if you've had an elcs will they look after the baby at night? even for the first night?

[Loonybun]

Ok I know most mums want to keep their babies with them all the time.

But I have thyroid and pituitary problems and after a c section I will need to sleep. Am I destined to manage on my own with ds overnight or will the midwives take ds away so I can sleep if I ask them to?

Any experiences welcome :)

Dh is going to be home with me for 4 weeks when I get home and is prepared to do most of night time feeds. I can't catch up on sleep during the day - tried it with dd and I just can't nap.

Lack of sleep is the biggest issue for me right now.

I don't know is the simple answer. I had an unplanned c-section and was in a room with DD with me.

I had emcs and dd pretty much slept the first 24 hours. The 2nd day I was struggling to bf, and it ended up with dd screaming the place down in the middle of the night. A lovely person came and took her away and fed her and brought her back asleep. This might not go down well with some, but I had spent 2 weeks on antenatal ward, induced, 24 hour labour followed by emcs. I was past caring...

I can pretty much guarantee that they won't take the baby away for the whole night though. The wards aren't set up for this anymore.

My experience post csection is if you ask the midwives to help you with dc then they will.i have felt like a bad mother for a long time as i seemed to be the only woman saying please can you look after my babies for a bit so i can sleep!!I think there were 5 other women & babies in the higher dependency bit though so not sure how much sleep you will get-have you requested your own room?

I have a vague recollection of ds being looked after by midwives on the first and second night. I had morphine for a couple of nights so was well out of it.
I think they just helped him back to sleep and woke me up when he needed feeding. He was in the cot next to me though so most of the time with me.

I had an emcs, and I looked after DS on the first night, by which I mean he had a crib by my bed and I rang the bell to ask someone to change him or pass him to me to be fed, in the end I stopped ringing to ask them to put him back, as it was easier to keep him sleeping on me and nurse lying down.
I was told they could take him for an hour or so if I wanted a rest, but they don't have nurseries anymore, it just meant him going in the midwives station with them.
I wouldn't have wanted him out of my sight TBH, I am not sure how I managed to find the reserves after 2 days in labour and surgery in the middle of the night, but I don't remember it being devastatingly hard either, mostly I remember lying awake in the middle of the night looking at his little face and feeling so pleased to have him.

No.
But someone will help you get him/her in & out of the cot.

The hospital I work in won't let you into a private room until 24 hours post section, possibly more if you have other medical ishoos, so even if your baby sleeps like, um, a baby, the other babies will keep you awake in all likelyhood.

I don't think you should assume you will get any help. Even if normally the midwives would be willing to take DC for an hour or so, if it's a busy night they won't be able to.

I had an EMCS and was left totally on my own overnight, it was just about okay although I was scared of ripping my stitches a few times.

Also I only had to spend one night there, do you think you could manage for one night?

Tbh everyone needs sleep after a section so if it's a medical issue, be prepared to explain to them exactly why you have added concerns.

Based on my experience you wont get any help no.

Everyone needs to sleep after giving birth regardless of whether they have had a section or not - giving birth is exhausting for anyone.

The midwives might take your baby for a bit to try to settle them - by a bit I mean 30 minutes. Not long. And that is only if the maternity unit is quiet. (rare I would imagine)

IME the expectation was that you look after your own baby. But the midwife did come and give my baby a cuddle, then gave her some formula, when she was upset and hungry on the first night after EMCS.

PNC can be pretty brutal, tbh. But with your health condition and your concerns, I hope they would be more helpful. Discuss it with your midwife now and see if you can get something put in your notes.

I think it depends on the midwife, I had late onset PPH (not sure if that's the right name, it was 15 hours after my c-section) which meant I didn't get any sleep til about 2am, at which point the midwife offered to wheel dd to the mw station for a few hours so I could sleep, she brought her back for a feed a couple of hours later.

Can you think about having a doula? (see Doula UK website) and arranging with the doula that she will stay and help look after the baby for the first night? Doulas are fab.

I'm going to buck te trend here, and say you might get some help, depending on your hospital. I remember being in after an em c-s with DD1, and a lovely healthcare assistant came to help me feed DD1. After she'd fed, the HCA said that she could take DD1 to the nursery for a couple of hours, and bring her back when she needed fed, if I'd like to try and sleep. She brought the baby back 3 hours later, having changed and cuddled her and looked after her till she needed fed again. 'Twas lovely.

I did feel bad about it, until the following night when I got up to go to the toilet and saw a nursery full of little swaddled bundles in their bassinets being cooed over by 2 HCAs while their mothers (hopefully!) got some sleep.

I had an ELCS on April 19th and DD was with me the whole time. MWs were happy to pass her to me on the first night when I was advised not to get out of bed.

I think they're keen (well, I can only speak for the hospital where I gave birth: B'ham Womens) on getting you 'back to normal' asap, and having Mum perceive herself as 'Mum', as opposed to 'patient'.

I don't recall any baby being looked after elsewhere so that Mum could rest/sleep. If one of the mums did want to do that, the MWs told us to keep our curtains open and they would periodically check-in on the baby.

That said, your pre-existing medical conditions might mean that you are an exception. Maybe check with the PN ward before you go?

Yes if you have your baby in the Portland
No probably for everywhere else.
Had two sections in different hospitals and had to look after baby on my own both times.
You do have a buzzer to get the midwives though if you need their help.

I think you might need to brace yourself for trouble getting the nurses to answer the buzzer when you call for help getting your baby out of the cot. My sister waited an hour - she was actually pressing the buzzer for her ward-mate who was sobbing...Both of them had EMCS.

I had ELCS and actually didn't have any trouble getting to the baby but there was absolutely no focus on my getting any sleep. Being in a ward with four newborns isn't exactly helpful in that regard either...

Agree that a doula might help. And agree re napping. I've never napped in my life and really struggled to manage with lots of people telling me to "sleep when the baby sleeps" in a well-meaning way.

Well I had a good experience with my hospital then...first baby born by EMCS after long labour. Asked for my own room - got one and the midwives took my DS away for 2 nights and brought him back to feed. Just had my DD a couple of weeks ago by elective C section and they put me on the ward...helped with nappies etc and getting out of cot but had her with me. Zero sleep!! If I was you I would get it in your notes re: your medical probs so they are aware you may need more help than average...good luck!

DD3 was in the NICU for the first 5 days after her birth after a crash GA CS. Despite having milk in the sodding fridge in the nicu, they still insisted on waking me up in the middle of the night to go and attempt to feed even though she wasn't interested as too ill. In the end I told them just to keep tube-feeding in the night and I'd try feeding her in the daytime. When they brought her back to me she was very unsettled in her first night back on the ward. After about 2 hours walking her up and down the corridor (thank you nice squashy sofa in the corridor), I asked a sympathetic midwife to take her. They put her in the midwives' station and she slept the rest of the night...despite the lights being on and people coming and going .

Thanks for all your replies and experiences..

Unfortunately won't be having the baby in the portland - although I wish I was! However, will be having it in a non London rural-ish hospital so I'm hoping it won't be as absolutely manic as my previous traumatic birth in a South London hospital 8 yrs ago!! Maybe that might help, I don't know..

From reading the replies it seems like they will help if you ask, but perhaps not for the whole night.. Maybe I can live with that...

I know some people would find it strange that I wouldn't want the baby with me the whole time, that's fine. I don't mind if people find me strange, I probably am :)

I think several things are on my mind about this... when I had dd 8 years ago I had a very long (3 day) labour and they gave me a spinal at the last minute as they thought she would be a emcs, but ended up being ventouse. So I went back to the ward being basically unable to move very much at all. I couldn't reach the buzzer either (great! not!) so I struggled trying to reach dd and nearly dropped her - all very difficult. I don't want to be in that situation this time. In the end I did call out to a passing midwife and they took dd away for a few hours to what I can only imagine was the nursery... I'm hoping they might do that this time however I wasn't sure that was "standard".

I do have these medical issues - thyroid and pituitary problems, for which I take regular medications and I am under the care of a specialist at the same hospital. Although they are under control I do have sleep issues - mainly that I tend to go into a coma type sleep for about 8-9 hours and any less than that and I start becoming very depressed and feel I cannot function normally. I feel that I developed severe PND with dd mainly as a result of sleep deprivation in relation to my health conditions. I was with a different partner then and he was as useful as a chocolate teapot, whereas I know dh will be very hands on and willing to share night feeds this time round etc (he has been a wonderful step dad to dd).

I also as a result of these deep sleep patterns do not hear things - even smoke alarms, my baby (didn't hear dd during the night!) and so on. I am going to be relying on dh to nudge me at home to get me to get up. I literally do not wake unless I have had about 20 alarms going off. It is a real issue for me.

So... You can see where I'm coming from with the sleep thing. I can't nap during the day as by the time I get into a sleep it's time to get up again and I don't feel refreshed by doing that.

On a bit of a side note I find it a little bit crazy that you can go through quite serious surgery and then be expected to wake up every few hours through the night to deal with a crying newborn - if you said to someone with a massive surgical hernia removal or someone who'd had a hysterectomy (just random examples) "oh now you've had your operation you can only sleep for roughly 2 hours at a time and have to get up to look after a newborn" they'd think that was mad, and that's exactly what new mums are expected to do...

But then I've not had an elcs before so maybe I am thinking it's going to be worse than it will be? I don't know... Pretty scared about the whole thing to be honest..

Thanks for replying everyone x

You can buzz to get them to hand your your baby when s/he cries but there was no sense for me of them taking the baby away so you could sleep. I can imagine there would be a big queue for that kind of service I would speak to your doctor about informing the ward staff if you need extra help. As has been said above, it is likely to be only one night.

Sorry to drip feed... I can't afford a doula unfortunately and I will be in a main ward, I don't have a private room...

Just read your latest post above. A planned CS is very different and you may well find it is much more manageable than you think. It certainly should be nowhere near as traumatic as your last birth experience. Good luck.

I have some medical issues and was a bit concerned about post-natal care (though in a different way to you.)

A couple of months before the birth, I wrote a letter to the Head of Midwifery at my hospital (got the name and address from my midwife). In the letter I said what I needed, and explained the medical reasons. (So in your case, it might be extra care to look after the baby on that first night/nights). I got back a very nice letter from the Head of Midwifery, saying that they would provide what I needed, dependent upon staffing/availability at the time (I think they probably have to say that). I put a photocopy of the letter in with my maternity notes and took it in to hospital with me and I/my DH drew the midwife's attention to it, so they were aware of what the Head of Midwifery had needed. I also put it in my birth plan (and higlighted it) that the Head of Midwifery had agreed to x, y, z.

I got the particular help I needed, and the staff were very nice about it. Perhaps you could try this?

Thanks eighties chick, I really hope so... I mean nearly 70 hours of labour with an epidural that didn't work, a baby stuck in my fanjo unwilling to come out without the help of ventouse and an episiotomy that was excruciatingly painful... an elcs has to be better than that doesn't it? I hope...!

(Has everything seriously crossed, including toes).

wolves makes a good point above. Get other medical professionals on your side and you are much more likely to get help.

I can't compare my planned CS with the traumatic labour you had as that hasn't happened to me, but I have had other serious surgery, more than once, and I can say that of all those procedures the CS was the calmest, easiest to deal with and least distressing, plus my pain was well controlled. Most people are apprehensive about any kind of surgery but IMO as surgery goes it's the best kind to have, and being planned makes it all a lot better and the risk much, much lower.

Thank you wolves... (cross posted)... That's a good idea. I actually have an appointment to see my midwife next week so I will talk to her about all this then as well as I know she works at the hospital where I will be having ds so hopefully she can give me some advice too.

I think I'm just getting myself into a panic about everything to be honest. I'm so worried that I won't be able to cope - with the elcs, with the baby, everything :( I feel really on edge the whole time.

I'm not sure whether to expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised or whether to be optimistic and hope for the best. I really feel like if I could cross my legs and never have this baby come out then that would probably be better!!