C-Section after long time Pushing

ladyofsummer · February 2016

Any of you ladies have any experience with this? I pushed for two hours before having an emergency c-section - little guy's heart rate kept dropping and I was deemed too small to push him through (pelvic bone in the way).

Wasn't expecting a c-section, but now I have swelling downstairs to deal with and the unforeseen c-section's recovery. Any tips?

mamacastro · February 2016

Best thing is try to get up and moving as soon as you can, it helps with a faster recovery. Don't ignore the pain its ok to take the meds. That's where I went wrong last time (I tried to tough it out) and the first bowl movement may be painful. Good luck and never feel bad about having a CS, there is no shame. You gave birth enjoy that sweet baby

MississippiCatfish · February 2016

I don't have experience, but I imagine it is really hard! You have endured one of the toughest parts of vaginal birth AND then surgery? Wow! Just want to say you are one tough mama and if any of us deserves an award, it's you! Best of luck and hoping your recovery gets much easier soon!!

starsinnight · February 2016

I had this experience last week (have yet to post birth story as it was very traumatic & still recovering). I was in labor over 40 hours and pushed for 4 hours straight until I nearly passed out & gave up. I begged for the epidural to be put back on because they thought it was interfering with my pushing and then asked for a csection. I knew something was wrong & she was "sunny side up" face first.

I think recovering from an unplanned csection is hard, because it wasn't in the plan. I think lots of rest and foot rest and taking the pain meds is the best advice I've been given. And sleep when baby sleeps. Whatever makes life easier right now is important, so take all the help you can get. I had intense guilt using the nursery but am thankful I did and wish I did more at the hospital. Get up slowly and if dizzy, sit down immediately. Rest, rest, rest.

hang in there. You aren't alone!

Sweet_D · February 2016

Popping in from March. I was early. Had my csection on the 12th after 30 hrs of labor and being induced.

Ditto on getting up and moving. It sucks. But it's been less than 2 weeks and I feel pretty good. I've taken it easy on stairs. I try to only go up and down two times a day. Drink a lot of water, take a lot of stool softener and whatever pain pills they gave you. I can't take narcotics they make me sick so the strongest I've had is ibuprofen and some days I wish there was something a little stronger.

ARogers26 · February 2016

My first son was a section. I made it to 8 before his HR dropped and they took me. I now realize my mistakes and am a VBAC hopeful. Anywho I walked as soon as possible after and made sure to move when I got home. It keeps the swelling down. I iced my goodies while in the hospital as well. I wasn't super swollen down there but was for a bit. I would say walking helped the healing the most.

egraves4 · February 2016

I didn't have a c-section, but I did have an emergency hysterectomy after already giving birth. What I found is that the pain from the hysterectomy trumped the delivery pain. It sucked having both, but take your meds and the pain down there will hopefully subside soon (it at least did for me!). I am now 12 days pp and I really have no pain down there (it's just very very itchy, but I also had to deal with a first degree tear!) Good luck mama!!

ladyofsummer · February 2016

Thank you so much everyone. I think the swelling is going down pretty quickly for how bad it was. I've only been out of bed twice now.

First time was pretty awful, I left a blood trail to the bathroom where they had planned to clean me up a little, only to leave a blood trail back to bed where they had to clean me up again. My blood pressure dropped and everything.

Second time was alot better but I'm still unstable as heck on my feet so my catheter is on still. They're going to see if I'm any more stable in two or three hours - I honestly just want these wraps off my legs. I keep wanting to stretch my legs but they only make it more difficult to do so...

Little guy has been fed and fed again but is waking up this whole part of the hospital for what looks like just wanting to be held as he sleeps. Spoiled little thing already - I'll blame DH right now. The man has worried and looked after the little guy with next to no sleep so he's finally gotten close to his breaking point. He's currently sleeping or at least trying to...

LO is waking up around every 15 minutes to serenade is with his requests to be snuggled but we need a little more sleep. One of the same nurses who helped delivered him last night comes in if he gets too loud or cries too long to calm him - bless her heart.

DH also said if it wasn't for my pelvic bone I could have probably delivered LO after 15-20 minutes of pushing based on everything he saw. Curse my pelvic bone! Also hurt his little head and left a really sensitive spot so his hair still needs to be washed. But hey, full head of hair!

I'm going to assume that if we have another LO in the future I'll have to have a c-section. He was only 7lbs 7ozs, not a big baby at all. I'm just built way too tiny for babies!

molliemcguire · February 2016

The first few days after the C section, I thought I would die. I was in labor for 30 hours before the unplanned surgery and my epidural didn't work for any of it. It's hard and I didn't believe the nurses, but walk as much as you can. If you are still in the hospital, push the baby in the bassinet down the hall. Make little goals. Sit up as much as possible in a rocking chair or something similar. Take your meds! The Motrin actually helped me the most (and I wasn't even given the 24 hour morphine after the surgery). It seems impossible sometimes, but you will start to feel better! Celebrate every little victory - sometimes for me that would just be passing gas! I'm 23 days post surgery and feel so much better. I'm taking care of LO alone while my husband is at work, something I never thought possible 2 weeks ago. Good luck!!!

cognity · February 2016

Stool softener and abdominal binder. I couldn't have done without these two

ladyofsummer · February 2016

I'm being released today, I walk when I feel like I need to, pattering around the room the past couple of days - I've only left the room twice to walk, last night and the night before. Last night LO started crying and we couldn't calm him down in the hallway so it wasn't nearly as long as I wanted to, but I finally picked him up last night and bounced around the room lightly with him. I took all the stool softeners they've given me, but I haven't had a bowel movement since I was in labor Sunday afternoon/night. They mentioned milk of magnesium today if I still hadn't before I left...

I'm at a loss when it comes to binders though, what makes a good binder? Most of my pain comes from moving around - i.e. getting out of bed or on and off the toilet - other than that I'm doing pretty well and the last couple of times the nurses have asked me if I wanted anything for pain I've turned them down because there really just wasn't any.

2-Step · February 2016

My first DS was a c-section after 48 hours of labor and 4 hours of pushing. He was stuck on my pelvic bone too. I almost passed out at the end of pushing and they had to knock me out after the c-section because I was having such bad muscle spasms I couldn't lay on my back. Sorry you had to go through it! It was rough and recovery was tougher because of the labor+surgery. Just take it slow and don't overdo it. Take your pain meds when you are due for them, don't try to tough it out too much. I remember I kept trying to convince myself I didn't need them because I felt ok when they were working and then by the time they wore off and I realized I did need them and then I had to wait another 30 minutes or more for them to kick in so I was in more pain than I needed to be. Just take them as scheduled these first few days at least. Accept all the help you can get from friends and family over the next few weeks and just focus on yourself and your baby. If there is any time to hire someone to come clean your house it is now! FWIW, my second DS was a scheduled c-section and the recovery was insanely easier, so if you do it again you probably won't have to go through as intense of a recovery. That was the main reason I didn't want to VBAC, because I could not imagine doing that again if things didn't work out!

MssyMmmy · February 2016

Lurker from Jan

I went through an almost identical labor and c-section. I was also recovering from the flu and had a nasty cough around the time of my c-section. Coughing was the worst!
i was never told or offered binders. The first 4 days post surgery are the worst. After that recovery gets better by leaps and bounds! I would say by 4 weeks I felt almost completely better. Best advice is to rest as much as possible and don't push yourself. I started with little walks around the room, then down the hall, than just around the house. Later to the end of the block, around the block 30 mins 1hr etc.

hope your feeling better soon and congrats!

ladyofsummer · February 2016

Thank you ladies so much. I'm just having a difficult time finding ways to get around without upsetting the incision though DH says it looks better by the day. Getting out of bed is super difficult for me, for instance - it makes me hate taking naps which I really really need.

So far LO is a really mellow baby and I hope he keeps it up. First bowel movement yesterday just happened to occur during his first pediatrician visit so as I left the bathroom I could hear a baby crying and just knew it was him and followed his cry to the room where my husband was with him getting measured. Let me tell you that first BM is no joke!

Just need to find ways around setting off the pain, and keep up my meds at this point I guess...

C-Section after long time Pushing

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