Just Days After My C-Section, My Husband Expected Me to Cook
I thought the hardest part of becoming a mother would be the delivery.
I was wrong.
The real heartbreak came a few days after my C-section, when I was still struggling to sit up, walk properly, and even turn over in bed without feeling pain.
My body was exhausted. My incision hurt with almost every movement. Even getting out of bed required me to move slowly and carefully.
I was supposed to be resting and recovering.
Instead, I found myself being asked to cook.
At first, I thought my husband was joking.
“You’re going to make something to eat, right?” he asked casually.
I looked at him, almost unable to believe what I had heard.
I had just undergone major abdominal surgery. I was still recovering from childbirth, barely sleeping because of the newborn, and trying to figure out how to feed and care for our baby.
Yet somehow, the expectation was that I should return to the kitchen.
I Was Still in Pain
People sometimes forget that a C-section isn’t simply another way of giving birth.
It is major surgery.
There was an incision across my abdomen, and every small movement reminded me that my body had been through something serious.
Standing for too long hurt.
Walking hurt.
Coughing hurt.
Getting up from a chair hurt.
Even holding the baby sometimes became uncomfortable because of the pressure around my abdomen.
But from the outside, I probably looked “fine.”
That was the problem.
Because I could walk, people assumed I could do everything.
They didn’t see how much effort it took just to get through the day.
The Baby Needed Me Constantly
The newborn needed almost everything from me.
Feeding.
Changing.
Holding.
Soothing.
Waking up throughout the night.
Trying to sleep whenever the baby slept.
There was no proper schedule.
There was no eight-hour night’s sleep.
There was barely enough time to take a shower or eat my own meal peacefully.
My body needed rest, but motherhood didn’t come with a pause button.
I was already giving everything I had to my baby.
And then I was expected to prepare meals too.
“But You’re at Home”
That sentence hurt more than I expected.
My husband said something along the lines of, “You’re at home anyway.”
But being at home wasn’t the same thing as resting.
I wasn’t sitting around doing nothing.
I was recovering from surgery while taking care of a newborn.
There is a huge difference between being at home and being physically capable of doing household work.
I wanted him to understand that.
I didn’t want special treatment.
I didn’t want him to do everything forever.
I simply wanted him to recognize that I needed help during those first difficult days.
I Finally Asked for Help
One evening, I was exhausted.
The baby had been crying, I hadn’t slept properly, and my incision was hurting.
My husband asked what we were having for dinner.
I quietly told him that I couldn’t