Caesarian survival tips

Another thought - I found being angled for the op itself freaky. Everyone promised it was only a little bit but I felt like I was going to fall and panicked. Once I calmed down it was fine. My anaesthatist (sp???) was brilliant, doing a kind of tour guide commentry so I knew what was going on - if you don't want this make sure you tell them!

All great advice as usual. I had emergency first time and elective second time.
Recommend wearing pjs rather than nightie, as slighty more dignified getting out of bed, and nowhere near scar.
Also re the wind thing- whatever makes you burp- take some. For me it was fizzy water and diet coke, although not too much of the coke.
My dh used to bring in some home-made soup in a flask which helped with the roughage iykwim.
I really enjoyed second time, choosing music etc, staff made it great and couldn't feel a thing.

Soutine - it all depends on how much help and support you'll have with the move, I'd say.

For instance, I wouldn't recommend doing it with a transit van and a couple of mates! On the other hand if you'd have a really good removal firm with a packing service, somewhere else to stay while DP/H does all the unpacking/sorting out, and heaps of other support to look after your other gorgeous offspring for the duration it might not be too horrific at any time.

Having said that, moving's just a nightmare - perhaps the longer you leave it, the better?

Oo er, that's no advice at all really - sorry!

It's worth asking which type of c-section you're having. I got the new lever-your-muscles-apart version rather than the old cut-through version and I had a really good recovery. Having said that friends having the same op at the same hospital had widely different recoveries so just go with how you feel.

A couple of tips though - get someone to note when you should have your painkillers (mine got forgotten - no wonder it hurt!) and co-didromol which was my hospital's painkiller of choice makes you constipated. I wish they'd warned me!

griffy, I think it's partly the cut and partly the stitching pulling the cut in...in fact I didn't have an overhang first time round, or only a tiny one, but after that it got deeper and deeper - I could hold a couple of pencils in mine now!

re the painkillers (sibble's message) try to get off the serious ones onto paracetamol ASAP. If you find the pain is too bad you can ask for stronger ones again but if you can cope without it's better for you and the baby.

Hi
From personal experience don't think you are Olga Korbet and jump out of bed when you are high on morphine and pop your stitches like I did. More scary than a problem, just have a wonky apron flap (as known in med field for overhang belly - urggggh). Left off the pain killers completely in hospital after that!!!!
Be careful though of what pain killers they send you home on, took them for a day a few days after being at home to help me "mobilise" and fell down the stairs with baby ...fortunately both OK skid on back... again high as a kite. Thought it great that he had slept so much but apparantly he was just drugged too through my milk.....Guess that's why never tried drugs.
Didn't realise you could drive earlier...do...otherwise go mad at home alone and big knickers...sleep when baby sleeps, old one but you will be recovering from major surgery as well as being new Mum.
Enjoy your time in hospital..rest...I did...If you are intent on breast feeding don't let the nurses whip your baby away for a night bottle feed to "help you rest" just because you are in hospital, it is hard to wean them off when you get home (may have just been my dodgy 3rd world hospital)
Good luck and enjoy your baby

Oh - I didn't think that the 'overhang' was just caused by the caesarean - don't 'natural' birth mums get that too? Or is it that having your tummy muscle cut leaves it all hanging?

And the more you have, the bigger it gets...I have an Opera House balcony!

D'you know I've only just realised that the c/section has caused that overhang... doh!

I think I know what Bluebear means - when I got home and looked in the mirror - only two days after Ds's appearance - the 'wound' (yuck - horrible word) seemed to go from hip-bone to hip-bone.

Add the deflated balloon 'overhanging tummy' effect, the crashing hormones and the ridiculously pneumatic, pumped-up chest and needless to say, I burst into tears.

So, the best bit of advice I can give is not to look in a mirror at your body for a fortnight at least. Actually, in my case, I still should probably be happier if I still avoided doing so now (over 2 years later)!!!

Incidentally, my scar is now relatively tiny, and well hidden, but I still have a huge unsightly horizontal wrinckle across my tum from the overhang... mmmm, nice.

Blimey, bluebear, hipbone to hipbone??? Was yours a really extreme emergency? "Get that baby out NOW!"?

Mine is about 6" too, Soutine! I think that's more usual with an elective. I once had a single running dissolving stitch with a little knot on the end, like morocco's (the knot stayed for years, I got quite attached to it) but that was abroad, the others were old-fashioned black thread stitches - not staples. (I was once on an ordinary surgical ward and the woman in the next bed had had a thyroid op, she had staples right across the base of her throat, she looked like something out of Frankenstein!)

how jealous am I - how come you lot all got painkillers galore - I got morphine the first night and then was on the paracetamol (by suppository I add - oh how cruel to remind me of all those bits down there) - no wonder I seemed to find it b**painful compared to other stories I've heard. So the nhs beats private yet again!

My stitches weren't removed at all - is this a running stitch? If so, don't worry about the knot bit at the end (or try to pull it out like I did) as it just falls off but after about a month or so in my case.

I also wasn't allowed to have showers or baths for 4 weeks (how smelly was I) and couldn't eat for about 3 days either - 1 while in labour 2 post op - sounds like some kind of torture camp compared to the rest of you.

And don't worry if your pubes seem to take forever to grow back - at 7 months post op mine are still only halfway back to their normal straggly forest look.

One final piece of advice is to ban the video camera from post op shots - I have one of me flat out on the bed and it is not flattering.

All the best

Another quick recoverer here - mine was emergency cs, but I had been taking arnica anyway for labour (which I also had 36 hours of!!) and continued to take afterwards. Get up and about as soon as possible - I asked when I could get up and they said when you can do without your morphine drip - so got them to take it out asap, and found that being mobile again was the best thing to be. There was a lot of abdominal discomfort similar to doing about one million stomach crunchies, but it was bearable, and they give good drugs for the pain . It was a little bit hard to pick ds up out of his cot for the first couple of nights, but that got easier.

Once home, try not to do too much, accept all help offered and if you feel up to it get a doctors note to drive so that you can get out and about - I drove from four weeks with permission from insurance company who helpfully advised me to practice emergency stop before attempting anything!

HTH

Bluebear, I really hope this doesn't sound unbearably smug, but do you mind me mentioning for Soutine's sake that scars aren't always that big? Mine is about 6 inches I would say, completely invisible once the hair grew back (sorry to be gross). Your advice about getting to know the ward system is spot on, it can all seem so mysterious.

I had an emergency section, and found the hardest part was trying to work out the 'system' in the post natal ward.
As you know you are going to be in there for at least 3 days ask if you can visit and check up on the basics. e.g. will food be brought to you or do you need to hobble somewhere to get it, will baby be in a cot attached to the bed or do they use traditional bassinets which require someone to pick up the baby and pass it to you for feeding etc. , can you get an extra pillow to use to cushion your scar whilst feeding baby, do you need to ask for painkillers or will they be given/offered to you, will someone help you have a bath/shower or will they look after the baby whilst you clean yourself.
I was also suprised by how large the scar was, from one hip bone to another.
I was a lot better once home and able to potter about.

I had an emergency section as my daughter was in distress and wanted out - I was fine! The nurses etc were brilliant even when my epidural wouldn't top up and I had to have a general and was knocked out.

Recovery was ok, felt a bit cheated initially as I wanted a 'normal' delivery but the midwives explained there was no such thing and the main thing was mum and baby were fine.

I was up and out of bed the next day, and could have showers etc. In hospital for 5 days which was bearable as I had lots of visitors bringing M&S food goodies - good idea. My staples didn't hurt when they were taken out and I didn't have that many painrelief tablets either when I got home. I must say though that I didn't do ANYTHING but learn to breastfeed and be a new mum for the first few weeks, my husband and family rallied round and I reckon this helped recovery no end.

mine was an emergency c section under general anaesthetic.
If you have a catheter in there will be a bag on wheels beside your bed. Mine looked like a tequila sunrise - bloody urine, then yellow - but nothing to be alarmed about. Ask for it to be removed asap - dammed uncomfortable.

I had no problems with breastfeeding - make sure you get the midwife to help position your baby properly. The one who helped me was a star!

Take all the painkillers on offer - I didn't sleep much for 4 days, and the pain seemed to increase on day 3.

Try to shuffle around the ward as much as you can. Helps prevent DVT and makes you feel better.

Agree with anti bloating remedies - the pain from trapped wind is terrible! I was so pleased that I told EVERYONE on the ward when I had my first post op poo!!

So agree with the big knickers, and lots of curries help things move - I also lied to my midwife about having been. But be careful - they need to know if your bowels are functioning as this can be a major complication. I knew I was Ok - I might not have been producing anything but wind but boy could I fart
Try and walk as much as possible, never refuse drugs that are offered. Insist on running stitch rather than staples and don't allow them to put a drain in - it's not necessary. You will find it impossible to sleep comfortably on your side for the first few days, so make sure you have help to get comfortable in bed before peole leave you for the night. When you do get more active try to remember not to bend over sideways to grab things, especially not with a baby in your arms.

During the op, don't worry if you shake uncontrollably. It is a side effect of the spinal block drugs on your blood pressure. It does not mean that you are about to die and leave your husband to bring up your baby by himself (I only realised that much later). And reassure your dh, parets etc that you will be spaced out for 12 hours or so. My Mum was really worried about my mental state when she saw me just after the op, and watching the video I can see why. I was completely blank, hardly looked at my baby, couldn't string two words together - but by next morning I was fine - and I'd never realised I was acting strange. Oh the joys of morphine

I'd definitely endorse lying about having had a poo if you haven't by the time you want to go home! They were bloody obsessed! And the last thing you need to stress you out is the idea that you have to perform on command. Of course, if one still isn't forthcoming some time later, let your midwife know! Big pants - yes! Do what you can to avoid trapped wind - ouch...
One I didn't do and lived to regret was you still need to do your pelvic floor exercises so try to keep these up if you can.
My elective was a very positive experience: calm, gentle and dd was born to the sounds of "Let There Be Love" by Nat King Cole. Good luck...

This is all really sensible advice. I think that there is a lot of negative talk about section deliveries and recovery. Much better to listen to all these other mums than to things you might come across in the media etc. I had no side effects other than getting stuck once or twice getting in and out of bed, but then I didn't listen to the physio's advice who you should get a visit from before leaving hospital.
One other point, which admittedly may be far from your mind once you have three young children, is that caesarians mean less interruption to your sex life. Well we thought it was a plus point!

Hello.

I have had two caesarians - one emergency and one elective. I found them both OK - had the running stitch both times and was SHOCKED when they pulled it out after 5 days and thought everything would come apart!! I was up and about to the extent that the midwives didn't realise I had had ceasarians but then I always have to be on the go anyway and really didn't find it difficult. I'm sure everyone heals at different rates. The second time my eldest DS was just 2 and I couldn't pick him up very easily so sat down with him. Driving wise your insurance won't cover you for two weeks after any major op and then you can drive if you can do an emergency stop without pain. Main thing I thought was to focus on having a successful birth in terms of getting the baby at the end and not get hung up on the way s/he came out! It was weird with the elective walking into the operating theatre and climbing on the operating table ut after that it was OK - not worrying the way the emergency one was - but still quite surreal I thought! Just take it easy if you need to and accept all and any offers of help you might get - and do those postnatal tummy exercises for goodness sake!!

I agree with all the below, but it sounds to me like every hospital has their own rules. I go up about 6hrs after the op, I refused to stay in bed longer and wanted the catheter out. They wanted me to prove I would be able to get to the loo!! Also I drank copius amounts of water which meant the first poo wasn't too bad and I didn't get to much trapped wind. That can feel really uncomfortable. I was allowed to shower the next day, and I picked up my 2 yr old the next day!!

I did all the things you aren't meant to do, by 5 weeks later I went back to the gym I think it realy depends on how you feel, I felt fine although I got an infection in my wound which wasn't fun. I drove in 2 weeks (didn't get a Dr's note, didn't know I had to), and was back to my usual self by then.

My main bit of advice is to find out what kind of stiching they use. 1st time around I had a kind of plastic thread with little beads on each end, this was great, really comfortable (?) and didn't hurt to remove. 2nd time I had staples, these are b***y painful to remove, left a far worse scar and not to be recommended. See if you can get the running stitch thing.