I was very careful after my C-section to take care of my incision. I had heard some stories from friends about their incisions becoming infected or re-opening because they tried to do too much too soon. I made sure not to overdo it, and fortunately mine healed well. However, no one warned me about the scar tissue! I am not sure if they just did not encounter this problem, or if it was not severe for them. However, this was something that really affected my recovery.

I had a really slow start to my recovery. I needed a wheelchair leaving the hospital and struggled for weeks with just walking. I think it was a combination of factors that made it difficult to get up and moving. I had a chaotic and rushed emergency C- section; the cold weather made it difficult to go outside for walks; the biggest obstacle was that my baby was critically ill, and I did not want to go out and leave him.

At about two weeks postpartum, I noticed that even though I was healed from the surgery, I was walking hunched over. It was difficult to stand up straight and hold my posture. The few times I tried to stand up and gently stretch, I had this weird sensation of velcro being pulled a part inside my abdomen. I finally talked with a close friend, and she told me about complications from her scar tissue and she encouraged me to get out and moving.

Even though it was freezing outside, I bundled up and forced myself to walk. I could barely walk a block with good posture before it was too hard, and I started hunching over. I have always been someone that enjoyed being active. This part of my recovery really surprised me. It took a little over a month of daily walking before I could walk a mile and not strain to have good posture. Things were improving, but it still felt like I had tight tissue in my abdomen.

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My sweet little guy.
My sweet little guy.

About 6 months postpartum, I was meeting with a Physical Therapist (PT) about a pre-existing back issue. She checked out my C-Section scar and told me I had a lot of scar tissue and should really be massaging it to break-up and dissipate the tissue. This would obviously make things more comfortable for me, but also avoid health problems from scar tissue down the road. She explained that scar tissue from C-sections can lead to problems with any future pregnancies. It can also lead to health problems like endometriosis, and it is possible for the scar tissue to adhere to nearby organs.

She explained how I should rub small circles around the incision site, and then to go up and down over the scar to loosen up the scar tissue. She encouraged me to do this especially where my skin felt taut. The lumpy scar tissue definitely grossed me out, but the massaging worked. Later that summer, my son was assessed for Early Intervention and had a PT therapist evaluate him. She talked with me a little bit about my scar tissue and explained that women that have emergency C-sections versus planned C-sections typically have a harder time with scar tissue.

It has been a little over a year now, and I no longer have that weird velcro pulling apart feeling in my abdomen. My posture is back to normal too. I still massage the area about once a week, because I have some tight tissue around the incision site. Hopefully, this will not be a health issue for me later on. Now, I make an effort to encourage my friends to not just take care of their incision site, but also the scar tissue after a C-Section.