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Hi Heather. Thanks for responding. Sorry, I forgot to mention some things before. My daughter was fussing and I was trying to hurry. I was on an antibiotic for about 12 days, then my doctor said I didn't need anymore because there was no infection. They did take a culture of the wound in the ER that night and I am going to ask my doctor about the results. He did say that I had a hematoma that had formed, but no infection. He told me that it was very unusual for a hematoma to from seven weeks postpartum, but didn't mean it was anything serious either. We'll see what he thinks today. This new hole is right next to the one that just healed up. Maybe it's just my incision that has opened. I don't know. Seems strange to me that it would open affter ten weeks. The whole thing is driving me nuts. I just want to be healed and move on.

Hi there I had my son on 9/20 and I had my incision opened back up on 9/30 because of a seroma or collection of fluid behind the incision. When they did the c section on me they gave me a pain ball which is a catheder directly run into the incision with a tiny wire similar to an epidural and it released medicine regularly. It bugged me and I had it removed but it made the incision have more drainage than I would have had normally. If I hadnt had this they may have noticed the seroma at the hospital but I had it removed right before discharge. I leaked fluid for another four days after I got out then it really stopped. I had a cm long part of the incision that looked like it wasnt closing like the rest and I noticed a tiny bit of yellow stuff on the outside. I thought it may have been tape residue so I cleaned it really well then looked at it the next afternoon. It was back so I figured it was infected. I went in to the clinic and they found the seroma. she dis a bit of pushing and poking and fluid poured out. The doc says it happens about 1 in ten c sections though its not mentioned much. She said blood vessels contract when they are cut and as they begin to relax they flood the wound with blood and fluid and it does not allow the wound to heal inside though the outside of the incision looks like it had. The tunneling others have mentioned is where the blood pulls apart more of the incision from the pressure of the liquid. The pooliung of fluid often leads to infection if not treated. She said old treatment was to do wet to dry dressings three times a day. They reopened my incision as far as the tunneling had gone (about 5cm) as part of my incision had begun to heal properly. They cleaned it and abraided it a bit to get the blood going I a__sumed. They packed it with Calcium Alginate which is synthetic seaweed. It forces the fluid out of the wound and allows healing inside. I have to go back on Monday to have it redressed and packed. They sealed it with what looks like the clear plastic they overlay IV needles with but bigger. I have to wear pads over it as it leaks out the edges of the plastic and it soaks the pads too. I gathered from reading my doctor was better at explaining it than some of you other ladies docs were. My biggest concern is how long its going to take to heal and if the scar will be painful. I am so full of stretchmarks I dont really care if its ugly. I hope this was is or will be helpful to anyone going through this right now.

Megan, Thanks for all the good information. As far as the healing goes.....my doctor said that it may hurt for a few months to several months. The good news is that I thought I would have a bad scar but after healing mine lookes good. Good luck with everything. It sounds like you have a really good doctor. I didn't undersatand why I got the infection untill after ready your story. thanks...

This is all so horrible! I had 4 sections and while I had horrendous and dangerous bleeding, hypotension and one uternine infection I have NEVER heard of open wounds lasting for months. Knowing this I can't imagine anyone CHOOSING a c-section, WOW. Hope you all are finally healing.

Hey Sarah. I had a c-section almost 3 weeks ago. A week after I came home (which was about 10 days after the c-section) I had blood suddenly coming out of the left side of my incision. I rushed to the hospital and the doctor checked me. He said i had alot of bad blood inside that needed to come out, and so therefore it was "normal". Then he spent about half an hour pushing blood out of my incision to make sure to take it all out. I bled a tiny bit for the next 2-3 days, and now everything is fine. Maybe you were doing a little too much which caused the incision to open. Heres a tip. Check the color of your blood. If its blood red then I dont think its as "normal" as the doctors make it seem. If its a dark red, as mine was, then maybe it really is bad blood that needs to come out to prevent any blood clots from forming and also to prevent infection. Good lucK! Dont stress yourself too much, it only makes things worse.

Yes It happened to me in a way I had my son , repeat section, and was closed with staples instead of st_tches like the 1st surgery. I was in inscrusating pain for the week they were in, swelled up, area turned bright red,couldnt hardly stand up from sitting position. When the staples were removed I had to be held down it hurt so much. As soon as they were removed I was pain free. But I had to let it heal from inside out--- I went 9 months with pain, not able to get it like wet other than washing it (burned so bad) then when 9 1/2 months came I had to go into surgery and have the area around it cut and "redo" the closing..... now my tummy is a little uneven.

Hi everyone! It is common to get a hematoma after any kind of surgery which is simply a collection of fluid (serum) and blood. That's what I was told that I had at first, though it was very strange that mine didn't appear until eight weeks postpartum which is very uncommon... Well, I went for a second opinion on Friday because I am 11 weeks post a C-section and my incision is still open in two places, well anyway, the doctor told me that I had an infection (staph aureus) from my c-section. It hasn't been very fun and a very long summer. I took Dicloxicillin for ten days and that's when I finally started to feel myself again. Hopefully now I am on the road to recovery. It's very ackward to have two holes in your abdomen. Cant' wait for them to close. The doctor that was telling me it was a hematoma was just covering his b___t because he a__sisted in my c-section. He knew all along I had gotten an infection. I thought it was strange that he wanted me to continue the antibiotics seeing as though he kept telling me it wasn't an infection... you have to watch out for doctors sometimes.. The best thing that you can do is get a second opinion from a doctor that had nothing to do with your surgery like I did. That way you get a real honest opinion of what is going on. Hopefully, these holes close now and I heal.

Me again. It's been not even a week since I saw that new doctor. Since I saw him, the hole that had closed has reopened and the new hold in my incision is even bigger. I just don't get it. I feel like I am going backwards instead of getting better. They are both bleeding now. May it's all part of the healing process, but I doubt it. My daughter is 11 weeks now. I am so tired of all of this. I just want to heal. I am calling the doctor tomorrow to see what he says.

My doctor ended up, after waiting 9 months to heal, sending me to a general surgen that did wound closeures. That is who fixed me, removed part of the skin too test to see why it didnt close properly. Save yourself time..... once the baby is out if t dont close right- everyone points fingers so just find a good genereal surgen and go for consult. I wished I had earlier.

Hi Sonia, Thanks for the advice. Did you have the same kind of problems I am having. The holes are actually looking a little better to me today. I am going to watch it through the weekend. They actually look like they are finally closing.

Yes mine healed up to two holes one on each side about 3 n long. then one side closed and not the other for some reason that is the side that didnt close. it remaided about 3 in long til it was closed by the surgen.

Hi Jen, I also had bledding from both of my openings. I wasn't healing either and so my doctor went in and cleaned me up and then st_tched it again. It still didn't heal up all the way but it helped. One thing that did help me is a powder that they gave me and it helped to keep it dry. I hope it heals for you soon.

Are ANY OF YOU ever letting them do a c-section on you again? I was thinking about asking for one in January, but never mind! I'll take some tearing and an episiotomy, thanks! I had a v____al 2 years ago and it took a month or 2 to heal, but nothing like this!

Some doctors don't like to do a VBAC. Other doctor will let you try it. It all depends. I would love to have a v____al birth for my next one because of everything I have been through. It hasn't been a pleasant experience. Since the moment I walked into the hospital to have my daughter, I have had nothing but problems. My water broke, so I went in. They induced me with Cytotek and then Pitocin. I dilated to 4 cm and was begging for an epidural. They did an epidural and it didn't work. I felt no relief from contractions. They tried another and that didn't work either. It was crazy. They did a spinal on me at that time so I would have some relief which eased off after two hours. The doctor then decided to do a c-section becuase I wasn't progressing past 5 cm. My husband got changed to be with me in the operating room, they wheeled me and and did another spinal to only find that this second spinal didnt' work on me either. I could feel the doctor pinching my stomach in disbelief that it didn't take. They then had to knock me out with general anesthesia to deliver. It was awful. My husband could be in the room wit me because I was put to sleep and they wouldn't even let him look through the window. I didn't see my daughter for three hours later. I recovered from that and now I end up with an infection from the surgery. I had an excellent problem free pregnancy, but since then everything has been downhill. The one positive thing I got out of it all is my beautiful daughter. She is healthy and that's all that matters to me. I will get through this!

It's good to know that your not alone. I had my last baby, #4, Sept of 04. Unlike my other 3 c-sections I had a different doctor, and they closed me with staples instead of st_tches. The day I came home from the hospital we were getting ready to go to bed about 1130 when I sat down on the bed and I felt a gush of hot fluid and blood. My entire incision had opened up. With several trips to the er and the Dr. office and nurses coming to change my dressing 2 times per day and antibiotics, I finally healed in about 5 weeks. Not long after that i was getting horrible crampy, burning pain in my lover right side that radiates to my side and back. By night time Im usually having to lay down because the pain is so bad. Mr. original OB ordered a ct scan and we found out that my uterus is pulled to the right and attached to my abdominal wall> my ob is retiring and referred my to another dr> i have now seen three different drs and they all look at my like i am asking them to fly to the moon> they all say "surgery is risky and you have alot of scar tissue< take tylenol for the pain and deal with it> i am so glad that im not having any more kids> my original ob was wonderful and hes the only one that seemed to care> im really sick of these other drs who could care less what is happeneing to me now> anybody else have problems like this after?

Obviously Doctors are misinformed about the seriousness of c-sections, and if they know the seriousness, then they are withholding information from their patients that could utimately change their patient's lives. I am in awe that not one person here was informed about the possibilities of what could happen during recovery from a c-section. I have written my story before and now my daugther is 8 months old and I still have a hole in the incision. I absolutely will not have anyone operate in that area again! I pray that every lady here will ultimately be healed. My ob knows my stance on the subject and is not happy to hear from me...I feel that the physicians here did a horrible job of informing their patients and each of them are lacking in knowledge when it comes to c-section procedures and recovery. It goes beyond my comprehension that doctors will st_tch minor cuts to keep infection out and to promote healing and will warn of not taking care of gaping holes on arms, legs etc....but that not one physician in this case seems the least little bit concerned about the gaping holes that are in each of our abdomens! That only proves to me that they simply do not have the knowledge they should when it comes to c-sections. There needs to be some serious look into the way doctors freely provide the service of a c-section. Maybe each person considering one should talk to each of us beforehand so they could at least make an imformed decision. Good luck to each of you. I hope that you will all heal as quickly as possible.