Staying on top of the pain was hard for me. I felt so much better after the section than I did after Eli's birth that I couldn't really wrap my head around the idea that I'd just had major surgery (truth be told, I still can't) so I felt silly asking for pain medication, especially before what I had wore off completely. So I felt fine, until I'd go to change position or get out of bed or pick up Rivkah and find out the hard way that the medication had worn off and that I had in fact had major surgery. Then I'd page the nurse practically in tears, and she'd very sweetly say "Would you like one pill or two?"
They never pressured me to take more than I wanted, and that's a good thing because I was really afraid of taking so much percocet (I actually spent several years addicted to that stuff, and getting off was no fun at all!
)
I still wish that someone had told me I might need granny panties and shorts that came up to my belly button before Rivkah was delivered. Someone should post a thread in "I'm Pregnant" --what you should know just in case of a c-section. I certainly wasn't expecting to have one! Really, it ought to be a sticky. Three pairs of granny panties would have made the early days of my recovery much more pleasant.
Oh, you can get duramorph in a spinal; I know, because I did. I liked the spinal better than the epidural I had with Eli, because it seemed easier to recover from. My back hurt for ages after the epidural, I think Eli was 4 months old before it went away entirely. This time, I can barely feel the site at 3 weeks pp.
I had stitches, because I'm allergic to surgical steel.
I totally forgot about that when they were asking me about my allergies until I looked over at my mom and saw her zipper showing a bit, which reminded me. My mother had open heart surgery and forgot to mention that she's allergic to surgical steel. She had zillions of staples going down her leg and closing her zipper, and good grief did she get sick from it! Both incisions started swelling and they wouldn't heal right, and of course they couldn't just pull all the staples out and stitch at that point... it was awful.
I'm glad I remembered in time! Anyway, the doctor who did my surgery said he doesn't routinely use staples, because they're harder to keep clean and recover from than the stitches & super glue.
The lactation consultants I saw were really great, and they were all thrilled to hear that I was still nursing Eli. The only thing I wish is that someone had told me how to situate a toddler and an infant around my incision. In fact, I think there should be some kind of class on how to deal with a young toddler after a c-section. He was so hurt that he couldn't just climb onto me after the birth.
It was so bad that when I asked him if he wanted to nurse, he reached down his grandmother's shirt as if to say "Sure I want to nurse, but not with you!"
I think in a lot of ways, the surgery has been more difficult for Eli to recover from than for me.
eilonwy...update us on rivkah when you can. she is beautiful.
)
( I always wondered why no amount of Pilates seemed good enough to get my stomach back 
)
:
Follow Mothering