TAH 15 days post hysterectomy: Do my bowels hate me?

Can't believe I'm posting this...
After having a rather difficult "movement," I got this sharp pain in my gut. I hunched over and managed to make it to my bed and laid down. The pain finally went away after a few minutes.

I'm hoping this was just my bowels having a minor spasm and nothing more serious! Nothing is bleeding or anything. Just freaked me out. Felt like I got kicked in the gut.

My surgery was the same day and I've been having similar problems this week. I assumed that once the bowels started moving, everything would be normal again. Wrong! LOL! I have resorted to taking a stool softener daily to help. I hate relying on chemicals to feel normal. I'd like to find a natural/herbal remedy but have not had much luck yet. Some women say it was 4-6 weeks before their bowels normalized. That's a LONG time! As long as the pain doesn't persist or create other symptoms (bleeding, fever, etc) I chalk it up as normal.