One in three women has a C-section. And almost all of them walk out of the hospital without a single tool for how to rehabilitate from it.
I know this because I was one of them. And I spent the next 20 years watching the same thing happen to client after client in my studio.
A C-section is a major abdominal surgery. I will keep saying that until it lands. Because somewhere along the way we collectively decided that because it is common, it is not a big deal. But it’s a big fucking deall. And you deserve to have a fully recovered body.
What actually happens during a C-section
Let me walk you through it because I think a lot of women do not fully understand what was done to their bodies, and that matters when it comes to rehabilitation.
They give you an epidural to numb you from the waist down. They strap your arms out to the sides. They put a curtain up so you cannot see what is happening. Then they cut through the skin, cauterizing as they go, which has a smell I will not describe, through the layers of tissue and muscle, and into the uterus to get the baby out.
When I had my emergency C-section with my twin daughters, I ordered my hospital records afterward because I wanted to understand what had happened to my body. What I found out was that they had cut through the abdominals, rolled them back, and clipped them. Then they went through the uterus, delivered the twins, and stapled and sewed me back up.
That is major surgery. And it was performed on my core, the muscles that support literally everything else in my body.
What happened to me afterward
I had been a professional dancer before my pregnancy. Then I was suddenly on bedrest at seven months because the twins were trying to make their escape early. Two months of almost no movement. Then an emergency C-section. Then five more days in the hospital.
When they told me to get up and walk the halls, I tried. And I was hunched completely over. Because my body had nothing left to support itself with. The muscles that were supposed to hold me upright had been cut.
My scar also did not heal properly. I ended up back in the office where a nurse had to poke into the incision with a wooden stick to release an infection. She poked a hole in the center and I could feel fluid running out over my stomach and hips. Then I had to pack the incision with gauze on both sides until it healed.
I was doing this while nursing two premature newborns, one of whom came homw with me five days later and one of whom stayed in the NICU for another week because she was just three pounds eleven ounces.
I share all of that not for dramatics but because I want you to understand what your body went through. And why what you do afterward matters so much.
Why weak abdominals cause problems everywhere
Think of your abdominals as a corset. When that corset is tight and strong it holds you upright, shoulders back, head in line with your spine, pelvis in alignment. When that corset is cut and never rehabilitated, everything else has to compensate.
Your spine takes on extra load. Your discs get compressed. If they compress to one side or the other they can hit a nerve. That is how a surgery from twenty years ago can be showing up today as low back pain, hip pain, knee pain, sciatic pain, neck pain, and headaches.
I had a client who was told for years that her pain was sciatic. After working with her I said I actually think it is your piriformis. She took that back to her physical therapist who agreed. Between the two of us we were able to strengthen her hips and abdominals and help alleviate the problem.
Everything is connected. That C-section surgery can effect your back, your hips, your knees, your posture, your headaches. All of it.
What you should have been told when you left the hospital
You should have been handed a prescription for physical therapy. The same way someone who has a knee replacement or shoulder surgery gets a referral, you should have gotten one too.
I worked as a physical therapy aide in Los Angeles for years. People came in for every kind of surgery. Knee. Hip. Shoulder. Back. But I never once saw a woman come in with a prescription for physical therapy after a C-section.
That infuriates me. It still does.
If you had a C-section, one, two, or more, mine were 19 months apart, and yes that did a lot to my body, here is what I want you to do. Find a Pilates instructor who specializes in post-baby rehabilitation. If insurance is a factor, find a physical therapist who is also trained in Pilates, because physical therapy will be covered. It will not be enough sessions, but it is a start.
If you have an HSA or FSA account, some Pilates sessions may be covered under that. It is worth checking.
Why Pilates and not just physical therapy
I love Pilates because it t works the deep foundational muscles, the ones that actually support your body long term, while keeping everything in alignment at the same time. You are not just strengthening one side or one muscle group. You are building the entire foundation.
It is gentle. It is not jarring. You do not need to be flexible. You do not need to be in shape. You do not need any particular level of fitness to start. I have worked with women from conception through the day before delivery. I have worked with women who have had hip replacements, spinal fusions, shoulder surgeries. It can be modified for anybody.
Get on a reformer if you can. Even just for your initial sessions. I say this all the time and I mean it every single time: it will change your life.
And it saved mine. As a solo mom to three toddlers recovering from two C-section surgeries 19 months apart, Pilates saved my body and honestly my sanity too. Exercise does that. Mind clarity, mental health, the ability to function, it is all connected.
It is never too late
Whether your C-section was two years ago or twenty. Whether you have been dealing with the downstream effects for a decade without connecting the dots. There is still so much that can be done.
My book WTF Happened to My Body? Fixing the Aftermath of Having Kids No Matter How Long Ago It Was has the exercises to get you started, with linked videos so you can see exactly what to do.
And if you have questions, about where to find a Pilates instructor, whether your symptoms might be related, anything, come find me on Instagram @nataliesayswtf. I am always happy to help.
You were not given the information you needed when you left that hospital. You have it now.
Natalie Garay is an author, podcast host, and future naturopathic doctor focused on women’s health after 40. Her book WTF Happened to My Body? Fixing the Aftermath of Having Kids No Matter How Long Ago It Was is available now in paperback, Kindle, and on Audible.
Listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
0 Comments
Leave a comment