As first-time expecting parents, my husband and I took a childbirth education class offered through the hospital we were to deliver our son. There were 10 couples total and when the instructor covered the topic of C-sections and how statistically speaking, 3 of us would have our babies this way, my husband and I sat there naively believing that I definitely wouldn't be one of the 3. Our baby was going to come out the old-fashioned way.
Boy were we wrong, and our oldest son's birth taught us arguably one of the most important lessons of parenting-your plans mean nothing! Having underwent 2 C-sections now, one unplanned and one planned, I've put together a list of items that I consider essentials when recovering from this major abdominal surgery.
If your doctor gives you the go-ahead and you're not showing signs of infection, I'd definitely recommend having one of these to wear during recovery. It was an amazing product to have in order to keep my entire abdominal area feeling nice and secure/supported. The girdle can help align your abdominal muscles, speed up recovery, and reduce pain.
The hospital provided mesh high waist underwear to don after delivery because the last thing you want is a low cut panty rubbing against your fresh incision. These were not made of the nicest material, and after a few days when bleeding had somewhat subsided, I switched to high waist cotton underwear. I wore these for several weeks until I felt comfortable enough to revert back to my normal underwear.
My doctor advised me to rub Vitamin E oil onto my incision to aid in the healing process. I did this twice a day (morning and night).
4) Cane
I honestly laughed at my husband when he brought this into our room the day we came home from the hospital. But in reality, purchasing a cane was a brilliant idea! In the hospital I had convenient grab bars to help myself in and out of bed. Having a cane bedside provided the same type of assistance.
My advice would be to take as many of the large oversized hospital pads as they'll allow. However, if you happen to run out, make sure to have some long, high absorbency pads on hand as backup.
Two and a half weeks after I had my first C-section, I began to have excruciating pain between my shoulder blades. Albeit I was on high doses of pain meds during my C-section recovery, this pain seemed 100x worse. Nothing relieved the pain; sitting down, standing up, walking around-nothing. Debating on whether I should call 911, my husband and I ultimately decided to load our newborn son into the car and he drove me to the hospital.
Through frantic Google searches prior to arriving at the hospital, I was convinced my gallbladder was inflamed and needed to be removed. An ultrasound and several hours later, I finally began feeling better after being administered gas relief medication. Prior to my second delivery, I made sure to have a box of Gas X in our medicine cabinet, just in case.
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