C section aftercare: a warning

@kellygok What I learned was that when they ask you at the hospital what your pain level is on a scale of 1-10, make sure you have recently gotten up and moved. If you have been laying still for a few hours sleeping it can feel like a 3. Later (after they left) when you get up to go pee you may realise it’s more like an 8 and you need more serious pain meds now!!
 
@marcx I felt fine with just tylenol most of the time, but all of a sudden I'd wake up with a full bladder and be in so much pain I couldn't even sit up to get myself out of bed to get to the bathroom. I kept telling my nurse the pain was only like a 5, until my husband was like, "hun, you're in tears, I've never seen you in this much pain, maybe you should take the oxy..." so I finally left the nurse give me stringer meds lol. I swear the bladder gets full and pushed on the incision from the inside and it's the worst.
 
@ccrena360 It really can change depending on what you are doing, can't it? With my first I also kept lowballing my pain, and when I went home with just ibuprofen I did a lot less moving around because it was so uncomfortable. I learned better my second and third time (also got horrendous gas pains in shoulders from surgery. Hadn't known that could happen)
 
@kellygok Be careful with those pain meds too! I felt so good when taking them that I got up to do dishes, folded laundry, and walked around the block only to get about half way and realized what a giant mistake it was.

Tricks ya into feeling better than you are!
 
@katrina2017 THIS. This is so important and thank you for mentioning it.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have had a major surgery in the past so I am keenly aware of this phenomenon.

Take meds, walk a bit, then rest , y’all. Your body will thank you for not killing it the second you feel well enough to “just get a few things done” .
 
@kellygok Having my 4th csection in June and I vividly remember screwing up my meds with one of the previous kids. It’s horrendous. Omg. I think in the US we get the boot out the door way sooner than anyone else having a similar surgery. Other countries get CS mommas physical therapy for Pete’s sake. My point being everyone acts like it’s no biggie, and it’s easy to forget to take your meds, but omg it’s big time surgery ya’ll, take your meds.
 
@kellygok I had an unplanned c-section when my LO’s shoulder got stuck in delivery. I have always been a tough-it-out person, and usually against taking pain meds in general. So, like a fool, I tried refusing some doses of pain meds in the hospital like a day after delivery. I remember thinking, “I feel okay enough now, I can probably deny the next dose and get through whatever pain comes”.

Oh what a fool I was. An hour or two after refusing my next dose, after some family members left from visiting, I crashed hard. Pain from the incision, gas, hip pain, all of it hit me like a train and I went into full shock. Like, had to call the nurse in, blood pressure bottomed out, started shaking uncontrollably, really bad.

I did not skip a dose after that.

You DO NOT have to be strong. You DO NOT have to deny yourself medication for a SERIOUS SURGERY that will have you in pain for like, months. Just take the meds. It all goes sooo much smoother.

Edit: Don’t mean to scare anyone! I should have added that I literally had none of that when I kept up with my dosage. I felt fine! In fact, I felt so alright that I thought myself able to handle it on my own. I just don’t want anyone like me that usually holds out on taking meds to do that in this case. A c-section is a special circumstance, and you deserve to get through it as easily as possible.
 
@kellygok There is actually an app and you can set it to alarm or play a song... that way you have coverage and you input the type of meds, schedule and it will do the rest. Definitely don’t want to get behind...(all my babies have to come via c-section).
 
@kellygok Best advice I received after having a csection was to hold a pillow to your abdomen if you have to sneeze. I cannot stress this enough, it hurts so goddamn much to sneeze!
 
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