Skip to main content

Cesarean Section Recovey

Cesarean Recovery


No matter how we bring our children into this world, our bodies will have some healing to do. Bringing a baby earthside is physically taxing, and involves so many different systems of the human body. In the case of cesarean delivery, there are a few more steps added to the recovery process. We tend to neglect these steps when leaving the hospital, but it’s important to know what tools are available in your recovery toolbox. Here are the five most impactful tools that ensure a faster and more complete recovery.

Walking- After surgery your epidural or spinal will be removed and over the next few hours the numbness will begin fading away. While you may leave the OR expecting to take it as easy as possible, you will quickly find that the first task on your “to-do list” is getting up and taking a walk through the hospital corridor. While this can be painful and feel like it adds insult to injury, ambulation is imperative to proper recovery. Why? Because it is the action of walking that jumpstarts our body’s routine functionalities. Walking as soon as possible after surgery, and continuing to take several short walks around your home each day encourages proper blood circulation, decreases the risk of blood clots, disperses any built up gas and the pain that it may be causing, has been shown to lower the need for narcotic pain relief, shorten hospital stay length, and ensures that the muscle movements of your digestive tract begin working as soon as possible which will lead to less constipation and discomfort throughout the coming weeks.

Proper Nutrition- Several studies have tested the efficacy of enhanced recovery after surgery pathways (ERAS). These pathways include measures such as decreasing the amount of time patients go without food and drink, encouraging early mobility as we covered above, providing regional anesthesia, etc… One pathway found to be very helpful is not only a proper nutritious diet both before and after surgery, but also ensuring limited interruptions to that diet during the pre and postoperative periods. Keeping fasting to a minimum has shown to have many benefits. These benefits include reducing pain levels, stabilizing blood sugar, and reducing tissue hypoxia. Because of these benefits the American College of Gynecology (ACOG) has encouraged providers to use this pathway. It is now recommended that liquids in moderation should be encouraged up until 2 hours prior to surgery, and instead of no food by mouth policies starting 12 hours prior to surgery it has been decreased to 6 hours. Food and drink is encouraged between two and four hours postoperative.

Abdominal Binders- Abdominal binders are one of the most underutilized recovery tools in the post cesarean (post birth) toolbox. While not widely studied, there are small randomized case studies on their benefits. In a study of 89 patients, all with similar hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, it was found that the group of participants that were given abdominal binders not only had better hemoglobin and hematocrit levels at 36 hours post surgery, but they reported lower pain levels as well. Binders are also instrumental in supporting the return of postpartum abdominal muscles to their original placements. While all mothers will experience some degree of Diastasis Recti, binders can prevent this muscle separation from advancing, and help close the gap overall.

Pain Management- Unfortunately cesarean recovery can come with a great deal of pain. Bending, standing, walking, and even turning over in bed can become difficult tasks even with pain medications, let alone without. Because of this, pain management is one of the most important parts of a proper recovery plan. Not only does adequate pain management keep the patient in a certain level of comfort, It will reduce the overall length of opioid usage, shorten the length of hospital stays, aid in returning to normal functionality, lead to a higher level of maternal satisfaction, which in turn effects breastfeeding, bonding, and postpartum mood. While opioid usage is still the most effective and most common form of pain management, there are local anesthesia options being used in select hospitals that can deliver lidocaine or marcaine directly into the incision. One form of this is known as the ON-Q pump. This small pump delivers numbing medication to the incision site through a small catheter placed within it. These pumps will be sent home with you, and will last an average of three to five days post-op. Afterwards it can be gently pulled out of the incision. While this sounds scary, I assure you from my personal experience that it does not hurt, and in fact is hardly even felt. This mode of pain management is not available at all hospitals and it may be worth inquiring about prior to settling on a birth location. These pain management options may not entirely cut out the use of opioid pain relief, but it is likely to decrease the amount needed and the length of use.

Birth Processing- In many cases, a mother may have arrived on the OR table after a scary or confusing turn of events. The fear of getting to the OR and the fear of Being in the OR can bring about a trauma response, and this may affect her overall feelings about her birth even after that fear has passed. The mental health aspect of birth is overlooked across the board, not just with cesareans, but we commonly see trauma based mental health issues arise after traumatic births. Having access to proper therapies and a support system in place is vital to the postpartum experience. Without these we may see this trauma develop into a myriad of postpartum mood disorders which can leave long lasting impacts in the life of mom, baby, and family. Without mental health, there can be no physical health.

Resources:
This blog was written by a former Tranquility by HeHe Birth Doula.

Comments

  1. Wonderful article, Which you have shared about the service. Your article is very important and I really enjoyed reading it. Get for more information filorga art filler volume lidocaine

    ReplyDelete
  2. Childrens umbrellas provide protection from rain and sun while adding a fun element to outdoor activities. They come in vibrant colors and whimsical designs, often featuring favorite characters or playful motifs. These kid-friendly umbrellas are lightweight and easy for little hands to manage, making rainy days more enjoyable and sun protection a breeze.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vagina Whispering: Everyone's Doing It

Meet The Vagina Whisperer [This is also an episode of Friday Free Talk on The Tranquility Tribe Podcast on iTunes. Listen  here .] Hey Tranquility Tribe!  I’m so excited to bring you this episode of the Tranquility Tribe podcast!  Today, Hehe talked to Sara Reardon, also known as the Vagina Whisperer.  As you may be able to guess from her nickname, Sara is an expert in all things vagina, which means that this episode is full of super essential and often understated topics! Who is the Vagina Whisperer? Sara Reardon is a physical therapist who currently practices in New Orleans.   She specializes in men and women’s pelvic floor health, and she is passionate about speaking up when it comes to treatment and prevention of pelvic health issues.   By bringing humor to the often sensitive topic of staying healthy “down there,” Sara helps to unpack countless vagina-related topics that many women have experience with but few are comfortable talking about.   In addition t

Sexual Wellness with Rebecca Alvarez Part 1 of 2

Sexual Wellness Products with Rebecca Alvarez (Part 1 of 2 of our interview derived from The Birth Lounge Podcast Episode 130 ) You GUYS. I am SO excited to bring this interview to life here on the blog. Did you know that 98% of all feminine care products has at least 1 toxic ingredient? That's scary! Rebecca Alvarez earned her BA in Women’s Health & Sexuality from UC Berkeley and her MA in Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State and is the founder of The Bloomi. She is joining me to dive deep into what’s wrong with traditional sexual wellness products, how to spot harmful ingredients and false labeling, and what you need to know about long term effects of these issues in sexual wellness and women’s health! So Let's have Rebecca introduce herself! Rebecca : I consider myself a sexual wellness expert. I'm also an entrepreneur and my passion is bringing clean intimate care products to women and femmes. I'm sure we'll talk about why that's important and wha

Do Inductions Really Rise Around the Holidays?

Do Inductions Really Rise Around the Holidays? As long as I can remember in my doula career, I have been told, both seriously and sarcastically, that inductions rise around the holidays because doctors want to control the births they will have to deliver on..let’s say Thanksgiving day or Christmas Day.  I have to be honest in that I never really paid much attention to it because our team typically takes off the end of the year! It has been an intentional decision in years past to not take births in the months of December and January. This provided us with the time to disconnect, visit family and friends, and wrap up one year + dive into the next with a solid foundation. As you well know, 2020 has changed so much of what we knew and, for us, this meant not having the space to disconnect without leaving birthing people vulnerable in a global crisis and not traveling for this holidays. With this, we decided to work straight through 2020 into the start of 2021. And in this moment, the enti