Your Belly and Scar

Today, at almost 5 months postpartum, I have a slight soreness in my stomach where my pant line lands. I am still wearing leggings or my maternity jeans for comfort in that area, hoping it will pass with time.

-Emily LaPierre

My children are 26 and 28 years old now. It was a long time ago. I feel like I am fully recovered. I felt fully recovered pretty early on. The only little reminder I have is when I stand at the kitchen sink to wash dishes. I guess I tend to lean into the counter a little. The edge of the counter top comes right to where my C-section incision is. It's not what I would call a pain or even a discomfort, it's just a strange little awareness that it's the same place where my c-section scar is.

-Cindy Krauss

Today my body is great. I absolutely feel fully recovered. Actually, that's not true, because carrying twins gave me Diastasis Recti. I still have an ab separation that hasn't closed. Occasionally I'll feel a little pain/strain if I'm on my back and sit up. But I feel completely recovered from the c-section itself. I'm not sure when it happened, but I no longer have that hard ridge of scar tissue at my incision! That was something I just discovered today!

-Amber Hunt

In the first three days, I wasn’t able to get out of bed because the wound had to heal. In my experience the scar took a long time to heal. It was difficult for me to carry Oscar around for longer periods for the next two month after having given birth. The scar was sensitive to touch even for several years.

-Juliane Wagner

No one explained to me that I would have nerve damage still 3 years later, or the belly pooch that no matter what I do will never go away.

-Emilie May Bezanson

My scar still swells up and itches after 25 years and the whole scar is numb, I really don’t know why.

-Ruby Schaefer

I do still have a lot of numbness in my lower abdomen and my daughter is three! The doctors said working those muscles would change that, but still no luck.

-Elizabeth Francis

I wish someone would have told me about how the scar feels forever afterward. It’s numb and hard/weird to touch.

I thought my body would bounce right back after birth, it never did. I eventually came to know and love my new body (post Lyla) and I’m working on it now post Nico.

-Raleigh Russel

I wasn't prepared for the odd numb sensation above my scar, it felt like my hand had fallen asleep and I was touching someone else stomach, that's how little feeling there was. The lack of feeling only extended about an inch and a half above the scar but it was so strange. Around four months after my surgery the numbness above my scar finally began to fade away. But I talked to a nurse in the NICU who told me that she was still numb around her scar for one year postpartum and I’ve heard that for some women the feeling never completely comes back (especially after multiple C-sections) so just be aware that results really vary from person to person and try not to worry about it too much.

For the first year I would occasionally get little pinching pains if my pants were too tight or rubbed against the scar the wrong way. Now two years later my scar doesn’t bother me at all, it’s a thin pale line above my pubic hair that’s hardly even noticeable unless you know where to look for it.

-Katrina Nevin

The c-section was harder to recover from than I could have imagined.  Two years later, the area of my incision still felt sore whenever I would sneeze.

-Kathryn Feeks Vieira