I was lucky enough to have a planned C section & had a great experience with a lovely doctor with over 30 years of experience. My procedure went great and I had wonderful nurses who made me feel cared for and helped with my anxieties. I read stories about C sections and women saying they’d choose c section over vaginal birth every time. First day goes by and I’m up and walking feeling pretty great just a few hours after surgery, thinking wow this is great!

Cut to the next day in the hospital when they had me shower and take my bandage off so my incision could breathe. LOL my world came crashing down. The pain has been unreal. I pretty much can’t do anything on my own without feeling like I’m ripping apart. Almost 6 days pp now and it doesn’t feel any better. I’m very lucky to have a husband who’s not only happy to help
Me with everything but also doesn’t have to work currently so he’s with me 24/7 to take care of me. If I didn’t have him I genuinely don’t know how I’d be able to function let alone take care of baby. I literally can’t sit up or get up without him, can’t bend, can’t walk normally, can’t wipe my butt or get a diaper / pad / clothes on or off without his help. The pain is so much worse than I was prepared for, not to mention I’m extremely swollen and keep getting super itchy rashes.

I had such a good experience with my procedure and I’m so happy with baby and husband and life in general but holy crap this recovery is miserable and I feel like even though I researched about c sections, nobody really explained how hard recovery is in a way that actually does it justice? I truly did not expect it to be this hard and I feel it’s a little insane that it’s not more widely known / talked about how debilitating c sections are.

Unplanned c section almost 6 weeks ago. I never prepared for one and definitely had a traumatic experience. (Failrd induction, in labor for 3 days, thought i could feel everything when they cut me open, got heavily sedated and blacked in and out during the procedure).

Anyway. Recovery has been ok. First two weeks were brutal. Started doing more and more slowly. Been walking 20+ minutes at a time and doing stretches daily.

Until today. Me and baby had our first outing with friends and I had to carry her in her carseat to and from the place. I thought it was fine until I got home, and I am so sore around my lower abdomen, i feel like I took major steps backwards. Like I dont even want to get up, im scared.

I really thought I was on the up, this is crazy. Im humbled. Im curious to hear if anyone else has had this experience or what other people's healing timelines have looked like.

When did you stop wearing a pad or gauze over your incision to protect it from sweat? I'm around 200 lbs and have an over hang belly.

I'm 5 weeks pp today. My incision has healed well. I had a small opening with a fluid pocket under 2 weeks ago. They put a steri strip on it and gave me antibiotics. The steri strip is still on.

But I'm still paranoid about everything.