Cesarean After Care - 3 Essential Cesarean After Care Tips

Whether this is your first c section or third one it is still a huge deal physically. While you are at the hospital, your cesarean after care will consist of mainly pain relief and wound monitoring. But what happens once you get home?

There is very little information given to Moms who have had c sections on how to care for themselves, their wound and cope with their baby. Here are the top three cesarean after care tips for once you get home because what you do when you leave the hospital will determine how well and how fast you recover.

1 - Support for You

For the first few weeks you will not be able to do many things that you once took for granted. You will need someone to help out with doing basic household things like hanging out washing, vacuuming, cooking and driving.

If you have more than one child this becomes critical to your recovery and to your ability to run the house. This is where people like your partner, mother, mother-in-law or other relative can really be of assistance in you Cesarean after care.

If you do not have anyone nearby to give you some help, then there are services available that will provide you with trained nurses and staff who will give you all the cesarean after care support that you may need. Hiring a local high school student or two is a great way of getting the help that you need cheaply.

2 - Wound Support

This is so important in your cesarean after care as over straining the muscles or your scar will cause damage and can lead to serious complications. This is especially important at times when your stomach is under direct pressure - like when you move, cough or laugh.

When supporting your tummy use both arms and a cushion against your tummy as you cough or when you move - especially when going from lying down to sitting and sitting to standing. When moving from lying down to sitting, make sure that you roll to the side first and gently raise yourself from there.

Another great support option that I found invaluable during my cesarean after care was a physical band that just kept the pressure on my tummy while the muscles were healing. Much like a support bandage that you can get for injured wrists or ankles. It just helped the damaged tissue to cope with everyday movement and really did help to speed up my recovery.

3 - Gentle Exercise

This may seem like a contradiction, but the biggest mistake that people make during their cesarean after care is to move as little as possible.

Believe me - I know that you have had major surgery, I know that it hurts and I also know that sometimes movement can make it hurt far worse. But you need to get moving. The longer you put it off, the slower and more painful your recovery will be.

We are not talking about you going into marathon training or anything like that, just small, slow gentle exercises and short walks. By doing these you will get the blood circulating and delivering all those essential nutrients to your damaged cells which will help them to heal faster and stronger for you.

You will also help all that fluid that has collected in your feet and legs to be reabsorbed faster.