So, I had a C-section just over a month ago now, and I thought I’d take some time mid-feed to sit down and write about what the recovery has actually been like: the things that helped, expectations versus reality.
I avoided basically all birth stories before I had my baby, because I was so worried they’d be negative ones. So, full disclosure, this is a positive C-section experience. I’m going to go into as much detail as possible and be completely honest and transparent for anyone considering a C-section who’s looking for more information. Please just bear in mind that this is my experience, and I’m not a doctor, just someone trying to help other new mums.
Why I chose a planned C-section
I had a number of reasons for choosing a planned C-section, and to be really frank, I’m not interested in anyone’s judgement on any of them. I think all women should be able to make choices based on their own preferences.
So much of the birth narrative glamorises women’s suffering, as if a woman’s ability to endure pain is equal to her ability to be a mother, or her worthiness as one, I completely reject that.
When I posted about how I was preparing for my C-section, so many people (with zero medical knowledge of why I’d made the decision) were like, “Ah, why not a natural birth?” Honestly, even if I’d chosen it just because I wanted to, that would be enough.
That said, here were my reasons:
She was always tracking big. I’m significantly smaller than my husband. He was a 9.5lb baby, and I was a 9lb baby at about 37 weeks. We just knew she was probably going to be big, and I am quite small.
I really struggle with uncertainty. Uncontrollable situations are the one thing that makes me panic, and that’s when my OCD really flares. I kept thinking that atching the baby’s heart rate go up and down on a monitor during labour and not knowing how it would end up would have stressed me out so much, and stress is the opposite of what you need in labour.
Friends had amazing planned C-sections. I kept hearing stories from friends who had positive planned C-section experiences.
I was still worried about everything I’d heard about C-section recovery: that it’s so hard, that it’s a horrible, horrible operation. I think that absolutely can be true, particularly for a true emergency C-section, where you’ve been pushing for ages and the baby has to come out in a really stressful situation.
So from about March or April, I was obsessively listening to podcasts, reading articles, doing as much research as physically possible and I came to the conclusion that the control factor (and a few other things) meant I wanted a planned C-section. I said I’d confirm it towards the end of my pregnancy, and the closer I got, the more certain I was.
How it actually went
So I was booked in for a planned C-section, then went into early labour. So it was moved forward to the day before it was planned, as an emergency C-section, but the type known as a category 3, because there was no immediate risk to me or the baby. (The full birth story is in this tiktok here.)
Overall, I was very happy with my experience. It is objectively strange to have an operation while you’re awake and then be handed a baby. But there’s so much out there about how horrible C-sections are, and I want to add to that conversation by saying: for me, personally, I think I enjoyed it more than I would have enjoyed a vaginal birth.
One of the main reasons I felt fine about it all? After the operation, the OB/GYN told me there was no way I would have got that baby out vaginally. So I’d probably have ended up with a C-section anyway, which made me feel pretty relaxed about whatever the recovery was going to look like.
The first 24 hours
After the post-op room, I went up to the postnatal ward in the early hours. I didn’t actually get into my bed until about 4am.
My catheter stayed in until midday the next day. They often take it out first thing in the morning, but I was sleeping on and off until midday, just waking up to feed the baby.
I was really worried about the catheter. I thought I’d hate the sensation, but you don’t really get much sensation at all. So that was fine.
Let’s talk about poo (I told you I’d be honest)
One thing I was warned about from the off was stool softeners and preparing your gut. In the weeks leading up to my C-section, I was really paying attention to how much fibre I was eating
I also had one friend tell me the post-C-section gas, the trapped wind, was worse than any other part of the experience. So I got simethicone in advance (it’s Gas-X in the US; here I think it’s Wind-eze). I was already having pregnancy-related trapped wind (sorry, TMI) and it was really painful. I was literally cat-cowing my way through life. So I asked my midwives and started taking it before the operation. Obviously this isn’t advice: talk to your own doctor and midwives!!
They’ll also give you a stool softener in hospital. I’ve always been terrified of them. I thought they’d make me dehydrated and then constipated afterwards, and as an IBS girl I don’t usually need them. But I was told to take them, and I was glad I did.
I also had some ready at home, and I’m so glad I did. After my first poo, I thought, “That was fine, I don’t need them.” But even now there are days when I do, because your body is still getting used to things again. Your organs aren’t all back in the right place yet! I’m very glad I took that advice.
Keep everything warm
I really recommend bringing a heat pack to hospital. I used mine multiple times and it helped keep things moving.
I also haven’t had any iced drinks or cold food since the birth. The only exception was some sushi in hospital, because I really, really wanted sushi. Other than that, it’s been warm food and warm drinks only. No iced coffee, nothing straight from the fridge without boiling water added. I’m trying to keep that up for the full six weeks, as lots of different cultures recommend, and I’ve found it genuinely helps keep things moving.
Yes, you still bleed
A lot of people assume you don’t bleed after a C-section. But you do! You’ve built a home for that child for nine months, and it still needs to leave; you can bleed for up to six weeks.
I took two things to hospital and used both every single day:
Frida Mom disposable underwear. I wore these for about a week. Things can get messy, and once you’re home you’re mostly slobbing around the house, so they were super useful. They’re high-waisted too, so they don’t press on your incision.
Highly recommend both.
Walk as soon as you can
One of the main recovery recommendations I came across was to walk as soon as you can. Obviously, not a lot. On the first full day I literally walked up the corridor and back, no more than a few minutes, and never more than about five minutes standing or walking at a time. I kept to that pretty religiously: walking around the room, trying not to stay still. (I was still in the hospital bed most of the day, obviously.)
Very anecdotal, small sample size (aka just me), but I also stayed as active as possible right up to the end of my pregnancy. I was still getting around 6,000 steps a day. I stopped Pilates at about 37 weeks because it didn’t feel good anymore. I didn’t want to put myself into labour, and she’d flipped from head-down to breech a few weeks earlier, so I didn’t fancy being upside down. I’m sure staying active beforehand made it easier to be active afterwards.
Here’s roughly how it’s gone:
Week one: 5–10 minutes a day.
Week two: 10–20 minutes.
Since then: slowly working my way up and listening to my body.
I’m not pushing things at all (that’s one thing I’m very good at), and I’m not lifting anything heavier than the baby. I’m definitely not running anywhere, and I won’t be working out for a while yet. But I’ve found walking very possible, and I’m getting some steps in every day to help my recovery.
Scar care
I did a lot of prep here: Reddit threads, some studies, general recommendations on both scar recovery and tummy recovery. Not in an “I want to snap back immediately” way, but after the baby comes out, everything feels quite loose. So here’s what I did. (Again, if it’s not for you, it’s not for you!)
First: I didn’t touch it until it healed. No baths, no soap on the incision (I showered, obviously), and high-waisted underwear so nothing pressed on it. Once the community midwife told me it was fully closed and not infected, I started on scar care.
Silicone by day. From my research, silicone is the one properly proven scar treatment, and I get keloid scarring, so I wanted to be on it from the very beginning. I ordered a purple silicone scar strip, it’s around £70 for one strip, meant to last six weeks. Full disclosure: mine lasted about four weeks before it started coming apart. I think that’s my fault, though. You wash it with a cleanser every day, and I left it drying in a bit of a puddle, which I think ruined the adhesive. I’m still glad I got it though as I wore it for 12 hours during the day.
Alhydran by night. At night, I used Alhydran to keep the scar as hydrated as possible.
This probably depends so much on who you get and your situation, but the incision was so much better than I expected. It’s literally below my bikini line and it’s tiny. I have no idea how a baby came out of it. I do have a bit of an overhang, but interestingly it’s not above the scar like I expected. It’s where the bottom of my bump was, and I don’t think that’ll go back in for a while.
Compression shorts
The last thing I’ve been doing is wearing compression shorts. I didn’t start until well after my scar had healed and felt much less sensitive, basically once I was feeling pretty fine.
After a lot of research and reading other people’s experiences, I went with the SRC recovery shorts. I wear them under my clothes every day, and on days when I don’t, I can really tell the difference the next day in how much my stomach is hanging out.
I know that sounds vain. I would love my stomach to go back in as soon as possible. There are lots of layered reasons for that, some of which I probably should fight against, but that’s the truth. Second, I’d also like my organs to go back into place as soon as possible, for all the reasons you can imagine.
A few tips:
Get the mini version. They don’t go all the way down your leg. It’s summer and I’d have boiled alive otherwise.
Don’t start too early. I tried them a bit early, stopped because they made my incision sore, then started again a few days later and was fine.
Size carefully. I was a large in most things during pregnancy and a small to medium before. I bought a large, squeezed into them at first, and pretty quickly had to buy a medium. I’d go somewhere in between and maybe start a little later. Hopefully that means they’re working (and also, you lose so much fluid after pregnancy).
So that’s everything! I hope it was helpful. Please ask me for any other info you want, as you can probably tell, I can’t stop myself from oversharing.
Important to say, this is just my experience and not medical advice. Always check with your own doctor, midwife or health visitor!