Hellobee

Way before my days of pregnancy or having children, I often talked with friends about how I imagined I would give birth (we were weird like that). Being the type A girl that I was, I always pictured myself having a scheduled c-section. I mean you get to have a date and time picked out to have your children – it sounded pretty ideal to someone like me. Add that to the fact that my own no muss, no fuss Mom had two c-sections of her own and spoke of it with great ease. Talk about taking major surgery pretty darn lightly?!

Fast forward many years and there I was in hour million and two of labour and loving every minute of pushing my little girl out. Yes, I was medicated to the point of comfort. Then two and a bit years later and after many many days of labour with my little boy, there I was walking my big old pregnancy butt down to the operating room to have that c-section that I imagined in the first place. (If you want to read about either experience that you can do that here or here.)

I am VERY  lucky. I have had two totally different deliveries and two great experiences. I also had two totally different recoveries. This post isn’t about which was easier or harder in either respect, but about what things helped my recovery from my c-section that were different from my recovery from my vaginal delivery.

So without further ado – here are my five must haves for c-section recovery.

1) Loose Clothing – It’s hard to know what your body is going to be like after you give birth. After my c-section I was swollen and my scar was sort of under all the leftover belly (I apologize for that visual). I was extremely uncomfortable in all those high waisted briefs that I had read would be bes,t and wore my regular bottoms that didn’t touch my incision. I also hated wearing yoga pants for a while which is pretty much blasphemy. I wanted my stomach free of things on it so I stuck to maxi dresses and nightgowns as much as possible. Here is one of my favourite nightgowns.

2) Step Stool – I was lucky to be in very little pain after having my c-sectionn but the one thing that almost did me in was crawling into or out of my bed. Ouch! The step stool helped me go backwards and sit down first before shifting my body to lay down.

3) Easy on and loose fitting shoes – After my c-section I had some serious swelling in my legs – mostly in my right leg to be exact. After being checked repeatedly for the possibility of a blood clot, I was told that as long as it did not hurt or become red it was totally normal (please consult your doctor if this happens to you after surgery to be safe.). The swelling lasted for quite a long time, weeks actually. What was most annoying about the whole thing is that I gave birth in the winter and needed boots to wear outside in the snow. I could barely fit a sock on my foot , let alone a boot. I ended up buying (fake) auggs in a much larger size and they carried me through until my ankles reappeared. If you are having a summer baby, I suggest buying a size or two up of flip flops with soft fabric straps so they don’t dig in.

4) Firm pillows – I was not able to lay on my side comfortably for almost a month after my c-section. Although it didn’t hurt, it did feel sort of odd for quite some time until my body “resettled.” I also couldn’t lay flat on my back because getting up from that position was rather tough. I ended up sending my husband to the store for a collection of firm pillows to create a pillow wall that I could lean against. It was like having the back of a recliner but you still had the feeling of a bed. It felt like heaven! They also helped greatly when I sneezed to hold against my belly!

5) Netflix – Honestly get yourself something to watch or something to read. Soak up those snuggles and give yourself the time to recover. Yes of course moving around is important for recovery as well, but when they say don’t vacuum – DON’T VACCUUM! Seriously that is not a good choice.

Hopefully these items will help out some of my fellow c-section Mamas. What was your must have item for c section recovery?