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Thanks lisa - doing much better. Got re-st_tched back up last week. Hopefully it will not re-open. Again thank you to all - this forum helped so much!

I am SO sorry to hear about what you had to go through. I had a c-section 5 yrs. ago and the same thing happened to me. It's an infection. On April 11th of this year I had surgery to remove adhesions from my previous c-section. (my uterus was attached to my abdominal wall, the surgery preformed was more or less another c-section) Well I started running a fever of 103.7 the night I came home from the surgery. Went back to the hospital and started gushing fluid again while I still had the staples in. It was another infection so the Dr. sent me back to the OR and opened the wound and cleaned it out. I have now been off work for two months with a hole in my stomach that has to be packed daily with quaze and Dakins solution (bleach and saline solution). There was tunning as well so the total size was 10cm long and 5cm deep. It started off taking 75 inches of quaze and now takes half that. This has been the most painful thing I have ever been through and I feel for all of you that have incountered the same pain.

Same thing is happening to me. I delivered on 4-12-05, and my incision broke open 5 days after coming home. I am still draining fluid and blood. I have a nurse visit me once a day to pack the wound, and visit my OB once a week. It is so frustrating! The incision isn't healing and I'm really getting sick of having a hole in my tummy! It started of being 8.5 cm deep, and has only healed to about 5 cm, and now it has stayed there for over 2 weeks. I am just praying it will go away soon. The nurses are using some sort of alginate, made of seaweed, to pack it...no smell...so that's good. The thing I'm looking forward to when it's over is taking a normal shower!

TO MN MOM-Hang in there same thing happened to me however, i had a hole that was 9.5cm to the right and 5cm to the left. it took 9wks of packing to heal-i know how frustrated you are.

MN MOM- How are you doing? is your incision healing?

I had my incision open because of bleeding. And, I thought I was receiving poor medical care. Upon removing my stables, my Dr. noticed the blood clots and prescribed home nurse care which ent_tled a nurse to stop by my home everyday to stuff my incision so that it would heal from the bottom up, not allowing the incision to close until everything was clear and okay. I have to do this for at least a month. So far things are going good. I have one week left.

This is actually happeneing to me right now. I had a c-section of 6/3, released on 6/6, had a checkup to remove the staples on 6/8. While the Dr removed the staples, my incision started to gush clear, then a little blood. It never healed where the staples were, but the fluid needs to drain. This happened to me the last time I had a c-section in 2002, where the st_tches busted opened. I was given a antibiotic then, but not now...wonder why? I will certainly call my OB on Monday and request it. I go back on Thursday for a re-check. In the mean time, my husband is cleaning it out for me twice a day with a saline solution and peroxide...no packing needed. It is probably 1 1/2 inches wide and a little less than 1 inch deep. I get grossed out everytime I look at it...Thank God for hubby. He thinks it looks like it is healing from the inside out. Guess I'll know more on Thursday. It does help to know that this is more common than you think. I just wish it was over...I'm tired of freaking out about a hole in my belly and wearing a pad to absorb the fluid as needed.

SS you will be okay. I thought i would never heal. I had my baby on 12/14/04 an my incission entirely heald about 9.5 weeks later. I know it is a long time. I was walking around with a pad on my belly for at least 6 weeks. I was discouraged and horrified.I thought nobody in teh medical profession cared. I think that incisions healing slowly is no big deal to surgerons. They really should explain this better to their patients.It is very frustrating and discouraging, I cleaned my incision 3-4 x a day with peroxide and a touch of neosporin at night. You will heal. it just take some of us more time than others ( I don't know why). Keep up the good work hubby! Check for signs of infection. I hated being so weak after the preg and the surgery, then the never ending incission. I felt depressed.Don't be afrade to ask for help around the house and with the baby, even if you are feeling "okay".This will help you heal faster. Hang in there.You will feel so much better soon, and you will start to really enjoy that baby of yours. Good luck.

Sarah i had the same thing with my 1 and it ened having infection and they had to cut out a big chunk it healed and i had 2 more c-sections after that and going to have one in feb

This is awful that so many of us are going through this or have gone through it! I have one more Dr. visit left (at least I hope this is the last one) next week. This has been a painful experience that I would not wish upon anyone. My incision is now granulated tissue so a couple more weeks and it should be competely gone. I asked the doctor why this has happened to me twice now and he said I am just not a good healer. Well the home health nurses said the hole in my stomache was healinf amazingly fast. I think there is a natural bacteria or something that we must carry that increases are chance for infection following an abdominal surgery, or knows this is just my opinion. Best of wishes to everyone with your recoveries.

You know what makes me mad? i am mad that this is not discussed anywhere. They say you can get an infection, but some of us have had no infection and and went through this lengthly oozing process. Doctors fail to recognize that this is a problem for us and it is not only alarming, but affects how you feel direclty after you have the section and how you care for your baby. I wish ther were more discussions on this so women would not feel so isolated when it happens. Best wishes and happpy healing to all.

I too had this happen to me. 2 1-inch sections popped open a day after having my staples removed. It scared me half to death as I thought my insides were coming out!! It was just fluid and no blood. I had a nurse come to the house everyday for 4 weeks, and she packed the opening with sterile gauze to let it heal from the inside outwards. It wasn't a fun experience. But, on the good side, my OB said that it was a good thing that it did happen, or I would have been placed in hospital with a drainage tube. Nature took care of it for me. I healed up fast with no other side effects. I had been on pennicilin for infection before I was released from hospital but it wasn't enough I guess.

I am totally sympathetic as I had an emergency c section 10 days ago. Several nights ago I woke up with blood pouring out of my incision. Completely panicked at 3 am in the morning I went to the ER, where an ER Dr. and my OB examined me and I was told that the wound opening was fine, no sign of infection but that I had hematoma at the incision site that would likely clear up on its own. I was sent home with antibiotics to ward off any potential infection. Days later I am still bleeding quite heavily from the incision site with no change in the hard painful hematoma in my stomach. I hope the fact that your not alone helps you cope better. Good Luck!

I am so excited, I am finally done with this whole mess. My last doctors appointment was today. The incision now looks like if you were to fall and sc___pe your knee. It is still a little sensitive but nothing like the it was. I wish you all the best!!!!!!

I feel your pain as if it was mine again. I went through the same thing. I had my 4th section and had tubes tied. the staples were removed on day 5, went home and at about 11:30 i got out of bed and felt warm fluid and blood gushing out of my incision. I wert to the er and they put some packing in and gave me some oral abx. and sent home. Had a fever that night and was sent back to the er where I met the ob residents. They cleaned and rinsed the incisionl and then packed it with gauze. I also had the added problem of being allergic to the sticky stuff they put on you for bandages to stick. My incision was surrounded by red,swollen and itchy skin around the wound. Homecare came and changed dressings twice a day. the bandages would leak alot in bed and if i was out on an errand. Fortunately my incision did close up again. so it took about 6 weeks. Now, i have an added problem that the dressing changes caused. I had a pocket or tissue on my right side. and when the gauze was pushedinto that space it caught on to the clips they used to tie my tubes. My uterus is now pulled to the right side and is attached to my abdominal wall. I have horrible pain by the end of the day,. It radiatesto the back and its that pain you have with crampy periods. But other than that, I have no problems with the actual incision since its healed. good luck and remember that it will get better. My baby just turned 9 mos. on the 25 of june. Try and center on your baby and family and take all the help you can get. this is the time for you to take care of yourself by resting and being with your baby. Congratulations, it will heal and you will still have your beautiful baby. Oh, i read some stats reading that the opening of the incision is about 35%.

My son was delivered by emergency c-section on May 28, 2005 and on the day we were due to come home (6/1/05) my incision began to become red and swollen. They took out the staples, gave me a bag of iv antibiotic and a prescription for oral antibiotics and allowed me to go home with the understanding that I needed to see my OB the next day. Well, by the next day, there was the hole about the size of a dime. OB said it looked fine and to just keep changing guaze as it oozed. Since I hadn't any fever he wasn't concerned. Well, that hole was the size of a quarter or so by 6/5 and there were other holes developing. So I was back to the office, where they "dehisted" the wound. My wound ended up being about 11cm long by 3 1/2cm wide with one very deep pit. They told me that 4 other women that delivered within the same 24 hours as me had this happen to their incisions too and so they were reporting it to epidimiology. So now I have the visiting nurse (at first 2xs now 1x each day) and back to my OB once a week (about an hour away). It has really been hard - I am on maternity leave and this is affecting my time with my son before I have to get back to work, it has hurt my milk supply and ability to nurse comfortably, it definitely has harmed my self-esteem because it makes you feel so disgusting - I don't want to look at me so how can my husband?! Plus I thought my troubles were over - when I was 15 weeks pregnant I had surgery to remove my left ovary because of a very large tumor that was discovered during my first ultrasound! I did a lot of reading and research on pregnancy and childbirth and this was not a complication of a c-sections that I ever read about! With it being as common as it is they really should tell you more about it! And to think some women schedule a c-section like a pedicure!