c-section questions

[fifibets]

Hi
Just wondering if anyone can help answer a few questions for me please...

• is there a 'safer' position for c-section? Is it more 'dangerous' when baby is breech or not?
• are the Belly Bandit things any good?!?!
• Are Staples still used as a method of closure in the UK???
• Any top tips to make recovery better?

THANKS!!!!!! x

I can only answer two am afraid! I has staples but was told this was unusual. I would say my scar has healed really well though and you can barely see it. And they weren't sore to get taken out. For recovery - pain relief!! Don't wait till you get sore- take the tablets to a schedule. Biiiig pants and comfy joggers are your friend. And don't push yourself - I did far too much and was very lucky not to get complications but noone told me "how" to recover from ECS. I was meant to see a physio to teach me how to get up and out of bed but never did and ended up dragging myself up using sheets. And I was also meant to be told about how much is too much but didn't, so ended up walking as far as I could manage, thinking that was a good thing, to later discover I should have been building up to walking around a supermarket.. Oh - and when in hospital, the wee cot that clips onto the side of the bed is much easier!

Are you booked for an ELCS? Good luck!

I don't think it makes a difference what position the baby is in.

I've never heard of Belly Bandit, I'm assuming it's some kind of post cs support, I didn't need any for either cs.

I didn't have staples, internal stitches, just two bits of suture sticking out at the ends, no visible stitches at all.

Take proper arnica tablets a week before and two weeks afterwards, absolutely follow the advice with regards to rest. Don't lift anything for about 2 weeks. Take the pain killers you're given even if you don't think you need them. Put a couple of drops of tea tree oil in the bath, and have at least one if not two baths a day to help wound healing. Use the hair dryer on a coolish setting to dry your wound afterwards. Get big pants, I mean really big, ones that go above your belly button and be prepared to wear similar sort of clothes for a couple of weeks.

• is there a 'safer' position for c-section? Is it more 'dangerous' when baby is breech or not? I don't know.

• are the Belly Bandit things any good?!?! I don't know. TBH I really wouldn't want to put any pressure on a post CS stomach.

• Are Staples still used as a method of closure in the UK??? Yes. AFAIK it's whatever the surgeons preference is at the time.

• Any top tips to make recovery better? Yes, don't do anything. Put your feet up and just feed the baby. Private room. Get the midwives to change nappies, be stroppy if you have to. FWIW I was later told by 2 midwives and 1 nurse that the whole 'get moving after a CS mantra' is nonsense and it's just to clear beds. It's a major OP, no other operations expect you to be up and about and doing anything so soon. .

Wow! You got the midwives to change nappies? Am impressed! In our hospital we had to walk to the dining room to collect meals and carry them back on trays! Partners weren't even allowed to go in on our behalf!).

Getting up and about soon will aid recovery and help prevent blood clots. I found cs recovery easy, no need for painkillers etc. Just listen to your body and take meds if you need them. There's a spectrum of normal and your body will tell you what's normal. I looked after dd and ds from the beginning and had no problems.

Things which stand out:

Trapped wind afterwards is uncomfortable, causes shoulder tip pain oddly. Peppermint tea is brilliant.

Morphine can make you itch so much you cry. Ask for some anti-histamines.

Excess water = horrendous night sweats.

Our hospital gives you a course of blood thinners to take home and self-administer. Worth knowing in advance,

abigboydidit yes, one of them said I could do it with a catheter in but after my shite EMCS recovery I refused to budge after my planned CS. I wasn't having any more kids anyway so couldn't care less if they hated me .

I'd complained after my first CS and been told to stick to my guns and ask for help when I needed it.

the night sweats are something to do with a Csec and not just mad hormones? ye gods i got them like a demon after the first one... was not expecting that.

Anyway - to answer the questions. I had staples the first time, stitches the second. Only real difference is trusting the midwife to remove the stitches more than clipping staples, though even t hat was nothing.

For my first one, which was an emergency, I got the midwives to change nappies and do everything and they were generally quite happy to do so. for the second, I was in a room full of elective sections. I was the only one to refuse more morphine (it made me sick as a parrot, didn't have it the first time) and was the first up on my feet and feeling fine and out of there. I think it makes a very big difference if you've had an emergency or elective.

Once you get home, don't bend down to do laundry / bath the baby for a while. Don't lift anythign heavier than the baby for a couple of weeks. Take it very easy and dont' treat recovery as a race.

I think you get the night sweats post vaginal delivery too but it's worse post cs generally. The ward was hotter than hell too. I was dripping with sweat and downing pints of water to compensate. I showered 3x a day in hospital.

I've had 2 c-sections - internal self-dissolving stitches for both. For the final skin layer there's a special glue that they used for my 1st c-section rather than stitches. With both methods you don't see any stitches at all.

You recover more quickly if you stay active, but just be sensible and don't overdo it.

i had a emcs 6 weeks ago-

i had one long stitch that was taken out 5 days post section. scar is tiny, like a scratch!
not sure re position but my baby was back to back and they had to do a fair bit of tugging to get her out but suppose this is the same regardless.
top tips- second arnica for the bruising but i'd say get up and about and take your pain killers like clock work. personally i found the recovery a doddle, was up within 8 hours (whih was hard but glad i did!) did baby from the first night, albeit slowly. was driving within 2 weeks and from 3rd week wouldn't have even known i'd had a section. back to lifting etc, back in size 10 jeans!! and thats because i think i got up and about and took pain killers to the letter. good luck. my section even tho an emergency one was a amazing experiance

I wanted to have a shower as I felt tres stinky. Had my ELCS at 10:51 on 19th April and I was awoken at 6am (!) on the 20th to get in the shower.

I'd had about 2 hours sleep, had not eaten since about 6:30pm on the 19th and hadn't had anything to drink. I wad also full of lovely morphine, codeine and Lord alone knows what else!! Don't get me wrong - I really wanted to have a shower and tried to leap up, but, hadn't anticipated quite how sore around the incision felt. It wasn't really painful; more like an intense pull/burn sensation (I had that for about a week and only really felt it when standing up. Really not that bad and NOTHING compared to labour pain).

Anyhow (sorry for rambling): I managed to hobble to the shower with the midwife, before everything went white and I passed out for a little bit. Thank goodness 2 midwives were there!

I didn't shower that morning. Thank goodness for Simple wipes and Impulse body spray :) I managed with DHs help in the shower later that afternoon and it was fine, but don't rush things.

Good luck! x

Hi lunar I can't find my old thread so thought of respond about my docs feedback here. He said it can just take ages for everything to return to normal and in my case my tummy muscles are fine but I just need to do ab work to help them return to normal & that uterus shrunk back fine...& that the dissolvable stitches on the inside can take longer to dissolve so sometimes that can cause a little pulling/twinge...I hope some of that feedback might be useful for you too?-I guess it's pretty much a case of things sometimes just taking quite a while to settle down?

Ps sorry fifibets, don't know what is wrong with me today - didn't mean to thread jack! In response to your questions - I think you'd probably get dissolvable stitches, my baby was breech which is a regular reason to have a c section So not dangerous at all - and to recover...my best advice would be don't put pressure on yourself to recover quick - I find it frustrating that the weight isn't coming off quick enough or that my tummy isn't going back down quick and at the end of the day it's a major operation and just accepting help from family members etc, whenever possible is the right thing to do! be as kind to yourself as you can and try not to lift anything other than baby.