I’m tired today and don’t have much to say, so I’m just going to brag about how easy my c-section recovery was. So, I had to have an emergency c-section with Edith; maybe at some point, I’ll write about my “birth story” but long story short: it was fucking traumatic, and I’ll never get over it. But the c-section itself was easy peasy! I was up and walking in about six hours, and I would have been even sooner (because Edith was in the NICU and I wanted to get to her), but they wouldn’t let me. I was considering just making a break for it when my nurse finally permitted me to go down there in the wheelchair, and then I stood over Edith for some time and people kept telling me to sit down, but I really didn’t need to! I was fine! I never needed the pain killers at all, I just took ibuprofen. And I didn’t need the wheelchair again after that first trip. I was fully mobile in another couple of hours.
For awhile it hurt and pulled when I sat up, so I had to roll onto my side and sort of pull myself up. And I was slow and curled a bit over like a shrimp as I walked around for awhile. But that went away pretty quickly, a week maybe, and though I didn’t start jogging again until almost two months postpartum, I definitely could have before then.
I had wanted a vaginal birth, and if I had it to do over again, I would still try for one. The c-section was shocking for Edith (although we didn’t have a choice) and the whole experience sucked. It was not my preference at all! BUT we are all told that a c-section will put you out of commission for months and be very painful and difficult to recover from, and all things considered, mine was actually a lot easier on my body than a vaginal birth would have been (plus, well, all my business is intact). I do have a scar now, but what with the impressive network of stretch marks I achieved during pregnancy and my truly outstanding pregnancy weight gain (I really embraced pregnancy and did the absolute most), that little scar is the least of my aesthetic concerns.
Of course, I am not saying this is the case for everyone — in fact, from what I hear, it’s pretty unusual — but if you do have to have a c-section, it might not be the end of the world, so maybe try not to freak out about it.
Accismus 