I had my check-up with the Obgyn yesterday, and all is well. He said I healed well and the c section scar is just a thin pink line. I think it’s partly due to the fact that I’ve always scarred well, but also due to the fact that the Obgyn works so neatly. The midwife said when we were in theatre, in front of the Obgyn, that she always tells him that he can become a plastic surgeon when he gets tired of being an Obgyn.
He did a physical exam, as well as an external scan to check that my uterus is back to its original size, and then he started to look for my ovaries. It took quite a while for him to find the left one, but he couldn’t find the right one. He said I don’t have to worry though as that is a good sign that they are still shut down due to the breastfeeding, and that he would only see them if I had a cyst or follicles as they are surrounded by my small intestine. So I’m not going to worry about that.
He also did a pap smear and then he said that my cervix was twisted to the left and it’s irritated because it started to bleed when he did the pap smear. Fortunately it was nothing like my last pap smear, at the FS that did my first IVF – then I bled so much that the bed I was lying on, as well as the gown I was wearing was soaked in blood. So far I’ve only had a tiny bit of spotting this morning.
We also had a discussion I haven’t had in ages – birth control. He gave me a script for a progesterone-only pill, since I’m exclusively breastfeeding and all the other pills will affect my milk supply, but he also said that while I’m breastfeeding exclusively I will not get pregnant, so I will think about it a bit before I decide if I’m actually going to take the pill or not.
I also asked him the question I’ve been thinking about already for quite some time – how long before we can try to get pregnant again? At first he said we shouldn’t try for at least 18-24 months. I was not happy with that answer! I told him that I’m almost 41 years old and then he said that he would recommend that we wait another 6 months before trying but then I can’t try for a vaginal birth again, because it would be too soon, so together with this fact and the fact that my cervix gave trouble with baby G’s birth and what he saw with my pap smear he would suggest I should just go for a c section when I get pregnant again and not even try a vaginal birth. This coming from a Obgyn that is pro-vaginal birth.
My midwife told me 4 days after baby G was born that I can only go to them for our second child if there will be an 18 month gap between the two babies. They won’t attempt a vaginal birth earlier than that as they think it’s too risky. She also warned me that they don’t do scheduled c sections at the birthing centre I went to, so if I want to give birth there again I have to try a vaginal birth. So I guess we will see how quickly I will get pregnant again, and then decide how and where I’ll give birth. I know my mom was pregnant with my sister when I was 5-6 months old, and she had a c section with me and she even went over the due date by almost 2 weeks before she also had my sister via c section, and there were no complications.
The only problem I have with the fact that I might have to go for a c section again is that the first 4-5 weeks after the c section were really very sore, and I had hoped not to go through that again. The first night already they told me that my body is processing the pain medication a lot quicker than normal, and the effect was that I had to get stronger medication than normal, and even that worked out before I was allowed to take the next dose. Most ladies I know who have had c sections told me it was not so bad, but mine was really not fun! Up to 2 weeks postpartum I could only sleep on my back and if I tried to sleep on my side I had really sharp stabbing pains in my abdomen that were incredibly sore. Later I could sleep on my side but I woke up every time I turned because of the stabbing pains.
Also for some weird reason I got the same gas pains one gets after a lap, after my c section. It is obviously not normal because no one in the birthing centre knew what it was. Even my midwife was worried that there might have been something wrong with my lungs and asked the Obgyn to come and see me. I just had to tell him that it feels like lap gas pain and he knew exactly what was wrong, fortunately he knew of medication that would work and prescribed it to me. Just in time because a little before that I was actually in so much pain I begged my DH with tears in my eyes to try and rub my back in the hope that it would alleviate some of the pain. I could almost not hold baby G while breastfeeding as his weight made the pain even worse.
I was really very disappointed that baby G’s birth ended in a c section, and I don’t know if that had maybe something to do with the fact that I didn’t cope well afterwards. I know around 5 weeks postpartum I had to have a good talk with myself and change my attitude, and then I started to gradually feel better.
I must say I don’t think I’ll go to this Obgyn again, even though I really like him, but he is just too far away for us. His practice moved recently and it took us about 1.5 hours to get there and the same to get back home. I cannot see us driving all that way in the later stages of pregnancy on a weekly basis. The only way I can see us using him again is if we go through my midwife again and only go and see him once at 34 weeks.
I weighed myself yesterday at the Obgyn and I have lost about 12 kg’s in the last 7 weeks. That means I’m 2 kg’s lighter than I was before I got pregnant. I’m happy about that, but I hope to lose another 3-5 kg’s or so. I was at my heaviest ever when I got pregnant.
Baby G is also doing very well at 7 weeks. He is sleeping much better during the day now, and he only wakes us around 2h00 in the morning and then again around 6h00. So I’m extremely happy about that, because I suddenly feel really good again! No more sleep deprivation! Since he isn’t waking so much anymore, I’ve decided that I’ll do all the night feeds again, and only pump breast milk if I’m going out for a long time so that I can feed baby G with a bottle. I’m sure DH is happy about that decision, not that he had to do many night feeds; I think he’s only done it about 3 times.
I have noticed however that every time I pump, there is more milk, so I guess my milk supply is increasing gradually, but the days that I do pump, I have trouble in the late afternoon and early evening to get enough milk into baby G. I have started to freeze some milk, so I do have some back up supply, if it really becomes a problem.
Baby G has grown so much that he only fits into the newborn clothes of Acker.mans, all the other brands don’t fit anymore, so we are dressing him in some newborn clothes and some 0-3 months clothes. He is also still wearing newborn nappies (diapers) and I think it will still be a couple of weeks before he outgrows those. I tried the eco nappy on last week, since he was 6 weeks old, but that is still way too big for him. I think he won’t fit in it for quite some time still, so against my will, he is still in disposable nappies.
He is also smiling and laughing more and more and my MIL and FIL were treated on Sunday to his charms and they are even more in love with him now than ever! My poor MIL was taken over the coals the other day by 2 different ladies because they thought she is treating baby G as her favourite grandchild now, and they reminded her that she has 2 other grandsons too. But I know that is not true, the fact that she didn’t mention the other 2 at that specific moment doesn’t mean she has a favourite! She paid a lot of attention to the other 2 too when they were babies, and they still get a lot of attention from her. As a matter of fact my in-laws had to babysit the other 2 again this past weekend, so they see them a lot! I’m just happy that baby G’s grandmother adores him so much and lavishes so much attention on him as she is his only grandmother.
Glad you are recovering well – I just wanted to let you know that I have a few different friends who have got pregnant while they were breast feeding so that method of birth control is not 100% at all!! My best friend has boys exactly 12 months apart which came about after the doctor told her the same thing! I don’t know why medical professionals still tell women that they won’t get pregnant if they are breastfeeding, its just not true. Wishing you luck and peace as you make decisions about your future!
Where it is highly unlikely that you will get pregnant while exclusively breast feeding, there are hundreds of documented situations where exclusively breastfeeding moms got pregnant anyways. My aunt’s 1st child was 3 months old when she found out she was pregnant and up until that moment she was exclusively bfing. She wasn’t even having periods yet. So just be careful and if it happens anyways just praise the Lord!!!! Congratulations on your beautiful miracle baby boy!
I am wondering how soon the c-sect scar can allow an expanding tummy during pregnancy…won’t the scar burst? People and docs say two years, although I know what you meant by cannot wait.