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This week’s Mom-Tip is a special one for me because it brings me back to the day my little sweetheart was brought into this world. And while my memories of that day are full of love because she arrived, the reality is that it was a long freakin’ day! I wanted to share a little about my experience with the C-section recovery process, as well as give you a few tips on the things I found helpful as I made my way into the 4th trimester.

I wrote out my whole birth story in an earlier post, so I won’t go into all the details here, but in short, we induced my little lady right after my due date because I had too much amniotic fluid (Polyhydramnios) and we ended up having a C-section after we lost the baby’s heart rate three times during labor. There were some tense moments and a lot of tears, but at the end, we had a beautiful daughter that I would go through it all again for.

Before I get into any recovery tips though, I want to say one really big and important thing:

To all the Moms out there that, along with advice from their physicians, decide to induce their babies AND for all the Mom’s out there that end up having C-sections… you are NOT bad mothers. You are NOT less of a mother. You do NOT fall short in the ranking of who is a more perfect Mother. All of that is total BS. There is absolutely no reason to feel guilty, less than, or anything different than the wonderful, loving mother that you likely are.

When I got home from the appointment in which my doctor, husband, and I decided on induction and discussed the risk of C-section, I immediately got online and started looking at the message boards for other Mom’s experiences. I was totally horrified and terrified by what I read.

All these Mom’s were sharing horror stories about C-section recovery and telling other Mom’s how horrible they were for inducing their babies… I mean, it was truly awful stuff. I ended up an anxiety-ridden mess and spent the next 5 days walking our neighborhood whenever I could, eating eggplant parmigiana from a specific restaurant that promised to send women into labor, and bouncing on an exercise ball every evening desperately trying to get my little lady to evict herself from my belly.

It was all no use and, honestly, made the last week of my pregnancy really stressful and unpleasant. And you know why? All because of those stupid opinions on the message boards. I had no idea that shaming Mother’s about these things even existed until then.

Bottom line for me: I think we all need to stop being so judgmental of each other. I can’t imagine who first decided to look at another Mother and suggest that they were less than other Moms because they had a C-section instead of a vaginal birth… Really?! If you carried that baby for 9 months, dealt with all the pregnancy side effects, took care of your health and nutrition while pregnant, did or did not labor, and then delivered a healthy baby out of your own womb – then congratulations Momma! You are a rockstar Mom. End of story.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t understand that there are risks to C-sections, that some people choose to have them for convenience rather than medical concerns, and that the medications given during inductions carry risks. I get it. But who are we to judge the decision someone else makes? Let’s all stay in our own lanes, be supportive, and provide helpful information to each other, rather than trying to create more and more Mom Guilt. Isn’t there enough of that to go around?

The rest of this post is specifically for my Moms who are or will be recovering from C-sections.

I wanted to pass along a few things that were super helpful to me and got me feeling back to my ol’ self (or at least close to that) faster than I thought I would:

4 Tips for C-section Recovery:

1. Take your Meds: I know you may be breastfeeding and not want to take too much medication and/or you may just not like medications… but for the first couple of weeks, you really do need to take your medications, as prescribed, to manage your pain. No newborn needs a Mom who is miserable and in pain all the time. There is already so much exhaustion, stress, and discomfort that goes along with bringing a newborn home, don’t add to it by making c-section recovery painfully uncomfortable on top of it all.
2. Get Moving: I hated this advice and yet, looking back, it was the most important thing I did for my c-section recovery. As soon as I could, I begrudgingly got up and worked on walking longer and longer distances. I don’t mean that you need to wear yourself out, but you really do need to make it a point to get up and walk around… even if it’s just from your bed to the bathroom and back. It helps with your circulation, but also helps your body feel better faster. My hubby and I used to take my daughter’s hospital crib and wheel it around the hospital hallways. Once I was home, we’d walk the mall or short distances in the neighborhood. The change of scenery was good for all of us both physically and mentally. Listen to recommendations and your body – it will tell you if you over-do it – but otherwise get moving as quickly as you can tolerate.
3. Get a Delivery/Hospital Gown: Mine was similar to this. I had packed comfy pajama pants and high waisted leggings for the hospital, only to go into last minute surgery and find out I was uninterested in putting anything on that touched my incision. My beautiful Mother made a run to the hospital gift shop and came back with this gown and I could not have been more grateful. It didn’t hug my incision, I was comfortable, it had shoulder closures for easy breastfeeding access, it was easy for the nurses to maneuver when they had to check anything on my body, and it just generally made my hospital stay so much easier. I’d suggest ordering one to throw in your hospital bag. If you don’t use it, you can always donate it, but at least it will be there if you need it!
4. Use a Belly Compression Wrap: This is probably one of my biggest recommendations. I was advised to get one of these by the outstanding delivery nurses who swore it would help speed up my c-section recovery, as well as help my incision feel better and more secure while healing. When I asked the Doctor who rounded in my recovery room, he literally laughed at me and told me they were useless, but I insisted, and he ordered it for me anyway. I am SO HAPPY I was persistent about this. I attribute the belly wrap with helping my incision and abdominal wall heal faster, helping me move around better post-surgery, and (less importantly) helping my post-baby belly reduce in size at a slightly faster rate. I started with the one the hospital gave me (which looks pretty close to this one)and then changed to the Belly Bandit as my size changed and my incision healed. There are several Belly Band-its made specifically for C-section recovery, which I did not know when I bought mine so you may want to try one of those. I can’t stress enough how much of a game-changer this was for me. I’m so thankful to the nurse who mentioned it as I was wheeled into surgery. I noticed later that many of my C-section-Momma-friends did not get the same advice. I highly recommend giving it a try for yourself!

I hope a few of these c-section recovery tips are helpful for you! And remember, it doesn’t matter how that little angel of yours arrives, it just matters that they do and that they are healthy! Let me know if you have additional tips that I forgot to add or give me your thoughts on the ones I have listed in the comments below!

And, as always, Stay Healthy as Heck, KH