Driving after caesarean

I saw the discussion somewhere but I can't find it! Here is what I found on the UK caesarean organisation site:

:

---

How soon after a caesarean can I drive?

There is no set time before you can drive again. However, it is important that you are able to be in full control of the vehicle, and this would include being able to do an emergency stop, without hesitation due to pain or even the fear of pain.

There is also the issue of insurance, although most insurance companies will be able to reassure you that your cover would not be affected, it is worth making sure that yours is not an exception. Occasionally companies will advise getting written comfirmation from a doctor that you are fit to drive.

Most women do not feel fit to drive for a few weeks after a caesarean, and it has been common for women to be informed not to drive for 6 weeks. It is likely that this advice was linked to the timing of the routine postnatal follow up appointment which used to take place around 6 weeks after the birth. Providing you are recovering well, and that you have checked your insurance cover, it may be possible to drive safely before this time.

---

I was told by our insurance that I wasn't allowed to drive until the 6 week check because that is what the hospital physio told me.

i hope we're talking about driving a car (otherwise i missunderstood :doh: ) :D

i drove 6 days later from hospital at home. an then to the supermarket, to the doc and so on.
hubby hadnt a driving licence at that time.
and i dont know, why i shouldnt. my scar is 12 centimetres at most and my pain had gone after 2 days.
and nobody told me not to drive..

I waited until my 6 week check up, same as Christy our insurance doesn't cover anyone that has had abdominal surgery until 6wks after.

I had no choice - had to drive to the NICU to feed my dd everyday!!! It was only 5 mins from home and i drive an auto so it wasn't too bad :)

3-4 weeks - my DH is a shift worker who could only rearrange so many shifts. I had heaps of doctors appts so I had to get there somehow.

the hosp told me not to drive till after 6 weeks (or do housework) so i took great advantage of both! i didnt check the insurance to see about cover though DP is an insurance broker & he didnt say i couldnt

.....

I drove 2 weeks later. I found it funny that in our handout from the hospital it stipulated no heavy housework like sweeping or vaccuming for 6 weeks but driving was ok after 2. Thankfully I was fine by then anyway.

Jo

just under 2 weeks for me.... I felt fine. I did check with the health nurse first tho, as my c/section info said 6 weeks.

I voted for the 2-3 weeks... though I think it may have been a little before 2 weeks?
I started off just with short trips (to the supermarket etc.) when Neil was home with Gab. I'd go out just by myself (which felt weird in itself!).
I was pretty nordy and didn't call my insurance company to find out whether I was covered or not. I wouldn't, however, have driven if I felt in any way like I couldn't handle the car or be able to brake. I also drive an automatic with power steering so I imagine that helps :)

JUst under 2 wks for me to. I felt really good once my staples were taken out. For memory I drove myself to the hospital to have them out!

it was just under 2w for me, i had to drive to hospital to see my daughter every day... I didnt have to worry about stitches or anything, my wound was lasered or glued shut (i'vd been told 2 different things!!) Same as Deb, i have an auto with power steering, i wouldnt have done it with an older car where i had to put some muscle into driving...

I wonder if the way you're stitched up can affect your confidence with driving aswell?? I had those dissolvable stitches. A friend that was at the hospital at the same time had staples and they looked aweful. I was so glad i didn't have to go thru that! Taking off the steri-tape was tough enough!! LOL

I had staples & they were taken out 5 days after the c/s.

Was it uncomfortable, Sarah??

Ive had staples too but no way were they ready at 5 days...think it was 10. I can remember in the end they were bloody annoying!

Jo

I wonder why some people have staples and other have the dissovable ones? Is it up to the doctor??

Having nothing to compare to LOL, they weren't too bad. I must admit though until they were taken out I was petrified of something happening & the whole thing popping open! When they were taken out was uncomfortable, they used a staple remover LOL that sounds stupid, but really it looked similar to a normal one!! Most were ok to come out, just the last one pulled a bit. I still have all my staples & the remover too!!!!

Wow I had no idea the insurance company wouldnt cover u. I had my daughter on the Monday and by the next Monday I was driving. Thats pretty bad I know but I didnt feel any pain cos I have loss of sensation from the bra strap down. I had the dissolving stitches too.

i voted the 3-4 weeks.. by then i had cabin fever and need to get out as DP only had a week off when mads was born!

well I HAD to drive at 3 weeks cos DH was back at work and I needed to get to the MCHN. I felt fine and then decided I could drive everywhere

I picked 4-5 weeks - but that was because I had been told by family I had to wait 6 weeks - and I took their word for it.

I checked with my insurance and doctor and they both said I could have driven sooner - and I certainly wanted to.

It will be sooner next time around - unless I don't feel phyically fit enough to.

wow some of you drove so soon after your op!!

After my first Csect I didnt drive for months and months... I was too young to drive anyway so had to catch public transport everywhere (Great fun trying to get into hospital 40 min drive away to visit bub in SCN for the first 6 weeks)

Second Csect I drove about 3 weeks after giving birth, didnt have need to drive before then

3rd csect with 4 kids aged 4 and under at home, kinder to go to and hubby only had ONE night off work (the night I came home..) I had to drive soon so it was by 2 weeks I was driving but pretty close on to 2 weeks and it was SO painful, it really hurt until about 2 months after she was born.. didnt enjoy it at all. I drove soooo careful always scared of braking :S

When we have our next bub (eventually).. I'm not sure what I'll do as hubby probably wouldnt get any more than 1/2 days off work and we've got 2 in school and by then at least one, maybe 2 in kinder as well!

i think it was five or six months before i could drive again. My stomach muscles were so damaged during the emergency c-section (that had complications) - i found it so hard just to walk (had to shuffle, hold on to walls, go really slowly like a 90 yo - let alone get in a car (agony) and drive. Even the few times i was a passenger in that period, i was in pain, felt every bump and coudn't wait for the car to stop.

With my DD it was a few months i think.
This time with DS, I called our Insurance company who told me I wouldn't be covered unless I had a letter from the doctor saying I was healthy and fine to drive. So I didn't drive until about 6.5 weeks.

I had an el yuckko infectione that lingered on and on, with increased pain. I didn't try to drive until it was properly cleared up after about the 7 week mark. Had DH home to ferry me about prior to that.

my first c.s was 5 weeks
my 2nd c.s was within 2 weeks.

The Dr told me the reason you aren't allowed to drive for the first 4 weeks are for legal reasons. Cause that is the "minimum expected" recovery time, so your insurance doesn't cover that recovery time.
Otherwise the Dr said it was up to me!

I can't vote yet because no-one is letting me drive, even though I feel fine.. Most people are telling me to wait till after the 6 wk checkup but I just wanna drive now so I can take DS for drives

was about 2 weeks when i drove. I was fine.

:

---

Having nothing to compare to LOL, they weren't too bad. I must admit though until they were taken out I was petrified of something happening & the whole thing popping open! When they were taken out was uncomfortable, they used a staple remover LOL that sounds stupid, but really it looked similar to a normal one!! Most were ok to come out, just the last one pulled a bit. I still have all my staples & the remover too!!!!

---

Hey Sarah, I know you posted this waaay back in 2006, but had to requote ;) I kept the staples from DD too. Didn't think to do it, the midwives gave them to me. With DS, I asked for them to keep those ones as well, to which they screwed their noses up and asked why? I explained i didn't think it was fair to have DD's and not DS's lol, the thought that i still had DD's staples horrified them even more i think. DH's thinks I'm weird too pmsl

I started driving at the beginning of week 3. Hubby had to go back to work and I had my premmie in NICU and 2 other kids to take to school etc.

Nic, I didn't get to keep DD's she had chucked them in a sharps container before I had the chance to say anything :(

I waited until after 6 weeks the second time as well. My midwife told me that after your second & subesequent caesareans you need to be even more careful. She said that you might feel better sooner, but it takes longer for everything to heal up the second (or third, fourth etc) time.

I waited until about 5 weeks before I drove, but got permission from my OB at 4 weeks. He told me that I could call him and if he gave me approval I would be covered for insurance even if it wasn't 6 weeks. He just asked me if I could stand on one leg without any pain. I could, so he told me I was okay to drive.

:

---

I waited until after 6 weeks the second time as well. My midwife told me that after your second & subesequent caesareans you need to be even more careful. She said that you might feel better sooner, but it takes longer for everything to heal up the second (or third, fourth etc) time.

---

That's really interesting. I suppose with scar tissue from a first c/s, it would delay the healing on a second one maybe?

I drove after 2 weeks. I didn't try before that as I had people to drive me around. Lucky as I had lots of check ups because my PE/ high BP hung around for weeks after DS1 was born (I am a freak, I know :rolleyes:).
I am amazed how many people don't drive because of insurance. I called my insurance company and they told me that unless what I was doing was illegal then I was insured... that meant I could drive whenever I felt ready to.
The hospital physio told me to try sitting in the car and pushing my braking leg down really quickly. If that was not painful then driving was fine. She said the only reason they say not to drive is that people find it difficult to brake quickly as they are in pain.

My insurance said I wasn't insured for 6wks after any abdominal surgery, so maybe they are all differnt.

I think a lot of it is to do with the potential pain, sure you can sit in the driveway & push the brake hard, but if you are in the situtation where someone runs out in front of you & you have to hit the brake hard & fast you may hesitate just in case it's going to hurt.

There is also the issue of damage to yourself. As Sarah_H said you may feel ok but it doesn't mean that you are entirely healed inside. I know for myself I had pain when I vaccuumed up to three months post my caesarean's so I know that in that first 6 weeks I wouldn't want to be driving just in case I had to hit the brakes hard.