? about postpardum

I am 29.5 weeks and trying to decide what to do about delivery. My OB, said he would deliver me no later than 38.5-39 weeks. If I end up having a c-section, how long does it take to recover to the point that you don't need someone with you? My DH is taking 2 weeks off, and I have an aunt who is coming to stay with me starting in April. My concern, is that she will not be able to stay long enough. She would be leaving around May 27th. (My initial due date, which puts her here only 1-2 weeks if I have the section or induction around the 15th.) DH has to go back around the same time, and there would be no one here to help if I need it. Is this enough time?

Thanks for your input. It's tough trying to deliver on other's schedules... kinda frustrating, but necessary I guess!

 

I got induced at 37w2d, I delivered vaginally but broke my tailbone during the delivery. I had my sister the first night and then I was on my own. My sister did/does help me a couple days a week, other than that is all me. 8P

Good luck!

 

I delivered by c-section at 37 weeks. I had my mom help me for about the first week after we came home, during the day, and then after that it was just me! Around the 1.5-2 week mark was when the soreness got much better.

 

QUOTE(becky5 @ Mar 14 2008, 07:44 PM) [snapback]669794[/snapback]
I delivered by c-section at 37 weeks. I had my mom help me for about the first week after we came home, during the day, and then after that it was just me! Around the 1.5-2 week mark was when the soreness got much better.



I had originally planned to have my c-section on March 12- (38 weeks) with my MIL coming march 10 for 9 days. However, by the first week of march I asked my dr if we could move up the c-section date a week earlier to march 5 as I was big and miserable. I showed no signs of impending labor but my stomach was huge so he let me go earlier. So think about the possibilty of changing your date as you will be pretty uncomfortable in the end and want an earlier delivery. As for recovering, after a week I was getting around pretty well. I had my DH with me at the hospital- that part is essentail to have someone there as he would pass the babies to me for feeding and he would do the diaper changing. As long as all goes well, they will keep you in the hospital for 3 nights for a c-section delivery. For the first few days home my mom would help me out and my MIL was also in town and well you know how MIL can be. She isnt so helpful. But luckily my mom lives in town and would come by every day and help clean house and take my 1 year old for a little while. Its now been 1 week and 2days since my boys were born and I am pretty much on my own with my 1 year old as well and we are doing fine. So hope that gives you an idea. The babies are alot easier than I thought they would be. They sleep sooo much and wake up just to eat and poop and back to sleep they go. Im guessing its going to get harder in a few months. maybe thats when you should put in your request for help...

 

[SIZE=10pt]I was scheduled to have a C/S at 38 weeks 3 days ~ however DD had a different idea. She broke my water at 35 weeks 1 day.

DD was in the NICU for 8 days and DS in for 7 days. DH was home for two weeks, then I was here by myself for the most part. I do have two older children (18 & 14) however it was summer and they were off and about most of the time.

It was an adjustment at first ~ but then it was kinda nice. It was rewarding knowing that I could do it by myself ~ although it was VERY nice when DH walked in the door too.

Congrats on your lil ones ~ they'll be here before you know it.

April [/SIZE]

 

I think I'm an exception, but I had NO issues with my csection recovery. The only time I felt discomfort was when I would life the babies in their carriers (which I wasn't supposed to do), so once I realized that, I made my DH carry them until I was about 2-3 wks pp. I was up walking the same day as my csection & on Tylenol by the time I got home (never filled my pain med prescription). My DH had off a week & then my mom came for a week, so I was alone by week 3 & did just fine. My mom was shocked to see how well I was moving since she had an awful csection recovery, so like I said...I don't believe I was the 'norm'.

I think each person is different...both vaginally & csection. The only problem with csections is that you really should watch your weight lifting requirements, in which case you'd need some help. I can't speak for vaginal recovery, as I've never had one, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to opt for csection next time around with how easy this one was!

Oh, I delivered at 37w5d via scheduled csection (Aiden was breech & baby A) & my boys were a little under 7lbs when we came home. No preemie clothes here!

 

I went into labor exactly at 38 weeks and had a c-section due to Baby B being breech the whole pg. Honestly, by the time I came home from the hospital, I was doing fine. I put most of our stuff away and was climbing stairs before my older child came home later that day. I did ask to stay in the hospital for the entire time I was allowed since I knew I was going home to another child. I came home on a Wednesday and my DH went back to work on Monday. My parents live about a mile away and were able to help if I needed it, but for the most part I was by myself during the day. I quit taking my pain meds in probably less than a week. Only thing I needed help with was if I was going somewhere with the babies because I wasn't supposed to be lifting their carriers.

 

QUOTE(gavinsmom @ Mar 15 2008, 01:03 AM) [snapback]669820[/snapback]
I am pretty much on my own with my 1 year old as well and we are doing fine. So hope that gives you an idea. The babies are alot easier than I thought they would be. They sleep sooo much and wake up just to eat and poop and back to sleep they go. Im guessing its going to get harder in a few months. maybe thats when you should put in your request for help...


Not to scare you, but, my babies were completely opposite this pp. We came home from the hospital without any relatives around. Everyone lives very far away and we were not having anyone come until my parents were to come 2 weeks post delivery. I had scheduled c-section at 38.4 but I wish I would have left them in longer. Although I was uncomfortable my babies were super p-oed for the first 9 weeks of their life and both had reflux. I cannot help but wonder if I would have left them in there for another week that they may have been a bit happier. I ended up calling my mom and she came to help earlier than planned as MY BABIES DID NOT SLEEP AT ALL and one was always awake and they were ALWAYS CRYING. This of course ended and I feel wonderfully blessed right now (they are 9 mos.); however, all babies are different and we ended up hiring a night nanny to come from 11pm to 6am three nights a week for the first two months. I am not sure what the point of my post is other than I would prepare as much as possible and assume it is going to be difficult so that, like the pp, you are happily surprised if they are easy babies!

Oh yea, my c-section recovery was a cinch and I was out running about 4 weeks later but I really felt good when I got back from the hospital and I did not even need to take my pain meds once I got home either.

 

It's very hard to plan ahead -- keep in mind that a lot of times twins show up earlier than expected, even if you have planned a C-section. Just line up as much help as possible....

I had a horrible C-section recovery, where I was in so much pain that I moved from percoset to morphine, and was taking that in conjunction with lots of ibuprofen. And, I had a weird blood pressure complication, and ended up on bedrest for a few weeks, where I was supposed to be flat on my back. (Right, with two newborns and trying to nurse them....um, yeah.)

My mom came and stayed for 7 weeks, and my DH was home a lot, too. And honestly, I needed them both that whole time.

My babies, on the other hand, were wonderfully easy, never cried, no reflux or colic, and slept a lot! Still, one had a feeding issue, and his feeds took an hour, which was very tough to do around the clock....

Anyhow. My point is, just do what you can with lining up help -- you could get lucky and have a very easy recovery, or it could be a lot more challenging.

 

Ok, I will preface this by saying that I have had 2 c-secions one with older daughter as an emergency and then the scond with the twins partly because of the previous and partly becuse of other concerns... Anyway, with my first c-section I really had not trouble recovering and felt good enough to go for a pretty long walk pushing a hughe jogging stroller by the time she was 2 weeks old... This time was different and they have assured me that it is not due to the fact there were twins but due to other "delivery issues" that I wont go into... With that said my husband took off work the 5 days we were in the hospital and then worked only 4 day weeks for the first week home... Then my parents were here on the days he was at work for 2 months until they went to Florida. The first week they were gone my husband did ony work a 4 day week, but after that he went back to 5 days...

With that said, once my parents left I was so relieved!!! I finally felt that we could do our own thingand a lot of the stress of having them was gone! While they were here my husband felt that on his days off he really had to clean and do laundry ect because if he didn't my parents would comment. I honestly think that since we made it through my parents being here for 2 months we can get through anything together!! I did really need them for about the first 4-6 weeks, but mainly because of the other complications I had. I think had I not had any comlications I would have been good with them leaving around the 4 week mark.

I can also tell you that I have a friend with twins (as her only children) that are 10.5 months old and her husband was able to take 2 weeks off work once they were born and that was it. She does not have any other help as she just move to the area about the tme she found out she wasw pregnant and both of her parents have passed away as has her MIL. So, she has been doing it solo 6 days per week since week 2! SO it can be done! And yes, she did have a c-section... So, I guess my general feeling is that we can do a lot more than we think we can and about 1000 times more than what others think we can!!! You do what you have to do and although it is hard sometimes, and it is REALLY hard at times we do it and once we get to the other side we look back and proudly say we did it and we did it well!!

Good luck to you and you can and will do it and do it well!!

 

We had a planned c/s at 38 weeks. I was pretty sore for about 10 days but the pain meds helped tremendously. I was able to make it up and down the stairs without too much trouble. The hardest thing was trying to pick up or put them down in their pack n play bassinet. It's a little low and it was hard to bend over while holding a baby. I was extremely lucky to have my MIL come over every day for the first 4 weeks. My girls were not good nursers, it would take a an hour to feed each of them and they were still not satisfied so we ended up slowly switching over to formula. It was much easier to feed them with another person around, and it gave me a chance to get a nap in here and there. She also made food for me (I had a horrible appetite for the first couple of months and probably would not have eaten well if I'd been left alone) and helped tidy up. It was wonderful. Then they took a trip for a few days and I was on my own. I was terrified but it worked out well and I've been very confident in my abilities ever since. It is nice knowing that you can do it on your own. You feel like Superwoman!
Good luck!

Jen

 

Hi,
I had a c-section at 30 weeks due to my blood pressure was off the charts it was sched for 37 weeks.
I had no complications it was done on a Friday night and I was released from the hospital on Monday afternoon. The babies were in the NICU for a month(I think that was the hardest for me!)
Good Luck & Best Wishes to you & your babies!

 

I had my dh home for 2 weeks and then my mom came for 2. Can your aunt wait to come when dh has to go back to work? I found it was nice my mom waited because dh and I needed time to settle in to all of this by ourselves before bringing someone else, and a whole other set of opinions, into the mix.

I was scared to death to be by myself once my mom left. It was hard, but I did manage.

 

I had a csection at 33 weeks and I was driving 10 days later. Of course, the determination to get off the meds came from wanting to see my NICU babies and start pumping better. My mom was there for a week while the boys were in the NICU so I didn't have to do anything. The NICU time allowed me to recover. This was also my third abdominal surgery so I knew what to expect. It was actually a quicker recovery than my laproscopic gallbladder removal. I know everyone isn't as lucky though. Anyway, just wanted to chime in that you can schedule all you want, but you never know when your water will break!

 

I was induced at 34w2d and ended up with a C after two whole days of labor all due to eclampsia.

I was on my own when the babies came home. DH had to go back to work, my mom had to work and my dad came when I had to take them to the ped for the first few times. Then I started doing that on my own.

You can do it without help. I feel very competent now from doing it and somewhat fearless in the face of whatever might happen. :good:

 

QUOTE
Is this enough time?


I think that is plenty of time. When I had my twins, that was my first c-section and he was home for about 5 days and that was all the help I got. And really it was fine. I've had two c-sections since then and the longest I've needed help was a week. Good luck to you!

 

I had a scheduled C/S at 37 weeks but had my ACTUAL C/S at 34.5 weeks. I had pre-eclampsia so they came early. The C/S recovery was not fun but not as bad as I thought. I was a little distracted (make that A LOT distracted) from my pain b/c I had one baby at home and one in the NICU ... I constantly forgot to take my pain meds (I was just taking OTC Tylenol and Ibuprofen ... didn't fill my heavy duty meds Rx) ... going back and forth home and to hospital and not sleeping b/c I had Hannah at home eating every 2 hours and then I was pumping for 20 minutes after she ate to take to Meredith and being just emotionally and physically spent was really hard. That being said, Meredith came home after only 10 days ... and I really started feeling better when she came home. I agree with someone else that about week 2 or 3 I felt a lot better and around week 9 I went for my first jog.

Harder than the recovery was having two crying newborns and being by yourself. I would try and make sure you have someone for when your babies are 6 weeks old ... that is when they are likely to start with the constant fussing. For me, the first 3 or 4 weeks with them was not hard other than the seemingly constant nursing. They pretty much ate and slept ... and they were new and I was on cloud 9 and wanted to be with them all the time ... but when the fussies hit (6-8 weeks) THAT is when you WILL want and need help!

 

I delivered at 32 weeks so the boys were in the NICU for almost 3 weeks. So I was practically back to normal by the time they came home. But FWIW once I got up and walking around things improved drastically from a pain perspective and just feeling better.