cesarean recovery questions

[Montana Mom]

i had my second c/s almost a month ago after a TOL and am having some issues i dont recall from my first.

first...i have tenderness in the area all around my belly button. its tender to the touch and also when i sit in blue jeans. is this normal?

second...my lochia had gotten to clear and is now bright red again with clots. i did call the dr about this and they said its because im nursing (nursed with #1 too and this didnt happen). does one usually bleed more with subsequent births/cesareans? is it really normal for the lochia to cycle over again?

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by Montana Mom

i had my second c/s almost a month ago after a TOL and am having some issues i dont recall from my first.

first...i have tenderness in the area all around my belly button. its tender to the touch and also when i sit in blue jeans. is this normal?

second...my lochia had gotten to clear and is now bright red again with clots. i did call the dr about this and they said its because im nursing (nursed with #1 too and this didnt happen). does one usually bleed more with subsequent births/cesareans? is it really normal for the lochia to cycle over again?

Bleeding is more common with subsequent children. I am friends with moms of many, and whether we had csections or vaginal births we tend to have more bleeding, erratic bleeding, and more pain with nursing each go around. With my last two babies, both csections, I had stop and start lochia over an 8-9 week period.

The tenderness could be a hernia. Ask your doctor.

[Storm Bride]

I have tenderness around my belly button, and also had it with my last section (this was my fourth). It seems to be nerve damage. I second that you should ask your doctor about it, though.

Lochia is unpredictable. It's been different for me with each of mine - seems to be lightest this time, but who knows? It's only been four weeks, so it could get heavy again. Sometimes, if you ramp up your activity too much, it will increase. Did you start feeling better and do a bunch of housework or errands or anything like that?

[JessicaS]

IMO, I wouldn't wear jeans just yet, your tummy might just be too tender. I think I was 8-10 weeks along before I started to feel somewhat better.

Also, what sort of activities are you doing? What sort of housework? IMO the hardest thing for me post c-section was laundry.

You had major surgery a month ago, you should really be taking it easy for another month.

I don't think BF as anything to do with it but your activity level. It only makes sense that you would have more bleeding with #2 as with #1 you could just lay around and love on the new baby. With #2 you have another child with demands of their own.

[txtarheel]

I agree about asking your Dr. about the tenderness. It could be a lot of things. I developed tenderness several weeks after my c/s when I thought I was healing well. It turned out I had an internal infection (but outside my uterus). My c/s was in summer, so mostly I wore knit shorts for many weeks, I agree it might just be too soon to be wearing jeans on your incision.

If you're cleared by your Dr. and you still have lingering pain/soreness if several weeks (give yourself time to heal), a chiro can be a great resource. Mine made a couple of small adjustments that made all the difference in the world to my incision feeling "back to normal."

[Montana Mom]

Thank you for the replies, they are reassuring.

I am sure that I had been doing way more than I should be. I have my older child plus 2 stepkiddos and a dp who is a lot of work just by himself, lol. We also cloth diaper so there is no avoiding the laundry! I've started drinking raspberry leaf tea and taking some homeopathics and the bleeding has slowed down a lot. Ive also started echinachea and probiotics in case there is an infection somewhere.

I do have a chiropractor, and Im looking forward to going in a few weeks. My chiro does such a wonderful job

Thanks again.

[JessicaS]

Originally Posted by Montana Mom

Thank you for the replies, they are reassuring.

I am sure that I had been doing way more than I should be. I have my older child plus 2 stepkiddos and a dp who is a lot of work just by himself, lol. We also cloth diaper so there is no avoiding the laundry! I've started drinking raspberry leaf tea and taking some homeopathics and the bleeding has slowed down a lot. Ive also started echinachea and probiotics in case there is an infection somewhere.

I do have a chiropractor, and Im looking forward to going in a few weeks. My chiro does such a wonderful job

Thanks again.

It's definitely the activity level. Your dp needs to help you out more. *puts foot down*