Bloddy Hell! Have A Section Booked On Thursday! To Be Honest I Am Sh*&ting Myself!!!!

[magnolia1]

Ok, so........ Placenta previa (placenta blocking cervix) so natural labour out the window. History of prem labours and his is 5th baby so section being done slighly earlier than normal. It was originally at 37+6 but I have had awful spd and had twinges ect.... been in such a state worrying about going into labour as it would really complicate things. So anyway now hey are doing it this Thursday and I will be 36+6 so practically 37 weeks.

I am officially scared stiff about everything really. What if he needs help in special care (have been there before but don't really want to do it again!) If I haemmorrage they will have to put me sleep (have managed to get them to agree to a spinal at first though)
I am so scared that if they wisk him away they will give him formula/botle (when I had my twins they bottle fed them within 5 minutes of birth and without consulting us at all )

I haven't sorted things out at home properly. Leaving so much to dh but he has the other 4 kids to look after.

I have to phone up at 7am Thursday to see what time I go in. Also panicking in case they cancel or delay it and I am getting worked up for nothing!

Sooooo worried about breasfeeding, dd4 was in special care for 3 weeks but I finally managed to fully breastfeed by the time she came home. But now I have 4 kids and will have such a hectic routine how can I just sit on my arse and feed?? Dh is home for the first 4-6 weeks but what then??

I know I am just panicking and wanted to offload!
Sorry for rambling

[magnolia1]

And the title says bloddy instead of bloody

[MarsLady]

Magnolia........... breathe!

All will be well. I had the DTs at 36+4 by elective section. I bf them for 18months.

They were fine... your lo will be fine!

[lulumama]

i remember your thread re the GA issue.

magnolia....i think that you are thinking the worst, because you know the worst can happen...doens;t mean it will IFYSWIM! the lovely thing is that you know that baby will be with you in 2 days! yay! and that is really exciting..esp after the stresses you have had.

have a note glued to your belly saying NO FORMULA !!! and make sure you or DH tells every person involved in the birth that it is not too happen.

babies don;t need to feed minutes after birth,,no reason LO cannot be put to your breast when ready

rally family & friends to get the house & kids sorted and look forward to baby day!!

[lulumama]

mars...how did you beat me there!!


magnolia..is a post natal doula an option?

[magnolia1]

Lol....... I haven't breathed all day This poor baby probably wants to stay in there with all he screeching like a banshee I have been doing

[MarsLady]

Oh and with regards to them ffing the baby.... you request before the op that they don't.

Now if you email me on lovelymarslady at aol dot com I'll forward you my suggestions for making your caesarean birth more personal (for want of a better phrase).

[fruitful]

Lots of nice calm thoughts coming your way....

Have you had a cs before? They're not that bad, especially not elective ones (I've had an elective, and an emergency with a placenta praevia haemorrhage).

Take in a piece of paper with "NO FORMULA" written on it in big red letters, and some sellotape, and hand them to the midwife before you go into theatre, with instructions to tape it to your baby's cot.

And take in a really good trashy novel, because your cs may get delayed by emergencies needing the operating theatre.

[magnolia1]

lulu, financially not a chance and to be hones Dh is there 24/7 for the first 4-6 weeks so It will be fine. Its just all of a sudden everything that has been worrying me has appeared in my head at the same time!!!
I have been acting like a loon all day

[magnolia1]

mars, emailing you

Fruitful, I will do that with the sign. Will stick one to Dh too

[lulumama]

no worries...just trying to cover all bases!!

mars will give you great advice re section.....

you will be ok..now you have written it down..bet yo feel better, no?

[MarsLady]

Just about to bathe the DTs and then the bigger ones will probably do homework. So I'll email you back later!

In the meantime.........

In........................
and out.........................

In.......................
and out.........................

[magnolia1]

Yes feeling a bit better thanks

[MarsLady]

Put DS1 in charge of bathing the DTs and have emailed you.

Now to relinquish the PC for homework!

Email me if you need to and if necessary I'll give you my number so that we can chat anything through.

[magnolia1]

Thanks hun Writing out a kind of birth plan now. Do I hand it to midwife? Do they actually read them?? Never done one before I am such a laid back person most of the time but I think because it's the last I want it right

[poppiesinaline]

Ahhhh Magnolia1, I had no idea you felt like this honey.
Mars is lovely lovely lovely and will give you fab advice. If I can help with taking and picking up DTs from school just let me know - esp when DH goes back to work, I pass your doorstep for goodness sake!

All will be ok, all will be ok, breathe, breathe...

[magnolia1]

Thanks hun, I think I have been holding it in to be honest.

[poppiesinaline]

You always seem to calm.

[magnolia1]

Lol.... I know, paint a good picture don't I??
I am ok really, Mar's email helped loads and I have the kids in bed and mumsnet in front of me

[poppiesinaline]

I mean it though. YELL loudly if you need any help.

[Ellbell]

Aaargh, magnolia... I've just typed a long message to you ... and lost it

Anyway, I was saying 'SNAP!'. I had dd1 by elective section because of placenta praevia back in 2000.

My experience was very positive, I must say. The whole procedure was very calm (except for dh, who was petrified but trying to hide it and had been given a size XS theatre gown, even though he weighs 14 stone!!!) and once I was numbed and the op had started it felt like just a matter of minutes before I was holding my beautiful baby. I was able to hold her while I was being sewn up, and the anaesthetist even took some pics of us while we were still in theatre.

Do you know exactly where your placenta is? Unless it's over the cervix and towards the front, there is no real reason why you should bleed excessively during the op (unless you have some other reason why you might haemorrage which I'm unaware of). Even if the placenta is towards the front, the surgeon will be aware of this and there is no reason at all why there should be a problem. My experience with pp was that people were very keen to tell me the 'worst case scenario', even though it's quite rare for the worst to happen. Their point was that if it happens, then it is very serious (this was when I was trying to discharge myself from hospital and they were trying to keep me in!). But once you're in the hospital anyway, you should be fine. I'm sorry, I obviously don't know your past history, but there is no reason why pp alone should make you need a general anaesthetic rather than a spinal, unless the op needs to be done as an emergency (i.e. if the placenta comes away - but it sounds as if they are doing the op on Thursday to try to forestall that happening).

At nearly 37 weeks your baby shouldn't need special care (again, unless there are other factors). My dd was born at 36 weeks exactly but had been small for dates (or possibly my dates had been wrong, as I'd got pg straight after a mc) all the way through my pregnancy, so she may have been more like 35 weeks. Also, I had had several bleeding episodes (some quite dramatic) and had (sorry if TMI, this is gross) lost a bit of placenta at one point. Dd was therefore a bit undernourished. She was 4lb 12oz when she was born. She had no problems other than just smallness. She breathed on her own immediately (though I'd had steriods from 27 weeks to 34 weeks, because they really didn't think I'd make it to 36 weeks) and in fact was screaming before her whole body was out of me! (She is still a drama queen .) She needed to be kept warm on a heated pad (not an incubator) for a couple of hours, but they didn't do this until we were out of theatre. In theatre they let me hold her. Oh, and if it's any reassurance, my dd2 (born by VBAC) was born at 37 weeks + 5 and weighed a healthy 7lb 8oz, so dd1 is clearly not representative of 36-weekers.

I did have problems breastfeeding, but they were not to do with the c-section... more to do with my flat nipple/huge nork combo (sorry if again TMI). I had the same problems with dd2. The only difference was that dd1 was very sleepy and didn't really have the energy to suck. She was tube-fed (EBM once I managed to get some out) for nearly 2 weeks and I eventually got her home feeding with nipple shields. That wasn't very successful, and I gave up after 6 weeks. But you have already breastfed successfully and there is no reason why you shouldn't do so again. Make sure that the midwife who is with you for the op is aware that you don't want your baby to be given formula without your explicit consent.

Good luck with everything. I'll be thinking about you on Thursday.

[Ellbell]

Sorry that was so long!

[lulumama]

i think that is the longest post i have seen on here ever!

[Ellbell]

I may have to change my name to Verbal Diarrhoea

[magnolia1]

Ellbell, thanks
Placenta is in the middle at the left with most of it covering cervix. So hopefully not to much of a problem but they just said If I did bleed they may have to put me to sleep.
I had an emergency section with dd4 at 33 weeks and she was whisked away so I think thats also why I feel so worried.

[Ellbell]

I'm sure you'll be OK. (Not that I'm medically qualified or anything... just that I've been there.)

I think that there's a big difference between 33 weeks and 36 weeks. That's why they stopped my steroids at 34 weeks, because they said that I simply wouldn't need them any more at that point.

Sending you calm/positive vibes....