Pregnant women who will have a cesarean section for certain indications are quite reasonably worried about whether the process of recovery after the operation will be painful and long. This is what is often frightened by future women in labor, who are shown a planned cesarean section.
In this article, we will talk about when you can get up, walk after a surgical delivery and how to do it correctly.
After the operating room
A woman who has just had a caesarean section needs special care and supervision. Therefore, after the end of the surgery, she is immediately transported to the intensive care unit.
She should lie in it for several hours, and if complications appear, then for several days. Medical workers control the level of pressure, the temperature of the parturient woman, and administer contraction drugs by the hour. They are necessary, since the own involution of the uterus after a surgical incision proceeds slowly, which is fraught with infections.
So that the pain after the anesthesia finally passes, was tolerable, the introduction of painkillers is provided, if there are signs or fears of infection, antibiotics are immediately introduced. Ice warmers are applied to the abdomen for better uterine contraction. It is clear that in the conditions of the intensive care unit, no movement is welcome, except for the movements of the hands and head, and even then it is very limited.
If there are no complications, that after 4-6 hours a woman can be transferred to a regular ward in the department. On the first day, the child can only be brought for feeding. Leaving him with his mother, if the routine of the maternity hospital implies the joint stay of newly-made mothers and newborns, will only be when the woman gets up after the cesarean section.
It's time to get up
The sooner a woman begins to engage in physical activity after being transferred to a regular ward, the better. A faster and more successful recovery is expected to be higher. But this does not mean that you can immediately get up and go.
Only 5-6 hours after the operation, a woman can start tossing and turning from side to side, but not yet rise. It will hurt, but not as much as it seems. The pain itself is dull, because a woman will be given intramuscular painkillers for another 2-3 days. First by the hour, then by request. Fear is stronger than pain in this case. The puerperas are afraid that the stitches will come apart, burst. There is no need to be afraid of this. While it's hard to ignore the pulling sensation that stitches create when trying to roll onto your side, it's hard to ignore.
It is necessary to turn over on its side correctly - first, the woman tries to turn the upper body, the shoulder girdle, and then gradually, gradually pulls up the lower body, holding the bandage on her stomach with her hand. The first coups will bring a lot of unpleasant moments, but with each subsequent coup it will get better.
After 8-10 hours from the end of the operation, if there are no complications and strict instructions from the doctor regarding the need to lie down and not move, you can get up. But before you can take a more or less vertical position (usually it is conventionally vertical, since the postpartum woman stands with the letter "G", unable to straighten out), you need to learn to sit.
From a lying position on your side, which has already been mastered, you need to gently lower one leg from the bed, lie there for a while, and then, holding your stomach with your palm and leaning your other hand on the bed, slowly sit down. Don't rush to get up right away. Sit for half an hour, an hour, until the dizziness disappears, which is completely normal after the operation and anesthesia.
As soon as the sitting position becomes quite comfortable, you can try to get up. If there is someone in the ward who can help do this, take this opportunity. If not, then rest your hands on the headboard, on the edge of the bed, as convenient. Do not try to straighten your shoulders and back as soon as you manage to be on your own two feet. It will be quite painful.
Do not go far from the bed or the accompanying person, stick to the wall or headboard, because the first steps may be accompanied by an attack of severe sudden weakness, dizziness. Without insurance in the form of a loved one, a roommate, a nurse, or, in extreme cases, a headboard, a postpartum woman can fall and be injured.
The next day after the operation, women usually already quite tolerably move around the ward, and after another day they go to the toilet themselves without any problems, walk along the corridor, and, with precautions, can take care of the babies themselves. Wearing a postoperative brace makes the early postoperative period easier, but be sure to check with your doctor before wearing it.
Can there be complications?
An incorrect mode of physical activity can theoretically cause seam divergence, violation of the structure of the internal seams. Subsequently, such a scar may be untenable, making it difficult to carry the next pregnancy.
But a long stay in bed, if a woman is afraid to get up and walk, can have very negative consequences - the uterus begins to contract worse, the release of postpartum blood secretions and clots is difficult, which increases the likelihood of developing an infection, endometritis.
The algorithm for correct lifting after surgery is presented in the following video.
