keep getting up and down. DD2 would look so content so i would slowly shuffle my way back to bed and then as soon as i was lying down she would scream like i had left her for hours <img src='http://www.huggies.com.au/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dry.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='<_<' />

Take it slowly, listen to your body and you will be fine. BTW by night three when my milk came in...I barely felt the c section incision anymore, my boobs were KILLING me lmao

Hi,

I have had two c-sections. The first one was in the afternoon our daughter was born at 2.35pm this was a planned c-section and I was up the next morning could have a shower and was walking around. Our daughter was also in special care as she was small. they did bring her to see me once. I didn't feed but she was stable as I hadn't had a cuddle so that was nice.

The second with the twins was an emergancy c-section and they were born at 7.40am and 7.41am I was up and in the shower and down seeing the boys in special care by 3pm that afternoon. They did want to leave the catheter in but I told them I wanted it out and they took it out.

I know where I had my kids they want up us as soon as you can so you don't get clots. It can be hard when you first get up but within no time you will be fine. Expect 6 weeks for a full recovery. I was driving and doing most things after 2 weeks. I got the Okay from my doctor both time.

Good luck I hope all goes well.

hi there
I have had 3 x c-sections and found with the last two my recovery was better as they were electives. DD1 was born about 10am and I think I was up wihtin 24 hrs. DD2 (the most recent) was born at 5pm and I was up and having a shower at about 10am the next morning.

DS (emergency c sect after 30 hr labour) it took me a lot longer to recover although I do believe this is because of the stress labour adds to your body. He was in Special care unit on a different floor so I was wheeled there in a wheel chair and then after 48 hours he was brought up to my room and by then I could shuffle around a little bit.

Best advice I can give is to stay on top of your pain medication as this allows your body to heal quicker. As soon as you think you feel a twinge, ask for more meds. Having said that, by day 5 when I went home for all 3 bubs I was only needing Panadol. Just take it easy for as long as you can, the housework can wait!!

Good luck and bet your are looking forward to meeting your new bub smile

I had my son at 12:20pm and usually they dont get everyone up and out of bed till mid morning / lunch the next day. But i arranged with the nurses to be up and showered at 6am the following day as my son was premmi and in special care. I wanted to be with him as soon as possible. Otherwise it would have been later.

Ds was born Via c-section at 8:30 am due to the fact that he was breech.

I didn't get up to my room until around 10:30am but buy 4pm I had had a shower and gone for a walk around the ward.

I hate sitting down for too long and I felt fine. No pain at all. I only took pain killers for the first 36hrs and was fine without them.

The thing that bothered my most was my itchy nose, due to the pain killers!

My recovery was great. Was fully physical a couple of days later(not that anyone would let me do much). The only time I felt pain was when I occasionally moved the wrong way or moved too quickly.

i had an emergency c-section 19mths ago. my daughter was breech. we were given the option at john hunter hospital to have a c-section or try to deliver vaginally. it was a very hard decision to make, as it was our first baby and we were scared about the complications of the birth, but really wanted to experience labour and delivery. we decided to book a c-section for her due date, but said we'd see what happens if i went into labour early...
elizza decided she wasn't waiting. at 38wks i went into labour!!
i had my first contraction at 9.20am. when i arrived at the hospital (after two phone calls to delivery and being told i should stay at home as it was my first baby and it could be hours before i was ready to give birth, i said i was coming in because she was breech and i felt like i should be there already) and was checked in at 12N, i was 6-7cm dialated and the obs said i was to decide if i was to have c-section or keep going with vaginal birth as i was labouring well and the baby was happy, etc. we didn't know what to do, it was so confusing and i was in my own little "labour" world... we just kept going with the labour as all was well at the time.
if i could turn back time i would of told them to take me to theatre straight away or i would of at least asked for a epidural instead of thinking the pain was fine and i didn't need drugs (which was how i felt, but when they had to take me to threatre i had to go under).
i started to lose a lot of blood and when i was fully dilated and started to push, elizza's heart rate dropped and the said i had to go to theatre and it was code 1 and i had to go under because there was no time...
so my baby was born and i was asleep for 2.5hrs and when i did get to see her i was off my face on morphine!!! that first night is a blurr...
the next morning they got me out of bed at 9am and took out the cathiter and i had a shower and then they forgot about me. they kept trying to give me drugs every 3hrs "for the pain" that i wasn't really feeling...
i went home on day two. it was hard getting up and down and laughing was soo painful, but it wasn't as bad as i imagined. i tosed out the drugs they gave me because they were upsetting elizza too much. my milk came in like normal on day two, so there was no worries there.
i got an infection in my wound though... the nurse took the staples out on day 5 and one wasn't quiet healed properly and it got infected and now i have an ugly scare on the outer end of my scare, but it's getting better.
you don't realise how much you use your tummy muscles until you can't use them. i found it excruciating to poo for about 6-8wks, especially for the first one!!!

I had an elective C-section 19 months ago as DD was breach and I am happy to say it was a really positive birth experience. Sure, there is pain associated with it (I guess like any birth outcome!) but I got some great advice from a friend that has had 2 C-sections (one emergency, one elective).
Get up as soon as the medical staff say its ok to, use the pressure socks they offer and make sure you do lots of little walks around the ward (as much as you can comfortably manage). I used to push DD in the hospital bassinet around the ward, she'd settle with the motion and have a sleep which was a welcome bonus too. The nurses used to joke I'd wear out the carpet! Holding your tummy and scar very gently when you laugh, go to the bathroom, etc, helps as well. And using the bed handles, rolling on your side and using your arms to get up rather than trying to sit straight up from the bed really helps too. The nurses are usually pretty helpful with other tips and yes, they do offer you painkillers quite regularly- although I was feeling ok by Day 3, taking them just helped manage those niggles.
By end of Day 3 I was ready to go home but stayed in hospital the extra days for the breastfeeding help and rest. By the next week I was vaccuming and by week 4 I really felt back to "normal".
Everyone is different and recovers at differing speeds but I think for at least the first 6 weeks, all Mums, no matter how they delivered, need to be kind to their bodies. I'm about the have baby#2 (also C-section: so clever of me to have two big babies that are breach!), so it will be interesting to see how I heal this time. Its funny, even though its not that long since the last birth and I know there was pain associated with it, that's irrelevant when I look at my little girl- she's such a joy and just so adorable (even when she's telling me no all the time) that I'd go through a thousand more levels of pain to have her.
Good luck to all Mums-to-be!

I have had 3 c sections (not by choice!). Recovery for the first was a lot harder as I didn't know what to expect. Recovery from the other 2 was much easier.

DD was taken straight to NICU after she was born as she had complications. Depending on your hospital they can wheel you staight up to NICU from recovery for a visit. In my case I was taken to my room to recover for a little while then put in a wheelchair and they took me to NICU to visit DD. All 3 of my kids were born at night and I wasnt allowed out of bed til the next morning with the exception of DD.

I found the more I walked or moved the quicker I recovered. I found it easier to hold your belly if you need to laugh or sneeze as it can be a bit painful.

Good luck with everything!