I have a question for those of you who have had c-sections. How long did it really take you to get up and going again? I keep seeing how everyone calls it major abdominal surgery and it takes months to feel like yourself again ect. After my major surgeries, I was up and going within a month but I was younger and wasn't going through major hormonal changes and taking care of a baby too. I am trying to figure out a reasonable maternity leave time. I get 10 weeks paid total but I was hoping to extend it by going back to work part time earlier (maybe around 6 weeks) so we can avoid putting a 10 week old in day care. I am a graduate student working a research lab so my schedule is very flexible but most of my work is done standing up and it requires a decent amount of walking back and forth.
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I found recovery quick for both. Within two weeks I has up and athem. However I think the DR recommend 6 week before any heavy lifting.
I thought C-sections were easy compared to other surgeries I had had.
The recovery from the C-section was cake compared to the proctocolectomy surgery, and about on par with the take-down surgery - I was (am) young when I had it, so I was getting back to normal after a month or so.
As far as having a baby goes, though, I felt like the emotional and physical recovery and adjustment took much longer. I started back to work part-time around 10 weeks. I don't know if you can take unpaid time off, but FMLA allowed me to take 12 weeks total.
Every woman is different I'm sure, but I would recommend planning to take as much time off as you can. You can always come back sooner if you're up for it!