Warning: This is probably even more graphic than my birth story.
After my crazy birth, I thought to myself, at least that's done now, and I can just focus on healing and taking care of my baby. Well, I tried that for a while, but unfortunately soon discovered that my body had more surprises in store.
Having never had any kind of surgery before, let alone a C-section, I did not know what levels of pain to expect. Any time something hurt or was hard to do (like getting in and out of bed, or getting on and off the toilet), I just told myself, that must be what it is supposed to feel like after a big surgery.
It hurt, but of course it hurt after what my body had been through.
After the pain of labor, every other pain seemed a lot lower. It was very hard for me to move my body, cough, laugh, etc. after my C-section, which I just assumed was normal. They had me on Tylenol and Naproxen (Aleve) every few hours, and they gave me a prescription for narcotics if I needed them, but I didn't want to go that route.
We were in the hospital for three days after I gave birth. During that time, there were tons of tests done on me and Sophie, and the nurses were basically tracking everything our bodies did. There was a big concern over when I would pee. I didn't realize that after a C-section, or at least after an epidural, it can take the body a while to resume regular functions like that. While I was pushing during labor, they had inserted a catheter, and like a litre of pee came out because I had been drinking water the whole time, so at least we knew my bladder had been emptied fairly recently. I can't remember which day it was but they were getting very concerned that I hadn't peed yet, so they decided to try a catheter again. This time, I didn't have an epidural to numb the pain, and I was very swollen and sore after pushing for three hours. Two nurses came in and just kept poking me, trying to insert the catheter, but they couldn't get it because of the swelling, and it hurt so much I was crying (I never cried during labor, but this was a different kind of pain). They kept telling me to try to relax, but it was excruciating. After all the pain they caused me, they weren't even able to insert the catheter, so it was all for nothing. I had no doubt that my body would be able to pee on its own very soon, and hadn't wanted to try the catheter in the first place. Later, another (much nicer and better) nurse came in with other ideas to try. I should clarify that while they're trying to get you to pee, there's a bucket device on the toilet that you need to pee into to measure. The new nurse had an awesome idea - she gave me a cup of water with a straw and told me to blow bubbles in the cup while sitting on the toilet. It worked wonders. I was filling the measuring device in no time, and they finally started leaving me alone.
One of the worst things I had to experience in my postpartum hospital stay was these horrible blood thinner injections that the nurse would put right on my belly. At one point near the end of our stay, she asked me if I wanted another one, and I was just like …I have a choice? Why would I want more? She never even explained the purpose of them. This nurse also made me pump with the wrong flange size on what must've been the highest setting, which destroyed my nipples, but I'll get into that in another post.
The reason we were in the hospital for so long was because my baby hadn't pooped yet (besides when she pooped in-utero), and they had to make sure she didn't have any issues with that, and was getting enough to eat. My milk took a while to really come in, and she was very cranky because she was hungry (and probably tired), so our time in the hospital was pretty rough - lots of crying, and not much sleep. My Mom ended up staying with me for most of the time in the hospital. She was like the baby-whisperer, and she was so helpful to have around while I was recovering and we were learning everything (how to breastfeed, change diapers, swaddle and dress our baby, attempt to calm her, etc.) on little to no sleep.
I was barely able to move, and still in so much pain the whole time we were in the hospital, and also when we finally got to go home. It made it very difficult to take care of my baby girl. I didn't even change a diaper until like five days after she was born.
Five days after we got home from the hospital, I was sitting in bed breastfeeding my baby, and there was suddenly a very strong bad smell. We didn't know what it was, and assumed the baby must've pooped. When I finished feeding her, I got up, and the bed and my clothes were soaked where I had been sitting, and it smelled horrible. I didn't understand what had happened at first, until I went to the washroom and realized that it was all coming from my C-section incision - it had opened up slightly, and was clearly infected. I was terrified because I didn't know how much it had opened. So much liquid had come out in such a short time, without me even realizing what was happening.
We had family visiting, and were planning to have a Thanksgiving dinner that evening. When the leak happened, we knew we had to go to the hospital right away, so we left the baby with the in-laws, since she had just been fed, and rushed to the hospital. The nurse got after us for leaving her at home. My husband had to go home and get her, and they got back to the hospital just in time for me to feed her. I was re-admitted to the hospital to be given IV antibiotics to fight the infection. This second hospital stay ended up being three days long, and it was so much better than the first hospital stay. So many less interruptions. I immediately started feeling so much better after the IV antibiotics. I became much more mobile, and the pain was much more manageable. They also had me start some antibiotic pills when we left the hospital, to really finish off the infection.
Unfortunately, after the hospital stay, the incision site was still leaking. They hadn't done anything to seal it up, because they wanted the liquid to all come out, and then it would heal on its own. The opening was so small I could never even see it. Because it was still leaking, my Mom or husband had to help me cover it with bandages after every time I went to the washroom, or when the bandages became saturated. Eventually, after a few more days, I became able to do this myself, which was so nice. Over time, the leaking diminished to the point where I'd just need a little gauze over it.
I had worn adult diapers or the mesh underwear from the hospital this whole time, as they were the most comfortable over the incision, and made it much easier to deal with all the mess. I had no shame in it at all - anything to make my life a little easier at this point.
I must've gone through at least two or three packs of diapers over the course of my healing journey. The leaking did finally stop after a few weeks, and my incision healed. In order to stop using the diapers, I had to buy new underwear that wouldn't have the seam right at the incision. My scar is still a little sensitive, six months in. I can touch it and massage it without pain though, which is good. The healing probably took an extra long time because of the lack of sleep during the newborn phase, but I'll get into that more in another post.
Overall, I'm glad it leaked, since that was what alerted us to the infection, and made us seek treatment. I'm so happy to be able to move again, lift things, and just feel like myself. It was a very rough postpartum experience, but as I always say, I'd do it all again in a heartbeat for my baby girl - it was 100% worth it!
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