Wondering about your C-section recovery? Looking for info about postoperative care after your C-section?
Alright, rolling out of the OR into the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit)! If you’ve read my previous post about what happens DURING your C-Section (which you totally should!), I promised I would write this follow-up article about C-Section recovery right after the surgery!
The truth is, having a C-Section is a very difficult and lengthy process. This is why I covered it in multiple posts!
So today we’re going to talk all about the C-section recovery in the first two hours after birth!
- 1. Heading to the PACU
- 2. Monitoring you in the PACU
- 3. Monitoring your bleeding after your C-section
- 4. I'll be doing fundal rubs
- 5. Keeping an eye on your incision dressing
- 6. You'll still feel pretty numb
- 7. You'll be receiving Pitocin
- 8. You'll have a catheter in your bladder
- 9. You probably won't have too much pain yet
- 10. You still won't be able to eat
- 11. Your baby can mostly likely be with you during C-section recovery
- 12. Heading to your postpartum room for the rest of your C-section recovery
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1. Heading to the PACU
So, the doctor has said his final goodbye from the operating room. We’ve dressed your surgical site, and moved you from the OR table to a much more comfortable postpartum bed.
The nurse anesthetist who was hanging out with you near your head during the entire procedure now says her final goodbye as well.
Most hospitals have a separate little area called the PACU. This is where you go for a few hours to recover after your surgery!
This is where you will stay for approximately 1-2 hours with your L&D nurse. Depending on your facility, the timing may be different, but we always stay with our patients for the FULL 2 hours. After this you’ll transfer to your postpartum room.
2. Monitoring you in the PACU
Once we get to the PACU, I’ll hook you up to some monitors that will take your vital signs frequently and do a short head-to-toe assessment. You may have been on a little bit of oxygen during your procedure. It’s a little tube that’s connected to your nose during surgery, and I’ll take that off as long as your oxygen levels are fine.
It’s also important to monitor your temperature coming out of the OR. Oftentimes you’ll be a bit cold because you’ve lost quite a bit of blood from surgery. We want to make sure you aren’t TOO cold.
Side note: I’m writing this post to those ladies who stayed AWAKE during surgery. AKA, you had an epidural/spinal placed, and you were just numb from the waist down.
There are some cases in which you would need to go under general anesthesia for a C-Section (you go to sleep during your surgery). Click the image above for more info!
Once I’ve got you settled and hooked you up to a bunch of beeping monitors, I’ll start monitoring your bleeding. This is the not-so-fun part, unfortunately.
Related Reading: C-Section Hospital Bag List
3. Monitoring your bleeding after your C-section
Sooooo….even though you didn’t have a baby through your vagina, you’re still going to have some BLEEDING through your vagina.
I know that sounded dumb, but I’ve actually had a few women wonder that, so I think it needs to be said! Yes, you will still generally have the same *postpartum bleeding experience* as a woman who had a vaginal delivery.
When you have a baby (regardless of whether you deliver via C-Section or vaginally) your placenta detaches from the inside of your uterus. Think of your placenta as a huge SCAB (yuck, I know). When you lose a scab off of a wound, it bleeds, re-scabs, bleeds some more, heals, re-scabs, bleeds some more, etc. until it’s fully healed. You get the idea. Well, this is what happens inside your uterus, and why you have all that postpartum bleeding!
The inside of your uterus is regenerating, and “re-scabbing” over and over until it’s completely healed!
4. I’ll be doing fundal rubs
One of the ways we assess this bleeding is by doing FUNDAL RUBS. Basically, I’m just taking my hand and rubbing the top part of your uterus/ This is located right around your belly button. I push down on your stomach pretty hard, and this can be unpleasant, especially after you’ve just had surgery.
While I’m pushing on your stomach, I’m feeling to see how firm your uterus is. I want it to be EXTRA HARD! I’m also seeing how much bleeding comes out on your pad.
If your uterus is HARD and your bleeding is MINIMAL, then that’s a really good indication that your body has gotten the signal that you’re not pregnant anymore. It means your uterus is starting to shrink back down to normal size.
I’ll be assessing your bleeding by doing these fundal rubs every fifteen minutes while you’re in the PACU. It’s important to monitor your bleeding frequently.
If there’s any indication that your uterus is a little lazy, you can lose quite a bit of blood in a short time. And WE WANNA BE ON TOP OF THAT. So, belly rubs every fifteen minutes!
Related Reading: C-Section vs Vaginal Birth
5. Keeping an eye on your incision dressing
Since you’ve just had a C-Section, you’ll also have a big dressing over your incision. Along with these fundal rubs, I’ll be assessing your dressing. We want to make sure you don’t have any new drainage that’s appearing from your wound.
Occasionally your incision will be a bit oozy from surgery and leak a bit onto your bandage. Basically, I’m making sure the drainage isn’t getting much bigger. If it is, this can signify that you weren’t properly closed up, or the wound has re-opened. Don’t sweat though, this is a very rare complication.
6. You’ll still feel pretty numb
Your legs will be very, very numb once we enter the PACU. You probably won’t even be able to move one toe! But over the next two hours, you should slowly regain the ability to feel and move them.
You’ll still have compression devices on your legs from surgery (used for circulation purposes), and these will stay on until you are able to get out of bed and walk.
Related Reading: Scheduled C-Section? What to Expect
7. You’ll be receiving Pitocin
You’ll also be receiving Pitocin through your IV line. This medication helps with decreasing that postpartum bleeding I talked about. It will be running for a few hours after surgery as well.
8. You’ll have a catheter in your bladder
Also…a heads up, some women don’t realize until much later…you’ll have a catheter in your bladder! This was put in during your surgery. This usually stays in until the next day post-op (depending on your facility). I’ll be checking your urine output as well during your PACU stay.
9. You probably won’t have too much pain yet
Most women do not feel much pain RIGHT after surgery in the PACU, just because you’re still fairly numb. Occasionally some women do have incisional pain, and require a bit of narcotic pain medication to get that under control.
10. You still won’t be able to eat
You’ll be able to have a few ice-chips in the PACU with me, and usually by the end of our two hours I allow my patients to have a few sips of water as well. This is as long as you aren’t nauseated or have any active vomiting.
Once you transfer to your postpartum room, your postpartum nurse will slowly let you introduce clear liquids (sprite, apple juice, ginger ale), followed by foods. This is usually done slowly over the course of a few hours.
11. Your baby can mostly likely be with you during C-section recovery
If all goes well with baby, most hospitals nowadays encourage baby to stay with mom. So, unless baby had to go the special care nursery or NICU for medical reasons, your sweet little one will be by your side in the PACU!
This is a great time when I encourage (and help) mom and baby with that first breastfeeding session (if you decide that’s how you’ll feed baby). I also love to keep baby skin-to-skin on your chest as much as possible during your PACU stay. Let’s face it – you need some baby snuggles after that surgery you’ve just had!
Skin-to-skin contact also is very beneficial to baby as it regulates their temperatures, steadies their vital signs, and promotes bonding. ?
12. Heading to your postpartum room for the rest of your C-section recovery
As our two hours is coming to a close, you’ll start to regain some feeling in your legs. At this point, I’ll start unhooking monitors from you. Once we leave for postpartum (in your bed), the only remaining things hooked up to you are your IV line and your catheter.
You’ve made it through recovery! Now on to postpartum. ? My job as your L&D nurse has officially come to a close. Some smaller facilities do have the same staff for postpartum, so it is entirely possible that your nurses will be the same through your postpartum stay as well.
The hospital I work at has split staffing so you’d have a separate postpartum nurse taking care of you after that 2 hours is up.
What questions do you have about C-Section recovery? I think the main question I get is “When can I EAT?” Ha! Soon, girl, soon…
Happy Delivery Day! 🙂
