r/CsectionCentral

My c section scar is very low, it’s way below the hairline it’s in the middle of my crotch. I’ve tried many times to find a picture of someone else with similar placement but never could I don’t understand why mines so low & if it will cause problems in the future?

How was yours?
Mine is pretty painful. I can really feel my scar a lot like after the csection. I’m also incredibly bloated.

I’m 1 day out from my c section and I’m feeling sooo helpless because it’s hard to get up and use the bathroom. My incision burns very badly it’s intense- need some encouragement thank you🩷

I have a planned c-section scheduled for August. I have a lot of medical anxiety but one thing I’ve been telling myself is that having experienced something similar, I am at least a little bit prepared for how it may feel.

8 years ago I had a laparoscopic vertical sleeve gastrectomy (weight loss surgery). I am familiar with the post surgery gas and constipation pain, and having to get up and walk around regularly within hours of waking up.

My question is for anyone who has also had a VSG or other weight loss surgery as well as a c-section. How does the pain/ recovery compare?

Went in to the doctor yesterday for an ultrasound and she was head up, breech. Planned C-section for the next day. Get to the hospital and I'm a ball of nerves. Wheeled back to the operating room, get the spinal, get prepped and the C-section begins!! The doctor said he got to my uterus to open it and.... SHE WAS HEAD DOWN!! Sometime in the 16hrs before the C-section and even though she had been head up the whole time, she turned! 😂😂 Does anyone else have a similar story of baby turning last minute?!

I have a healthy and happy baby girl yet I’m still not over how she got here. Not only am I jealous of the powerful vaginal birth stories other moms have, but of the firmly medically-necessary C-sections because of how certain those outcomes had to be.

Mine was a gray area from the beginning. At my 38 week appointment, my blood pressure was high for two readings and they sent me to triage. After monitoring, my blood pressure normalized and the doctor on call said she could “go either way” on inducing me or not that day. The last thing I wanted was the ball in my court LOL, this was my first birth and I had little information to make a decision.

Ultimately, I chose induction that night, thinking I would be so anxious if I was sent home. Curious what others would’ve done in this situation. For context, my blood pressure had been creeping up ever so slightly as I got farther along.

The induction moved slowly, and over 30 hours later I was only at about 6cm. I had a really insensitive doctor who told me I was at 8, about to push, only for the next doctor to measure me and say I wasn’t close. I was a c section baby myself, so I wasn’t as set on a vaginal birth as others, but I still wanted to try for it.

So it was my call that morning to just call it and go for a C-section. My doctor again could “go either way.” That’s what bothers me the most about the whole experience. I wish I had a medical team that gave advice - is that crazy to expect?????? What other medical procedure is done completely according to a patient’s ideas of what they want, medically sound or not?????? I just can’t get over all the gray area I was left to navigate on no sleep, major pain, and the low stakes of an entire human life in my hands.

My recovery went fine after I finally got home from the hospital (more gray area of if she had jaundice, if my blood pressure was okay, etc). But why did my birth experience feel so weird and so random?

Any words of wisdom? Am I just a freak? I even asked my OB about it at an appointment today and she again kind of washed her hands of it and said it was what I had wanted. What I wanted was a healthy baby, and I got that what feels like in spite of a team that just expects everyone to easily give birth vaginally.

If we know some pelvises can’t accommodate a baby’s head, why don’t we measure for those and plan ahead? Why don’t we have more data that women can use to make such important decisions? My experience was just having a bunch of doctors shrug at me the entire way.

Ugh. My c section incision will not heal and I’m feeling dismissed by my OB. Back at my 6 week follow up a brought up how the right side was still sensitive to the touch and felt kind of like a burning sensation under the skin when I made certain movements. I was told that’s normal. At 12 weeks post op, I was working around the house and the incision popped open, less than a cmand drained fluid for over a week. I was given a round of antibiotics then, and asked if I was diabetic, which I am not.

I went two weeks later and was told to keep it dry and it would heal. My ob just got eyes on it but didn’t even touch it to feel for any issues under the skin. Since then it continues to open and I fear the fascia has separated underneath. I requested imaging and was given a ct scan without contract which said there was no liquid pulling underneath but it did not detect anything related to the deeper layers of the incision.

I have another follow up with my OB today. What should I be asking? I have never had to advocate so hard for myself but I know this isn’t normal and I’m so scared if I don’t fix the underlying issue I’ll end up with a hernia in the future.

Hi! I am 4 months postpartum and my pooch is becoming hard and kind of uncomfortable when I massage it. I just want to start doing anything I can to avoid a permanent pooch overhang. Has anyone tried treatments like Emsculpt or anything else that is non-invasive? Is there anything I can or should be doing?

Thanks

I had an emergency c section after a failed induction 6 weeks ago and I'm starting to worry more because I have interest in trying to have sex again. I have had horrible experiences with birth control in the past and was planning to do natural family planning and condoms after birth before I knew I'd have a c section. I'm so scared though with worrying about getting pregnant again. I want more kids but at least waiting a year before getting pregnant again

I’m 16 months PP & I am kicking my own self because I fully intended on being my consistent with scar massaging but it took me a while to touch my scar.

I would sometimes do it while in the shower or a few minutes after getting into bed. Again, very infrequently.

I am now trying to be more intentional. Knowing my scar is fully mature. My physical activity has been mostly sedentary - outside of working / commuting full time x running the house, I just couldn’t get around to making the proper time for myself. I went to two pelvic floor therapy sessions, but hard to schedule and make time.

So I’m starting now! Questions for those who started later:
- did you get pregnant again, if so, how was your delivery and do you think starting later affected anything?
- did you have significant adhesions or discomfort?
- if starting late, what were your results after being consistent? & how are you doing today?

My husband and I attempted to have sex for the first time pp yesterday and I immediately told him to stop because it hurt so bad. I had not felt around down there yet and I was immediately emotional when I felt like the opening was almost blocked by this hard bulge or something that is along the wall closest to the front of vagina. I don’t really know what to google and haven’t found anything on exactly what I’m experiencing. No other symptoms other than that. Has anyone experienced this before? Please tell me there’s hope.

Update: had my section this morning. Baby is healthy and it went smoothly. I did feel the spinal gonin and honestly it sucked but I survived. Being more rested than I was for my last one I noticed more sensation but not pain once it started and once my baby was out and in my arms I was so distracted I barely noticed anything.

It was amazing to be able to do skin to skin right away- i wasnt able to last time. Thank you everyone for your reassurance a d support it was very helpful to my nerves!

Tomorrow is my planned csection. My last one was an emergency csection and I barely felt anything for the epidural needle and spinal due to pain meds and contractions being more painful.

Others have shared on a previous post there stories which have been helpful but I cant shake the anxiety tonight of what the hell a planned one will be like when I don't have distractions from the needle.

Im also worried because I remember my anxiety when I had my emergency section and being in tears as I went into surgery. Im just very overwhelmed tonight and feel badly because I wish I was just excited to meet my new little one.

FTM & I had my emergency c-section on Apr 16th. About 2 weeks PP I had a skin layer tear on the outer left edge of the incision. It didn’t bleed or get infected & it’s visibly closed up now 2 weeks later. Or so I thought. This morning I noticed that on the right side of where I had initially torn, I tore again. It was smaller this time, but it looks deeper & is noticeably bleeding. I haven’t done anything strenuous & have only been lifting my baby (he’s 11lbs now, so on the heavier side). I have a phone dr appt in like an hr so I’ll see what they say. But just wondering if anyone has had repeat skin level tears from their incision? What caused it? Did u have to get re-stitched? Just wanting to heal up properly & get on with my life :/

Hi mommas! I am 5 weeks postpartum c-section, this is my 4th baby but first c section. I usually get back to working out once I’m cleared with no fear besides the typical body dysmorphia as my body changes. This time around I’m honestly scared to get back to the gym. I had an emergency c section (which was traumatizing in itself) but now I’m scared of doing something wrong and having my incision open up or not being able to move the same as before.

What has been your experiences with going back to working out? Did you feel like you could lift weights, move around without any issues? Or should I be extra careful?

It’s been eleven weeks since I had an emergency c-section. Lately, after a more active day, but not my most active day, I started feeling some burning and discomfort in my incision. No redness or swelling except in an area where a stitch was getting pushed out like a splinter.

Then a few days later my whole left outward thigh started hurting on the surface of the skin. It feels like someone went at my thigh with sandpaper or that it’s really exposed and raw. It’s not super painful but persistent enough to wake me up from sleep. It feels similar to nerve pain I’ve had in the past. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m guessing the nerves are healing and it’s lighting up that particular area.

Hi! I gave birth due to frank breech at 40 weeks pregnant with my first. He was moving around a lot and I was already in labor. Everything went fine. The doctor did a low vertical (tbh not fully sure why) but told me and put in the op notes that it is low enough for a VBAC. I am now 8 months pp and thinking about the next baby in the next 6 months.

Would you trust the doctor’s word re: VBAC?
How long would you wait between births?

I had a T-incision/classical-style c-section in 2024 due to a breech baby. There will be about 29 months between that birth and this baby’s due date.
I’ve been trying to research VBAC/TOLAC after a T-incision, but a lot of the studies and recommendations seem outdated or based on limited/skewed data. I also know many women who attempt VBACs after classical or T-incisions end up choosing home birth or midwifery care because so many OBs refuse to support them in any capacity.
I fully understand there are risks, including rupture, and I’m not denying that. But because of that risk, I actually wantmonitored hospital care so that if something were to happen, I’d have immediate access to surgery.
My biggest question is: how do I advocate for myself with providers? So far, multiple OBs have told me there is “no chance” of a trial of labor. But with my previous pregnancies, even my Braxton Hicks contractions have been extremely strong, so my uterus is going to contract regardless — whether from spontaneous labor, prodromal labor, or just daily contractions.
Another issue is that the OBs I’ve spoken to want me to schedule a repeat c-section at 36 weeks because I previously went into labor naturally at 37+5. I’m really uncomfortable with that recommendation. I don’t feel comfortable delivering that early purely out of fear that I might labor naturally, especially knowing the increased NICU risks for baby at 36 weeks.
I’d be much more comfortable either:
-scheduling a repeat c-section closer to 38 weeks, OR

-waiting for spontaneous labor, immediately going to the hospital, and having a c-section then. I live about 10 minutes from the hospital, so I could realistically be there within 20 minutes of labor starting.

I’m just trying to find a provider who will have an evidence-based conversation with me, support informed consent, and not completely deny care based only on blanket policies or outdated findings.
Has anyone here successfully advocated for themselves in a similar situation? What helped? What questions should I be asking providers?