I'm booked in for c-section for breech baby. What do you wish you had asked beforehand? And any aother dvice please!

[SuchFunSuchFun]

I had this wonderful intervention free birth carefully planned, but a stargazing breech baby has put paid to that idea so c-section it is.

I have been told on a seperate thread that you can still have skin to skin straight away and even breastfeed quite soon afterwards which I didn't realise (my only experience of c-section is a friend who had an emergency section, they took baby away and she didn't see him till recovery, she developed infections and took months to recover, so I'm also very nervous about the whole thing!!)

What else is there that I might not know about that I should ask for or about at my pre-op appointment?

And what are my options for making this as non-clinical and as personal as an operation can be, or am I being a bit naive to think this is possible?

Ooh food, how could I forget that!! They said I'll get tea and toast in recovery but there's a good chance I'll miss the proper meal time so I'll definitely pack some of my fave snacks!!!

DSis is a nurse and she says tis the new findings. Very recent though so it may take a while to filter thru to all hospitals.
The years of removing hair pre op 'to prevent infection' was unfounded apparently.

I had a CS just over five weeks ago, it was classed as an EMCS but I was given advanced warning. DD was breech and they couldn't turn her (not enough fluid and the cord was between her legs), because I'd had a show and was getting mild contractions they decided I was an emergency case because I couldn't be allowed to go into labour - an hour after my outpatient appointment I was in theatre! DS was a VB so it was a bit of a shock to have a section this time.

You've got some brilliant advice already which I won't rehash but I just wanted to add a couple of things:

• take your favourite shower gel/shampoo/toiletries. If you don't have a favourite then treat yourself to something posh. I had my section at 11:30am on the Wednesday and got a shower the following morning. I was stiff from being immobile for almost 24hrs, I was emotional, and I was sore. Having lovely, frothy, smelly things in the shower really lifted my spirits (never underestimate the healing power of clean hair and nice smelling skin).

• make sure to see the physio before you leave the hospital. He/she should come round to see you anyway as they give you an information leaflet on what you should/shouldn't be doing afterwards and a timeline chart of what can be done when (e.g., how long to avoid heavy lifting, etc) but ask about exercises and the numb patches.

• have a pillow for the drive home to support your incision and stop the seatbelt pressing against it too much. It helps to press it against your tummy too for any tight corners and speedbumps.

• once you get home stay in your PJs for as long as humanly possible! As soon as people see you in clothes they presume you're back to normal and will treat you as such. I lived in PJs for the first ten days. Also do slightly less than you think you're capable of for the first few weeks because it's so easy to overdo it in the early days and you don't tend to feel it until the next day (I stupidly lifted my 2yo DS last week and pulled my scar - overdoing it bloody hurts!)

• try and fill your freezer, it doesn't have to be all homemade but some simple meals that you or your DH can just throw in the oven and forget about until it's cooked. I found standing and chopping/prepping/stirring for long periods hard work to begin with. Unfortunately my freezer broke two days before my section so DH cooked mini-meals for DS while he and I ended up keeping the local takeaway in business!

• once your dressing is off try and let the air at your incision as much as possible and let it air dry after a bath or shower too. It'll feel really tight after a day or two but it's so much better once the MW takes out the beads and prolene strip, I breathed a massive sigh of relief as soon as mine was out!

• take your camera into theatre! I didn't think we'd be allowed to but the theatre MW made sure DH put it in his pocket and then as soon as DD was born the anaethetist took some photographs of us :)

• get some arnica tablets and start taking them now, they help with the bruising. Chemists sell them and so do health food shops.

• take extra sleepsuits, bibs, vests, etc for the little one. C-section babies tend to be mucousy because it's not squeezed out of them during delivery, for a lot of them this translates as puking up horrible globs of globby stuff. DD coughed one night, I heard a splat, and I turned to see the whole inside of the baby fishbowl cot thing coated with gunk. I used four sleepsuits in the first day

• before your DH leaves on the first night get him to put the call button and bed controls on your pillow and to put everything you might need on the over-the-bed tray (nappies, wipes, sleepsuits, etc) so they're in easy reach and so the MWs don't have to hunt through your bags when they're helping you (they did all the nappy changes the first night).

• for getting out of bed put the bed as low as it goes, roll onto your side with your knees tucked up, and then put your feet down on the floor as you sit up. And stand up straight. The first time for both is the worst and more psychological than anything else but it gets better. I found that putting a pillow under my tummy when sleeping on my side helped comfort-wise the first week or two.

Good luck to you! You'll be meeting your baby soon :)

"treat" yourself to a Brazilian or Hollywood wax a couple of days before cs. You'll be totally fuzz free, no shaving nicks and the hair takes 4-6 weeks to regrow at which point you'll have done a great deal of the healing. Plus means you don't have to arm yourself with a strategically placed mirror to see what you're doing when someone is doing the hard work!

The thing on not shaving / waxing...

How the hell are they supposed to even make the incision if there is hair in the way??? I asked my surgeon about this before my op having read about it on the internet and he said it's completely nonsensical - he wouldn't have the visibility to operate properly, would rsik cutting the hair with the scalpel and having it drop into the wound and that the hairs would likely get sewn into the wound on closure INCREASING the risk of infection and ingrowing hair.

Have you not noticed that even your VET will shave the operative area before surgery? Know why? So they can SEE what they are cutting and to keep hair out of the wound.

Definitely second the advice for nighties, over bump pants (and trousers, for a good few weeks afterwards in my case), and shower products you can hang off a tap to avoid bending down.
Also if you have a v pillow/dream genie take it in as sleeping on your side feels wierd the first time.

Lots of good advice here, some of which I even agree with :)

Some of the best CS I've been involved with have had the parents' choice of music playing (CD or iPod) and had the theatre lights dimmed immediately after delivery of the baby - they leave the operating lights on (of course!) but turn off the main room lights. Has the effect that all theatre staff seem to turn the volume down with chatting and definitely makes it something special, as opposed to "just the Caesar and 2 more minors to go" type attitude. Not all surgeons go for it though.

All great advice. I had slimey tiny DS delivered into my chest and had skin to skin under the gown for a moment before they cleaned and weighed him. Maybe because he breathed and cried as he was born so didn't need any help immediately. It was icky. But nice.

I would have a wax. Mostly so that you don't have to rip dressings off your pubes. And also so you don't get matted with lochia. Nice!

Get a packet or two of thick pantiliners. Stick to the front of your pants to pad your wound and collect any seepage once the dressing is off

Once your stitches are out, if you get any leaking from the wound and it is red at all get an emergency appointment at your gp the same day. Explain you just had your stitches out and you are leaking. They should give you antibiotics to prevent an infection. ABs are not ideal but an infection could see you back in hospital as it did for one of my friends.

I used immac to remove the hair along where they would cut (had a preious scar) I have had 4 sections now 3 emerg one elective.

I found peppermint tea better than the water purely cos it was also a nice refreshing drink too.
Big stretchy pants-Tesco value size 18
I took arnica before with the last one and it was defo less painfull than the other 3.
Move your legs about and practice moving your bum too,it will help when you get out of bed.
good luck.

slippers you can slip your feet into not have to bend over to pull on.

Better still make sure your surgeon uses stitches which do not need to be removed or uses surgical glue. The scarring is much less and no pulling about afterwards. Staples should be avoided at ALL costs.

Surgeons will generally use a technique that suits your particular case. Not sure that they will follow requests unless they were prepared to do what you were suggesting anyway. They do several layers of stitches, obviously all the internal ones are dissolveable. Sutures are often preferable to glue as they permit some natural drainage of fluids that might otherwise collect behind the wound and provide a reservoir for possible infection. Everyone I know has had a tiny thread of sutures under the skin, which is removed by the home visiting midwife on about day 10 (i think). there is a little bead at one end. I can't remember how they did it, but I lay down on the sofa and she used a sterile cutter to snip one end and pulled the whole lot out in one go. painless (not least of all because the whole area is rather numb for months after)!

A sterile cutter? My MW asked for a pair of kitchen scissors

Must be a country specific thing. No one I know had to have any stitches removed. But everyone I know went private (goerenment hospitals ere are not very nice). Maybe non-dissolvable sutures are chaper hence the NHS using them? Or maybe also for practical reasons - we don't even have health visitors here let alone home visiting midwives!

Had a prolene strip with a bead either end but the MW said it was down to the individual surgeon which method they prefer to use? She did comment though that it was obvious I'd had a female surgeon because the cut is very straight and had been stitched very neatly :o

Fab thread. I'm hoping to have el CS this time (assuming I get that far - DD was born at 31 weeks, so I may end up emergency cs if I go into labour early again).

I second (third?) the advice to take fibre full food in with you. I was horrendously constipated after my CS. This time I'm putting dried apricots in my hospital bag and instructing DH to bring in other fibrous foods.

I'm wondering if I've got a freaky low bikini line though. My scar is 1-1.5 cm above my pubic hair so no need for shaving/hair removal here. The scar is def under my knickers/bikini so not a desperately high scar.

my post-CS advice is, if you're going to BF, get used to doing it lying down. I struggled to haul myself up into sitting position to BF for the first few days until someone told me about doing it lying on my side - bliss! So much easier.. Great thread this btw, I'm waiting for my date for ELCS for breech baby no. 2 and it's helped my to think about what to pack!

Yes i've already chucked my 2pennies worth in but as ive got elcs booked for dc2 i'm taking some good tips away. Water bottle idea is great. How did anyone manage to sleep on their side even with a pillow? I slept sitting up for about 5 days as my empty bump/wobbly belly would shift lying down and the wound was painful.

I was a back sleeper for about a week with umpteen pillows for my neck/back/legs, then I went onto my side with a pillow. I had the same empty belly feeling as you and couldn't sit up again for pains if I lay on my side that early.

Just wanted to add that when you get to the recovery room start workin on regaining feeling. I lay there hugging DD inside my gown having skin-to-skin and willing my toes to wiggle. They wouldn't let me have anything to drink until I regain feeling past the level of my stomach and could wiggle my toes (even if I couldn't feel them) I was desperate for that drink!

I'd second everything in here. The only thing I'd add as a veteran of two emergency caesareans is:

1. Moist loo roll wipes. Andrex do them, or similar. They're brilliant for post-caesarean loo trips when you can hardly stand/bend and dealing with epic quantities of lochia and your first post-birth bowel movement. Take two packs. Similarly, take a packet of wipes. They're excellent for a quick 'in bed' freshen up. I'd clean my face with them, under my arms, etc. when I was flat on my back and incapacitated for the first 12 hours (grim emergency caesarean - electives are MILES better apparently).

1. Stand tall. Seriously, the best advice ever. Your instinct will be to hunch over like an old lady when they first get you out of bed but the taller you stand the easier it is. I used to imagine my head touching the ceiling. Also, every time I stood up I'd say "standtallstandtallstandtall" like some madwoman to force myself to do it.

1. For christ sake's take it easy. There seems to be a hidden element of competition out there to see who can hardcore their way through the aftermath with minimal painrelief ("I had quadruplets and didn't even need paracetamol and was driving the tractor the next day..."). Seriously, take all the pain meds they offer you, ask for them half an hour before your next batch is due to give the nurses time to get them to you. It's all about being on top of them. If you chase the pain you never really get on top of it but taking the right painkillers regularly means that you can enjoy the whole newborn baby thing without feeling as if you've been sawn in half. By comparison, a (male) friend had an appendectomy recently and was lying in his hospital bed with a morphine driver. And yet women are routinely offered two paracetamol post-caesarean. Jeeeeeez!!

Hope it goes really well.