Hi there!
I have been educating myself with these forums. Getting a feel for what to expect when I get my surgery date and take the plunge. I am praying I can get my surgery before my children's school resumes in late Aug. I am a stay at home Mom and my husband works the oilfields, so he is working like 16-18 hours a day on average and out of town for the week sometimes. Just wondering......  I haven't seen a lot of posts about women who have small children and how after the surgery they coped. I know that there will a limited amount of things that I will be able to do post- op. Like no lifting, stretching, etc. How long did you have to wait to lift and resume normal duties like, bending to load the dishwasher, laundry, sweep floor etc.? I have my mother who can help me with my children if I get the surgery this summer ( she works @ a school, so is out for summer, as well.) I also can rely on my husband for some things. But, I guess I'm having a hard time figuring out how everything will get done. I am bit of a control freak when it comes to getting things done. It's a little overwhelming thinking about the soreness, sickness, constant food planning, pain and kids and dogs and cats & taking care of everything. LOL!!! Please tell me how you managed everything with your children. Just want to know what to expect!!!
BTW, I have 2 great little girls. Oldest is almost 8yrs and youngest is 5 yrs. So I know my oldest can help with some things. Thanks for you suggestions and insight on this.!

I have a now-6-year-old daughter.  I came home from the hospital the day after surgery and had no help.  I was able to do everything I needed to do.  The only thing I needed help with was changing the 5-gallon water bottle on the water dispenser.  Otherwise, I didn't need help at all.

I was a stay at home mom with a 5 and 2 year old at the time of surgery.  The only things that I made sure I didn't do was carry laundry or my 2 year old.    

Think of it like this, how did you cope when your children were born?  It's kind of the same thing (now that I think about it, maybe not since I had cesareans).  You get help and just do what you can.  It took me awhile to bend over to load the dishwasher.  Everyone is different.  If it hurts doing something, just try again later.  Also, you are recovering from major surgery.  You will know when you have over done it.  Some days are different than others.  You just go by how you feel.   

I have a one year old, and am planning for help the first week post op. I heard we can't lift afterwards, and my lile 25lb guy will NOT like that. So I will go with the flow. If I can't lift him onto the changing table to chance his diaper..then I will squat on the floor. No big deal. Ask me in July though, and I will let you know how i fair since no one will be with me after surgery. Just me an my lil guy...

You shouldn't have any trouble at all.  I had five when I had surgery.  The youger two were 14months and 3.  Good luck.

Jennifer

I have a 2 1/2 year old and my husband helped me the first couple of days (came home on Friday) and then my mom came over for a couple of days too. If your daughters are 5 and 8 you shouldn't have to lift them up which is the big thing NOT to do. I cannot lift over 10 lbs for 6 wks. I am 3 1/2 weeks out and I feel great, am eating and drinking fine and exercising daily. I can clean the house and cook for my family too. The big thing is to listen to your body. If somethings hurts don't do it.

Ok Thanks everyone who posted!!!
I feel so much better knowing it CAN be done! I know this is what is best for me and have not told anyone, not even my husband, that I have decided and I  am doing this!. So, I am glad I can put this worry aside and move on to bigger things.... like telling my family!!! lol.
Thanks again!

You totally can do it.  I had a small chair I would sit in to help load the dishwasher.  And I bet your little ones would be giddy to help you a bit.  At the time of surgery (less than 2 months ago) I had a 19 month old girl, 6 year old boy and 9 year old boy.  We used paper plates until I could move around more.  My oldest swept and vacuumed.   My significant other helped as much as he could but he did have to work. 

I promise you can do this.

I'm a single parent with 5 kids, my youngest just turned 4 after my surgery. I could do a little bit, then sit for a few minutes, and so on. I was just very tired. I made the kids do A LOT. Amazing how much they are capable of doing when they need to. They also like helping mommy. I actually had them help me for longer than I really needed because they were very helpful. Just pre plan with lots of easy to make dinners etc. Stamina was the biggest issue, I just did a little at a time. Good luck!

I'm a single mom too - 9 and 5 yr olds - I haven't had surgery yet - but I anticipate what others have said - that kids/family can often do more than we think, and adapt to more than we think!  Just like we will and do too!  You're a good mommy for thinking about these issues in advance!

 I have an 8 and 3 yr old.  The 3 yr old is special needs.  IF I had to I could have taken care of them when I got home at day 3, but I was happy my husband took the week off and I was able to rest.  It was more exhaustion than pain that caused the issue.  Imagine the first trimester exhaustian x2 for about a week.  

I had my surgery with 7 month old twins and was back to taking care of them fulltime on day 3. I did stay 2 nights in the hospital so I could rest because i knew as soon as i got home it was business as usual! I was tired and napped when they did, and everyone survived. If you have yourmom and your kids are older you will be fine!

Hi, No worries.  I stayed 2 nights in the hospital due to all the steps in my house.  After that i was home and able to do everything.  I have 8 year old twins and my husband also works late.  I did not need any help and whatever I did need my kids could assist.  I took 2 weeks off from work but really could have gone back to work in one week.  I had it scheduled so I took advantage of it.  Good luck.  It was the best thing I ever did.  I am 6 months out and down 80 lbs.  JRTHinner

I had my mother with me for the first week then she took my 5-year old home with her for the second week - I missed her like crazy.  My daughter was very good about knowing I had limits of what I could lift.  One day she saw me pulling a basket of clothes to the laundry room (didn't realize how heavy they were until I tried to pick them up) and she came running to help me.  I did not lift until the doctor told me at my 1 month visit that I was good to go.  My washer and dryer are the front load and I have the drawers under them so they are pretty high and I didn't have to bend.  I did not sweep or vacuum until after the 1 month visit as I did not want to take any chances of busting a staple.  For bending, I was pretty sore the first few days home so didn't bend a lot - my daughter would pick things up for me (she was more than happy to be able to help).  I just had to reminder her here and there to watch her kicking when she was laying in bed with me at nigh****ching TV.

 I had my surgery the week before spring break. My kids were 6 and 2 at the time and I am a SAHM too. My surgery was on Monday. I came home Wednesday and my mom was at my house until Friday evening. My husband had work and baseball meetings (he leads a division and coaches) all weekend, so I was basically alone with the kids from Saturday until Tuesday. It was okay for a couple days, but by Tuesday I was a mess. I lifted my little one (who had her tubes in her ears and tonsils and adenoids out just 2 weeks before my surgery and switched from crib to toddler bed at that time too). The lifting to comfort her ended up hurting one of my incisions...not anything serious...but I really had to stop doing that. 

I have kids who don't sit still or watch tv for long (good in a way)...and it was spring break and beautiful outside. My mom came back that Wednesday and stayed until Friday morning. By that time, I was fine. (just a note - our closest family member lives over 3 hours away)

I thought it was kind of rough for the first week and a half...I hit a wall at 8 days out and cried and lost it. But then things turned around it was totally doable. But it wasn't "easy" the whole time. 

But sooooo worth it!! I would do it all over again!

 I'm worried too about how things will go.  My kids are 6, 4, and 13 months.  I'm a stay at home mom, and while my husband will be able to work from home and help me out for the first week or two, I'll be on my own all day after that.  I worry about how I'm going to manage to not lift my baby for 6 weeks!  Thankfully my 6 year old can get him out of his crib and carry him down the stairs for me, and he can crawl up the stairs on his own.  

The other thing I worry about is making sure my older two aren't bored out of their minds - I'm hoping I'll be OK to take them to the park within a week or so - if we have to sit around the house for weeks we're all going to go nuts!