What Happens in Recovery...

CUBBIESMAMA3

I'm scheduled to have an RCS in 4 weeks, on 9/22.  Last time that I had my c section, I was so out of it, that I don't remember a thing.  Since I'm sure that it will be different this time and I will be more alert, (hopefully), I was wondering what happens during recovery.  The nurses have told me that the baby will be with me which will be nice.  They took my son to the nursery last time and I didn't get to see him for hours afterwards.  This time we are using a different hospital and their policies are different, obviously.  How long does a typical stay last, and what else happens while we are in there?  Any info would be helpful right now.  Thanks so much ladies.  :-)

hizah05

I just went through this on Friday. Like you, with my first I don't even remember it. With this one I was awake the whole time and it was awful. I was in recovery for 2 hours. My baby was never with me. However he was born before 37 weeks so that may have something to do with it. I would not have been able to hold him anyway. I was shaking so badly from the spinal wearing off and that lasted for 45 minutes. I mean uncontrollable shaking. Again, awful! There is a nurse with you the whole time. Checking vitals often and pressing on your stomach often. Also not enjoyable. Truly with my first I remember waking up at the end of recovery and seeing him, no recollection of the rest. I wish it had been the same. The 2 hours felt like a lifetime.

I'm interested to hear other experiences to see if they are similar.

brittneyandadam

FTM here, but check with your hospital about length of stay. Mine has a mandatory 48 hours for FTM'S with a vaginal birth and 76 hours for FTM'S with a cesarean.

teenybean

Recovery is usually 1.5-2hours. Should include pain control, uterine massage--checking for excess bleeding, frequent vital signs, breastfeeding--varies by hospital though, waiting for spinal/epidural to wear off so you can move enough to scoot from gurney to new bed, checking incision, managing other complications.

This is place where they can give you lots of pain meds too, so make sure you are really comfy before you get transferred to postpartum, because those nurses cannot give you nearly as much medication and it can take awhile during the transfer and reporting process to get some more.

Shakes are common and normal whether you have a c/s or vag delivery. Vomiting happens as well.

Go easy on ice chips and liquids-- your guts need to wake up and while pain meds do great things for incision pain, has pain hurts and really only goes away by walking. You might be 4-12 hours from walking depending on hospital, condition or complications. But get up and get moving as soon as you can/are allowed it really helps recovery to do those hallway laps!

Hope that helps.

teenybean

Should say "gas pain" not has pain. Dumb autocorrect/ mobile

ashaw512

After my CS they have me something to make me go to sleep, idk what it was but I put me to sleep. I woke up several times in recovery and the last time I was made to drink a little water. I couldn't wake up from the meds they gave me to put me to sleep along with the pain meds. My CS was at 12:20 am and I remember the last time I woke up was at 2:26 am and moved to my room after that. then I didn't actually wake up until a little after 7 am. I don't actually know what they did to me in recovery like a uterine massage or anything, I did get the shakes, but I do bad with anesthesia. I was suppose to walk after 12 hours but I didn't until the next day.
The stay for a CS at my hospital is mandatory 3 days but you can always stay for four if you want.

hizah05

I wanted to add something I learned. If you have has pain in your shoulder or diaphragm this is NOT the same as bowel gas pain and no amount of walking will help it. I spent an entire night not sleeping because the pain was so bad I couldn't breathe or lay back. The nurses were all misinformed and kept telling me to walk. When my doctor came in she said they needed an education update because it is not the same kind of gas or pain. She added pain medicine and I've been much better. She even wanted to know all the nurses names who told me to walk so she could inform them of what was really happening. So if anyone gets this. Ask for pain meds!!!

lindsay3022

Judging from what I'm reading here, and speaking to friends who have had cs at different hospitals around the country, every hospital really is different.  Your best bet is to call the maternity ward at your hospital and just ask what the probable scenario is.  

Two years ago when my first was born I had an emergency csection.  After he was born, they showed him to me, I gave him a quick kiss, a photo or two was taken by my husband and then the two of them went off to run the standard new-baby tests while I was closed up.  It wasn't more than a half hour then I was in the post-op area and they showed up a few minutes later- I was able to bf, hold the baby (nurse and husband nearby because I was shaking A LOT), a few more photos then we all went off to our room where we stayed for the next three days (maybe two days…can't remember that exactly).  So I wasn't separated from my baby much longer than if he was born via vaginal delivery… half hour tops for all the tests they have to run on a new baby anyway from what I understand.

Now… I've heard from other people that they're separation from their husband/SO and baby was anywhere from an hour to two hours because it was the hospital's policy for whatever reason.  My friend said when she was in post-op at her hospital she asked for her baby and they said that she was asleep with her husband in her pp room and she would join them "soon".  It took almost two hours she said.  I don't understand that because if her baby was anything like mine they were super hungry after being born… and even though I wasn't producing milk that quickly it was still good to get the kid latched on and going.

I also don't remember nurses ever pushing on my stomach… but I do remember being SUPER SUPER THIRSTY! Might want to warn you husband/SO that you'll be asking for a drink :-) lol

ashaw512

hizah05 said:

I wanted to add something I learned. If you have has pain in your shoulder or diaphragm this is NOT the same as bowel gas pain and no amount of walking will help it. I spent an entire night not sleeping because the pain was so bad I couldn't breathe or lay back. The nurses were all misinformed and kept telling me to walk. When my doctor came in she said they needed an education update because it is not the same kind of gas or pain. She added pain medicine and I've been much better. She even wanted to know all the nurses names who told me to walk so she could inform them of what was really happening. So if anyone gets this. Ask for pain meds!!!

I had shoulder pain, I kept telling them I was dying lol. I didn't know you could have shoulder pain. But my anesthesiologist told me if was from my body pushing so hard, and having DD extracted from my body? Idk if that's the case but they never told me it was gas or bowel pain. I don't remember it hurting after my CS tho, it was only when I was in the OR.

JustCricket

So I was in recovery for an hour-ish?? I didn't get to see baby at first because they were doing all sorts of stuff on her to make sure she was okay (and she was so they were shocked!) but I FINALLY got to see her and hold when they rolled me back to my pp room. Thankfully hubby took lots of pictures of her when they brought her back to the nursery so I got to see her while I waited. It felt like forever but I don't think it was really that long. The shakes realllly sucked. Also I kept on top of the pain meds for as long and as often as I could right off the bat. It really helped once the spinal fully wore off. Make sure you do your 'deep breaths' because that helps with the shoulder pain (or other pain from air bubbles in your body). I think the anesthesiologist gave me something towards the end of the c/s because it made me a tiny bit sleepy... but that was after I started complaining about shoulder pain while they were stitching me up. I didn't get the uterus compressions. I guess bfing right away got my ute contracting real quick and I was bleeding enough that they were happy enough. Butttt they did do the occasional light pushing on the belly to make sure it was doing what it was supposed to do. I had staples, and omg I felt like a new woman when they took them out (a week later). By the time they were taking them out, they were starting to tug on the skin a bit and irritate me. Now that they're out, nothin and the incision feels great. 

All in all, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, it just sucked that they had to whisk her off so quickly... but that was part of the nature of why I was delivering so quickly. If I have to have a C/S again, I hope I have another person with us, so they can come hang out with me while I'm being stitched up and hubby is gone with baby. Also I'd want them to hang the curtain a little further away from my face (not sure if it's possible but boy did it feel like it was RIGHT in my face).