What To Expect After A C-Section
After getting a C-section, also known as a Cesarean section, you are going to require some assistance at home because you will be both overwhelmed and sore. If you do not have family members who can offer you support, you may need to hire some assistance. Unfortunately, you will need to recover and maintain a low level of activity for a period of time. Recovering from this type of birth is not easy, but not impossible.
How Common Are C-Sections?
Approximately 30% of all babies born in the United States are delivered by this surgical incision in the abdomen. You need to take the advice offered by your health care provider. Most suggest you avoid lifting anything heavier than your baby.
Reasons for Limitations
Your lochia bleeding will change, and can increase with position and activity changes. Bleeding is an indication of whether you are doing too much activity. You need to take it easy while the incision heals. If you notice bleeding, decrease the amount of physical activity you are doing, and the bleeding does not go away, you need to schedule an appointment with your doctor immediately.
How Long Do You Have These Limitations?
Unfortunately, the limitations placed on a woman after a C-section vary from one woman to the next. The best thing you can do is wait for your doctor to tell you it is alright for you to start lifting things heavier than your baby again. Unfortunately, it could be eight weeks or longer before your doctor gives you permission to lift things heavier than your baby again.
It is also necessary to avoid strenuous activity and exercise including jogging, weight lifting, and bike writing for six weeks or upon your physician's approval.
Caring For Your New Baby
For the first six to eight weeks after your C-section, it is not in the best interest of your recovery to lift your new bundle of joy out of a bassinet or crib. This does not mean you cannot hold, comfort, and feed your baby, it just means you need to get someone else to lift him or her out of the bed and hand him or her to you. Then, you can hold and cuddle your baby from the comfort of a sitting position in a chair.
Do not rise from a sitting position with your newborn baby. Put the baby down beside you, stand up, and you can safely pick your baby up. Less strain is placed on your abdomen using this technique, versus rising to your feet from a position with your baby in your arms.
Just keep in mind that having a C-section is not the end of the world and it certainly should and will not stop you from enjoying your new bundle of joy. Contact a local health care clinic, like Tri-County Women's Health Care, for more information.
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