An idiots guide to ELCS :)

[ALovelyBunchOfCoconuts]

I am 37+4 and will most likely be having an ELCS due to polyhydramnios and breech baby. (the CS isn't booked yet but that's an entirely different thread!)

Anyway, I am looking for information of what happens before, during and after a CS (first birth was natural).

Is it scary? I'm not fearful of it, perhaps a tad anxious but nothing that you wouldn't expect me to be.

Someone told me today that for 6 whole weeks after you can literally do nothing and for the first two weeks it is impossible to lift your own baby. That the MWs shower you because you are so incapacitated? Were they just scaremongering and exaggerating or does it sound like she was giving an honest/accurate description?

I want to be prepared mentally for what to expect, what the spinal is like, how it feels to feel them rummaging inside you and mostly about the recovery procedure so if anyone would like to share their experiences I'd be very grateful :)

I had lot of transfusions without any flashing lights. And lots with. my entire blood has been replaced with someone elses over the last few months. And only one pint of the 20 was to do with the cesarian. The rest was completely unrelated :)

Losing blood is something you don't have to worry about.

xkatyx I wouldn't worry about bleeding because I just had a look at the new nice guideline and it says you are LESS likely to haemorrhage with an elective c/s (not just less than an emergency one but less than a vaginal one).

Oh really? That ha put my mind at rest so much thank you. I assumed it was other way round :0)