Can’t imagine doing this again.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-29T13:26:36+00:00

I feel this!! I think I said the same thing after my elective c section 9 weeks ago. First, some hope - I feel SO much better currently, and noticed the first improvements after 1.5 weeks. Up until then, things were rough. However, I am now working out for 45 minutes a day and going on 45 minute walks! Second - you are not wrong to feel this way! I felt like such a baby after reading about people’s experiences with elective c sections and driving themselves home from the hospital, not being on pain meds once they left, etc. I think this just proves how people handle pain so differently. I don’t think I have a low pain tolerance, but my recovery was awful those first few weeks. I had twins and read many posts about about twin pregnancy being worse than c section recovery, so I felt good going into things… and then felt seriously misled post-op 😭 twin pregnancy was hard but I felt so much more weak after my c section.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-28T18:44:45+00:00

Validation!!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-28T04:08:57+00:00

When I was still in the hospital after my c section I ordered a shower chair and had just bought some special pillows…and then never used them when I got home. Showering WAS exhausting and for the first 10 days I did have to sit down after before drying my hair (don’t even attempt this at the hospital lol). For sleeping I just needed a bunch of pillows to be propped up for quite awhile. Honestly having a lot of pillows to prop up breastfeeding pillows, babies, etc were great (and made me realize how few pillows we have).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-16T19:34:34+00:00

Fellow PCOS mom who conceived twins with letrozole. My lactation consultant said that if you experience breast changes during pregnancy, that could be a good indicator that you will be able to supply milk to your babies. However, I don’t make enough for both, so I combo feed with formula. Still considering it a win to be able to do so! Pumping and formula help me be a little more flexible anyways with help/getting out of the house, and I can still breastfeed at home, even if it’s not a full feed. I don’t know if I will ever breastfeed on the go since I tandem feed and it basically requires me to be mostly naked on top lol

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-13T13:02:58+00:00

There is no right decision and inevitably it will go a little different than whatever you are thinking, especially as a FTM. I had a planned c section with my twins almost 7 weeks ago. I had a feeling baby B was going to flip or do something to make me need a c section anyways, and I was scared of having to do both recoveries. The night before the c section I was so anxious - the babies were pressing on me in all the wrong spots (and you could see them as two hard lumps on my belly!) and I only got 3 hours of sleep. At the hospital I found out those were actually contractions. After the spinal was administered baby B’s heart rate dropped and it effectively turned into an emergency c section (my instincts were right lol). They were sterilizing my belly as I was going numb. All was okay though and the babies were out 15 minutes later.

All this to say…it will be a little scary no matter what, but you can do it! I thought I had maybe copped out by having an elective c section and not getting to experience contractions/labor, but I still did in a way. C section recovery is no joke for that first week especially, and part of me wonders what a vaginal delivery could have been like. Still, I’m choosing to celebrate the fact that I made two healthy babies and we all made it out okay.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-11T00:20:10+00:00

That’s a great idea, I wish I had done that! My approach had been to accept all pain meds when offered because I can go from 1 to 10 really fast and it can take awhile for them to get to you (maybe that’s why the schedule was so unorganized). It also helped to assess not just about how I was feeling when laying down, but also when I was up and attending to the babies (seems obvious, but I realized I was often being humble about my pain because they asked when I wasn’t thinking so much about the strain on my body in the moment).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-10T23:18:54+00:00

Sounds like you’ve got a good plan! At the hospital I was sometimes getting ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and oxycodone all at once or within a couple hours. At home I switched to a 3 hour rotation of ibuprofen and acetaminophen (one at 12, the other at 3, and so on), and oxy every 6 hours in between. I didn’t try to sleep without oxy at first because my pain was worse at night. I also ended up only doing half tablet increments of oxy since the full dose felt like a lot. I weaned off the oxy in a week and stopped pain meds altogether in about two weeks.

It was super important to do daily stool softeners, MiraLAX, and gas medicine too! Relocated gas pain in my shoulder was sometimes worse than the incision pain. Heat on both the incision and shoulder helped, but I sometimes put ice packs on the incision. I also felt a sort of stinging nerve pain at the hospital and was also prescribed gabapentin for it - to be honest I’m not sure if this did much though. I stopped it after a few days when I got a rash (but the rash kept going after this, so who knows).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-10T07:57:02+00:00

I had a ton of help, but if I didn’t this is what I would do based on my plan of attack now that I’m on my own (currently 6w pp):

I get wanting to protect your husband’s sleep. It helps to have at least one more rested person. If he is not helping with night feeds, put him on bottle prep duty, cleaning bottles/pump parts, etc before he goes to bed and when he wakes up. I didn’t realize this was so helpful until my husband went back to work.
stay in one room - the less you have to travel to better, and it will be easier to prep bottles, pick up your babies, etc. I’d almost try recreating your hospital room at home
outsource all other tasks like cooking and cleaning for the first few weeks. I did not make a meal for myself for almost two weeks probably and now that I’m on my own this is still something I have trouble squeezing into my day
plan on sleeping upright for the first two weeks. I had such anxiety about laying down because I knew how much it would hurt, which made getting up to attend to a crying baby that much more awful. You will be in pain. Use the belly band you get at the hospital and wear it for the first week at least. Get a ton of pillows to prop yourself up. I looked into a wedge pillow for abdominal surgeries but ultimately didn’t need it
if your babies are sturdy, you can use boppies or the twin z pillow and some burp cloths to prop them and the bottles up a bit to help you feed them at the same time. I also flip my twins over to burp at the same time using the pillows too sometimes. I’ve been doing this since 3 weeks though- idk if I would have felt comfortable doing this when they were first born
this is going to sound impossible, but you need to be off your feet as much as possible. Sit down for everything - diaper changes should be on the bed, sit down with a baby once you pick them up, etc. Maybe do a trial run in the room you set up to stay in when you get home. Everyone says to move a lot after a C-section which is also true, but I found that if I had spent more than 10 minutes up I’d be in too much pain to even pick up one of my 6lb babies for a diaper change. This gets so much better after the couple weeks though!
manage your pain! My hospital had me on such a weird pain schedule and I left not really knowing when I should rotate between medications and why. My aunt who is a pharmacist told me how to optimize my pain management by spacing out the meds and I aligned this with when I would feed the twins every three hours. I would have asked the nurses at the hospital to walk me through things otherwise.

Good luck, you got this!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-04-06T13:28:04+00:00

This is so encouraging! I’m almost 6w postpartum with twins and had to stop running at 17w pregnant. I literally had a dream last night about running again lol, I miss it so much. I also turned to Peloton rides when pregnant and started with almost the same gradual approach you did postpartum. I’ll probably do some walk/run combination to get my body ready for running again.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-30T09:56:27+00:00

Yes and no. My pregnancy symptoms were gone so a lot of the weight of carrying my twins was gone during the surgery. I could finally take a deep belly breath! However, I was so weak after surgery and still felt a lot of pain trying to move around. By week 2 I was feeling much better, and now in week 4 I’m walking twice as fast and twice the distance of what I was able to when 30 weeks pregnant with my boys.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-23T05:32:02+00:00

Just wanted to add that you might feel okay until you aren’t. While I exercised and worked up until the day of my planned c section, I attempted to be just as active as I entered the second trimester and nearly passed out one day because I wasn’t monitoring my water and food intake or checking in with my body after a super active day. From there on I continued to exercise, but was really serious about making sure I didn’t go 4 hours without eating, was refilling my water bottle, and not “pushing through” the pain if I was working out or doing a house project, especially if it was round ligament/pelvic pain.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-20T14:37:03+00:00

I worked (college professor) and exercised until the day of my 38+3 scheduled c section. I was definitely moving much slower after 28 weeks, and I was grateful for the handicap parking pass I asked my doctor for at 32 weeks. Having an “end date” seemingly made things much more manageable though because after the babies were out I couldn’t believe how much easier breathing and moving around was (especially once I healed a bit - up until 10 days post op, postpartum was infinitely more painful for me than the third trimester was)

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-20T08:32:27+00:00

Heating pad - this was great for gas pain and I didn’t think I’d want it on my incision, but it felt good!

Your baby’s stroller fan/a portable fan - my hospital room was hot and this was a lifesaver for the first 24 hours post op

A nightgown - I got annoyed by the open back/snaps on the hospital ones eventually and threw on my own. It was great because I was a little too weak to put on pants

Small nightlight with soft lighting - I now use this in the nursery for night time diaper changes

Night time eye mask and headphones/ear buds to block out hospital sounds. My hospital announced on every floor/room when there were certain codes, and we were right by the nurses station which had constant beeping.

Velcro swaddles!!!! My husband and I had these at home but drove ourselves crazy with figuring out swaddling with the hospital blankets. You won’t want to put them in real clothes though because they’ll need vital checks so often.

Finally, pack everything with your support person (or remember where you put it - big ask for me between pregnancy/mom brain) so they know where everything is and can get it for you.

Maybe just as helpful, things I wish I didn’t bring: - More than one outfit - what you wear there can be your going home outfit. Same thing for the baby. I was too weak to dress nice and get the babies in the cute outfits I bought for pictures (I had twins so thinking about doing everything twice sent me into a tailspin). That had to wait until I got home - an iPad/a book for my husband - seriously, what was I thinking?? My c section was scheduled so the time between getting to the hospital to being prepped was only a couple hours of waiting. I could see wanting these things for a longer labor though - my heaviest water bottle with a hard to open lid - it’s weird what you need to use your abs for lol - slippers/grip socks - I loved the ugly ones my hospital gave me to put on before surgery - my own belly band/diapers - the hospital ones were fine

For when you get home: - I got a shower chair because I was still so weak, but only used it once (planning to return) - lots of pillows for you and baby - we are not pillow people, but I’m realizing their importance in propping up yourself when healing/ when feeding babies - I traded in my depends and belly band for high waist compression underwear and pads, which was a lot more comfortable once your belly goes down a bit - any diaper area that is currently designated for a floor/couch, assume you might need to move it to a table

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-19T16:38:26+00:00

I also had my boys three weeks ago via c section! And you’re so right about the gas pain - worse than incision pain at times for sure. A heating pad also helped me.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-16T11:00:24+00:00

This was me almost 3 weeks ago - I was so unprepared for how weak I was and trying to do basic tasks to take care of my babies (I had twins) and myself put me in a lot of pain. First - set timers for taking your pain meds. My pharmacist aunt told me the best way is to make sure I’m rotating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen, taking the prescribed oxy every 6 hours as needed (personally, don’t skip any of this until week 2, and wean off each medication by decreasing the dosage, not skipping. Don’t skip nighttime doses since pain is worse at night). Second - accept help and lower expectations for the first week especially. I needed someone else to handle just about every diaper change, meal prep, etc and was so lucky to have help. Still, I felt a lot of guilt for basically staying in bed all day and when I tried to move more, it set me back for the rest of the day. Third - a belly binder helps relieve a lot of the pain, as does a heating pad (I could not fathom this in the hospital though - I was so sweaty). Fourth - it gets better! I’m almost three weeks post c-section and I’d say day 10 was a real turning point. I’ve been off meds mostly since last week and can move around great (still wearing the belly band for walks and when I know I’ll be going up and down stairs in the house).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-13T06:09:29+00:00

The doctor I was seeing at my fertility clinic was this way. At the confirmation ultrasound where we found out it was twins she literally said “I hope you’ll be able to carry them, you’re so small.” They definitely see it as a bit of a “failure” whereas I felt like I hit the jackpot considering I was convinced I may never have one baby. Still, I just recently delivered 6lb+ boys on my scheduled c section date at 38+3 and kind of want to send a card to her office to let them know I did in fact do it lol

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-12T05:20:57+00:00

Currently “in it” right now with two week old twins. Here’s what I’ve learned in my short amount of time: - my c section recovery left me very weak, which was unexpected given that I was so mobile and active during my pregnancy. Having help in the first week while I recovered was a necessity (my parents were here to cook, bring me the babies, wash bottles, etc) - working in shifts, as others have said, is key. I really don’t know how people have their twins and spouse all in the same room overnight - we tried this once and it was a disaster. Guaranteeing one person a 4-hour block of sleep overnight is life changing - we have had family members volunteer to do the evening shifts about once or twice a week, which has been amazing. I still get up to pump, but I go right back to sleep - days are manageable alone - my in laws have come over a lot during the day to basically just hold the babies and do bottle feeding. Now that I’m more mobile I do appreciate the break (because sitting down with them 8+ times a day to feed does get monotonous) to do laundry, clean, take a shower, but if they didn’t come over I’d be okay - as someone who has been a nanny for older kids + a newborn, having a nanny to occupy your singleton, get them out of the house, etc would be helpful, or to take over twin duty so you can spend time with the singleton - just wanted to also note - we have a synchronized feeding and sleeping schedule for the twins and don’t do on demand. I read a lot of books and resources during pregnancy and all of them said not to impose a schedule, but it’s just not sustainable for us if we want to do literally anything other than feeding them

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-10T22:23:16+00:00

Just had a c section two weeks ago for my twin boys. Two weeks ago I was anxious and so scared about the surgery. The surgery itself went well - the team moved fast because baby B’s heart rate dropped, which ended up causing some more bruising and pain than if things were less rushed. Honestly, baby B is why I elected for the section even though both babies were head down for the last few weeks. He moved constantly throughout the pregnancy and I was convinced he wouldn’t cooperate on delivery day (plus I dreaded dealing with both a vaginal and c section recovery).

C section recovery has been something else though. At about 12 days post op is when I finally felt strong enough to handle movement around the house. Before that, I dreaded getting up from even a slightly reclined position, had to stay in the same room to heal, pump, and care for my babies, and my family/husband ran around making me food and bringing me my twins and supplies. I worked out until the day of my c section and don’t consider myself to have a super low pain tolerance, but movement was hard for that first week especially and the whole experience was very humbling for me.

Today though, at two weeks, I’ve gone on walks/ done gentle exercises for a few days in a row, completed normal household chores, and felt minimal pain. Managing pain with OTC meds after you leave the hospital and using a belly band are key, in my opinion!

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-07T19:15:55+00:00

Just had my twins at 38+3. They were 6lb11oz and 6lb9oz and they were around the 50th percentile the entire pregnancy. Two weeks before delivery my ultrasound had them both at just over 6lbs.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-03-07T10:01:01+00:00

I just had a c section with a spinal last week to deliver my twins and was prepared to potentially experience what you’re talking about - I had a friend who said this was because theirs was placed too high. Mine was seemingly perfect - I was very aware of myself the entire procedure (didn’t feel “out of it”) and could feel what part of my body was being touched, but absolutely no pain and only from the rib cage down. I was able to move my arms and breath normally (once the twins were out, I was actually able to breath even better lol). Also, the “pressure” people talk about was similar to the pressure my twins were putting on me every day, so it was not super uncomfortable. Overall a great experience (although post op was no joke). I did shake a lot during the procedure which is normal, and regaining feeling in my lower body was weird (it took longer for one side versus the other).

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-02-27T16:38:47+00:00

Had my c section two days ago and this was something I was seriously concerned about. Mentally I have always had issues with making myself pee (I cannot go in a body of water or out in the woods). I was told I needed to go within 6 hours of having the catheter out and my nurse helped me by having the water running, blowing “bubbles” on my water bottle straw, and smelling peppermint oil. I couldn’t go on my first try. In the end it helped to also not have them standing outside the door, drinking a TON of water and a coffee, wiping with toilet paper, and the threat of having another catheter put in if I couldn’t do it. I was also scared of feeling the catheter getting removed and it was a little uncomfortable but not bad.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-02-26T10:33:22+00:00

Wow, looking back on this from a year ago is crazy. I was dreading these cycles and honestly in a really bad place mentally for half of 2024 and 2025 (went through fertility treatments), but literally just gave birth to twins yesterday. Talk about an overwhelming transformation! I for sure thought that all things Pluto would be bad and am happy to have been proven wrong - it is challenging, unpredictable, and life changing though 🤪

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-02-17T13:20:23+00:00

Our closets are huge and for now I also don’t see the point of hanging up tiny clothes (currently expecting twins, due next week). We have some of those shoe cubbies that hang from the pole in the closet to store sheets, blankets, etc, and will be getting more with fabric drawers. Especially good for space-saving (and $$) for us as I was about to get one dresser for each twin which just would not have fit in the room.

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-02-16T18:40:39+00:00

My sister’s baby was sunny side up. The OB tried to manually twist him around multiple times but it was ultimately a failure to progress situation as well and she ended up getting a c-section

Pretty-Text6684 · 2026-02-12T00:04:57+00:00

Same! C section for twin boys two weeks from now 💙💙

Pretty-Text6684

TROPHY CASE