Elective C - section..Have you had one?

[pucca]

Any advice?

I will be having one with this baby, currently 24 weeks.

Consultant is wanting me to have one because i had a bad 3rd degree tear with my dd, and still have a few occasional problems down below, which they are on about fixing after this baby is born.

I am a bit scared of having a section, mainly being cut and the recoveryside of things so i am looking for any advice or experiences?

TIA

[expatinscotland]

No, but just bumping this for ya. Hope it goes better this time round.

[Skribble]

My second one was an elective.. It was all very controled and orgainesed unlike the emergency one I had the first time. As I didn't go through labour I was coped much better and recover more quickly.

You don't feel the cut just a bit of tugging, I was consious and fully aware of what was going on, you go a bit squint eyed when they put the baby next to your head for a sort of cuddle.

[jamiesam]

Am in similar position to you, but am 15 weeks.

Had my tear with ds2 after em c/s with ds1. Am currently not afraid of having the elective c/s although I appreciate that may change as I get nearer the big day!

I had an epidural which was topped up for c/s, wasn't aware of cut as it were - had lovely anaesthetist and nurse to distract me from whatever surgeon was doing. Recovery wise, it wasn't that painful afterwards, I was forgetting to take my pain meds by day 2 or 3. Catheter is a bit of a bind when you're getting in and out of bed but not in for very long. I was in hospital for 5 days but hope to be out much more quickly this time. I am planning on checking out when to take arnica or similar to try to speed healing.

Very interested in other replies you get!

[Skribble]

I got the catheter out before I was up and about and wasn't even aware of it. It wasn't so much painful afterwards just felt very uncomfortable and stiff. I got home after 5 days I think.

[milward]

Had my dd2 by cs as she was a footling breech. Was worried about this but was fine. Worst moment was afterwards when could move to pick up dd2 for a day. After that everything was fine. Best tip was to get up & moving as soon as able to.

Also big waist high pants for afterwards & to organise your bed side locker to have everything in reach. Best wishes xxx

[Skribble]

OH yes yes yes, go to a granny shop (no offence granies) and get the highest most unlikely pants you can find!!!!

Handling baby is a bit difficult at first, consider things like where can you sit baby bath at home as you will find it difficult to hold baby and bend over as well. Mind my first was 11lb7oz so I really struggled to do much with him.

I found one of those V cushions was very handy, i put it on my tummy to to lie baby on for feeding and to prop myself up to sleep.

[beachyhead]

I had an emergency with 1st child and two electives afterwards (last one, last August).

Really not too much of an issue. Bit wierd being in an 'operation' situation, but take in your own CD's and make sure your dh/dp is up your end for chat, as it is quite a process. Just felt a bit of tugging (just like someone doing the washing up in your stomach!!!!) and all was fine. Arnica is a MUST - every six hours, with your pain relief for at least the first four days. I swear it made a huge difference to me.

Catheter came out both times within 24 hours of birth so no real issues about trying to get around with it in.

Just pace yourself afterwards - push the baby in its plastic box up and down the corridors for a bit of exrecise afterwards, trying to go a bit further every day.

It will be fine. Good luck

[snuffy143]

I had two elective Caesareans - first cos DD was breech, 2nd cos it was such a great experience, I had no desire to push. Birth of DS even better than DD! Had spinal for both - administration not pleasant but that's it. It caused my BP to drop both times which caused severe nausea - for about 30 seconds and they gave me other drugs to combat that. No pain, just a bit of pulling and within minutes the beautiful sounds of baby. Sewing up takes a lot longer (about 20 minutes!). DH cuddled both babies and they were both put to the breast within half an hour of being born. DS stayed there for four hours! I was out of hospital on the 3rd day with both, back in jeans on day five! My advice - get up as soon as you possibly can. I fought to get my drip and catheter removed. As soon as you have feeling - try walking around a bit. Accept pain relief - I had 2 morphine injections each time and 2 voltarol suppositories - fab! Then onto co-codamol regularly - much better to keep on top of pain then let it get out of hand. Paracetamol after first five days, only when needed. I felt very much in control of all of it and was thrilled with the attitudes of theatre staff - really positive and encouraging. It is a bummer about driving - I contacted my insurance company second time around and they said if I felt able to do an emergency stop after 4 weeks and had a check up with GP, I was covered! So, I did that and it was fine. I love the fact that I've never had a labour pain and often talk about my 'out of the sunroof' birth experiences!

[Skribble]

I wouldn't be to desperate to get you drip out and start running up and down the wards . Take it easy and remember you have had major surgery and a baby all in the same day.

P.S. wind and constipation can be an issue, I found peppermints and sunny delight helped .

[Adorabelle]

Had to have a C.section due to breech dd, wasn't
too pleasent but neither is natural child birth
I guess. I had the Max amount of pain relief poss, got up asap, laid in bed Lots with my new dd &enjoyed not having to change a nappy for the
first 2 weeks! Just rest as much as possible afterwards, & don't feel lazy about getting everyone to run about for you, you've had a major
op, you'll be the one running about again in no
time

[Adorabelle]

Did make sure I got up at least once every 2 hours, just for a wee walk up & down the corridor, lay down for too long & getting up will
be painfull as you'll feel stiff and uncomfortable

[Skribble]

My tip is stay in your PJ's once you get home, once you get dressed people very quickly forget what you have been through and before you know it you are doing more than you should.

DH had his appendix out and got very different treatment especially from my MIL. I imagined how he would of coped if I had buggered of to work and handed him a newborn.

[yummimummy]

I had an elective CS last year and it was fab.
We went out for breakfast in the morning and I went in to hospital at lunchtime.
Lovely theatre experience. She was put on the breast within 30 mins of being born and fed well.
It's abit odd not being able to move your legs for 2 hours or so, but I quite enjoyed lying around like Lady Muck!
I had a PCA pump with morphine for 16 hours and voltarol supps. All worked well, not much pain really and certainly not much after a day or 2.
I was on paracetamol only on day 2.
I had my CS at 1.30 and was up and about at 10am the next day having had catheter and drip taken out.
I drove to the shops a week later and a 2 hour drive at 3 weeks.
My friend was painting her baby's room a week after her CS and another was lugging around a 10kg toddler 3 days after hers.
I'm not saying for a second that you should push things - you should definitely take things at your own pace, but it's not necessarily the painful, disabling experience one is often lead to believe.
My experience was great (and so was that of almost everyone I know who had one).
I'm no spring chicken and don't have a particularly high pain threshold.
Good luck

[Twiglett]

I've had 2

I had no issues with recovery (although 2nd took longer than first), breastfed in delivery room succesfully, no pain by end of 2nd week, up and walking within 24 hours

let me think .. advice?

they tell you turn up at 9am .. but don't give you a time for the actual operation due to their need to deal with emergencies .. if the hospital is big be prepared to wait a while .. take a book / magazine .. for DS I waited till 1pm, for DD till 4.20pm

tell everybody to bring you in food from M&S or somewhere you like .. hospital food is inedible .. and you will be in there for at least 3 days, most probably 5

take it easy afterwards .. do not do any pulling, pushing (ie housework) for at least 6 weeks

if you want to see the placenta, ask before you go in ... I've never seen one of mine and slightly regret it

relax .. you don't feel anything and its a remarkably calm experience ..

its remarkably civilised and because you've had major surgery your pain relief is adequate to the task .. which I don't believe happens with vaginal birth .... don't be a hero .. take the painkillers if you feel you need them

good luck

[red37]

I had 2 sections, one e/s and one elec, the elec was great, had music on in the background, so relaxed. Dh held ds2 first and did the skin to skin contact. It was a wonderful experience, recovery took longer as it was my 2nd section. I was advised no heavy lifting, hoovering for 3 months and not to drive for 6-8 weeks, wait for the all clear to drive as it can put strain on your abdonomen (especially reversing)at your post natal check up.
HTH and good luck x

[pucca]

Thank you all so much for all the replies.

Reading this has put my mind at ease so much, i know it won't be a piece of cake (1st birth certainly wasn't either!) but nice to know it won't be total hell lol.

What is Arnica? and where do i get it from? Is it definately worth taking i.e it really does help with healing?

Thanks again everyone. xx

[pucca]

Thanks Waswondering...So is it in a tablet form? taken every day?

[PinkKerPlink]

agree with everything twiglett says esp about [pain releif. I foubnd when i had my first section (which was an emergency after my daughter got stuck in the birth canal) the pain rekleif was not adequate. With my second I had an elective, it was heaven tbh. I really enjoyed taking the morphine:o and came home after two days. it was a fab birth and would quite honestly do it again

[FairyMum]

I had an elective with my third who was breech. I had an emergency with my first which was a nightmare. The elective very nice. recovered quickly and everything was calm and lovely. So far the best birth experience for me (2nd was vaginal).

[manitz]

i had an elective with my first as she was breech and a vbac with my second. My vbac was fairly complicated as i had a 3rd deg tear and a heamatoma.

My elec cs was fab like others. I would recommend

• take something (game boy with advance wars 2 player game) to amuse yourselves, we had to get there for 7am for expected op at 12noon, hadn't eaten or drunk. didn't have the cs until 6pm. v hot in hosp.
  
• make sure you shave, they didn't tell me so the nurse did a quick dry shave (ouch) and had hairs in everything afterwards (new baby clothes etc)
  
• get up and about asap (like others catheter was out the next morn and I got up soon after that) had her thurs avo and out by sat avo
  
• stairs are the worst thing afterwards so get two changing mats etc so you just have to use them in morn and eve
  
• PANTs go for value tesco ones (they used to do two pairs for 1.50) need to be about the size of a pillow case
  

The op was fine, I was on a high. Reacted a bit to drug and was v itchy on face. Quite liked the floppy leg thing. Dh loved it, got to wear scrubs, and watched the whole thing, said it smelt a bit like a butchers though. More involveing for partner I think as you can chat.

[hockeymum]

This is a post that I put on the May Babies thread yesterday in response to a similar question to yours - hope it helps. I had an elective section 13 days ago and it was a loely experience.

Also, I noticed waswondering was posting on this thread too, have a look at her thread last month about birth plans for c-sections as there is some useful information on there.


POSTED ON MAYBABIES
I have had 2 sections. My first with dd was an eergency crash section after 24 hours of labour. I was totally out of it, dd was taken away to be assessed by paediagtrics as she was in distress before the section and was only returned to me fully clothed, so I had no skin to skin bonding time. I was totally out of it afterwards. I had a drain in the wound, a drip and a catheter. All of which stayed in for 48 hours. I was still out of hospital 3 nights later.

This time it was an elective section and was a wonderful experience. Yes, it is weird to know when the baby will be born, you will be weepy the night before and nervous that morning, but it is a lovely calming relaxing experience. You can choose to have more say in the experience. Most surgeons let you choose if you want to have a certain cd playing, whether you want to see the baby being born, whether you want to find out the sex yourself etc etc (try a thread search on here for last month on birth plan for elective sections in the childbirth section). You walk into the theatre yourself (don't forget your slippers and dressing gown or you will expose your rear end!) You will be wearing a surgical gown and support stockings (horrible white knee highs to prevent dvt). You will be shaved just at the top of your bikini line where they will make their incision. (they use a bic razor dry, it burns! I got dh to shave me the night before to save the embarrasment).

You sit on the edge of the table with your feet on a stool curled as small as you can and they put the spinal in. It does hurt a bit but pretty soon you start to go numb and tingly. They then put a screen up and do the op. It takes about 5 mins to get the baby out and the rest of the 45 or so minutes is spent sewing you up. This time I asked for the screen to go down so I could see Theo being born which was lovely. I made sure they didnt dress him afterwards, just wrapped him in a towel so that as soon as I got to the recovery room he was put on me for skin to skin, that was such an amazing experience and I bonded with him immediately. Dh took some lovely photos which I will treasure forever of theo looking right into my eyes.

After an hour I was moved onto the ward (you have to stay on a 4 bed ward after a section here in Cardiff they wont let you have a private room) and theo was in a cot next to me. I had a catheter and a drip but no drain this time and my stiches are dispersible this time which is more comfy than the running stitch with beads I had last time. I stayed in bed with the catheter in till the following morning, you just call the midwives when you want your baby passed to you or if you need more water or anything. They will keep your pain unnder control, I had voltarol, tramedol and paracetaml at regular intervals throughout the day (I'm just beginning to phase these out now after 10 days). The next morning they will get you up out of bed after removing your catheter and help you get to the shower room. ((Oh and it's worth noting that there are no awards for coming off the pain relief early. My surgeon said the most important thing was to be as active as possible to prevent dvt so its worth taking extra pain relief and moving around more, rather than being pain free and sitting on the sofa all the time))

Midwives will also help you breast feed if you need help with that and will help you do the baby's first bath etc.

I came out after 48 hours which is normal here but can be longer at other hospitals. You will be sofa and bed bound for several days but need to walk around the house as much as possible to avoid leg problems. A midwife will come out every day till day 5 as you will probably have daily injections of clexane which is a clot-busting drug to help with legs too.

make sure you pack: lots of big granny knickers (not disposable, nice cheap comfy ones that go way above your scar); your own pillow and feeding pillow if you have one (you will need lots of back support as lying down will hurt for a few days); nighties or long t-shirts (for the first day you are bed bound as you will have a catheter and wont be able to wear pants or pj bottoms - you'll have a pad put on and be sat on a special absorbent pad too); loose clothes for coming home in (your abdomen will be very bruised and sore).

I would also recommend getting hold of some arnica tabs (from health food shop - it's helped me with bruising this time). I also wash the wound down twice a day with a bit of tea tree oil in cooled boiled water (I had a wound infection last time as I have an overhang so the wound got moist and infected) This time I'm using the tea tree and putting a maternity towel over the wound twice a day and it's healing really well so far.

Please don't worry about the bonding. I certainly had no problems this time, spend as much time as you can with him lying on you and just gaze at him, you'll have no problems.

Sorry this post is so long! must go and feed the little man now - let me know if you have any other questions and good luck!

[KristinaM]

pucca - my SIl has now had 3 eletive cs as her first birth was exactly like yours & she got the same advice. As you can tell from the fact she has had 3, she thinsk they are great and each time has recovered well. She woudl have more if they would let her, but three's the limit.

I think most women who have had a " bad" vaginal delivery and a " good" Cs much prefer teh latter