Post C-Section Shockers

Okay - maybe not shockers, especially for those that have been through it but there are just so many things they don't tell you about c-sections (they, being authors, doctors, previous patients) that I think I would've liked to know ahead of time....

For instance, while I was being 'zipped up' after "delivering" my twins, I asked the crowd in the operating room, 'So, has anyone ever asked for liposuction directly after their c-section delivery?' The answer? "Yeah." I often joked about it prior to delivery - wouldn't it be nice to just get some of the fat out of the way right off the bat? Apparently, the hospital I delivered in does not do it - but I guess the more common procedure that is asked for after a c-section is a tummy tuck. Still not done in the hospital I delivered at.

No one told me I would have a 'foo-pah' after giving birth. Now I have no idea what I thought was supposed to happen to my ginormous belly after delivering two babies...I guess I was hoping most of it would go away. But after living with my big, hard belly for 3+ months and to all of a sudden go from something's there to a completely deflated pile of fat and skin was pretty shocking to me. I sat in my hospital bed poking at it (cause there's not much you can do when you can't feel your legs for 24 hours) wondering what happened. As the days wore on and I started breast feeding, the foo-pah has definitely gone down but it's still there. Granted it's been less than three weeks since I delivered - supposedly it should be gone (ie - pre-pregnancy state) in 4-6 weeks. We shall see about that.

There's a lot of bleeding....I guess those that deliver the v-way have way more bleeding than c-sectioners (I can't even imagine)....but I felt a little demoralized when the nurse had to come in to change my pad for the bleeding because I couldn't move in the first 24 hours. I guess that's what nurses are paid for - changing the pads and cleaning out your catheter output. But now that I'm back home, I'm still bleeding and again, this will go on for 4-6 weeks after delivery. I'm sensing a 4-6 week theme here....

Babies usually don't eat in the first 24 hours of delivery. I did not know this. Here we are (my hubby and I) freaking out because I'm not producing any breast milk yet and the nurses are asking us if we want them bottle fed, kept in the nursery (alongside other screaming babies), along with a barrage of questions on feeding the babies....it would've been nice if someone told us off the bat 'Hey, don't worry...babies come out with some 'fat supplies' that allow them to not eat very much in the first 24 hours...' We found that out like 1-2 days LATER.

They won't let you eat anything solid until you pass gas...down there. I was put on a liquid diet following the c-section (which really wasn't bad - broth, jello, juices) and told that I couldn't have anything solid to eat until I was able to pass gas. I, of course, needed clarification on what exactly they mean by pass gas - like was it just via the back way or could I simply toss up a burp and go from there? Unfortunately, it was via the back exit. Fortunately, I was able to pass gas in the middle of the night - I was so excited when a tiny toot came out that when the nurse came in to check on me at like 2am, I excitedly told her, 'Oh hey, I passed gas!' I got a nice pancake breakfast in the morning!

Those are just some of the lovely things that I found out about 'on the job.' Maybe I was so focused on having the babies and how to care of them after they arrived that I didn't pay attention to what exactly happens after a c-section....but I didn't come across any of this stuff and you would think I would....oh well. I hope my experience helps SOMEONE out there so they're better prepared.