Just Had Emergency C-section, How Long Did It Take to Heal for You?

mine took approx a month to not feel the pain, but about 6 weeks to br 100% and still with the belly...My daughter is NOW 27 months old and I still have numbness where they made the cut...its all faded and you can barely see it but I cant feel anything down there...I hear that is common.

I sleep on my belly...took me til after I was done breastfeeding around 4.5 months to be able to do that.

I had a scheduled c-section, and I felt a million times better two weeks out. By that point I had no more pain or discomfort, other than little twinges of pain here and there.

My first c-section was my hardest, but it wasn't terrible. Getting out of bed for the first time was the hardest thing for me. I was given a prescription for vicodin and Motrin 800. I think I took 1 vicodin the first night I was at home, and then took Motrin for the next 3-4 days and after that I was fine. Stairs were painful, and so was getting out of bed in the morning for about a week after I got home. My scar healed great, you could barely tell it was there. Even when I was having my 2nd c-section, the OR nurse commented about how great my scar looked, she said that I heal very well. Congratulations on your baby boy!!

My incision didn't heal good from my first emergency C. (Classical-vertical incision) But I overdid going back and forth to NICU and not resting enough I'm sure. The pillow and boppy were a life saver!!! It didn't help that all pants rubbed right across it. The first time I had staples. The second one 18 months ago was stiches...I had an allergic reaction to either the steri strips or the stiches and lots of infected spots. That time I put a pad on the inside of my panties running along the incision to cushion it more. I also used lots of neosporin!! It was probably a good 6-8 weeks both times but it was still irritated even a year later. My scar is horrible...from an inch below my belly button the top of my pubic bone and as wide as my finger. Be gentle on it is the best advice I can give for that!!! As far as pain it was probably within that 6-8 weeks. Take up any help people offer you and limit the lifting as much as you can! They usually say nothing heavier than the baby...which when you have a preemie isn't much then you can carry! LOL

I think it's one of those things though that varies...how your body heals and your pain tolerance plus you have the added stress of a baby in NICU with a baby at home. Happy Birthday to both!!

Everyone differs.
The technical recovering time is 6 weeks.
Varying degrees of pain will exist.

You must not lift/carry anything heavier than your infant.
Get help at home.
You just had major surgery.

I had 2 c-sections.
My first was an emergency.
My second was planned.

My recovery was not that bad.

Do NOT strain yourself and heed to the Doctor's instructions for activity level and check-ups post birth.

My stitches, were the kind that self-dissipates.
No staples. Just sutures internally and externally.

I would say 7-10 days till it felt OK to sleep comfortably and get up/down from the bed. I too had an emergency c-section with baby #2. I actually had continued pain at the scar site after 3 weeks and went to see my doc -- they did a touch test to check numbness and it turns out my nerves just went back together quicker than most (I had no numbness or tingling) so I felt pain when most others don't. I have NEVER had numbness or tingling below the incision so I count myself lucky. As for the scar -- by 16 mos out it was not noticeable at all (have bikini line incision). I am currently prego with #3 and you can't even see the c-section scar.

I had a c-section and do not remember the problem with laying on my side. However, I was doing good after about 4 weeks.

I would say I was up and around easily after a week. I think I could lay on my side after 7-10 days...don't remember exactly. the scarring is not bad, a thin white line and low below your panty line. Once you get your stitches taken out you will start to feel even better. Don't baby it, get up and walk around and you will feel better. Try and put a pillow, a small pillow, under your belly as you lay on your side and let your belly lay on that pillow so it doesn't feel like it is hanging in the air....that was really hard on me too. Tuck the pillow under it as gently as you can and lay partially on your back and partially on your side, it helps. You can prop yourself up and sleep like that on the pillow too for a change, if you sleep on your back too much it might give you back pain. Ask your husband to hold out his hand for you to grab and pull yourself out of bed. Take your outer leg and swing it off the side of the bed to help the leverage. It is hard without your stomach muscles but it gets better pretty quick. After about 2 weeks you should really feel good. congratulations!!!

Congratulations on your new little one! After my first c-section (after several hours of labor) it took me a full 6 weeks to feel like my body would ever feel normal again. After my second c-section (this time planned, so no labor), I recovered much more quickly, within a couple of weeks. Your scar won't be bad at all :)

I wish I could see my scar. Guess I need to lose some weight :-)

I don't remember the pain lasting this long, but my 2 c-section babies are
4 1/2 and 2 so it's hard to say. Don't be afraid to use the drugs the doctor prescribed. They really do help. If you start to feel pain, take something. I had vicodin, but after a couple of weeks Tylenol and Ibuprofen did the trick.

So good to hear you little one it doing well. What a scare!

congrats on the new addition and thank heavens he is healthy. I too had an emegency c-sec and was up and around in 24hrs and had the staples removed 3 days later. It took a solid 4 weeks before I was really comforable sleeping in my side and had to be really careful about getting up too quickly. Where the doc had knotted the insde stiches it tended to be tighter and felt like it was pulling. I did not carry laundry for about 3 weeks after and was careful not to over do it cause I found that I would cramp up if I did. As for bleeding (not the incision) it was less than a week. bc my doc cleaned everything out inside my uterus including a few cysts that formed during the pregnancy. All in all it was a breeze. Alot easier than my first surgary to have my ovary and a large dermoid cyst removed. That really was painful and it was the same cut, go figure. GL and just take it easy and LISTEN to your body!

I have had 3 c-sections. I would say after about 3 -4weeks I felt pretty much back to normal. Make sure to keep up with the pain meds. I took Percocet my first few days, but was still taking the motrin 800 for about another week. I slept in my recliner my first few weeks because it hurt a lot more to lay flat. My scar is not real noticeable . Take it easy on yourself, you just had major abdominal surgery.

I have had 3 csections. out of my 3 my first was an emergency, that one was a little hard to recover from. The scar isnt too bad.. I would say it will take a couple of weeks before you can lay on your side again. im sorry i cant give you more info but its been 4 years since my last csection and i dont remember a whole lot... but im here if you wanna talk.. i had a preterm delivery also. have a good night!

It really depends on how fast you can make yourself get up and walk. Doing major activities like vacuuming stretching etc the whole 6 weeks but for the most part 3-4 weeks you can return to most things. Use this time to just enjoy baby and let everyone else do the cleanup and hard work. Sleep lots. I've had 2 emergency c-sections no fun.

I also had my first baby vaginally and my second by c-section. Mine was a huge boy - 10 bls and 22 1/2 inches long - I was in pain for a while - but since it was almost 12 years ago i'm not exactly sure. My SIL had both of her kids by c-section and she did not take long to recover - but I did. So I guess it's very individual. I was able to sleep on my side but I put a pillow under my tummy to prop it up. But getting up out of bed was tough, anything that required abdominal muscles took a while. My incision was very tender for a long time as I recall - and I felt a numbness of my tummy skin just below the incision for a very long time - even a few numb spots on my thighs! It's just the way the nerves run.

Take care of yoruself. You just had abdominal surgery. Take it slow - let other people carry things for you. I had staples not stitches - but I still dreaded how awfult it was going to feel to have them removed and it was not nearly as bad as anticipted! It's wasn't wonderful but it really wasn't bad.

The funny thing for us is that my husband had hernia surgery about 7 months later - he had a 2 inch incision and he was such a big baby about it! I kept reminding him they had to pull a 10 watermelon out of my incision! ;o) Take it slow and easy - there are not going to be many times in yoru life where you get to take it easy and have an excuse! and congrats on that baby!

Hi A.
As I have never had a c-section I can't advise on that one.
I juist wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on your baby. 5LB 12ozs is a great weight considering he was over 5weeks early.
Wishing you all the best
B. k