*HELP* Recovery questions with a CSec 5 days on...

[*Beema*]

Ouch!

I am doing not too bad, have been on Endone and have moved to Capadex today hoping it goes well. We tried the Capadex the other day but it was horrible, as soon as my bladder filled up much I could hardly walk, was hunched over and in a lot of pain.

I have worked out that I have to go to the bathroom often, because if I don't and it is getting close to needing another dose of meds I end up in the same position as above - aka this morning was horrible!!!

My main problem is getting in and out of bed, I am struggling even with the automatic raising dropping bed, I tried to get up after lying down before lunch and the pain on my RHS, was excruciating, like it was tearing. But all looks and feels ok on the outside and now I am up it isn't there.

I am going home Thursday and thinking I am going to have to sleep in my breast feeding chair as I am scared I will lie down and not be able to get up again.

Is this normal and if so how long should it last? I spoke to the MW's about it this mornings said that she hasn't had anyone who has had the problem and asked if I have had a UTI and there are no problems there, last nights both said to keep up the Endone.. but I need to be off it to go home and evenif I do have some at home it will only be a very small amount and I don't want to rely on it IKWIM...

TIA xxoo

[black_rose]

Sounds similar to me, ask the MW's to check your scar, some of my stitches were too tight, once they were cut I could get up off the couch and bed without screaming.

[*Beema*]

Hmmm my stitches are dissolvable, so maybe it has something to do with that. The pain is horrible isn't it

[Heaven]

Hmm...I only ever had panadol and nurofen so that pain sounds a bit excessive to me. But everything's ok?? They've checked??

Have they shown you how to get up off the bed without hurting yourself?

it will get better quickly.

[Arimeh]

I had that with Aricyn, and I had staples with him, so wasn't a stitching problem for me. I think because it was my first, my body was a bit freaked out because of what had happened, and it was reacting in the only way it knew - to hurt.. lol

Try rolling over to your side first, and pushing yourself up with one arm, while bracing a pillow against your scar with the other hand. And swing your legs out at the same time. Then stand up.

It only took a few days at home before I was back to normal. Don't overdo it though. Rest up.

[feeb]

Try rolling over to your side first, and pushing yourself up with one arm, while bracing a pillow against your scar with the other hand. And swing your legs out at the same time. Then stand up.

yes that, I did not experience pain like that (I was in to a standard queen size bed day after cs) but everyone has diff pain threhold. Ask MW to hve a look at wound and check for infection or as others have suggested tight stich.
You dont want to take the strong drugs fir too long due to risk of constipation.

By day 5 most woman are on panadol, voltaran and tramadol.

Hope you are better soon you have had a tough pregnancy.

[rufalina]

You dont want to take the strong drugs fir too long due to risk of constipation.

i was going to ask how things were in that department, cause that can make you feel terrible... If you cant get things moving, get something from the nurses. It will help and is worth it. I cant remember what I had, but it helped. Hope you are able to wean of the strong drugs and head home with less pain soon. xo

[bubno.3]

'beema' Im going to give you my nursing answer here ok :
everyone is different remember when it comes to pain threshold etc etc .... Have you support at home when you come home on thurs? As you need to keep up the endone and pandaol simulatanously (they work really well together) .... With the surgery your sore becaause they have cut through muscle as well as unterus etc etc hense you muscles are healing as well and then on top of all that you uterus will be shrinking back to pre baby state and that will hurt too when you BF (if your BFdg) . Give your self time physically and mentally from the HUGE pregancy and now the surgery .... Your little girl is here and she needs a happy healthy pain free mum.... Dont worry about getting hooked on Endone as you wont or please dont worry to much about endone and Breast milk ok .... Please take your time and you will heal nicely and to answer your original question yes this all sound normal what you have described..... check the site for redness and infection everday . xx

[Jennifer13]

Oh hun. This doesn't sound good. Get your ob to check as well, before you are discharged.

Hope you are in less pain soon. I didn't have anywhere near the level of pain you are talking about, but then, every op is different and you may have had extra things to take into account.

[Vixstar]

Oh hun! Okay, after three c-sections.....mine have all been totally different recoveries! First c-sections are the worse....so I thought!

C-section #1 2006 - panadol over 8 hours and volaren every 8 hours. Took about 48 hours to pee......because they told me if i didn't the catherter was going back in. NO WAY!!!! Prolly took another day to do no.2's and somewhere in between I passed wind which I was super excited about! Could you have wind pain? I drank Metamucil by the bucket loads. Disolvable stitches. MY OBGYN.

C-section #2 2008 - really fast recovery! Same pain killers as previous. Drank Metamucil again by the bucket loads. Some pain once I got home only because I had another child to look after already and so had a few more days of Voltaren and panadol. Disolvable stitches. MY OBGYN.

C-section #3 19th Sept 2010 - NOT MY OBGYN! This one is rough as guts, been doing it for about 30 years and very old school. No disolvable stitches. Metamucil did nothing so had some Agarol (sp)...white milky liquid which cleaned me out nice and gently but did so for 1/2 a week! Made life so much easier, not so bloated either. Wind pain when the drugs wore off....even today......Painful with a capital P!!! Lived on Panadeine, Endone and Voltaren for almost a week, esp since I had to walk up and down to special care......alone! Would have my bed in the upright possy and used the handle above to pull myself up so basically used all the strength in my arms to save my belly. Then kinda lean / roll to my left and somehow push with off the bed with one hand till I was sitting upright and then slowly place my feet on the floor and stnad up, bent over at first and then slowly stand erect. Hope that makes sense!! lol Ater a few days, was able to lay a little flatter ....even now I am still abit ouchie when laying down and still sleep with a pillow between my legs. Seems to ease pressure??? on my right side where I am still very sore. I have NOT sneezed in over 2 weeks....i am too scared too! Coughing is also painful even holding my belly. Not good or my lungs though.

For all 3 i came home with NO medication! Was told just to get panadol or panadeine....have been living on panadeince extra - 3rd packet now!

Tell your miswives o what is bothering you. It is their job to assist you and provide you with care. I saw my OBGYN every morning and told her o every ache and pain this time. At one stage I though I had clots in one legs. She explained it was my electrolytes changing.......she was right! lol

Hope things ease up for you hun. xxxxx

[black_rose]

Beema it was excruciating, I thought it was something serious, was so relieved when it was so easy to fix. I hope you can work it out so you are comfortable at home.

[Mother Goose]

oh hon, sounds like you're doing it tough.

Ask the nurses to put a slide sheet on your bed (which hossy are you in?). It is a slippery sheet that goes on your sheets. It will make it easier to get in and out of the bed. If they stick one on your bed - swipe one to take home

Make sure someone demonstrates correct and appropriate manouvers for ambulating (getting up and about) from the bed. The technique described earlier (rolling to side and using arm to lift) is a good one. Also make sure they demonstrate how to use a towel around your feet to swing your legs up on the bed if that is something that is difficult for you.

Are you using the monkey bar? Have you GOT a monkey bar on your bed? It's the triangle on a chain.

On a personal note, with my C-Sect, I was on voltaren and panadol. The first couple of days were hell - even going from standing to sitting was a nightmare. I think it took about 7 days for me to be comfortable. I remember going out to dinner at 10 days and being fine most of the time but needed to use the pram to support myself at one point. I was out with a surgeon at the time and he couldn't believe how well I had recovered so quickly...

MG

[aussienic]

Are you sleeping on your back or side? When laying down I always lay down on my side and usually stayed that way. I found it a loss less of a strain on my tummy

[Poppy Seed]

I had my first baby via emergency c-sect in Feb and had the excruciating pain like you described several days later..I wasn't given any pain relief on day 2 due to a bad experience with a middy, but that's another story I found laying on my side and holding my wound whenever I was using my core muscles eg.getting out of bed and off toilet etc helped alot. It was horrible because DS was in the special care nursery and all day and night I had to hobble down there holding myself (the pain was indescrible). I went home a week after my c-sect and still needed some pain relief at times. Take is easy and don't deny yourself pain relief as you're going to need all your energy to look after your LO. Hope you feel better soon xx

[*Beema*]

Have they shown you how to get up off the bed without hurting yourself?

Just using this bar they have put on the side of the bed a bit like a post, they got me to start using it on day 3 instead of the triangle thing and elevating the back of the bed up.

Try rolling over to your side first, and pushing yourself up with one arm, while bracing a pillow against your scar with the other hand. And swing your legs out at the same time. Then stand up.

I will try that way later on this evening and I will do it when one of the MW's is here so I get some help if I need it.

Thanks feeb , lucky I haven't had any constipation, been on the metamucil and coloyxl as well so everything in that area has been moving well from day 2. I wonder if things were particularly bad first thing this morning as when got up I needed to do both, maybe it was putting extra strain on that area? The backup OB and MW's just keep mentioning how bruised my wound is, but I have no idea what would be considered normal or excessive bruising. So far today I have been on just the Capadex and am doing ok, but I haven't lied down again since my nap before lunch, I am so tentative to do so I think the pain that I have been experiencing when trying to get in and out of bed would be pretty darn high on anyone's threashold

Thanks Ruf, Yeap glad everything is moving well in the bowel department! I am hoping that I don't need to go down the path of the Endone tonight, I have done well during the day on the Capadex, but have only been sitting so not doing any twisting, turning or rolling movements.

Thanks bubno3, DH is on leave as of Thursday night for the next 3 weeks, so he will certainly be able to take the pressure off once I get home, it is just getting up and down regularly that will be hard. It has been funny actually I got worse afterpains BF'ing DD1 than I have had with DD2 and she is a much better feeder, I think my uterus has gone on holidays after contracting for so long! Will keep a close eye on everything to make sure it is healing well and not getting infected.

Thanks Jennifer, I will speak to the OB again tomorrow or Thursday morning about it and be more specific with it as well, she isn't my normal OB so while she is very good, she works a bit differently to mine so I may need to be more specific about it, she may have thought it was a more general complaint about pain, but it is more specific.

Oh Vixster it is really interesting that each CS has been completely different for you, your latest sound really painful and horrible I will mkae sure that we have a good suply of pain relief for when I home. For me this is really unusual I rarely take pain medication, I will put up with a headache for days, but have had to just take it this time because it has been horrible when I don't have it.

I passed wind quickly about 7 hours post CS - just after DH ate my dinner all my waterworks and bowels are working beautifully, I think there is a connection between my bladder and the pain, because when it is full I can't even stand up, but the pain when I was moving out of bed was different like a stabbing pain and tearing sensation, not very good at all.

Black Rose, I hope it is something that could be a quick fix. I really don't want to be scared of hoping into my own bed once I get home.

MG, thanks so much so really great advice and information there, I was told how to get out using the vertical pole, but no one has demonstrating anything for me, just said to stop using the monkey bar grip thing on day 2/3, to tilt the bed up (which I won't be able to do at home) and swing my legs over. The monkey bar is still there they have just hooked it up, but I can easily unhook it

I think I am best to rope in the MW tonight or tomorrow and get her to do some demo's and if I am still having trouble, I can then demonstrate to the OB what the problem is.

7 days seems reasonable, tomorrow is day 7 if we include the day of Csec as being day 1 as I think because delivery was 11:35am (before 12noon) it is classed as day 1. I feel good in all other ways, I am able to walk around stand up sit down, care for bubs etc, just not being able to get in and out of bed, and it is really hard having to do it a few times overnight to care for bubs, night before last the MW came in every single time and was a gem, last night I was up quite late as DD2 was unsettled as I expected due to my milk coming in, so I only had to get up to her once overnight and had only just had Endone 30min prior. Which had worn off by the time I went to get up and had the big problems this morning.

Thanks aussienic, I have been sleeping partially on my side, but will try and sleep more on my side tonight to see if it helps reduce the strain.

Thankyou everyone

[Just Me]

It's not easy and I can totally understand what you are going through. I had that kind of pain for the first day, but everybody is different. The RHS of my scar also hurt the most but that was because they had some difficulty getting DD2 out and tore all the muscles on that side (I found out later). The midwife told me the side the finish off the stitching is usually somewhat painful depending on how it has been done - mine was finished off on the LHS but it might be why your is sore at the moment too. I also had dissolvable stitches.

It does get better. The first days are the hardest. I know it sounds really difficult and try not to overdo it, but having blood pumping around your body does help with healing so if you can manage a very gentle short walk, even up and down the maternity ward a couple of times a day, it might help to heal things up a bit more. I don't know if you are getting time for it or not, but I think that was the thing that helped me the most. Mine was also incredibly painful getting up and down for the first few days, but once I was upright, I could take slow and gentle steps so I tried to get my movement back by getting myself mobile.

The important thing is to listen to your body though. If it feels like it is too much then it probably is and you need to take it easy. If your DH is around to help you out for the next couple of weeks, maybe ask him to help you out of bed too. My DH lifted me in and out of bed for the first couple of days (they didn't put me in an electronic bed mine needed to be manually cranked) and also for the next couple of days after I left the hospital. He got up in the middle of the night and got DD2 out of her craddle - which was next to my side of the bed and he put her back in it after I had fed her. I think it all made a difference.

I hope your recovery goes well from this point. It does get better and in a few weeks, you'll fell almost normal again. Just take it easy in the meantime and work at your body's own pace

[Mother Goose]

hon, don't wait to get them to demonstrate how to move. If it hurts, ask them to show you to make sure you're doing it right.

A bed stick is fine. We use those for certain circumstances. In fact, you can often hire them from the hospital to take home for a short period. It just slides under your mattress.

You could also try taking some pressure off your stomach muscles when you're sleeping by elevating your legs. Something as simple as a blanket or towel rolled up under your knees. A towel can also be used hooked under your feet (and held by you) to swing your legs up onto the bed. But make sure someone demonstrates that to you.

[*star*]

Hey Beema,

Lots of good advice in here for you.

I just wanted to add that you sound like me when it comes to pain meds and not wanting to be reliant on them. I found out the hard way that even when I thought I was feeling a little better, I would overdo it or try to cut back on meds that I really needed. Please just take them as often and as long as you need them. You will get off them eventually, but it's not worth the pain and harm to your body if you don't listen to what you need.

All the best for your recovery.