ELCS - can you eat night before? and other silly questions

[Wingdingdong]

I'm scheduled for an ELCS next Weds. I have a pre-CS preparation appt on Friday but trying to get organised as far as possible.

I've absolutely no idea what happens with an ELCS - how common is it that they get bumped and you go home that day with no baby? Do you get given a time, or does everyone on the day's list turn up first thing? (trying to think about childcare for DD and how best to prepare her) Do you get to eat breakfast (this is probably the most important question, I'll faint on the way there if I don't eat!)? What about eating the night before, etc? Anything else I need to know?

I had an EMCS last time and I have absolutely no memory of any kind of preparations, other than that they were trying to do swabs on the way to the operating theatre and the anaesthetist was still trying to get the anaesthetic in after they'd started the procedure... The word 'preparation' gives me some comfort this time!

Assuming no huge complications, is the hospital stay shorter or same time for ELCS as EMCS?

Still hoping that by some miracle I'll have a natural straightforward VBAC before next Weds but realistically, it's unlikely so I feel I ought to prepare myself.

You can eat the night before, but no breakfast.

Can you find out how your hospital run the obs lists? Some places have a theatre open just for the ELCS list, and if that is the case then you are much less likely to get bumped that if there is one theatre doing everything.

The hospital stay will involve staying overnight at leaset, but getting home the next day is possible if everything is OK and you are keen to go.

they should give you all the info re eating at the pre appointment but for me it was from 8pm the previous night with 7.30am check in. ith my first I got bumped loads by EMCS and didn't have #1 til 3pm so was starving. With #2 midwife told me to get there really early and have my notes first in the pile - I did and #2 was here by 9.30am.

Put loads of food in your bag though cos I was starving after and once hubby has gone home you need a stash of nibbles

I'm having an elcs 2 weeks today (eek!). I have been told that I can't eat after midnight the night before, except for sips of water up to 6am.

I need to go in mid afternoon the day before for anti sickness tablets, paperwork, etc. Then have been asked to arrive at 7.30am the next day and just wait my turn. The registrar told me its very unlikely to get bumped a whole day but, of course, emergencies take priority.

Good tip about taking in snacks - duly noted. I'm horrible when I'm hungry.

Good luck, OP!

Yikes. Now I'm really hoping that I go into labour before then, even though I've been told it'll almost certainly end up being EMCS anyway (just not crash this time!).

What's with the whole food thing? It's only a spinal, isn't it - not GA? Not that I'm obsessed, but I had a meal (sandwiches, fruit, yogurt, choc brownie...) 20 mins before the EMCS, in between contractions, and nobody says they can't operate then... there weren't any side-effects that I know of. I have very low blood pressure and very low blood sugar levels and a nasty tendency to lose consciousness if I don't eat, and I am a bit worried that if I turn up and then faint after a couple of hours, which I would do, they'll refuse to do the CS and I'd have to come back the next day and repeat the process again until we get to EMCS point anyway. As you can probably tell, I'm really not keen on the ELCS idea, but due to problems with DD's birth and also with this pregnancy, I can't go overdue; we're leaving it as late as possible as it is.

Thanks very much to everyone for the info. Good to know about 7:30 check-in as well - clearly DH dropping DD off at nursery first isn't going to work, so will definitely have to get GPs to do morning drop-off as well as pick-up. Going home the next day would be brilliant, but the info on the website is 2-5 days so I don't know if there's a policy... I know I'd get a lot better care at home than in the postnatal ward; last time round the cord to summon midwives was missing, they moved DD's cot out of reach so when I had to feed her a couple of hours after the section I had to try to get up by myself and collapsed on the floor, ripping the incision, and in the morning they shouted through the (EMCS postnatal ward) door that breakfast was available in the kitchen at the end of the corridor, we should go and get a tray - presumably dragging our catheter and drip stands . As I said, different hospital but still, I'm really dreading the surgery and aftermath.

So, curry and pineapple for our Valentine's dinner tonight, with acupuncture tomorrow morning followed by a very long walk! Not that it worked last time.

Good luck Rosebery and if anybody else has any tips, please let me know. :)

The reason why you're nil-by-mouth is that they can't guarantee that they don't need to knock you out anyway, it's just a precaution.

Also, I actually drunk too much too quickly after my ELCS and ended up throwing up - so maybe they want to keep your stomach empty for that reason too.

I had to cease eating at 10PM night before, drinks at midnight, and show up in the hospital at 7:30, actual CS was at midday as I was second on the list.

Home after two nights. Catheter was out in the morning and no drip stands so shuffling to the kitchen was no problem. MWs kept saying though that I didn't really behave like I've had a CS.

Regardless of any hospital policy, as long as you are mentally well and making an informed choice they dont have any mechanism to keep you in hospital if you want to leave. My midwives were happy for me to leave the day after, it just took a bit of pushing to make sure that the paeds review happened and getting the catheter out in good time so that I could prove I didnt have any bladder issues.
I knew that I had much more support at home, and also a cleaner environment.

Yes, it was finding anybody to take the catheter out or check the baby that proved such a problem last time. I was desperate to leave. Couldn't have been a dirtier environment - no soap in the (single, shared by two wards, staff and visitors) loo, blood everywhere, no hand gel at entrance to ward so MWs didn't sanitise between changing dressings on patients...

To be fair I could have got my own breakfast 2nd day (had it been worth getting - I got DH to bring supplies instead) but first day was less than six hours after I'd been brought up to the ward from theatre. The last woman on the ward had been brought in less than an hour before and was still expected to get her own! Also to be fair the day shift MW went nuts; it was not hospital policy, just the caterer's laziness.

I'm just more concerned about fainting than I am about vomiting - I know which is more likely and I'm worried that would cause more delays! Will ask on Fri. Really surprised about drinking though - everything I've read says you should be well-hydrated before CS to minimise risk of DVT?

At least I'm getting ideas for questions! Thanks again.