C-Section recovery at home with two toddlers

jaecat521 · February 2015

I am a stay at home mom to two toddlers, one who is almost three and one who is almost two. I am pregnant with baby #3, arriving via RCS on March 6th. My husband isn't going to get a whole lot of time off after the baby is born, and I am kind of terrified about being home alone with all three of the kids right after major surgery. Has anyone else experienced anything similar, and what did you do to cope?

Chryssa-72603 · February 2015

I have not experienced this, but is it possible for your toddlers to go to preschool or daycare for even a couple of hours a day? Or do you have any friends or family members who can stay with you for a while? I would say that you probably need at least a couple of weeks to recover if possible. My son will be almost 5 when I deliver Baby #2 via RCS, and I am super grateful that he will be in school for most of the day while I am recovering.

jaecat521 · February 2015

My father-in-law will be available to help some during the day, but otherwise we don't have any family out here. I am not sure about daycare or preschool- we haven't discussed that avenue. I am not sure it would be worth it to pay the money for that just for a couple of weeks? But thank you for your feedback, I will bring up daycare with my husband!

harmonicbabe26 · February 2015

I have an almost 3yo and just had baby#2 a couple of months ago. Neither one of us has family (mom/MIL) nearby. My fam lives in Europe an MH's mom is disabled.
Personally this was one of the biggest reasons I was delaying getting pregnant with #2. Just didn't know how I would cope on my own.
We had ZERO relatives help. I had to arrange for DD1's teacher, sitter, friends to care for her while I was at the hospital. And afterwards, since MH started traveling for work pretty much immediately after delivery, I had to hire a nanny since I couldn't lift anything. I would highly recommend that.
The risk you will be running with a daycare/preschool is that your toddlers will 100% drag diseases home, especially if this is the first time they would be starting in school. They all get sick, but the first time they are exposed is the worst.
My DD1 has been in the same school for a year now and even so she still gets sick. We JUST got over a 3 week long bout of RSV with complications (DD1 developed bronchitis, I did too, plus I got a double ear infection, and a sinus infection. Been on antibiotics for 2 weeks now...) and the baby for RSV too and had to be on a steroid inhaler for a week. It was ROUGH! And all that time MH was traveling for work - far away traveling, Brazil, China etc.

Anywno, somehow I got through... i feel run down, exhausted, bitter, older haha... But i'm alive...

Hang in there!

jesselayne8 · February 2015

I would hire a mothers helper for the first 2-3 weeks. Someone to come play with your other kids, help with bath etc. doesn't have to be someone super experienced since you will be there to give directions.

FemShep · February 2015

Definitely hire a babysitter/helper the first few weeks. If your husband balks at the expense, explain that it will be way more expensive if you end up back in the hospital because you didn't have proper recovery time and support.

jaecat521 · February 2015

Thanks, ladies! We have talked about maybe hiring someone to help if necessary. I don't think he would mind the expense, but I think we both wish that we had family/friends who we knew that could stay to help, but unfortunately we don't. I am a pretty private person normally, so while the idea of help is nice, I think I'd also be neurotic about someone I didn't know very well being in my house for a prolonged period of time!

fatcat11188 · March 2015

I am going to be in the same boat, I have 3.5 year old twins at home.. and hubs will only be able to stay home a short time frame- of course pending I have to have a section. Currently at 36 weeks she is breech

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