What Does Your Sex Life Look Like After a Cesarean Delivery?
Some people may feel ready to resume sexual activity sooner than others. It's ultimately up to you and your individual comfort level.
However, healthcare professionals recommend that you wait until your cervix completely closes to engage in vaginal penetration of any kind. This includes:
fingering or fisting
inserting a dildo, vibrator, or other sex toy
penis-in-vagina sex
menstrual cups, discs, or tampons
Timeline for recovery after a cesarean delivery
You'll likely stay at the hospital for 2 to 4 days after a c-section so that healthcare professionals can monitor your recovery. During this time, they'll gradually reduce pain medications and remove your urinary catheter.
As a nurse, I noticed that people who had a cesarean delivery usually did not experience as much bleeding as those who delivered vaginally. That's because some of the blood tends to get cleared out during surgery.
However, you can still expect to bleed for four to six weeks. It also takes the uterus about six weeks to return to its typical size and for the cervix to close back up.
The physical timeline for your body to heal after childbirth is pretty much the same, no matter how you deliver.
Staples from the incision site will be removed within a week of surgery. The actual incision site itself should be healed by six weeks postpartum.
But it's common for people to feel some discomfort in the incision area. Some experience numbness or tingling for months after surgery.
This is generally OK, as long as the pain doesn't increase and isn't accompanied by other symptoms like a fever.
Managing physical, mental, and emotional side effects
The area around your incision site might be uncomfortable, so it will be helpful to try sex positions that don't put any pressure on your abdomen. The first time you have solo or partnered sex, you may be fearful of what it will feel like.
Because sex is not just physical, it's also mental, any hesitation or fear you have about having sex again is very real and may have an effect on your sexual experience.
Be sure to talk with your sexual partners, take your time, engage in some non-sexual intimacy to help you relax, and use over-the-counter lubrication to get started.
Some people experience sexual dysfunction after a cesarean delivery, so if you find sex is abnormally painful, consider speaking with a healthcare professional.
How to perform Kegels
Kegels aren't just for your vagina. They're an exercise for the muscles in your whole pelvic floor. This is affected by pregnancy, no matter how you deliver.
Start performing Kegels as soon as you'd like after birth. You can also start doing Kegels during pregnancy, before you deliver.
To perform a Kegel:
Squeeze your pelvic floor as if you were stopping urine midstream.
Hold those muscles for a few seconds.
Repeat as frequently as you'd like throughout the day. The more, the merrier.
It's important to consider birth control
Take it from this obstetrics nurse: I've taken care of more than one patient returning almost exactly nine months after delivering a baby to have a second.
Pregnancy can happen pretty much immediately, even after you've given birth. Don't wait until you've resumed sexual activity to start your preferred birth control method.
There are a lot of options for long-acting birth control. Many of these options are safe for people who are nursing. Talk with a healthcare professional about what method is best for you.
When to consult a doctor or other healthcare professional
Speak with a healthcare professional if you have increased pain, discharge, or bleeding after a cesarean delivery.
I always tell my patients that they should start to feel better, not worse, as time goes on. If anything starts hurting more, it's a sign that something might be wrong.
Having sex for the first time postpartum might be a little uncomfortable, especially if you're nursing, your menstrual period hasn't returned, or you're using hormonal birth control.
All of these could lead to a lowered amount of natural vaginal secretions. Use lubrication and take your time. You should also keep an eye on your incision site as you recover.
Contact a healthcare professional if the incision opens, is painful, or becomes reddened or swollen. These may be signs of an infection.
The bottom line
When it comes to enjoying sex after a cesarean delivery, remember to take your time and pay attention to your body. There's no rush to get back to 'normal.' You'll probably need a little time to adjust.
Everyone is different, so communicate openly with each other. If you encounter any problems along the way, don't be afraid to talk with a doctor or other healthcare professional about resuming sexual activities.
Trust me, they've seen it all. There's no such thing as an embarrassing question when it comes to your health.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
%3Amax_bytes(150000)%3Astrip_icc()%2FTAL-header-volcan-acatenango-guatemala-HIKEDVOLCANO0725-0e1578c9de574c85807380e89bbccd6d.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
Travel + Leisure
36 minutes ago
- Travel + Leisure
I Was Told I Might Never Walk Again—so I Hiked a Volcano in Guatemala
It was Christmas morning when I blinked awake to the mechanical beeping of a heart monitor. At first, I thought I was dreaming. My heart thumped loudly in my chest. I tried to roll over and orient myself, but my limbs were numb, and everything around me was a blur of pale light and quiet panic. The voices outside my hospital room faded in and out until one finally broke through the fog. A man rushed in—the one who changed everything. His face said it before his words did. 'It's lupus,' he said. I didn't know what that meant. I only knew it wasn't good. I was 22 and had just been accepted to William & Mary, a top public university in the U.S. I had been the picture of health. A hiker. A wild-hearted, barefoot-loving soul who spent her weekends chasing sunrises and meaningful conversations. I had always been a thinker—someone who mapped out dreams and imagined every possible 'what if' scenario life could throw at me. But even with all that imagination, nothing prepared me for the moment I stepped out of bed one morning and collapsed into my new reality. Tess while dealing with her diagnoses. Tess Moormans/Life Through A Lense Lupus is a chronic autoimmune disease. A body turned against itself. In a cruel twist of irony, after years of mentally picking myself apart, now my immune system was doing it for me—attacking perfectly healthy organs like they were intruders. It was a full-on war and I was losing. I was diagnosed with the worst class of it and told multiple times I might die. I almost did. The fatigue was relentless. The joint pain, unbearable. I received over nine blood transfusions just to keep me alive. The list of symptoms and restrictions, well, they were longer than my age. Tied with IVs to the hospital bed for more than a month, I remember the doctor rattling off day in and day out what I could no longer do: no more sun exposure, swimming, hugging friends, eating at restaurants, playing with animals, gardening, and walking in dirt. Even walking unassisted, they warned, might not be in the cards. I had a compromised immune system and was supposed to live in a sanitary bubble if I was to live at all. It was like someone had compiled a list of everything that made me me , then crossed it all out. I was a girl who ran and danced toward her dreams, tripping sometimes, but never stopping. Now, I was being told to sit still. But I've never been very good at doing what I'm told. And that's how I ended up 13,000 feet in the air, climbing Volcán Acatenango, one of Central America's highest peaks. The decision made no rational sense. Just months after being told I might never walk unassisted again, I was hiking into the sky on a path of volcanic ash and cloud-thin air. At the same time, it was one of the most logical decisions I ever made. Travel is so much more than movement and cool pictures in new places. It's how we reclaim pieces of ourselves. It's how we stretch beyond discomfort and fears and find out who other people are beyond our presumptions and who we are when no one else is around to define us. View of Volcán Acatenango seen through the clouds. Tess Moormans/Life Through A Lense I started the hike alongside a group of strangers—fellow adventurers whose names and stories I didn't know, but whose silent grit matched mine. There was something exhilarating about trekking next to people who knew nothing of my diagnosis, only my determination. After our bus dropped us off at the beginning of the trail, my heart sank. From the start, it was a slow, burning, upward climb. I am so glad I had no idea what lay ahead because I might have turned around right then and there. We passed through five microclimates in a day—humid jungle, alpine forest, wind-swept ridges, dry volcanic fields, and a cloud-pierced summit. Each shift was like stepping into another world entirely. As we climbed, Acatenango's landscape shifted beneath our feet. The farmlands gave way to dense forests. The air thinned. My legs burned. My lungs ached. I slowed. And slowed again. I was often last in line, stopping frequently to rest, my legs almost crumbling under me. And yet, I was still moving. Stray dogs are abundant in the farmland, and a beautiful chocolate shepherd shared the journey with us. I soon realized what I hadn't shared with anyone, he probably knew. Out of the 20 of us, he stuck by my side, stopping when I paused and walking together with me when I began again. The friendly stray dog who stuck by Tess's side; Hiking up Volcán Acatenango. Tess Moormans/Life Through A Lense When we reached base camp at 12,000 feet, I was shaking. My body throbbed. The trail narrowed and a dark windy fog quickly set in. I was surprised when our guide said our camp was just ahead because I could see nothing, not even a glowing light. It was icy cold. Where was Fuego, the elusive pillar of angry fire? We had been told there would be accommodations at the top. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw a stack of used mattresses, box springs, and shared sleeping bags. There was nothing sanitary about it, but it felt more healing than the hospital bed. We sipped hot chocolate around a flicker of a flame. I had come to see lava and was shivering around fading coals. But our guide was confident and told us we should wake up at 4 a.m. if we wanted to hike the remainder of the way to see Fuego up close and active. I had plenty of experience staying awake through the night from my weeks in the hospital. I had no idea how I would pull myself out of bed this time. Luckily, I didn't even have to set an alarm. At 2 a.m, I awoke to cold, wet slobber. The puppy that walked with me had curled up on my pillow. Having shared the trek, he wanted to share the warmth, too. I was more than a little annoyed and sat straight up, trying to drag him off my corner of the mattress. I kicked open the wooden door of our makeshift hut to shove him out and came face-to-face with Fuego. In the deep mist of the night, I had no idea our camp was clinging to a slab of cliff right in front of the summit. The earth growled and Acatenango's fiery twin erupted in the distance. It was bright and brilliant and alive and somehow almost outdone by the thousands of shimmering stars framing it. The deep fog that had suffocated everything was peeled back like a curtain and I realized all the beauty that had been hiding underneath. We rose for the summit. The final push. The hardest part. What seemed so close was a full three hours away still. A pillar of lava burst into the sky, glowing against the dusk. Around me, others gasped. Many reached for their phones and cameras. I stood in stunned silence. I wanted this image and memory etched in my mind before I tainted it with a camera lens. The eruption lit up the sky again and again throughout the night and early morning. I had barely slept. It was pitch black, and we were pushing through heavy sand and ash now. Two steps forward, a half step back. Mounds of crumbling dirt rose on either side, forming a slithering trail as we dipped down into the ravine and steadily rose up the other side. There was a moment, somewhere above the clouds, when I paused and turned around. The mountain where we camped, Acatenango, towered behind me, massive and ancient. Beneath its surface were deep, dark scars—grooves cut through the rock by old lava flows, now overgrown with stubborn green. I stood there, breathless from exertion and awe, already dripping sweat. I realized something that made me pause: The looming walls of dirt both engulfing me and forming my own path were the same. From the fog of sickness and the sting of IV needles, I was now coursing through the hazy vein of the mountain. The same burning force that had once destroyed this path had also shaped it—created it, even. And now, I traced it. My own body, too, bore scars—seen and unseen. Pain had carved through me, but it had also made this journey possible. I wasn't walking despite my pain. I was walking with it and becoming something through it. I was, by every definition, weak. But I was so strong. I was breathing hard—nearly wheezing—as the icy wind whipped against my face. My legs were leaden. My fingers were stiff and swollen. I stopped more than I moved. But I wasn't alone. Step by step, I made it to the top. There—at 13,045 feet—the sun rose above the world in every color imaginable—and some not even the most creative mind could fathom. Aerial view of Antigua, Guatemala. Tess Moormans/Life Through A Lense We stood in silence as clouds drifted below us and light spilled across the neighboring volcanic ridges—Agua Volcano to the left, Pacaya to the right. I was standing on Fuego in the shadow of Acatenango. Ironically, the name means 'Walled Place,' and here, I felt the walls placed around me come crumbling down. All I kept thinking was how everyone told me I couldn't—and how they weren't here to see this view. I reached my grimy, dirt-covered hand down to pet the dog in blatant defiance of my instructions not to be around or touch animals. I didn't ever want to descend. The way down was almost harder than the trail up. I was slipping, sliding, and tumbling, joy erupting inside me. Whether or not we realize it, we each travel every day—through grief, joy, and fire. We each have our own personal Fuegos and Acatenangos to face. Mine just happened to be a real one. When I returned from Guatemala, my lupus didn't vanish. But I proved that 'can't' is just a word. Acatenango didn't cure me, but it reminded me my journey didn't end in a hospital bed. It started there. It was Christmas morning when I blinked awake to the beeping of a heart monitor, my body a battlefield and my future a blur. But it was through the mist of the mountain where I really opened my eyes. They told me I'd never hike again. That I might never walk unassisted. That I would have to live a smaller life, if I lived at all. But they weren't there when the sky split open and fire danced across it. They didn't see me rise through ash and altitude, gasping and shaking, clinging to a mountain that had known its own share of eruptions. They didn't see the girl with IV scars, windburned cheeks, and dirt under her fingernails reach the summit with a dog by her side and a defiant heart in her chest. I didn't conquer the mountain—I bled into it. Walking on the wounds it once carried, I learned how to live with mine. And when Fuego erupted, lighting the sky like a pulse, I knew I would never be the same. Not because I reached the summit, but because I learned I could keep rising—even while breaking.
Forbes
37 minutes ago
- Forbes
Changes In Prior Approval Coming To Traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage
There were two major announcements recently regarding prior approval of treatments and services for Medicare beneficiaries. In most medical insurance, many treatments won't be covered unless it is approved first by the insurer. It's been a source of controversy for some time. Original Medicare hasn't required prior authorization of treatments and services, with a few exceptions. For most care, providers and the patient agree on a treatment. After the treatment, paperwork for approval and payment is submitted to Medicare. Medicare recently announced a new model program that will test pre-approval. The voluntary model program will test pre-approval for some services and treatments, according to a recent announcement from the Center for Innovation of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The model program is seeking medical providers to volunteer for the program from Jan. 1, 2026 through Dec. 31, 2031. The model will be restricted to New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington. Providers who volunteer and are accepted will agree to seek prior authorization for 17 items and services, including skin substitutes, deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's Disease, impotence treatment, and arthroscopy for knee osteoarthritis. A provider who volunteers for the program can choose not to seek prior approval for a case. There will be a post-treatment review of the case, and the provider will risk not being paid by Medicare for the treatment. CMS initiated the program and selected the services to be covered because of a series of reports showing waste, fraud or abuse in certain areas. For example, Medicare spent up to $5.8 billion in 2022 on unnecessary or inappropriate services that had no clinical benefit, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Under the model, providers will submit the same information they currently submit for payment approval after a service is provided to a beneficiary. The difference is that under the model, the information will be submitted earlier and the provider will wait for approval before performing the services. CMS will select companies to receive and review the prior authorizations. It expects that they will use artificial intelligence and other tools in addition to medical professionals to review the submissions. The companies will be paid based on the extent to which they saved the government money by stopping unnecessary services. CMS said it will manage the program to avoid adverse impact on beneficiaries and providers. There was other news about pre-approval, this time involving Medicare Advantage plans. Pre-approval in Medicare Advantage plans has been controversial recently. There have been a number of recent reports and studies that found the authorization process was delaying treatment or causing patients to abandon treatment plans. Other reports indicated that a high percentage of treatments that initially were denied coverage eventually were approved if the patients or their providers appealed the than 50 major insurers who sponsor many types of insurance plans announced that they will voluntarily streamline prior authorization of treatments and services in all insurance markets, including Medicare Advantage plans. The insurers say they plan to have the new process in place by Jan. 1, 2027.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Labcorp Holdings Second Quarter 2025 Earnings: Revenues Beat Expectations, EPS Lags
Labcorp Holdings (NYSE:LH) Second Quarter 2025 Results Key Financial Results Revenue: US$3.53b (up 9.5% from 2Q 2024). Net income: US$237.9m (up 16% from 2Q 2024). Profit margin: 6.7% (up from 6.4% in 2Q 2024). The increase in margin was driven by higher revenue. EPS: US$2.85 (up from US$2.44 in 2Q 2024). Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period Labcorp Holdings Revenues Beat Expectations, EPS Falls Short Revenue exceeded analyst estimates by 1.2%. Earnings per share (EPS) missed analyst estimates by 12%. Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 4.5% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 6.3% growth forecast for the Healthcare industry in the US. Performance of the American Healthcare industry. The company's shares are up 8.7% from a week ago. Risk Analysis You should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Labcorp Holdings. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
