Here's to hoping that you don't need one and please research the whole c-section thing and how much they are over-used and unnecessary much of the time if you have time now if you have time before you give birth. It may not make a difference for you in the end, but if you have time and reason to fight, you should be informed so that you don't end up with unnecessary c-sections for this or subsequent births. I don't mean to worry you with all this, and please ignore me if it's not important to you, it's just that I didn't know until it was too late. But if you reach the conclusion that it is necessary, be real with yourself and come to terms with it beforehand (I didn't, even though I was told it might be necessary and had alot of birth trauma because of it).
But if you do end up with a c-section, here are some things that did or would have made my life so much easier and less painful:
You will have a catheter. My nurses told me to drink alot of water. Here's where things took an excruciating twist. The day after the surgery, the nurses took out the catheter and I promptly fell asleep. When I woke, I had the worst pain that I have ever felt in my entire life because my bladder was full and pressing against my incision. So make sure you pee often after they take the catheter out. Seriously, as soon as you get the slightest twinge over the days following the surgery, force yourself up and go pee!
The other unmanageable pain was from gas. Again, nurses told me to eat a lot of fiber so that I could have a bowel movement soon after the birth. But eating all of those fruits and veggies produces gas and gassy intestines, once again, push against your incision. The nurses gave me gas medicine, which helped, but if you were to take that right away, you could probably save yourself some pain. At home, I used apple cider and stool softeners to get things moving.
The prescription meds that you will be sent home with can cause constipation, among other assorted problems and weaning yourself as soon as possible to tylenol or motrin is a good idea, so have some on hand.
Getting out of bed and walking are tough. We have a wheeled office chair that I used to get around (because you're supposed to stay in bed, but you have a newborn who needs you to move and sometimes you're hungry or need to go to the bathroom!) If you feel a bit more mobile, you may just want to hold a pillow to your stomach while you walk to provide some pressure to your incision.
Having a boppy or pillows on hand to nurse will help, as your core won't have much strength and tiny toes kicking your incision isn't pleasant, so you need to protect that area. Also, keeping water/snacks/books/tv remote wherever you nurse or station yourself and other places where you might not be able to get up immediately(bedside, etc.) from is a good idea so that you can limit necessary trips. With all of mine, not only my first, who was a c-sec, I kept a basket near my "station" with water, snacks, diapers, washcloths, extra baby nightgowns, motrin, baby potty (we did EC) so that I wouldn't have to get up so often.
Also, have meals ready in your fridge and freezer for a few weeks. If you have a church group or family or friends who can stock your freezer or bring things nightly, that will help more than you can imagine. It's tough enough to cook with a newborn; to cook when you can't even stand is just awful. My c-section was with my first, so I managed well enough on my own without my husband at home or anybody to stay with us, but my mother did come by and make lunch for me, so if you can line somebody up just to check in and make sure that you are mobile enough to eat or feed you if not, it would help.
Hope this helps!
