Emcs recovery vs elcs recovery.

[Thechick]

I have a bit of a silly question, i had a very traumatic emcs 13 yrs ago and am pregnant again. I need to decide between a vbac and elcs and am talking to a consultant in Aug. As its exactly the same procedure, is there any difference to the recovery. In 'my experience' took so long and was so painful and I really don't want to go through that again.

Yes, there is a massive difference in every way you can think of - recovery time, clinical outcomes, etc.

I've had both and they were very different. For my emcs, I had to stay in hospital for 5 days and it took about 3 months to feel normal again. I had no feeling in my legs for the first 24 hours. For my elcs, I got the feeling in my legs back in the recovery room and was walking the next morning (after an evening operation), and felt normal pretty soon afterwards.

Thank you very much. Do you think it's an emotional thing as they are doing the exact same thing whether it's emergency or elective. Do you feel you were more prepared for what was to come?

Yes, probably there is an emotional element - it was a huge shock when they suddenly did the emcs (we got 5 mins warning) whereas with the elective I had months to get my head round it.

But also there was a physical difference, because I had been through a long labour when I had the emcs, and had gone all through one night with no sleep, which is not the ideal state to be undergoing major surgery. Also I had an epidural in the later stages of labour which was topped up lots of times, which is probably why it took so long to get feeling back in my legs - with the elective, they gave me a spinal block containing just the right amount of anaesthetic to get me through a 45 minute operation, so my body had been less drugged. I can remember shouting "I can wiggle my toes! I can wiggle my toes!" in the recovery room just after the elective operation because I had expected to be bed-bound for 24 hours like the first time.

Also, there was a big difference in atmosphere. Elective: doctors chatting about soap operas, singing along to the radio which was playing pop music in the background. Emergency: grim-faced medical team with nobody speaking while I watched the second hand of the clock going round. Not all emcs are like that, obviously, but having the elective later made me realise how different it had been.

I had emcs followed by elcs 4 years later and recovery from latter was way worse. I think reopening old wound will be harder to heal, plus maybe all the mentalness of first time, labour, emcs, and suddenly having a baby to look after for the first time, means that there was less time to focus on discomfort and immobility!

Btw OP, I was the slowest and lamest in the ward, so May well just be my experience. I don't want to put you off elcs. Not sure what I would do if got to decide again.....

I had an ELCS with DD2 almost 7 weeks ago and found the birth experience amazing: beautiful, peaceful and calm. Absolutely one of THE best experiences of my life. It was such a contrast to DD1s VB which was looooooong (31 hours from first twinge) painful and ended in her beig born by ventouse, but left me with a damaged tailbone, hence my request for ELCS this time.

I felt sore for the first couple of weeks but pain-wise it was NOTHING like labour. I felt I hit a turning point a week 3 and another one at week 5 - that's when I started driving again. I'm healing fine and feel pretty good - obviously I'm still avoiding lifting anything heavy as things are still healing internally (GP said 12 weeks for this).

I feel very positive about my ELCS :)

They were two entirely different experiences for me, and the recovery from the elcs was much much faster than the emergency. I guess that was helped by not having been in labour for 30 hours first though!

The emergency was hideous and terrifying, the elective was calm, peaceful, magical even, I think those emotions definitely played a part in the recovery too.

I was much fitter and two stone lighter during my second pregnancy too, and the consultant said that would help with recovery.

Have no idea what I'll do this time round. Ds2 was elective because he was breech. All the way through my pregnancy I was desperate to have a 'proper' birth, though terrified of ending up with another emergency section, he clearly had his own ideas! The elective was such a positive experience it really laid my ghosts to rest (that and the support I had from my fab midwife). So much so that I'm not sure I can be arsed to go through the whole labour thing this time and might book straight in for another elective

Meant to say that the ventouse was nothing to do with my tailbone getting damaged (I think the way I phrased it made it appear like it was, sorry). I pushed for 2 hours and this is what knackered it out.

Thank you very much for all of your experiences. It's such a hard decision to make, but you guys have really helped.

Thechick there's a great book available on Amazon by Leigh East called Cesarean Birth: a positive approach to preparation and recovery. There's a section that discusses the pros and cons of VBAC vs a repeat CS, as well as other tips with a section Mum in mind, but would be applicable to a VB Mum. It might help to contextualises your first EMCS experience, too.

All the best and I hope you get the birth that you want x

I'm in the same position and really struggling to make up my mind whether to go for a calm, peaceful ELCS, or whether to try for a VBAC with the possibility it might end in a EMCS again anyway. Have a 14mo DS so worried about recovery if I go for an ELCS. This thread has helped - thanks ladies!
Lunarlyte, thanks for recommending that book!

happy to help x

Lunarlyte / OP - I just recommended that same book on a different thread - it really is great and wholeheartedly recommend it!

I had an emergency CS with my first and have since had two electives. Recovery from the electives was much much better. I think it was probably because with my first I had been in labour for over 30 hours, for 24 of which the contractions had been less than 3 mins apart, so I was in total agony (as I was only given an epidural shortly before the CS), had gone a whole night without sleep, was physically exhausted, mentally distressed and my body was giving up under the strain before they even did the op. Electives were happy calm relaxed experiences.

I've only had an ELCS, which was fine - very easy to recover from - but when I had my appendix out, which you'd assume was a smaller op, I guess - I felt bloody awful afterwards, and I seem to remember feeling grim for a few weeks.

I put that down to the fact that by the time I actually had my appendix out, I'd had 2-3 days of fairly incapacitating pain (bed ridden) and 24 hours of serious escalating 'what the hell is happening' pain. And no sleep for most of that time. And very little to eat.

So no wonder recovery was tough. I can see very similar things are true of women who have EMCS's. With an ELCS I was rested and healthy and had a good night's sleep beforehand (allowing for getting up umpteen times for a pee, obvs). And wasn't in pain beforehand.