I had an emergency cesarean with my daughter and was completely unprepared for how long recovery was going to be. I wish that I had read about cesarean recovery before so that I would of felt a little more prepared.
Straight after the operation I was taken up to recovery for a few hours. There the nurses gave me my first meal in hours and had me hooked up to monitors. After the first hour or so I began to feel my legs again and could wiggle my toes. Later that day I was moved downstairs to the ward and was given a painkiller in tablet form and also a drink which was mixed with peppermint oil and a strong dissoluble painkiller. The nurses continued to give me these painkillers three times a day while I was in hospital and then sent me home with the same ones once I was discharged.
The next day I tried to stand for the first time since the operation - this is where I wished I had done some research. Standing up for the first time was agony. I lent on Adam and cried because I was in so much pain I didn't want to stand straighter but I also didn't want him to lie me back on the bed because I knew it would be agony either way. I am quite a strong person who is not a wimp with pain but the pain I felt standing and moving around the first few times was unreal! I would not wish that feeling on my worst enemy!
Later the same day I was made to go to the bathroom if I wanted to be sent home the following day. I had to use the wheelchair the first time because I was never going to be able to walk across the hall to the bathroom. I managed it and it did not hurt to pass urine at all which I was relieved about.
That day I continued to practise standing up and manoeuvring myself from the bed to the chair. Sitting down hurt for a week or so after as well just because of the bending on your stomach muscles used to sit. Each night I had to have an injection to thin the blood because you are not very mobile it ensures you don't get a blood clot.
The first week is painful getting up out of bed and sitting on a chair and walking for more than a few paces but gradually it gets better. By the third week I was feeling pretty much back to normal. My incision area would still hurt if I was moving around a lot and even now on occasion it will ache especially if I am outside and it's cold.
If any of you have had a planned cesarean after an emergency cesarean or more than one cesarean was the recovery quicker the second time around?
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