DVT after a C-section: what should you know?

Deep vein thrombosis is a blood clot in a deep vein, often in the leg. Pregnancy and the weeks after birth change clotting, while surgery, reduced movement, and recovery after a Caesarean Section can add to the risk. Symptoms may include swelling, warmth, redness, tenderness, or aching in one leg, often in the calf or thigh. These symptoms can have other causes, so they need clinical assessment rather than self-diagnosis.

A clot can travel to the lungs. Sudden breathlessness, chest pain that may worsen with breathing, coughing blood, a rapid heartbeat, severe dizziness, or collapse can indicate a pulmonary embolism.

Contact your maternity unit, doctor, or urgent service promptly if one leg becomes swollen, hot, red, or painful. Do not massage a painful swollen leg or wait for it to settle. Follow the mobility, hydration, wound-care, and prescribed medicine instructions given after birth; only take anticoagulants exactly as directed. Postnatal Physiotherapy may support safe recovery, but it is not a substitute for assessment of possible clot symptoms. Tell the clinician when your surgery occurred and whether you have chest or breathing symptoms.

Call emergency services immediately for sudden difficulty breathing, chest pain, coughing blood, fainting, collapse, or severe unexplained weakness. For new one-sided leg symptoms without breathing symptoms, seek same-day medical advice so testing and treatment can be considered quickly.

How should I move safely during recovery? Do I need clot-prevention medicine or compression advice? Which leg or breathing changes should prompt emergency help, and how might treatment affect breastfeeding?