pregnancy after a c birth questions

[hildare]

hi!  newly pregnant after a c birth 12 mos ago. 

i'm feeling discomfort-- not cramping, but just low pain inside.  is this a normal part of having had a relatively recent cbirth? 

is there anything else i should know about pregnancy following cbirth?

[JFTB1177]

Hey there! I feel bad no one has replied, you would prob get a lot of responses if you post this on the birth board- there are a lot of C-section mamas there!

My first was a C-section (second was a VBAC) but there was almost 3 years between the births. I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about- I have a good friend that has had 5 sections, all pregnancies had an average of 18 months between them and she never had any problems. Where exactly is your pain? I have gotten all kinds of pains with all of my pregnancies- including the "low pain" you described.

[noahs.mom06]

It is most likely just normal stretching and whatnot. I've never had a c-section and am also due in July, and I've been having low pain too. Of course if the pain is strong or sharp and continues, or you are worried about it, you should ask your provider about it... it's also possible that you have adhesions from your surgery, which can cause pain. Something you might look into (although not until after the first tri) would be Mayan Abdominal Massage, it can help with adhesions, as well as helping make sure baby is positioned well...

[vulnerable]

I had a c-section 15 months ago and now I am 8 months pregnant.  This entire pregnancy I have felt a lot more discomfort than the first time around.  Lots of pain, pulling, burning ect especially at night while I am trying to sleep. The Dr says it is normal just scar tissue stretching. 

[CherryBomb]

Sounds like pretty normal adhesion pains.  If it gets more acute I'd check with your HPC to be safe, but it's probably nothing.

[hildare]

Originally Posted by JFTB1177 

Hey there! I feel bad no one has replied, you would prob get a lot of responses if you post this on the birth board- there are a lot of C-section mamas there!

My first was a C-section (second was a VBAC) but there was almost 3 years between the births. I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about- I have a good friend that has had 5 sections, all pregnancies had an average of 18 months between them and she never had any problems. Where exactly is your pain? I have gotten all kinds of pains with all of my pregnancies- including the "low pain" you described.

it's not the ligament pain, i have those too.  :(  the pain is near the incision area.  i'm sure it's just things stretching, it's not sharp pains, more like dull and non crampy.  if it were crampy i would be freaking out. 
 

[nova22]

Originally Posted by hildare 

it's not the ligament pain, i have those too.  :(  the pain is near the incision area.  i'm sure it's just things stretching, it's not sharp pains, more like dull and non crampy.  if it were crampy i would be freaking out. 

Yes, yes, yes, and a million more yeses. 

I had a c-section in March of 2009 and found out I was pregnant again in April of 2010. I had a lot of incision pain and each time I started having irrational fears that the scar would open up or some other horrible thing would happen. I took my concerns to my midwife and she told me what it was most likely caused by adhesions. 

When you have a c-section, they have to cut through five layers of skin, muscle, etc. to get to the baby. As the incision heals, often those layers heal together (e.g. the fatty tissue layer adheres to the skin layer and so on). When you are pregnant and your abdomen starts to expand, these adhesions begin to separate, which causes the pain in your incision area. My midwife wasn't concerned in the least, but she did send me for an ultrasound at my request to ease my fears. At that time the tech was able to check the integrity of the scar and see that it was fine, and the baby was fine. I'm not sure how you feel about ultrasounds but if you are not passionately against one and you're nervous about the pain, you could request one and have your care provider specify on the order that they should check the integrity of your incision scar.