Can I please have any tips you have for a good elective C section?!

[Babynumber2dueNov]

Hi All,

After much research and soul searching (having wanted a natural hypnobirthing birth) we have had to book an elective c section. I had a bad/traumatic birth with my DD which resulted in massive blood loss and a nasty tear which is why we’ve booked in for the end of the week.
Any tips on healing or things that took you by surprise or things you wish you’d known about c sections? I’m quite scared but understand it’s the least risky option for me! Thanks!

I cannot stress this enough:
Take stool softener and laxatives in the days before your op!

I liked having a side-sleeper cot so I didn't have to get up and down so much.
Get out of bed as soon as your catheter is out and go for a walk to the loo. After your next meal, go take a shower and you will feel so much better.

Take Arnica tablets for 3 days before your Operation and for a week after - then you have no swelling.

Get up and shower as soon as you can.

Get as much sleep as you can while in hospital and at home for first week - make sure someone else minds your other DC if you have them. I was lucky to go private so had 5 nights in hospital after each one (had 3) and needed every second of it!!!!

Don't let it stop you breast-feeding if you want to - I breast fed all of mine after my C-sections with no issue - get a support cushion.

Get up and about as much as you can but only for a walk - do not do housework and sleep a lot while the baby sleeps. You need to rest to recover but it is perfectly manageable to recover quickly.

"Breast milk doesn’t always come in straight away with csec. No one advised me of that and I couldn’t feed my baby".

Breast milk doesn't come in straight away for anyone, caesarean birth or not. Milk comes in about 2-5 days after birth. The breasts produce colostrum first, which is massively high in calories and antibodies but small in quantity. So an absolutely perfect first food for a newborn baby with a tiny tummy. Mums after caesarean may need some extra help in finding a comfortable position for feeding in the early days though

My elective (after an emergency one the first time) was amazing. Most of the advice I’d give has already been said, except if you feel panicky about your breathing at any point just put your hand on your chest and focus on your breathing, I had to do that a few times. Also the second time round I went mad with itching as the anaesthetic wears off, if that happens mention it ASAP and piriton sorts it out quickly.

Good luck! My ELCS was honestly one of the best days of my life, so calm and lovely. All worth it!

I had one emcs and one planned. Although second one was booked so close to due date my labour started and it ended up being classed as emcs. Both were fine. I recovered faster than my sister who had vaginal births.

Best things I had were -
Straws for drinking lying down. Peppermint oil capsules and tea to drink to help with trapped wind.
Lactulose to help you go to loo when taking lots of pain meds.
All the pain meds!!
Don't do too much too soon, it comes back to bite you.
Massive pants.
Massive pads.
Aranica capsules to swallow (not cream to go near wound!)
I loved my c section belt. £10/15 from amazon and it was great, mostly because wearing it made it difficult to bend/move in any way that would hurt my wound.

Take a book/magazine/something to do whilst you are waiting. My consultant suggested colouring books & pens.

Watch, it's absolutely amazing. I had skin to skin straight after delayed cord clamping with all measurements etc done in recovery. Ask for one arm out of the gown if that's what you want.

If you are super squeamish and don't want to, don't look at the lights. Also the iodine they wash you down in looks just like blood when seen reflected in the lights (at least in our hospital), don't panic (like me), it's not.

Recovery will vary. I've had 2, both emergencies and bounced back very quickly physically. Do what you feel up to but don't presume you'll be incapable. I didn't need any help looking after dc2 once I got to postnatal (which was lucky really). I would recommend getting up asap though. With my 2nd, they had the catheter out and were expecting me to be mobile within 8 hours (as soon as I got a bed on the postnatal ward).

You are likely to have some numbness around your abdomen afterwards possibly from your scar to your belly button area. This might go over time or it might not. I had numbness with my first for around 3 months and then it slowly came back. I didn't have any at all with my 2nd. I was however advised to massage the area as soon as it was healed, lightly at first and then more fully with time by one of the NICU doctors caring for dc1 which I duly did.

Don't hoover. My eldest is almost 5...dh still does all the hoovering.

Make baskets in advance for once you come home, one for you & baby (magazines, books, snacks, muslins, change of clothes, bib, drinks) and one for your dd if they are under 6 (snacks, drinks, toys, books etc).

I was just about to post the same as jgjg - no one's milk appears immediately, there will be colostrum in the first few days for everyone.
First poo - I was back on the phone to the hospital as thought it would kill me! Wish I'd had something in (prune juice maybe)
I've had two elcs and very happy with them both.

Mine was emcs so all a bit hazy + heavy blood loss + shock but I remember a few things:

-cushions, cushions and more cushions.

• get someone to help you shower as soon as you are able to. I felt SO much better.

• if you can, get DH/Mum/trusted person to go to the toilet with you in hospital. I had to go and provide urine samples and squatting down and standing up from an uncomfortable hospital toilet was very undignifed and quite painful (especially when you’ve been laid down with a catheter for 24hrs!) having someone there to help balance would have been a lifesaver.

• big pants

• oramorph is your friend.

• small, regular meals and lots of water. No fizzy drinks at all - my DH stocked up on lots of lovely flavoured sparkling water and was told off!

Definitely massive pants!and I used to put a sanitary towel across the front, so it would sit over my scar and not rub. Don’t do too much too soon! Peppermint oil for trapped wind- it kills in your shoulder! Senokot or lots of fibre to help with the first poo!
And my top tip- get a changing table. You can prob get them quite cheaply on e bay. It was a life saver as you can’t bend down to change the baby, but this was you can change then standing.
You’ll also need a supportive partner- for the first week or so, I couldn’t get up in the night to get the baby when he needed feeding, so my dh would get him, pass him to me for feeding then take him off me to change and settle. It’s really a team effort!
The hardest part was seeing all my NCT friends out and about with their babies and feeling useless for the first few weeks, but it passes quickly and soon you’ll be out and about with your pram and little one

Spray water like Evian spray- each of mine have left me itchy the water is a great relief!
Get help - you will need to slow down, if you can get someone to help cook and clean etc for the first few weeks it will help you recover. Take stairs sideways- much less painful. Good luck.

I could have written your post myself op. I had the same experience with my first and dc2 was an elective. My c section was absolutely amazing and I'm still a little shocked by how beautiful it was... didn't just shed a tear I was completely aware of everything going on, it felt very controlled, safe and my favourite song came on the radio just before he came out.

Things I didn't know....the shakes when they do the spinal are crazy. My DH thought I was going to shake myself off the table it was that bad. He was a little freaked out.

The getting the baby out part is extremely quick they put baby on your chest immediately if all is ok and the bit after that flys by because you're enjoying your beautiful baby snuggles.

My tips are buy proper c section pants not just the standard granny pants. They have a panel in them that stops your stitches catching, I felt a bit queasy if I put normal pants on (even the big ones) because they caught my stitches quite a lot. They're pricey though so I'd literally wash them straight away!

Trapped wind was the worst pain wise. I found it quite irritating but went after a couple of days when I was able to move a bit more.

Keen on top of your pain relief even if you feel fine. Once or twice I got a bit cocky and definitely paid for it.

Overall it was just so different to what I thought it would be. I was exhausted going into it because I'd been up for days at night terrified and as I was walking down to theatre I had a bit of a moment and turned around saying I didn't want to go through with it. I felt that c sections were considered worse than a natural birth and my natural birth was awful so I was shitting it to say the least. It couldn't have been further from what I expected.

The only thing I would add to the already great advice, the thing that saved me was a grabber stick. They're only about £10 on Amazon. It was a joke present that my DH bought me at the end of pregnancy when I was too big to pick anything up off the floor, but good lord it was an absolute godsend after the csection! The last thing I could do was bend over to pick stuff up so this became my favourite thing in the world. We named him Gary and he is now mostly used to pick up stray bits of Lego when I can't be arsed to bend down for the 50th time!

First time round I was very surprised to have a catheter and a drip. Then I started asking for the catheter to be put in in the theatre once anaesthetised and for the drip to be in my wrist not my hand.
Be prepared to be separated from your partner for the prep bit - you spend some time alone and then they come in in their blue gown and hat.
Think about if you can ask for any music - are you allowed a CD or radio station?
It's difficult to see the baby as they are taken off to be weighed and checked while you are being stitiche up. Same room but last time this was behind me.

My c section was over 10 years ago but I’ll still share these tips

Dried fruit to get things moving

Straws so you can have a drink ( or water bottle)

Moisturiser, eg Nivea as the painkillers make your skin itch

And keep taking the painkillers! I thought I could ‘cope’ so stopped too soon and regretted it.

Keep up the pain relief.

Be very careful in the first few weeks - I opened my wound mopping up a spill on the floor. Thankfully it didn't get infected but it did mean going to the nurse 3 times a week to get it checked and twice daily cleaning and changing of dressing.

Stick a maternity pad inside your knickers so that it sits against your wound. Its comfy and protects it. Also, if it does open, the discharge will show up on the pad so you'll know if it needs to be seen to.

Having had a first birth very much like yours I had an elective the second time round. I found it a doddle to recover from compared to the first. I would say if you are planning on breast feeding don’t leave till you as happy with how you are getting on, my DS2 was a little slower to pic it up than DS1.

I don’t think I took recovery as seriously the first time but since you get people advising you much more about recovery you are more likely to give yourself the excuse to rest.

Pretty much what has been said already.

Take your meds.

Don't forget hat for baby in theatre!

Pay for a private room afterwards of you can. Money well spent!

Satin nighties - help you slide out of bed when you can’t use your stomach muscles.

Pillow for the car to stop the seatbelt hurting you.

Small electric heat pad - still loving mine and it’s years later!

Sanitary towel on your scar for first few days, hold it in to you when you cough or poo!

Sorry, my comment about milk coming in was worded wrong (running on no sleep at moment). I had nothing, no colostrum. Took a few days and a lot of effort to get up to just few drops.

I have had two c-sections, and that’s all I know. I have three gorgeous babies (twins, obv) and we all came out alive and healthy and none of us would’ve here if c-sections weren’t an option. Very grateful.
Meanwhile, I followed the advice of getting up and around as soon as possible. Got up as soon as they removed the catheter to go to the loo. (They put a drip in with lots of fluids, so I went to the loo a LOT!!!) I found the incision site was a little bit painful, but if applied pressure with a pillow when I was standing up, it felt better. I only needed “serious” pain relief the day of the surgery. I don’t handle morphine or other pain-killers well. Others seem to like them, but not me. They make me panic. The following day, I took anti-inflammatories regularly (ibuprofen) and paracetamol. That was totally fine for pain relief. I wheeled my baby round hanging onto the plastic trolley she was in. (Doing laps like in a fishbowl, probably driving the nurses bonkers.) I wore high, yoga-style pants that weren’t tight, shoes I didn’t have to bend to get on (Birkenstocks, I think - sexy!) Soft tees that were easy to pull up for breastfeeding, some warm, fluffy socks that aren’t tight - your feet swell from the fluids, a nice cardigan/coatigan that doubles as a dressing gown.
Don’t over-pack the toiletries. You won’t use them. Keep it simple. You’re not going to be masking in the hospital, nor are you going to give yourself a pedicure. (They won’t thank you for that, either - that’s gross!)
Don’t forget to pack your phone charger and maybe take a kindle if you have one. Babies sleep a lot for the first couple of weeks and you need to grab some rest before they start to party!

When you do get up to walk try to straighten up - you could end up walking like the hunchback of Notre dame for a few days, if not careful. Take a walk around the ward every so often so as not to get too stiff.

You'll probably be escorted to the shower for your first one - you can feel very weak so will probably need the help.

Take every painkiller offered whether you feel pain at the time or not.

Don't have a bath in hospital. If you have one at home add a couple of drops of tea tree and lavender oil if you have any, to help heal the wound.

Gently blow dry the wound after bath/shower.
If people visit and ask to help, hand over the ironing basket, direct them to the hoover, get them to make tea - they did offer help after all!

Best of luck.

Stay on top of pain relief. When you're given pain meds at the hospital, always ask what time your next dose is due and call for MW if they don't arrive at that time. Don't wait for any pain to kick in first

Peppermint tea for first few days as the trapped wind can be woeful and you'll be uncomfortable enough as it is.

Do as little as possible for the first few weeks. Don't make any plans and cancel visitors if you're not up for it. Just chill on the couch and have everything you need close by. The less you do in the first 2-3 weeks, the better your recovery will be

Ask MW to show you how to dry and take care of your wound after a shower for when you get home. I was terrified to touch or even look at my wound and ended up with a
(Very minor!) fungal infection as I wasn't drying the area properly (very common apparently) so the area under my newly acquired (and very attractive) overhang was damp basically, leading to an infection (sorry for tmi!) but something to watch out for!

Best of luck!!

Agree with everyone else especially the grabber stick and the wind medication but also I wish I had not put the next to me cot against my bed because it was so hard to shuffle forward to get out of bed. Getting off of the toilet was another thing as it was so low but not sure I would have bought something to make the toilet higher for the sake of a week. Wind and constipation relief medication were vital. Massive knickers massive pads and comfy oversized pyjamas that went up over the incision. Comfy pillow to help you find a comfy way to sleep. I wish I had paid for a prepared meal service of some sort but that could be completely irrelevant to you. Don't leave the hospital without pain relief and good pain relief at that. Be realistic about how much your going to be able to do after and plan for that with other kids and pets / other responsibilities if applicable. Most of all enjoy your new baby