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Hey miranda, My swelling has gone down alot. It's been exactly 4 weeks now since surgery. There's a tiny little bump on the belly b___ton. It doesn't hurt to touch it, but I get so freaked out when I do touch it. I can kinda feel the mesh, something whatever it is. I think I remember my doctor saying that I would probably get scar tissue around the site... I haven't had to use the binder at all this week. The binder I have is awesome. I got it after my second c section too! It's from " one step ahead catalog" a post partum binder. It has no boning, it stretches and has velcro. Highly recommend those one. My kids are 6 and 4. Actually, my doctor said that you could get pregnant right away because the belly wouldn't start protruding until the 5th month or so and he said that would be plenty of time for it to heal. But, I don't know about that....I rather wait longer for it to heal REAL good. We'll I'm feeling better, how about you? keep me posted.

hey ann, so glad to hear your feeling better! my belly b___ton is still sticking out! it's been 5 1/2 weeks now. i have another follow up apt tomorrow. he said he may have to aspirate fluid from the area. OUCH! i still have to wear a binder every day! i bought a new one, but it's not really supportive. i should check out one step ahead. thanks for the input! i'll let you know what the dr. says tomorrow!

I had a baby 4 years ago and developed an incisional hernia in a 20 inch scar for abdominal surgery abover my belly b___ton. It all started to split at 26 weeks. I ended up with severe pain (particularly in the left hand side) until the birth (by C section). I am now 27 weeks pregnant and it is all happening again. New consultant OB now and he doesn't seem very interested. I am on bed rest and was starting to wish I had been meshed, but having read all of your stories I am glad I held out. The OB wants to do a c section at 39 and half weeks! I am in so much pain I don't see how I can hold on that long (my first was born at 38 weeks). I live in the UK and am treated as a rare and odd case and almost negligent for wanting to have another baby ater all the problems with the first. The only good things at the moment is that my c section scar seems to be holding on and that the baby appears to be ok, thank goodness. 3 months and counting - I just hope I don't split open in the meantime!

hope, i hope your pain gets better! my doctor told me a few of her patients that had abdominal repairs and then got pregnant had some pain in the middle of their pregnancies, but then it got better towards the end. i'm still nervous about having another pregnancy, but i just hope my mesh will hold up and i won't b__w open. good luck!

Thank you Miranda for your kind words. It's amazing how you forget the pain after you have the first baby (something genetic I suspect) so that the second time you get pregnant you think it won't happen again! I hope in your case that it doesn't - my scar is so big and still had two small holes in it that I should have realised. This said, it is all worth it to have a wonderful baby at the end. My first child is a the light of my life. One thing I have found on the internet and am waiting to arrive is a 'belly bra' - it is a bra that extend down tothe bottom of the belly and is supposed to take the wait off your pelvis. I hope that this may relieve some of my upper adominal pain too. It's worth a try - I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again for responding and good luck with any forthcoming pregnancies.

I was just diagnosed with a hernia abouve my belly b___ton. they have said they are just going to leave it, i asked the doctor what would happen if i became preggy and he just said well then it would get worse...im only 24...i have no children yet and now this...what am i going to do

I do not mean to get off topic, but what causes a hernia? I hear people say be careful of how you lift things or you would get one but is that true? I think all of you woman who chose to get pregnant after having a hernia and going through that pain are amazing. I can not imagine ever getting pregnant again if I had to go through that. I hope all of your pregnancies go well and you and baby are healty.

depending on where the hernias are they can be cause by different things...a weakness in the lining of the stomach wall, heavy lifting, obesity....and the list goes on.

Hi Myshale, It's amazing how you psychy works to help you reproduce. I had completely forgotten the pain my incisional hernia caused during my first pregnancy, because the elation of having a baby made everything else seem trivial. It is worth remembering that hernias can heal themselves. After my baby was born I ma__saged the hernia with calendula oil each day and it went back into my abdomen and the scar started to heal naturally. By the time I got pregnant again I had two holes the size of peas. I was offered mesh, but decided against it as it doesn't stretch (so can cause additional pain if you get pregnant again). You may find your hernia gets better before you get pregnant. If it doesn't, then bed rest, oil, ma__sage etc. after 26 weeks can all help and then you only have a couple of months and it's all over! Good luck! It is worth it.

To answer TC's question in my case...my doctor said mine was caused because i'm so pet_te and i had a large baby. i carried her straight out front, so it caused an umbilical hernia and diastis recti(splitting of my abdominal wall around it). it could also be a genetic predisposition, a weakness in the abdominal fascia. i'm still nervous about having another baby, that the mesh will not stretch, causing a hernia to occur somewhere else. i may be predisposed to large babies and it may be inevitable. regardless, the joy of a child is far outweighing than any pain that i must go through. i just have to pray that God will take care of my body if it's His will that i have another baby.

Hey miranda, I just went back to my doctor for follow-up. Everything is healing just fine he said. Because I'm skinny girl, he said it will still feel like a tiny knob under my belly b___ton....I guess I'm scarred for life! among other places...LOL. Anyways, it's been about 6 weeks from surgery and I am feeling almost back to normal. Except sometimes I feel sore at my belly b___ton especially when I bend over? I wonder if it's the mesh...Do you ever feel that? .......To all the girls that are contemplating hernia surgery, do some research, get second opinions, even a third one, if you have to, Some doctors will yes and some no. Basically, your gonna be in limbo for awhile, that's what happened to me. I couldn't decide, and just wished some doctor would say YES get it done or no nothing will happen if you do get pregnant. Nobody has a crystal ball, and for me finally after 2 years of not knowing what to do about my abdominal hernia, I got it repaired. In my opinion, if you do want more kids, get it repaired. Because the risk of something rupturing and putting yourself as well as the baby at risk, is not worth it. Better to be safe then sorry. Just because somebody's else's hernia during pregnancy held up doesn't mean yours will.....Good Luck to everybody and keep us all posted... :)

I had two umbilical hernia repairs after my 4 year old was born. The second time the mesh screen was used, I am reading your replies, wondering if anyone has had more than one repair and have had sucessful births/s after. I'm guessing I'll probably not be trying. My last surgeon said I had about a 75% chance of it coming back if I were to become pregnant again,

Hello everyone. I'm glad I'm not the only one with theses questions about pregnancy. I just had an incisional hernia repair 3 weeks ago. The pain from the recovery was worse for me than what I remember of my c-section. I am doing a lot better now. Still some swelling and sharp pains in the area where the mesh is. My question was how long should I wait to get pregnant? I've been wanting another baby for some time now. I'm a little scared about what to expect from this mesh with pregnancy though. Any response is appreciated. Thanks.

i remember before i had this surgery, i was searching and searching for answers as to what to do from different doctors and friends. hardly anyone had an answer based on experience whether getting the mesh placed to fix the hernia and then having another pregnancy was the best option. i had to weigh what was the lesser of two evils. to me, having the hernia get worse during pregnancy and possibly having it incarcerate (bowels getting trapped by the growing uterus) resulting in emergency surgery while pregnant, was worse. do i want another baby? yes. am i scared it will be a painful pregnancy since the mesh doesn't stretch? yes. i did have one OB tell me she had several patients who had tummy tucks and hernia mesh repairs and got pregnant again. she saID they all did fine. one of them had a huge mesh in with staples and she only experienced some stretching pain in the middle of the pregnancy, which got better with time. i'm hoping for the best and praying about it. as ann said, there is no crystal ball and every person is different with a different situation. it's been 7 weeks since my hernia repair and i feel great! hardly any pain or swelling, except when i do too many sit ups. i do have a hardness under my belly b___ton and i can feel the mesh at times, but it's not bothersome. my hernia is repaired but my belly b___ton still sticks out a little bit. the surgeon did an ultrasound last week and i still have a little fluid acc_mulation under it. it should go away with time. another thing he told me was due to the severity of my hernia, my belly b___ton will never be an Innie again. the mesh done as a laproscopic repair does not warrant for that and an innie can only be accomplished with an open procedure. oh well, bye bye bikinis. i guess i'm going to have to give into the middle aged mama one piece or tankini! however, these babies are so worth it!

Just wanted to let you know... I'm less than two weeks away from my scheduled date and haven't had any trouble out of the hernia that was repaired almost exactly a year ago. (Open procedure with mesh for incisional hernia) It did pull and burn a little at the end of the 2nd trimester / beginning of the 3rd, but nothing since. We'll see how recovery with it goes!

hi 3rd time mommy! so glad to hear from you! congrats on the homestretch! so glad to hear the pain has gotten better as you progressed. my doctor said that has happened with her other patients. haven't heard from Brachah in a long time? worried about her. let us know how the c section goes! will they repair the hernia again during the c? did your repair hold up, or do you think it needs repair again? let us know!