You'll be instructed not to lift anything heavier than your baby for up to eight weeks after your C-section, and bending over will likely still be difficult. Don't push yourself, and don't try to do more than you're physically able to do once you're home.
Lifting more than your baby, stretching, straining and deep bending are not recommended until about 4-6 weeks post-delivery OR until you are able to do these movements with no pain or strain and your incision feels like it has healed.
Getting up and walking around once you are home will help you heal faster and can help prevent blood clots. You should be able to do most of your regular activities in 4 to 8 weeks. Before then: Do not lift anything heavier than your baby for the first 6 to 8 weeks.
Always sit well back on a supportive chair, your feet should be able to touch the floor in order to support your posture. Use pillows to support your back and to rest your baby on your lap to bring them into a comfortable feeding position. You can then use pillows to support your own arms.
The classic back sleeping position
While back sleeping isn't recommended once you're more than 20 weeks pregnant, this position is recommended for those recovering from surgery. It places the least amount of strain and pressure on your incision site and ensures that your body is aligned in a neutral position.
A C-section is a major surgery. Don't lift anything heavier than your baby for the first couple of weeks, and keep everything you might need within reach. Support your stomach. Hold your belly when you sneeze, cough, or laugh to keep it still.
Gentle exercise, such as walking, will help you recover from your c-section. But avoid anything more active until you have no pain and you feel ready. For example, avoid driving, carrying anything heavy, having sex or doing heavy housework, such as vacuuming, until you feel able to.
At the beginning of a caesarean section, six separate layers of the abdominal wall and uterus are opened individually. Once the baby is delivered the uterus is closed with a double layer of stitching.
About six to eight weeks after baby's birth, your c-section incision should be completely healed, and you'll be able to gradually resume most of your normal activities, including exercising, driving and lifting items heavier than baby.
Coughing and Sneezing Will Hurt
Eskridge, who underwent two c-sections of her own, experienced the same thing—and offers some useful advice: “Splinting (holding a pillow against the abdomen over the incision) is very helpful in preventing pain with coughs, sneezes and laughing,” she says.
Strenuous movements, for example, can place undue strain on your incision site. Around day three, you'll be ready to shower on your own and generally become more mobile overall, but any heavy lifting or sudden movement should still be avoided.
Doctors, traditionally, have advised women to avoid stairs after a C-section. But Kathryn Houston, a clinical instructor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco, shrugs off that recommendation. “Stairs are fine as long as you take them slowly,” she says.
Ideally, your doctor will cut through the same scar so that you don't have multiple scars on your abdomen and uterus. Sometimes scar tissue can be difficult to cut through but your doctor should be able to cut through it.
A horizontal incision is also called a bikini incision. Next, your provider cuts a 3- to 4-inch incision into the wall of your uterus. This incision can also be transverse or vertical. Finally, the obstetrician removes your baby through the incisions.
During elective (planned) caesarean sections, some obstetricians routinely dilate the cervix intraoperatively, using sponge forceps, a finger, or other instruments, because the cervix of women not in labour may not be dilated, and this may cause obstruction of blood or lochia drainage.
Sleeping on Your Side
But whether you go with or without extra cushioning, this well-loved c-section sleep position might make it easier for you to get into and out of bed. Many new moms find the side-lying position is the most comfortable breastfeeding position while recovering from a c-section.
If your postnatal bleeding (lochia) gets heavier or changes colour (becomes pink or red) after activity, you could be overdoing it. You're also likely to feel very tired. Listen to your body. Pace yourself and make sure you get plenty of rest too.
You'll probably feel some soreness in the incision, and you may have bleeding or discharge for up to 6 weeks after the C-section. That's expected. However, the following symptoms warrant a call to your doctor, because they could signal an infection: redness, swelling, or pus oozing from the incision site.
Your wound may open wide enough to see internal organs or tissues. You also may have tissues bulging out of the wound. If this happens, cover the area with a moist sterile bandage and call 911.
The time it takes for dissolvable or absorbable stitches to disappear can vary. Most types should start to dissolve or fall out within a week or two, although it may be a few weeks before they disappear completely. Some may last for several months.