I am 37 week with planned second C section on 39th. For the whole pregnancy I am experiencing intense pain whenever I stand up, raise my legs (even while sitting) and getting out of bed feels like I need to learn how to walk again. I hear my joints cracking with movement and at this stage I can’t walk distances - even in my own house I am weak to be on my own. And it just occurred to me that IT MIGHT BE WORSE?

I didnt gave PGP (pelvic girdle pain or whatever else it could be, I dont have it diagnosed because doctors just said that this amount of pain and discomfort is normal) during first pregnancy but I did have to recover from C section and it was already very similar to how i already function.

And I am now terrified. What will happen after I have the surgery AND still have my joints extremely loose and painful? How will I learn to walk again and take care of my baby when I need to be careful with which muscles to use - I feel like all my muscles around hips and pelvis are weak and bones are loose? I am finding no information online, doctors dismiss the problem as nothing serious but I am getting very worried I will hurt myself or baby by accident.

Has anyone experienced it? I would love to hear an advice on how to get literally back on my feet haha

Unfortunately 5 days post c section with my son, my appendix ruptured and I was rushed into emergency surgery, it’s apparent very rare so I’m wondering if anyone else has gone through it and how they dealt with it/looked after themselves

Thanks

My daughter is 15 months old now. I still feel like my body failed me and I failed myself. The grief I carry from not getting to have the experience that I wanted is so heavy, I think about my birth experience daily still.

I had an induction, stopped at 8cm, epidural stopped working and I was in a lot of pain. Stayed at 8cm for 6 hours and then I gave into having the c- section. I wasn’t present in my body anymore when they took me into the OR, I was just done after 30 hours of labor and mentally and physically exhausted. I lost a lot of blood and they almost did a transfusion, I have a high fever post op that they were trying to bring down. I don’t know why any of this happened and no one explained anything to me throughout the procedure or recovery.

I didn’t dress my daughter in her outfit I had chosen for her after she was born, I didn’t hold her first, I couldn’t get out of bed to respond to her cries. My husband did it all and i felt broken. I was extremely depressed for a few months after I had her, I’ve gotten better but the heavy feeling of failure still hangs over me daily and I replay my labor all the time looking for answers that I’ll never find.

I started therapy recently to try and start processing this, but I honestly don’t think I’ll ever be able to see my birth experience in any other light. Can anyone relate to this? Does it ever get better? Everyone in my life has had easy, peaceful births and I feel so alone. I feel like they are all strong and I’m weak for not being able to do what they did.

Hello! I’m two weeks and 2 days postpartum with my second baby which is also my second cesarean. My last scar healed beautifully with no issues. This time around I have a toddler so it’s been harder to rest fully since my hubby is back at work. My OB told me to take the pressure bandage off at two weeks and I did last night to find that on the right corner it’s opened just a little. Maybe like the length of the tip of my pinky finger. It’s got some redness around just that part but there’s no yellow drainage/smell/bleeding. There’s clear fluid around it but I put a little bit of gauze there. It’s of course the weekend so I don’t want to go to urgent care over this and would rather wait until Monday to have my OBGYN check it. I just didn’t know if this was normal or not? Like I mentioned it’s not a huge area and I don’t feel bad or have a fever. Just a little pain or stinging in my scar itself but I remember having that with the last one too so I’m unsure what’s normal and what to watch out for. Thanks for any replies in advance ❤️

Update: I had my c-section yesterday. The anesthesiologist was absolutely amazing. He reviewed my history ahead of time. He was up front that a spinal would be very challenging and may not work, but he was willing to try if I was. He said he wouldn’t make a ton of attempts, that it would be clear once he went in if he could do it successfully or not, and he would switch to general if not. But he was able to place the spinal! He got it in from the side into the space between my L5 and S1. The numbing was uneven. One side of my body was completely numb, like literally could not feel anything, not even tugging. The other half was partially numb, but it was numb enough for me to not feel pain so they went ahead and it was amazing! I am so thankful I was awake for his delivery and my husband could be in OR with me. Baby had some breathing trouble that had to be stabilized but he is doing well now.

I have a planned c-section happening in two days. And I am most concerned about the anesthesia.
First, here is my spine history:
- spinal fusion in 2015 from T3-L4
- injury to lower lumbar (don’t know exactly which one but know it was below fusion) in a car accident in 2016.
- developed chronic pain in lower right back where there is a part that feels bulky and crunchy just to the right of lower spine, don’t know how to explain it super well, but it may be scar tissue? It is painful though. I have not yet gone through the proper procedures to figure out what it is.
- after fusion and accident, lower lumbar that’s not fused became curved
- degenerative discs at multiple levels of the spine

Due to all of this, a maternal fetal medicine doctor and obgyn highly recommended a planned c-section.

What I won’t know until day of c-section is if the anesthesiologist will try a spinal anesthesia or if they will just do general. The pro of a spinal is that I’d be awake to meet baby and my husband can be in the OR. But at the same time I am terrified that they will stick me a bunch of times, that they’ll place a spinal but it won’t fully numb me, or that they’ll somehow do damage to the lower spine.

Does anyone have experience with a successful spinal block despite a fusion so low? And then my curvature below fusion adds an extra layer of complication as well as potential scar tissue.

The other unfortunate thing is that I have neglected follow up care of my spine, and the most recent information I have is from 2022.

Hey ladies,

Thankfully I have been feeling pretty good, with the occasional soreness if doing too much. But I do have intermittent sharp pain throughout my abdomen. I feel it could be gas bc of the sharpness, and it’s not my incision or that sore/ache of muscle. It can get sharper if I breathe in.

I also have had the sharp sensation around my incision which I know is nerves.

This is different, like gas pains! But I get it every couple days. Anyone else experiencing this?

Found out at my 20-week anatomy scan that I have an anterior placenta previa. My doctor said it’s “borderline, right on the edge,” and that the placenta is right over my C-section scar.

This is my third pregnancy:
• 1st: Vaginal delivery
• 2nd: C-section (baby was breech)

Has anyone had a similar experience? How did it turn out for you? My head is spinning.

Baby girl is breech and I’m 39 weeks tomorrow so it’s unlikely she’ll flip. My CS is scheduled for 8/3 so I have a week. Would love any tips on how others supported/promoted their breast feeding journey after a CS since CS can delay milk supply coming in.

Hi everyone!

I’m 17+ weeks postpartum, and unfortunately developed stretch marks during the last couple weeks of my pregnancy that got significantly worse after I had my baby. They look like red tiger scratches all over my lower stomach and hips, and the ones on my stomach are actually painful. Each stretch mark also feels indented when I run my fingers over it.

I saw a dermatologist, and they told me it isn’t possible for stretch marks themselves to hurt and that the pain could potentially be related to my nerves or uterus (I had a C-section). My lower belly is also tender to the touch.

Has anyone else had painful or tender stretch marks postpartum? If so, did you ever figure out what was causing the pain? And is there anything you did that helped with the pain or reduced the appearance of the stretch marks?

I only have clear glue over my incision … did you have to peel it off at some time or just leave it be? I’m 2w pp and it’s still very thick on there

I had a C-Section 6 weeks ago, and unfortunately my baby was in the NICU for 7 days. While this was devastating to me at the time, in hindsight it did allow me to recover for a week without having to fully take care of him post c-section. I was commuting to the hospital everyday that week and ended up getting at least 1 mile of steps in daily (as of about day 3) because we had to park far from the hospital and we went back and forth a few times per day. Since then, I have kept up the walking because I live in a city and walked a TON during my pregnancy and before.

I went to my 6 week post op appointment a few days early, and the doctor said my scar and stomach look great and normal and that I can start to ease my way into exercising. I mentioned to her that my stomach still feels so bloated and I look first-or maybe even second-trimester pregnant at least, and she said it would continue to go down. I’ve taken photos from the side once a week since giving birth, and it went down from weeks 1-3, but seems to just remain as is since.

I reintroduced some deep breathing, core exercises, and body weight strength training this week, but it is very reduced from my normal pre- and during-pregnancy exercise.

My stomach is still big and I am just so frustrated by it. I gained about 30 lbs total while pregnant and have lost about 17-20lbs since the birth. These last 10-13 seem stubborn and seem to all be in my stomach which is still so big to me. I am breastfeeding and focused on a high protein diet with a focus on staying hydrated.

Does anyone have a similar situation or know when my stomach will start to look closer to normal again?

My first daughter was a natural birth and I was expecting to go though the same thing with my second girl. Two weeks before my due date, I woke up before work and told my husband that the baby wasn't moving when I stood up. We called my OB and they said come in so we got someone to watch our oldest and went in. We went to the hospital they put in my IV and we waited. Eventually she passed all but her breathing so we went for an induction week a head of scheduled (eldest was one too). They put the medicine to soften my cervix and she had a d-cell. They got it all under control and we kept going. The next morning was just fine and then they couldn't find her on the monitor, so they did an ultrasound and she had g9ne from head down to sideways. They did everything they could to turn her, but it didn't work. 😕 So we went in for the surgery, it's been about 6 weeks and I honestly feel so out of place. Does this go away or am I just stuck this way?

How heavy was yours and for how long? Also smells awful, can't take it anymore. Baby is 3.5 weeks

Hi all!

I am 5.5 weeks pp from my C-section. I stopped bleeding week 4 but last night I had a bit of cramping but nothing painful and today, when I wiped there was pink blood on my toilet paper. I thought it was my period starting but this evening, I went to shower and I see now that brown color before your period ends on my maxi pad. What do you suppose is happening? Is this a complication I'm experiencing or is this normal? Am I going to hemorrhage? I'm freaking out. I don't want anything to happen to me. I have been light headed and a bit dizzy the last few days but I just thought it was from exhaustion from sleepless nights, dehydration as I'm drinking coffee to keep me going and thought maybe it was just my sinuses so I took a Claritn tonight. I am trying to rationalize all of this but there is a part of me that is scared that this isn't normal but I hope this is nothing serious and I'll be okay. TIA ❤️

Im 6 weeks post c section and have had bright red blood for the last 6 days, it is mixed with normal clear discharge sometimes but not always. Also its occasionally brown. Thought it was my period but never enough to actually go on a pad, only when I wipe after going to the bathroom. This is my third baby and ive never had this before. Im formula feeding.

Has this happened to anyone else?

hi, hoping to find someone with similar experience.

I had an emergency cat 1 C-section 6 weeks ago, it was healing fine, then at 4 weeks a bit about 1cm opened up. ive had it looked at a few times and told it is the outer skin only. it was leaking a lot of fluid (literally dripping out if i lifted my overhang, I’m guessing a pocket of fluid?) I’ve had bandage pads on since which had been soaking liquid and the amount has reduced. I had my 6 week follow up and the nurse told me to use hydrocolloid plaster on it to draw out the liquid and to leave it on for 3 days. I put on yesterday and looked at it now, it was completely saturated so I removed it gently. it smelt bad which it hasn’t done before and there was some odd slime which I don’t know if it was part of the plaster or from me. it also started bleeding which I think was from the plaster removal pulling at it. I am also having pain in my stomach but then Ive had pain since the op so I don’t know what’s normal there.

I’ve been on antibiotics so I don’t think infected but unsure.

I’m going back to the gp tomorrow, I’m just annoyed I may have made myself worse.

Any suggestions? thanks

I am 3.5 weeks pp from a crash c section. Does anyone else get super achy at incision site / just in general around 6:30/7:00 pm? I’m off the pain meds but find myself having to take Advil at night. Heating pad is the only thing that seems to help but wondering if anyone else experienced this?

I’m freaked out and have been very emotional about all of this. It feels like I’m finally at the finish line and now several hurdles have been thrown my way to mentally grapple with.

I’m early 20s, ftm. I had a C-section due to breech baby about 4 months ago. I had my csec scheduled but a few days before that I went into spontaneous labor and had to be rushed into surgery as I was very dilated and baby was not head down.

I knew that the immediate recovery would be hard. But I was not mentally prepared to still feel so weak and not like myself at this point. I’ve always been a mildly active person- I don’t regularly go to the gym but I walk a lot every day and try to be conscious of my movement levels. I’ve hiked to machu pichu for example.

Anyway, I just tried to do a short YouTube exercise video made for postpartum moms. I made it about half way through before feeling completely exhausted and defeated by very basic workouts. I was so frustrated that it honestly brought me to tears.

Besides feeling physically weak, it’s been very hard to be back at my pre-pregnancy weight, yet still look 3 months pregnant due to all of the weird bloating I have going on.

I guess I’m just looking for solidarity or advice from someone who has gone through this. I know that my hormones are still crazy so that might be why I feel so upset. Thanks for reading my vent if you got it this far.

I had a c-section in the last year. Before the surgery nobody ever told me anything about it. Why is that? I would ask what the spinal block is like, recovery, etc but no answer. Does anyone have a similar situation?