This was my third c-section, so I really thought I was prepared. The thing about having a baby is, not only is every pregnancy different, but so is every birth.
Although I already had two c-sections, one emergency, one scheduled, this third one took the cake for the most unexpected “side effects.”
First of all, I puked during the surgery, which didn’t happen the other times. So I’m laying there with my arms pinned to my sides, half-naked and numb, and the anesthesia made me sick. I was puking off the side of the bed while bringing my baby into the world. Not exactly the beautiful moment you picture in your head, leading up to the birth.
Secondly, I had a reaction to the glue they use on the steri-strips that I never had before. I literally blistered and had a chemical burn around my entire incision. I ended up needing steroids and going through 2 boxes of gauze, after 3 creams did nothing but melt off my weeping pelvic region. So that first couple weeks of recovery was challenging to say the least.
Third, I was breastfeeding during all of this and that sucked for me just as much as it did the first two times. I truly think that not everyone is meant to breastfeed AND THAT’S OK. I tried, I made it a month, and now I have a much happier formula-fed baby.
FED IS BEST!
Fourth, I had and still have crazy nerve pain from my incision, down my entire right side of my groin. I was literally icing my vag for weeks. This never happened to me before with the other two births, and I still don’t quite understand it. Apparently, it’s “perfectly normal” and most likely will go away overtime (almost 5 months later and I’m still waiting). I guess they cut through some nerves as they were wading through the scar tissue.
Lastly, and this is the icing on the cake, when I went for my 6 week check up, I asked why there were red lines from my incision going down (on my who-ha basically), thinking I had some weird infection happening or something, and she says, “oh, those are just stretch marks.”
Wait, what?
I didn’t even push! I had a c-section! Why are there stretch marks on my lady parts? I would have preferred an infection that would clear up with antibiotics. So now my cha cha looks like it was mauled by a tiger….great!
Stretch marks on your ‘gina, just another joy of motherhood they forget to tell you!
Boxed Wine and Bedwetters 