I'm now 11 days out from surgery and feel like this has been the best/easiest recovery yet, despite being probably the worst actual surgery! I guess the fact that I'm writing this post at 11 days post-surgery is a testament to that, because it's by far the earliest I've written this kind of post!
That being said, the day of the c-section as I was getting into and out of a wheelchair several times to see Isaiah, I told Jon, even if we wanted more kids, I am NEVER doing this again!! EVER! Good thing we both agree, 3 is the perfect number for us.
Since we are done having children (at least according to our plan!), this won't be as detailed as my past recovery blogs because I was wanting to document all the little details so I could have them for future surgeries (thank you past me, it has been helpful!).
Pain Management: I had a spinal block again (same as with Bella) but they did not put any narcotic pain meds in it this time. Instead, they hooked me up to an IV pain pump with dilaudid and I could push the button to deliver a set amount of medication. Surprisingly, they also didn't have a continuous dose going, which is probably why I felt like the oral meds worked better than the IV. The morning after surgery, they switched me over to Percocet. I initially told the anesthesiologist that I had tried percocet in the past and it didn't work for me, but she told me it was stronger than Norco, and to give it a try again. It worked great. I took 10 mg of percocet every 4 hours post-op day 2 and then by post-op day 3 cut back to 5 mg every 4 hours. Post-op day 4 I was taking 5 mg about every 4-6. And post-op day 5 it was 5 mg every 6ish, sometimes 8 hrs. The next day I took it about 2-3 times a day, and continued that through today (post-op day 11). I think I will need it about twice daily for the next few days, and then hopefully just once in the morning, and then off. Another note, ice packs totally helped the incisional pain, especially when it felt like my incision was on fire!
Pitocin: I got pitocin again for 2 days this time around and whoa mama, the cramping is just as bad if not worse than the surgical pain at times! Luckily, the day after surgery, the doctors decided it would be fine for me to take motrin even though I'm on lovenox, so that helped a TON!!! I took 600 mg motrin every 6 hours for the first 3 days, then took it twice a day for the next two, then stopped. I can't even tell you how much this helped with pain management!
Moving Around: I was up and moving far sooner this time around since Isaiah was in the NICU, and I really think despite hating every second of it, this helped a lot. The first time I got up some of my surgery meds were still on board, so it wasn't all that terrible. But that evening, around 11pm when the nurse came to take out my foley and have me walk to the bathroom, whoa mama that hurt. I felt like a 95 year old lady hunched over walking, trying not to have my insides spill out. I then had to pee about every 2 or 3 hours after that, so there was lots of moving and walking. The next day I went to see and feed Isaiah in the morning, and in the afternoon got up and even took a shower! I was so proud. Every day after that I just got up more and more and walked around the room or to the NICU and back (just down the hall).
I know this recovery has been easier because I have only put on the abdominal binder a couple of times (once to go to Isaiah's MD appointment the day after discharge, and once to walk back to the pasture two days after we got home). I can tell in the evening that I'm more sore because of all my walking and activity, but not needing my binder on to walk around for the first week home has been a big improvement.
Sleep: What sleep!? I literally got about 4 hours of very interruprted sleep every night in the hospital starting with hospital bedrest. So 4 nights of no sleep before a c-section does not set up a Mama for success. After the c-section it didn't get much better. Between the techs doing vital signs every 4 hours on myself and Isaiah (but it was 2 different techs, so they came in at different times!), and the nurses doing assessments every 4 hours, and lab draws every morning around 4 or 5 for both the baby and I, and just random ins and outs, there was very little sleep going on! Oh, and then there's the whole the baby wants to eat every 1.5 to 2 hours as well!
Once we got home it was a big improvement. Isaiah still eats every 2 to 2.5 hrs, but at least we are sleeping soundly in between! I was able to finally sleep on my sides again about 9 days after surgery, and that helps a ton...sleeping halfway sitting upright is not that comfortable!
Bathroom troubles: I thought I got lucky this time around and didn't have gas and pooping problems as much as the past two, but it just came a bit later than I remembered. I was able to poop the day we left which wasn't really painful. However, about 6 days after surgery, despite still taking gas-x the gas pains got pretty bad, particularly in the morning, and pooping became a very painful, 20 minute process. Yup, a repeat of last time with grasping onto the walls and trying not to scream, while doing labor-like breathing! Urgh. Luckily the gas never got so bad it radiated to my chest/shoulder, but it was really painful in my stomach!
Peeing this time around was really painful however, right from the get-go. The first time I had to pee after my foley was removed took about 20 minutes for me to do, with water running, and I kept spraying myself with warm water in the perineal bottle (which the nurse said helps sometimes). It just felt like everything was spasming down there and was oh so painful. After the first few pees, it definitely got better, but it still hurts a bit, enough to remind me of having a UTI.
Bleeding: Like the last two times, I really don't bleed a lot. I wore the lovely mesh panties and diaper sized pads in the hospital and the day after we got home, but ditched those the next day for regular underwear and a panty liner.
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