If you are awake, you can usually see and hold your baby straight after your C-section birth. You can begin skin-to-skin contact and possibly breastfeeding. Skin to skin contact is important for you and your baby after birth to enhance bonding and establish breastfeeding.
The doctor should let you hold them right after the C-section is finished. If you're planning to breastfeed, you may also be able to try feeding your baby. But not every new mom gets to hold their baby right after a C-section.
After C-Section Surgery. Most women are awake for the C-section, and you should be able to hold your baby right away.
Whether the C-section is scheduled or not, it is common to believe that moms cannot carry their babies for 3 weeks after childbirth. Young moms, this rumor is false! Fortunately, babywearing and cesarean sections are compatible. Doctors often say that you should not carry heavier than your baby.
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.
“It's recommended that you get up and walk around,” says Dr. Higgins. “We don't want someone lying in bed for two weeks.”
C-section Recovery Time
Unlike vaginal delivery, C-section recovery takes time. You need to give your body at least 6 weeks for the incision to heal, and for the abdomen to recover from the trauma. The doctor will advise bed rest on day 1 but after that, they will ask you to start moving.
Although healthcare providers recommend you wait to have penetrative sex after childbirth for at least four to six weeks, oral sex is usually fine sooner. Oral sex and other forms of "outercourse" or external simulation after birth could be safe even a few days after delivery.
After a c-section, you should sleep on your back or side. This shouldn't put too much strain on your c-section wound. You can also try sleeping on your back with your head elevated. Use pillows to keep your spine aligned and take pressure off your joints.
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.
It's best to wait until you've had your 6-8 week postnatal check with your GP before returning to your pre-pregnancy levels of exercise. If you weren't very active before your pregnancy, this is a good time to start exercising. Try to build up gradually and stop if you have any pain.
Six weeks is the average amount of time it takes the uterus to return to its normal size, cervix to close, and C-section incision to heal.
Under most circumstances, undergoing a c-section via Spinal Anesthesia or Epidural Anesthesia (rather than General Anesthesia) is preferred since it involves less risk and has the advantage of allowing you to be awake during your baby's birth.
Once the baby is delivered the uterus is closed with a double layer of stitching. Four of the five remaining layers are stitched with a single layer of stitching, but one layer is not restitched as it heals better – with no buckling and reduced chance of scar tissue developing, without restitiching.
What is the Golden Hour? After the birth of the baby, both vaginal and c-section birth, the Golden hour consists of uninterrupted and immediate skin to skin contact, limited interventions that are not necessary, if possible and desired having delayed cord clamping, and having the first feeding of baby completed.
How long before I can exercise after a c-section? Most people are cleared for exercise at 6-8 weeks after delivery by their obstetrician provided there have been no complications. While you may be feeling more like yourself around week four remember to stick to your post-op guidelines. This is to ensure proper healing.
After a C-section, she recommends women take eight weeks off and to avoid heavy activity to prevent complications. “A lot of women still have significant pain at two weeks after,” she said.
Discomfort while urinating can be par for the course as your body recovers from giving birth — whether you delivered vaginally or via C-section. But intense pain that doesn't ease up could be a sign of a postpartum urinary tract infection (UTI). Postpartum UTIs aren't uncommon.
Try to avoid constipation and straining with bowel movements. You may want to take a fibre every day. If you have not had a bowel movement after a couple of days, ask your doctor about taking a mild laxative.
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.