hi my name is Mai and today is part 2 of
my c-section experience in my last video
I went over why I got to plan c-sections
what my c-section experience was like
the day of but with my twin pregnancy
and my singleton pregnancy and today
I'll be going over everything about the
recovery and some tips and tricks as
well on how to recover as quickly as
possible all right so we'll get right
into the video
but before we do I have to shamelessly
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alright so where we left off in the last
video if you watch that one first
was the waiting room to get to your
actual recovery room where you will be
for the next few days once you actually
get rolled into your recovery room
you'll still feel pretty good you may
still have quite a bit of the spinal
block medicine in you so you won't
really feel that much and it won't be
too painful however my big tip to you
here is that you still have the spinal
block medication in you so do not push
it don't try to do sit-ups don't try to
break your stitches your glue open you
just had surgery I will reiterate that
many times in this video because I
probably needed that reminder the first
time I had a c-section after a couple
more hours you'll start to feel your
incision and the procedure at that point
you'll have nurses giving you some
painkillers to help ease the pain
because it is pretty painful now your
nurses may ask you how like what kind of
threshold of pain do you want to feel
what I did from the get-go is like zero
pain I want zero pain give me what will
give me zero pain which they did now I
wish I knew exactly what they gave me
off the bat I didn't know I was going to
be filming this video so I didn't like
ask for specific notes or anything but
what they gave me off the bat did make
me feel a little loopy and out of it
and I just did not like the way it made
my head feel it made me really dizzy I
told my nurse and doctor that and they
ended up giving me these two right here
so every eight hours I would take one
800 milligram tablet of ibuprofen and
then like in between that time to make
sure I never just had nothing in my
system every four to six hours as needed
I would take 325 milligrams of oxycodone
and acetaminophen mix so I think the
like street name for this street name
makes it sound really bad but I don't
know what the term for it is the street
name for this is percocet
so I basically mixed percocet with
ibuprofen and would take them
intermittently so that I'd always at
least have something in my system
because you at no point want nothing in
your system especially the first couple
days after your c-section in my case my
nurses were pretty on top of getting me
my meds when I needed it but I do
remember one point in my first c-section
with my twins I fell asleep for too long
they must have had nurses changed during
the night and I woke up in excruciating
pain because I didn't have anything in
my system and I called the nurse in she
gave me my meds right away but I
remember those 15 minutes before the
meds kicked in were awful word from word
from the wise is put an alarm on your
phone or something make your husband or
whoever your support person is staying
with you in charge of making sure you
get your meds when you need them
especially the first couple days after
the procedure now in terms of how long
you'll be staying at the hospital with
my twins and with my singleton pregnancy
I got 96 hours from the c-section time I
know some insurances talking to my
friends have reduced that to 72 hours so
be sure to call your insurance come
and see how many days of recovery you
get in the hospital free of charge now
obviously there are some circumstances
if you're having complications and a
doctor orders it they can extend that
time and insurance will cover it but if
everything is going smoothly as a
c-section recovery should go it's 72 to
96 hours depending on your insurance
company
day by day recovery from a c-section day
one you really are kind of in a fog your
focus is on the baby you're so excited
you're on a lot of painkillers so day
one is pretty foggy once day two hits
and a lot of like the more intense drugs
have kind of worn off I actually felt
like day two in both of my pregnancies
was one of the harder days because your
mind is right you know exactly what's
going on you have this new baby with you
that you have no idea what to do it
you're recovering and while you still
have the drugs in you to keep the pain
at bay it is still painful there's only
so much the drugs can do when you know
you just had a major surgery day two is
also harder than day one because they
will remove the catheter that they put
in right before you got the c-section
for me with my first c-section with the
twins the removal of the catheter was
really painful I honestly don't know why
when it came to my second c-section I
was the most nervous for the removal of
the catheter portion because that to me
was like the most traumatic painful
thing in my first c-section and then to
my surprise with my second c-section
like I didn't even feel it when they
removed the catheter it was painless so
I don't know what happened with my first
one someone maybe didn't let all the air
out of the little ball I don't know
exactly but I didn't know what to expect
with my first one so I thought that's
what was normal but with my second one
with it being very
list for it to be removed I now realize
that it probably should have been a
painful experience the next part of day
two that makes it more difficult than
day 1 of recovery is you are expected to
get up assisted of course and walk
around you you got to do this it will
hurt especially the very first time you
get up definitely have someone there not
definitely you must have someone there
to support you the first time you get up
the first time you get up it will likely
be to go to the bathroom so for both
cases for me I had a nurse help me walk
just the tiny way to the bathroom and it
was such an accomplishment to finally
get down on that toilet seat and go to
the bathroom on my own for the first
time and nurses you guys are my heroes I
had no idea what nurses went through in
the you know maternity recovery ward of
a hospital but they do everything for
you I mean even though you have a
c-section you're still bleeding a lot
vaginally just like you would if you
delivered vaginally you're not really
able to clean yourself right after a
surgery and the nurses helped me get all
cleaned up this is really graphic but
this is what it is the nurses just help
you in every single facet they'll help
you get to the shower if you want a
shower they bring you your medication
your food like thank you nurses you guys
are the best
you are my hero it's truly by day three
with my first c-section it was a little
bit easier it still was painful but it
surprisingly did get a lot easier by day
three on day two you don't even
understand how you will leave the
hospital in a couple days and then by
day three you're like oh okay I mean it
still hurts but I feel a hundred times
better than I did the day before now
with my second c-section day three it
was actually harder and more painful now
if this is your first c-section you
shouldn't have to worry
about this but what I didn't know or
realize with my second c-section is
every consecutive c-section gets more
painful and harder to recover from I'm
not a doctor I don't know exactly the
ins and outs of why but you know
multiple surgery is cutting through you
know your muscle and your uterus
multiple times it's harder on your body
to recover every time every c-section
apparently according to my doctor would
be more and more painful and that's also
why they don't you know do seven
c-sections on the same person they
usually don't recommend doing more than
two or three so again not trying to
freak anyone out if this is your first
c-section you don't have to worry about
that day three being harder on my second
c-section I was concerned that something
could potentially be wrong but my OB
looked me over said everything was
normal this is just par for the course
when you get multiple c-sections and
then by day four it was a relief because
day four it did get significantly easier
even the second time around and by day
four you definitely are ready
in a normal smooth c-section experience
to go home it'll be hard to believe it
when you get today for that you actually
feel good enough to leave because you
know day 2 and 3 can be a little rough
but by day 4 our bodies are amazing and
somehow we just are so much better that
we are actually able to leave the
recovery area of the hospital now even
though you are ready to leave the
hospital there are definitely a lot of
precautions that you still have to take
once you were allowed to go home
obviously you're not driving home from
the hospital you need to have someone
Drive you back to your home even for me
it like for the next three weeks I
wasn't allowed to do any driving
according to my doctor of course when
you're on the painkillers you're not
allowed to drive but even when you're
off the painkillers my doctor said three
weeks was my best bet for waiting to
drive again because there still will be
pain
your incision site the risk they don't
want you to run is if you have to break
very suddenly to avoid you know an
accident of some sort if you are braking
and it somehow causes abdominal pain and
makes you lift your foot off the brake
and then you're not able to fully
control the car the way you would need
to I hope that made sense basically talk
to your doctor about it maybe the roles
have changed my doctor said I wasn't
allowed to drive for three weeks post
procedure overall on all these things
that I'm talking about this is what my
OB told me for my to c-section
experiences your OB might have a
different idea on what the rules are
after surgery so definitely talk to them
about it this is just my experience the
other thing I wasn't allowed to do for
eleven days post procedure was use any
sort of stairs
I was lucky my bedroom is actually on
the first level of my home so not using
the stairs wasn't a big deal for me but
I know in my home in Minnesota and a lot
of northern homes the master bedroom is
on the second floor so if that's the
case for you you just got to figure out
you know some bed situation for you on
the couch or on a pull-out bed or
something on your main level because you
do not want to push it and do stairs
until 11 days after recovery the other
big rule to follow is not lifting
anything that weighs over 15 pounds now
when I delivered my twins with my first
c-section that was a pretty easy rule to
follow like there's not many situations
where I need to lift more than 15 pounds
and my little twins were only about five
and a half pounds when they were born so
I was able to hold one of them and feed
them and still be within you know the
threshold that I was allowed not lifting
fifteen pounds was a lot harder with my
second c-section because the second time
around
I had twin 22 month old that love mama
carrying them and hugging them
and it really was heartbreaking not
being able to lift them or carry them
you know we just really had to stress to
the kids that mama mama has a boo-boo
she's hurt right here you can't you
can't be rough you can't jump on her she
can't lift you right now if you need
something go to Dada or grandma
hopefully you have someone who can help
you I mean if you have another child
that needs to be cared for you really do
need someone else there to help if
they're really little and have to be
carried around or picked up to go into a
highchair or something because you do
not want to lift more than 15 pounds
like listen to your doctor on that front
the other thing you'll do in your
recovery is you want to check your
incision daily especially for the first
couple weeks right after your procedure
just look at it make sure it's not too
painful it shouldn't be bleeding there
shouldn't be like pus or anything weird
coming out of it if there is call your
doctor also just like with a vaginal
delivery you will still bleed like you
have a period it shouldn't be super
painful one thing to be cognizant of is
making sure there aren't any you know
big clumps or clots coming out if you
have anything larger than like a golf
ball coming out of you call your doctor
and really at this point once you're
home if you're following all the rules
and not overly straining yourself or
injuring yourself it should be a
manageable amount of pain it shouldn't
be excruciating if you have any concerns
or it is really painful
call your doctor so now that we've gone
over the things not to do right after
having a c-section let's go into tips on
recovering as quickly as possible
number one is again don't overly strain
yourself
you just have a baby through an opening
in your stomach cut through muscle cut
through uterus
it sounds really morbid but this is how
I am stressing to you not to strain
yourself one of the things I did to
ensure that I wasn't going to be
straining
myself as I started cutting back on the
painkillers pretty early on just to make
sure that I was able to feel what I was
doing for example if I had kept taking
tons and tons of painkillers and
couldn't feel anything I might have
injured myself without really realizing
it at first which can lead to
complications or problems or postpone
recovery or become really painful even
through the painkillers
so I started weaning myself off the
painkillers not only to reduce having it
in the breast milk but so that I could
feel my body and prevent myself from
doing actions that were painful that was
you know assigned to my brain you're
hurting yourself stop doing that and
then I could stop doing it the other
thing to continue so in the last video I
gave the recommendation of taking stool
softeners prior to your procedure if you
were having a planned c-section and if
it's still really really painful to go
number two at this point I would talk to
your OB about continuing some stool
softeners so that you're not pushing and
straining when you're trying to go
number two the next recommendation is on
clothing to wear to help you recover
quickly so in terms of just your regular
attire don't wear like pants or jeans or
anything that will press on your
incision or rub against it we're really
loose flowing clothing so a maxi dress
that you know doesn't have a belt or any
pressure on your belly a nice robe that
ties at the middle which is also really
convenient for breastfeeding you have
easy access to what baby wants and then
some people like this some people don't
I personally enjoyed wearing a maternity
belt after having my babies it just
helped me feel like more secure and put
together and I actually also wore it
slightly over my incision especially
when I had my toddlers because it almost
was like a shield to prevent them from
running into my incision or really
hurting me two to three weeks after
recovery you'll start to feel
pretty good at this point and you'll
maybe start thinking that you can lift
heavy things and things that weigh over
15 pounds maybe you're running late to a
doctor's appointment and your husband's
in the bathroom and you think oh it's no
big deal
I can carry this car seat with the baby
that's definitely over 15 pounds out to
the car don't do it you are risking
injuring yourself and then making your
recovery last even longer please I know
I've said this like a bajillion times
now but I'm just really stressing it
because I care about you guys and I
don't want anyone to get hurt in their
recovery
wait the eight weeks that is recommended
by doctors before you do anything crazy
the next tip for a quicker recovery is
drink a ton a ton a ton of water take
your prenatal vitamins and also take a
probiotic because you just had a surgery
they pump you full of antibiotics which
kills your healthy good gut bacteria so
starting a probiotic right away after
the procedure will help restore that and
help you just overall become a healthier
person again next if this is an option
for you I know it's not always your
choice when you have a new baby but try
to get as much sleep as possible you
know the saying sleep when the baby
sleeps well do it try to have some
family in town to help out hopefully
your husband's lucky enough that he can
have some paternity leave to help out
you just had a major surgery you need to
sleep in order to recover so make sure
you have people helping you out if
possible so that you can get the rest
that's needed to heal I hope this video
didn't scare you in any way please know
that if I survived a c-section you can
survive a c-section because I am the
biggest wimp if you liked this video and
if it helped you in any way please click
that like button and also subscribe for
more mommy tip videos sending positive
vibes your way I really do hope that you
have an amazing birthing experience
thank you so much for watching
see you in the next video bye