Being pregnant and giving birth to a healthy son or daughter is amongst the greatest feelings in the world, and it’s true, you don’t know how it feels until you’ve experienced it. With all the good that comes with being a mother, it can be a laborious and challenging experience on your physical health, particularly if you’ve opted for or needed an emergency c-section (cesarean section). Recovery times are increased for women that had a C-section as opposed to vaginal delivery. Here are some tips for you to follow to ensure your recovery is as efficient as possible:

Bed Rest Is Paramount

C-sections are intrusive and intense surgeries and should be treated as such throughout the recovery process. Your body will need ample time to recover after the child has been delivered. Following childbirth, you will need to be constantly monitored by doctors and health care professionals to ensure your vital signs remain stable and strong. When you are eventually discharged from the hospital, be sure to sleep as much as you can. It can be difficult because the baby may be restless, which is why you need to sleep whenever the baby does.

Coddle Your Body Like You Would Your Baby

Your baby will be coddled, so be sure to coddle yourself during the healing process. Avoid walking up and down staircases in your home and try to store everything that you will need (i.e. diapers, baby clothing, and food) close to your bedroom so that you won’t need to journey far while you recover. Try not to lifts heavy items. If you need to cough or sneeze, be sure to hold your midsection tight to secure the site of your laceration. Taking light walks (i.e. strolls around the neighbourhood) occasionally, are great for your physical and mental health.

Use Medicine to Fight Pain

Following your operation, your doctor may prescribe you medicine to help combat pain associated with childbirth, particularly to assist you discomfort from breastfeeding. As a security backup, be sure to have a variety of different over-the-counter medications such as Advil, Tylenol and Aleve to relieve your aches and pains. If the incision site is swelling or giving you pain, you may also want to use an ice/cold compress or a heating pad to reduce inflammation and discomfort.

Eat Well

Eating a well-rounded diet is important for your recovery, and it’s also important for your baby’s diet if you’re breastfeeding him or her. Studies indicate that consuming vegetables while breastfeeding adds flavour to the breastmilk and increases the child’s indulgence for vegetables as they grow older. As always, water is necessary for your physical and mental health, and drinking a lot of it will help speed up the recovery process.

How Physiotherapy Can Help

Following a physician’s approval, physiotherapy is beneficial for women after they’ve given childbirth via cesarean section. It will decrease the amount of time needed to recover and it will aid women in completing newfound motherly tasks that they weren’t used to before. The exercises that will be done in physiotherapy will reinforce the muscles around the uterus, which can be beneficial in removing the afterbirth from the system - which consists of the placenta and other fetal membranes. Overall, physiotherapy will increase your overall strength, reduce the swelling & inflammation, and improve your mental health & stability.

For more information on how to quickly and safely recover from a C-section, contact Physiocare Physiotherapy today!