General anaesthetic & planned c-sec any good stories?

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Hi, due to complications with first DD and back problem, my midwife has said I may be better having a planned C-sec under general anaesthetic. Its hard finding 'planned' experiences on here that were positive. Mainly I want to know if its under general verus spinal block I assume you get the use of your legs back quicker but does that mean the pain is worse as you cant have your spinal block topped up?? Last time I was 24hrs in bed as legs didnt work post epi. But also worried about being too sleepy to feed baby or baby being too sleepy from anaesthetic. My MW suggested you wake up with in 20-25mins of C-sec finished, not hours... anyone had experience of this??

Hi - I had a ga for my last c section and have another one planned for current pregnancy. It was excellent, but can't really comment on the feeding straight away because I am type 1 diabetic so my baby was taken to scbu to sort her sugars out before I came round. Pain afterwards was minimal, very good recovery and my dd was great. Don't worry you wil be fine.

Thanks nice to hear a positive story and that you are planning a second under GA. I am seeing the consultant in 2 wks time and just want to gather information so I can make an informed decesion really.

I had GA with an EMCS when the local did not work. I woke up 20 mins or so after the section and felt fine and not at all groggy which was surprising considering that aside from the time I was out I hadn't slept for about 32 hours. I even felt well enough to have a cup of tea and breakfast straight away.
DD was fine and I successfully BF soon after she was born.
You will be able to move your legs when you wake up but I wasn't allowed to get out of the bed for 24 hours and was catherised. However I don't know if this was because of the failed spinal block rather than the CS.

I had a good chat with the anaesthetist about my reasons for wanting a general (botched epi first time around, didn't work at all and needed blood patch afterwards, so I don't really trust spinals for me) he was fab, explained thedifference between the procedures and the slightly increases risk of a ga vs spinal but at the end said "i' m happy you understand everything thoroughly, and we'll do whatever you prefer." I came round quickly, bonded really well with my daughter and found the whole experience calm and happy. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Hi - I had a planned section under ga 3 months ago. My daughter was born at 9.55am and I remember seeing a clock at 11.30 but was groggily awake before that. The pain was bad for about 30 mins after (mw said it's because you don't have any residual pain relief from a spinal) but once they give you morphine, it all goes away (lovely morphine!). Can't comment on the feeding as dd went to scbu with low agpars, but I think I would have been able to feed her with some help.
I would have another section and ga if we were planning another one, and would not have any worries. Good Luck with the consultant.

I can't speak from planned point of view as mine was a EMCS which started as spinal which numbed legs but not torso which only became apparent when they began cutting then I was quickly knocked out.
I was woken up can't tell you what time it was, but me and my little man were fine, they said once I was knocked out he was out within 4 minutes so it was unlikely that he the GA would have effected him at all.
I was able to hold him as soon as I was woken.
As for moving around my legs didn't work because of the spinal and was told I couldn't move out of bed even after that had worn off, the policy in my hospital is 18 hours, then bed to chair, then chair to shower.
I am pregnant again and am yet to discuss my options, but I will NOT be allowing them to use the spinal again, so if I have a section it will be under general, I have no faith in spinals at all now.

I have had 2 and will have another one soon as I am 29 weeks pregnant. I woke up about 25 minutes after the c-section and the baby is brought to me straight away. I BF both my children and was able to move my legs as soon as I woke up.
I was catherised for 24 hours each time though but was able to BF and sleep with the babies.
I don't have a choice about it, but all in all, I am not too sad about having to give birth that way.

Oh I forgot, I did get alot of pain in the scar area when I woke, and was dosed up with morphine and kept in delivery until the pain as eased, incase there was a problem and I needed to go back in, this could also have been to do with the fact they couldn't stop the bleeding and the pressure dressings weren't working for a while. All was fine in the end though, and the pain did ease off.

I had a GA when I had my abdominal stitch fitted - it's the same operation as a c-section just without cutting into the uterus (and obviously baby stays put as it's to keep the baby in!)

As I was pregnant at the time, 13 weeks, there were restrictions on the painkilling drugs I could use, same as there would be if I were breastfeeding a newborn.

I was awake pretty quickly after the operation, which was over an hour, and was given morphine by IV. Later I was on codeine. I was never in much pain. The grogginess was not ideal but it wasn't as bad as I feared.

Thanks for information helpful. Shall view ga in more positive light now I think.

Had a GA for my ELCS. Great experience, came round very quickly and had no pain after the op as they had clearly dosed me up with morphine.

Thanks for the postive stories its helped me.

Another GA lover here. DD was born at 8.52 and I woke up at 18.30ish. I'd had an arguement with the anaesthetist so he was obviously punishing me.
I got out of bed the following morning and went off for a ciggy with my catheter and drip stand. I don't remember having too much pain, and definitely didn't have morphine because it wasn't available in Oman.