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Childbirth

ELCS thurs...any advice/ tips greatly appreciated.

3 replies

Shortybabe7 · 23/08/2016 04:00

Hi. ELCS booked for this Thursday. Know this topic been done before but some quite dated. Any tips appreciated from what to pack, recovery tips. Anything really...

OP posts:
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Macdat · 29/08/2016 12:25

Pack extra bottles of water, sitting up can be difficult for some directly after as your stomach muscles can't help anymore, so it's nice if you can have some water anywhere close to you and not on a table you may have to sit up for. Straws for the same reason. You also may not physically be able to move for some hours depending on how they numb you.

Everything you wear should be baggy so it doesn't rub at all. I packed leggings and a big top to go home in, not knowing I'd end up having an emcs and the leggings weren't always great.

A few pieces of fruit for when you're peckish maybe. Meals can be tiny sometimes.


For recovery, not really sure if I can say this because I don't know if I was just lucky or it actually did help- but I got moving as soon as possible. As soon as I could feel my legs again a few hours after I was up and walking. It was a struggle but I was walking quite a lot. I was forced to because baby was in intensive care, and saw women in beds close to me who had their babies and were still unable to move so much.
Advice given is to move some, to prevent blood clots and help healing, but not to move to much to the point it's a struggle. I kept moving when it was a big struggle...it may have helped.
Honestly, a week after I made two short journeys, and by 2 weeks I was up and out of the house quite a lot.

So, try to move! But don't push your limits. You can make things worse too. Just do as much as you can.

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BagelDog · 29/08/2016 12:34

Agree that trying to keep moving ASAP is good. Little and often as it can feel like a real effort. And when up try to consciously stand up straight as very tempting to hunch over but this doesn't help. Have had three, and anaesthetised for thousands...

Drink plenty. I found a bottle with a sports too stopped me pouring it all over myself when in bed.

Take the painkillers regularly even if comfortable. Once you feel sore it can take a while to play catch up.

Constipation and trapped wind are very common and hurt a lot. Ask for regular lactulose. Some hospitals can give you peppermint water for wind, some don't. Taking my own and taking it regularly helped loads.

I found clothes that supported but didn't rub worked best, had some yoga trousers with a deep waistband that I could fold over were best, and looked less like pyjamas when I had visitors.

Once home try to get out every day. The first few days even a 100m shuffle in the sun made me feel more sane. Was doing the dog walk albeit slowly by about ten days.

I found Pilates put me back together again really well afterwards. Some great videos on line. Check that they are postnatal specific and ok for post section. Good one on pilatesbygeorgia.com as a start point.

Good luck xx

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Shanster · 29/08/2016 14:07

I'm on day 5 post section, agree with previous posters about getting up as soon as you are able (I didn't think I could, but nurses made me and I immediately felt better). I found the actual section to be much worse than anticipated as my blood pressure dropped so much I was fighting nausea the whole time, pumped full of drugs as a result and generally just felt wasted for the first day. Had I known that was likely, at least I would have prepped myself mentally.
Biggest issue for me was the trapped wind, it was absolute agony. The painkillers make this worse - apparently when your insides are exposed to air, some will get trapped and getting things going again takes a few days. I read afterwards that eating a semi liquid diet (soups etc) the day before your op can help. I ended up taking loads of lactulose, drinking hot prune juice and walking laps round the post partum ward just to pass wind. Peppermint tea did help too. I was told not to drink with a straw as this could introduce more air, so I used a sports bottle and that worked really well.

Take the pain meds, I have tried cutting back a couple of times and each time has been a disaster. Good luck

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