Emotional Issues after a C-section
One of the most difficult aspects of c-section recovery can be the emotional toll the surgery takes on you. If you've had a c-section, you're more likely to suffer from postpartum depression. You may feel just fine about your surgery, but you could also feel angry, sad, or guilty, and those feeling don't always come up right away.
Feeling Fine
Not every woman experiences emotional distress after a cesarean section: Some mothers feel just fine about their surgical births, or may feel relieved, especially if they were experiencing a difficult labor before the c-section, or if they or their baby had a worrisome health condition during pregnancy and the c-section resulted in a healthy mom and baby.
Negative Feelings
Many mothers grieve very deeply the loss of a vaginal birth. If you planned and prepared for a vaginal birth, you may feel cheated if things didn't go as you'd planned. If a long and difficult labor ended in c-section, you may be angry that you did all that work just to end up with a c-section in the end. You may feel that your care providers failed you, or you may feel that your body failed you. All these feelings are very normal, and you shouldn't try to “get over it.” If you were planning on or hoping for a vaginal birth and ended up with a surgical birth, you have experienced a genuine loss and should be allowed to mourn that loss. You may be able to move past it quickly, or the feelings may continue to pop up for a long time. Either experience is normal — there is no time limit on the grief process.
Alert
Some women have a strong emotional reaction to their c-sections right away, but sometimes, the feelings don't pop up until weeks or months after your baby is born, when you've had time to stop and think about your birth, or you hear about a friend's birth experience.
If you don't have any negative feelings about your birth experience, it's very likely that you'll continue to feel fine with your c-section, never experiencing a sense of loss, grief, or anger. This is also normal! If you feel completely at peace with your birth, there's no need to borrow trouble by waiting on edge for the grief to kick in, or by feeling guilty because you aren't sad or disappointed by the way your birth experience played out. On the other hand, it can be helpful to know that sometimes these feelings take a while to kick in, so that you won't be taken by surprise if they do.
