C section scheduled two days before due date

[Instamum]

Hello all

My DS is 3 years old and I had a healthy pregnancy, however, my emergency c section was performed by a junior registrar and ruptured on day 2. The mid wife did not check my wound before discharging me. Thankfully, we had a friend who is a doctor at East Surrey and he ensured I had a decent consultant rest itching me. I was in the hospital on bed rest for 5 days post surgery.

I'm going back to the same hospital, and thankfully the friend has ensured I have a senior consultant and will monitor who the anaesthetist is. However, my c section is scheduled two days before my due date which is unsettling. I was overdue with DS, but what if I go into labour naturally?

The hospital is famed for being a shoddy hospital and was recently in the paper (only last week!) for a mid wife who was taking gas and air and painkillers on her lunch break. News like this is not reassuring.

This time, they seem to be trying to avoid a similar situation but I obviously have no trust in the hospital. So, what can I do to avoid a similar occurrence? My mum will stay the night so that I do not move around. I will only have a bed bath for the first few days to avoid infection/strain. What else? Should I wear some sort of belt to hold everything together? Should I worry about the date, or go with the consultant? How do I stop worrying?!

[OhMjh]

Not much you can do about the date, I'm afraid. As it was an emcs and not a planned one, they'll be doing it as close to due date as they can as there's no need to do it early and that could cause unnecessary complications - if you do happen to go into labour before then, you just ring the hospital as normal, go in and they'll do one still, you won't have to attempt a VBAC if you're penned in for a section.

In terms of the experience you had before, I'm very sorry that you had to go through that, it's awful. I think you are perfectly within your rights to be a little bit of a demanding person post c-section so do make sure you pester them to check your wound is beginning to heal well and looks tidy. Also take all the painkillers on offer, as well as their offers to mind the baby for a bit so you can catch up on your sleep before you go home. I'd also suggest not being in too much of a rush to get home, so if there is an issue you're in the right place to have it looked at.

[Instamum]

Offers to look after the baby?! Is that a thing?? Will keep a look out for that!! Thanks, and yes will be mindful of the wound and making sure I get checked!!