C section talk

[daffodilsandcoffee]

I love hearing all of the advice here! Question about lifting.


Everywhere I see no lifting of anything heavier than baby. And no to lifting baby in the car seat. When are you usually able to lift baby and car seat together? And what do you do in the meantime? My H will be home for the first two weeks, but after that it will just be me, baby, and an almost four year old who needs to get to and from preschool.

[tinyjoys]

Apr 6, 2018 7:34:16 GMT -6 kiri said:

Apr 6, 2018 4:57:54 GMT -6 tinyjoys said:

I loved the Boppy for the ride home both times previously. I bought a My Breast Friend this time & I’m curious if I’ll love it as much or if I should take my 7 year old Boppy for in the car, too.

I wear the long wear contacts & really like them. But, I only like them for my actual c-section. Otherwise my eyes are so itchy & dry. I change them out for my glasses the first night & put them back in once we’re home.

I’ve heard lots of good things about MBF. I didn’t love the boppy last time and used a different pillow that I got off of Amazon. I’ll get the MBF pillow this time but also not sure what I’ll take to the hospital.

I think I'm going to plan on taking both, but leave the Boppy in the car for the ride home & use MBF in the hospital. I'm not sure how I'd like the buckle for the ride home, but who knows. We used the Boppy a lot more for propping the kids up than for it's use as a breastfeeding pillow in the grand scheme of things.

[tinyjoys]

Apr 6, 2018 9:41:45 GMT -6 daffodilsandcoffee said:

I love hearing all of the advice here! Question about lifting.


Everywhere I see no lifting of anything heavier than baby. And no to lifting baby in the car seat. When are you usually able to lift baby and car seat together? And what do you do in the meantime? My H will be home for the first two weeks, but after that it will just be me, baby, and an almost four year old who needs to get to and from preschool.

Once I was cleared to drive & it was just me, my then 4 year old & the newborn, I would put the baby somewhere safe (the RNP, PNP, etc) and take the diaper bag out, then come back in and take the carseat itself out, then come back in and grab the kids. The extra trips were annoying, but necessary until about 5-6 weeks PP when I felt up to lifting more at that point.

I then babywore in public in a Solly wrap. We honestly only used out stroller a handful of times. It was big, bulky & I felt the baby was way hotter (Michigan summers) in there than on me.

[daffodilsandcoffee]

Thank you, tinyjoys. That makes sense. My kid LOVES to help and is so excited about being a big brother. He also loves heavy work and “jobs”. Maybe one of his jobs will be helping carry the diaper bag (to save one trip) or “entertaining” his sister while I load the car.


When did you find you were comfortable babywearing after the c section? Newborns have to be up so high so it shouldn’t affect my incision right? Because while we used the stroller a lot when my DS was little, I have a feeling this one is going to be worn most of the time.

[tinyjoys]

daffodilsandcoffee, somewhere around 2 weeks with the wrap & probably about 8 weeks for a mei tei . I didn’t buy my Tulas until 4+ months postpartum with #2, so I can’t comment on that/similar carriers.

[jessila]

I have an Ergo and it was NOT csection friendly. The hip strap went directly over my incision. I know I used it when we were on vacation when O was 10 weeks old but I'm not sure how much I used it before that.

I had completely forgotten about the itching.

Also, other note in general, stay hydrated near the end of pregnancy. I was dehydrated when I went into labor and it took 12 tries and 11 blown veins to get my IV in. There are practically zero pictures of O in my arms because my arms were bruised all over.

I sent H out for compression stockings when we got home from the hospital because I was so swollen. I'm hoping it's not as bad this time. I haven't been as swollen in general.

ETA picture of how swollen my feet were when I got home. I was about 30 pounds heavier when I went into the hospital than I am now but I didn't carry it all in my feet!

SPOILER: Click to show

[budders]

I used my MBF pillow far more than the Boppy last time. I liked that it went all the way around and that there was a clasp. V was a very small baby for a very long time, and it helped give more stability to the process than the Boppy, which always worked its way away from me and he would drop in between.

I used the Boppy a lot more for propping him up than BF.

[onlymee]

This will be my 4th csection. Yes to getting up and walking around as soon as possible. stay on top of medicine! Don’t think, well I feel fine now, because like previous people have said, once your behind it’s harder to manage. Take the stool softeners! I didn’t take them like I was supposed to after my third and well, that was the scariest poop of my life. I was fine to drive around 2 weeks. I’ve had little ones over 20 pounds the last two times and when they wanted me I would sit on the couch and have them come to me so I didn’t have to lift them.

[adeline]

onlymee sorry did you say your baby was over 20 pounds???

[budders]

Apr 6, 2018 22:40:29 GMT -6 adeline said:

onlymee sorry did you say your baby was over 20 pounds???

I think she meant her kids that she already had at home were over 20 lbs.

[theduchess]

Apr 6, 2018 22:40:29 GMT -6 adeline said:

onlymee sorry did you say your baby was over 20 pounds???

I think she's saying that after her last 2 sections she had olders that were > 20 lbs and the way she dealt with clingy toddlers was to have them join her on the couch.

[onlymee]

Apr 6, 2018 22:40:29 GMT -6 adeline said:

onlymee sorry did you say your baby was over 20 pounds???

😂😂😂😂 nope I definitely had average 7-8 lb newborns. But I had toddlers over 20 pounds at home after my last two c sections.

[kiri]

Is anyone doing any prep in case labor comes early and you have to try for a VBAC for some reason?

[tinyjoys]

kiri, in the event that I go into labor prior to my scheduled, I page my OB, he meets me at the hospital & it becomes a non-emergency emergency, depending on contractions & whatnot. I am not a good fit for a VBAC at all.

[jessila]

Apr 7, 2018 17:01:01 GMT -6 kiri said:

Is anyone doing any prep in case labor comes early and you have to try for a VBAC for some reason?

If I go into labor before the plan is to try for a VBAC unless she's still breech. As for prep for that...I'll have my bag packed and stuff ready in the house?

[armpants]

Apr 7, 2018 17:01:01 GMT -6 kiri said:

Is anyone doing any prep in case labor comes early and you have to try for a VBAC for some reason?

If I go into labor before my schedule section (which I'm honestly expecting) the hospital will call the OB on call to do my section. I'm also not a good candidate for a VBAC.

[daffodilsandcoffee]

Apr 7, 2018 17:01:01 GMT -6 kiri said:

Is anyone doing any prep in case labor comes early and you have to try for a VBAC for some reason?

My baby is breech. If I go into labor, my c section will be done by whoever is on call because it will be considered an emergency. I make babies with big heads and there is concern about a prolapsed cord as well, I was told.

[itsmemeg]

Apr 7, 2018 17:01:01 GMT -6 kiri said:

Is anyone doing any prep in case labor comes early and you have to try for a VBAC for some reason?

No prep other than I have a couple people on call to come stay with DS until a family
Member can get here as they are not local. I haven’t thought about trying for a VBAC, I guess I could make that decision at the time if I wanted to as my OB is fine w me doing a VBAC. But the on call Dr would do my c section.

[kiri]

I got spooked because one of the moms I know just had this happen where she didn’t realize that she was in labor and then had a VBAC unexpectedly. Everything went really well so I guess she must have been a good candidate for it. It just made me wonder if you can have quick labor that makes it safer in some cases if you are really far along to do a VBAC even if you weren’t planning on it.

[Speedy]

Where I'm having an elective C, apparently if I was to go into labor before the scheduled date they would still do a C, just as an emergency rather than planned

[ajm]

If I go into labor before my scheduled c, I'll still have a c section due to the placenta previa. I plan on packing my bags today and keeping them in the trunk of my van, just in case.