C-SECTION RECOVERY

April is c-section awareness month so we wanted to share with you information on c-sections including what to expect and recovery.

C-sections are common, accounting for around 25% of births in the UK (that's around 1 in 4 pregnancies).

Whether you choose to have an elective c-section or if it is an emergency, the recovery period can differ greatly from woman to women and you may be up and about shortly after surgery or in bed for what seems an eternity. It isn't a simple healing process, your body has gone through 9 months of growing a baby, followed by major surgery and society expects you to bounce back almost immediately. We need to break this cycle, it is okay and completely normal to recuperate after an operation so don't be too hard on yourself or overexert yourself to prove something to someone else.

WHAT TO EXPECT

As with all major surgeries a caesarean section takes time and isn't complete within the 10-15 minute timeframe you may have seen on the big screen. The whole operation takes roughly 40-50 minutes.

In most cases the surgery will be carried out under spinal or epidural anaesthetic. An incision will be made usually just below your bikini line (in some rare instances it may be a vertical incision), measuring about 10 to 20cm long so baby can be delivered.