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Alicia
October 20th 03, 08:44 PM
Hello Everyone, just thought I'd share what I'm going through and see if
there are any other women who have had the same experience.

My little one is ten weeks now, and just over 11 pounds. My doctor told me
not to lift anything heavier than him for three months while I healed and
I've been pretty good about it up until about a week ago. I still don't
make a practice of carrying anything heavier than him, but a few times I've
carried some extra bags while he was in the Snugli, or did something around
the house that involved lifting. I also walk for an hour or two every day.
So, with that history in mind, now I am feeling a lot of pain in my abdomen.
Sometimes it feels like a sharp pain, like a stitch after running, sometimes
it is a burning/stinging sensation, and sometimes it is just a dull ache.
My mum says it might be that the nerves are reconnecting because I haven't
felt these things up until recently. I tend to be quite careful, and take
good care of myself in general. But perhaps even those extra two weeks make
a big difference? I thought I would probably be well on the way by now...

What are your experiences with recovery from a c-section? Any strange
sensations? How long did it take until you were back on your feet and
running around like normal? I'd like to hear your stories.
Thanks much, Alicia

Banty
October 20th 03, 09:57 PM
In article <ExVkb.134692$6C4.124061@pd7tw1no>, Alicia says...
>

::snip::

>
>What are your experiences with recovery from a c-section? Any strange
>sensations? How long did it take until you were back on your feet and
>running around like normal? I'd like to hear your stories.
>Thanks much, Alicia
>

Well, since I was raising my baby alone, I had to pretty much ignore the
doctor's advice as far as getting up and around, and for the lifting advice
'nothing heavier than the baby', I sure was glad that my baby was a big 9+ pound
one.

Despite all my prohibited activity, I didn't experience anything like a
resurgence in pain 10 weeks on, so I'd advise you consult your OB.

Cheers,
Banty

H Schinske
October 20th 03, 09:58 PM
Alicia ) wrote:

>What are your experiences with recovery from a c-section? Any strange
>sensations? How long did it take until you were back on your feet and
>running around like normal? I'd like to hear your stories.
>Thanks much, Alicia

I felt that I was mostly myself, maybe 90, 95 percent, by six or eight weeks
after my twins were born. But every time I was really extra tired, I got pains
in the incision area very similar to what you describe. I remember joking about
it being like an old war wound and that pretty soon I'd be able to predict the
weather with it. They got gradually less and less common, and were gone by
about six months postpartum. I have heard of people who got occasional, usually
just fleeting, pains in their scar area for much longer, like a year or so.

I think I was kind of hoping for that euphoric time you sometimes get after
you've been horribly sick, where you wake up one morning and suddenly realize
that you are MUCH better, you're hungry again, everything sounds like fun, etc.
It was kind of a bummer to realize one day that I actually had ramped back up
to about my normal level of activity without even really noticing it! I was so
used to going around feeling slightly crummy that I wasn't really *letting*
myself feel good even when I could.

--Helen

Donna Metler
October 20th 03, 09:59 PM
"Alicia" > wrote in message
news:ExVkb.134692$6C4.124061@pd7tw1no...
> Hello Everyone, just thought I'd share what I'm going through and see if
> there are any other women who have had the same experience.
>
> My little one is ten weeks now, and just over 11 pounds. My doctor told
me
> not to lift anything heavier than him for three months while I healed and
> I've been pretty good about it up until about a week ago. I still don't
> make a practice of carrying anything heavier than him, but a few times
I've
> carried some extra bags while he was in the Snugli, or did something
around
> the house that involved lifting. I also walk for an hour or two every
day.
> So, with that history in mind, now I am feeling a lot of pain in my
abdomen.
> Sometimes it feels like a sharp pain, like a stitch after running,
sometimes
> it is a burning/stinging sensation, and sometimes it is just a dull ache.
> My mum says it might be that the nerves are reconnecting because I haven't
> felt these things up until recently. I tend to be quite careful, and take
> good care of myself in general. But perhaps even those extra two weeks
make
> a big difference? I thought I would probably be well on the way by now...
>
> What are your experiences with recovery from a c-section? Any strange
> sensations? How long did it take until you were back on your feet and
> running around like normal? I'd like to hear your stories.
> Thanks much, Alicia
>
Was yours traditional or transverse? Traditional C-sections take longer to
heal (I still get occasional twinges from mine, a year and a half
later-there's one area where the nerves never completely reconnected, I
don't think)

It took about 12 weeks before the pain really settled down, and a month or
two after that before I didn't notice it if I moved too fast or lifted
something too heavy.

Supposedly, it takes about 6 months before nerves finish healing as much as
they are going to heal.

Kevin Karplus
October 20th 03, 10:37 PM
> "Alicia" > wrote in message
> news:ExVkb.134692$6C4.124061@pd7tw1no...
>> Hello Everyone, just thought I'd share what I'm going through and see if
>> there are any other women who have had the same experience.

As a male, I've never had a C-section, but I have had major abdominal
surgery (a splenectomy). I was hospitalized for a week after the
splectomy with no food (IV drips and a nasogastral tube to keep my
stomach empty). I was pretty much confined to bed for another week
after that and it took me a couple of months to get my strength back.
I had some very minor complications from the surgery---allergy to the
glue they used on the bandages (treated with antihistamines) and a bit
of minor infection just under the skin.

At 10 or 12 weeks I was back on my bike and pretty much back to normal
(well---it took another month to get back in shape after the months
without significant exercise). My abdomen was sore for months as the
connective tissue grew back together and regained structural
integrity, but there was no real pain after the first 2 or 3 weeks.

Serious pain 10 weeks after surgery seems like a danger signal to
me---you should definitely talk with the surgeon. You do not want to
have an untreated infection or scars forming in the wrong places.

--
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Professor of Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
Affiliations for identification only.