Could someone explain exactly what happens with a c-section, before, during, after...

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Latest scan says the DC3 is still breech, has been all the way along, now 35 weeks. Have an appointment to discuss options on friday with consultant. Trying to do a little looking into things and would really appreciate some real life anecdotes of sections please :)

Literally from when you walk into the hospital until after the midwife has finished visiting at home... I suffer with extreme anxiety and really NEED to know everything about what might happen to calm down so to speak

TIA

If it helps, my mum had a section on the wednesday (full anaesethia not epi) and it was her third. Came home on the friday (driving..........i know how dangerous, but it was 20 odd years ago) and went out for dinner on the saturday night.

Her recommendations are strong muscles before and finding a comfortable position, and getting on with it

Prob not to the party or the park. I was in hosp for 2 days after and walking out to the car park was a delicate process!!!

Mine was an EMCS. I was told about the decision after 26 hours of labour and failure to progress. I had to wait 4 hours after being told as other more urgent cases were going down to theatre. While waiting the surgeon and anaesthetist came to explain what would happen and mw got scrubs etc for dp. Went down to theatre and they slide you over to the op. bed (very narrow and not at all comfy!) and anaesthetist hooked up my spinal. Got really bad tremors/shivers in my left arm and lips. Catheter put in, painless. Anaesthetist checked if I could feel anything. All this takes 15 mins or so. Partner comes in and sits by head. The surgeons start scrubbing in and dousing your belly in yellow iodine. They set up a big blue plastic screen so you and dp can't see the op. Mw shaves your bikini line so its really low and completes paperwork. Anaes does one final check. Surgeons tell you they are about to start. The anaes. stayed by my head the whole time and because I was shivering so much he was holding and rubbing my hand (bless him!).

There is no pain but you can feel all the tugging, pulling and moving around. It is totally surreal - like someone is doing their washing up in your stomach. I remember just staring at my partner and saying to him 'keep looking at me, keep looking at me!'. It took 4-5 mins before the anaes said 'and here's your baby' and they lifted out my DD and dropped the screen so I could see her, all arms and legs waving around!! They pass her straight to me to clean up and weigh etc and then mw bought her over to me and dp for cuddle. I could only cuddle with one arm as my spinal top up was in left arm. Anaes took some photos of us. My DP took DD out to see my mum (who they let wait outside the op theatre - she had been there all week whilst I was being induced!!!) and the surgeons stitched me back up. They pop a suppository in and wheel you out to recovery room. Most of the stitching up etc is done when you are having your first cuddles so you really don't notice anything.

I was in hosp for 2 days. The first morning they'll remove your catheter and get you to get out of bed to stand up. For the first few hours I had to buzz nurses to pass DD to me but once I'd got up it got easier. Walking was really slow and get on/off loo was tough. Bfing was ok for me but I know some others found it hard. Sleeping is not comfy, esp as I shared a ward with 4 other new mums and crying babies!! The second night I had 1 1/2 hours sleep.

You'll be sent home with anti-clot injections to give yourself and different painkillers.

I was pleased to get home but on the 3rd mw visit I asked them to check my wound as I had noticed a chemical type smell and it turned out I had an infection. Ended up back in hosp for 3 days for IV antibiotics.

I took each day as it came, gently, gently. I had quite a bit of swelling under my scar. It's gradually going but I do have a bit of an overhang!!

Hope this helps??

Lots of great advice on here, the one thing I would stress is something sofiathesnowfairy already mentioned, and that is with an elective section you will more than likely be bumped because an emergency will come in.

I was booked for a section at 38 weeks due to breach twins, but my waters went at 35 weeks. I was then classed as an emergency although I wasn't contracting and scheduled for a 9 am section (it was the middle of the night). They did the pre op checks on me twice and each time I was bumped because of a true emergency. I eventually had the boys at 3pm. I was quite happy as I wanted to hold off as long as possible to give the steroids to develop the babies lungs as much time as possible to work, but can appreciate that if you are nervous, or like being in control, being bumped is not great. And i was starved, they still don't let you eat even if you are delayed!
Overall though I loved my elcs. A very calm experience.

OP, nothing really to add to the good advice already given, but just to reassure you, I had my adorable baby by ELCS 9 weeks ago, and feel completely normal. Plus, despite the fact it was in no way the birth we'd planned, it was actually a nice experience, weird though that sounds. I walked into the theatre, all staff involved were great, getting the spinal block wasn't at all painful or frightening, there was no pain, just some sensations of tugging, the whole thing was very quick and calm - three minutes from starting incision to baby coming out! - and my gorgeous baby was held up to my face immediately (well, having just peed on his daddy...) and then put inside my gown in the recovery room.

Stitching also pretty fast and painless. Catheter inserted while the anaesthetic was at its height, so no pain - it stayed in, along with the wound drain, for eleven or twelve hours, after which I was on my feet, feeling surprisingly normal. No complications, bar a slight infection in the wound a few weeks later - I left the hospital on the Thursday afternoon, having had the c-section on Tuesday morning, with plenty of painkillers, and my husband was shown how to give the anti-clotting injections.

It was a very positive experience, even aside from the wondrous baby!

These stories are great, so great in fact i am going to cancel the ecv and go straight for section i think, i think it will feel a little more controlled and i really need that right now, (I have bipolar and not medicated at mo due to pregnancy, have managed to keep head above water with it but fading fast with various 'stresses' right now)

I have a final question for you all, feel free to tell me i am a nosy cow and to bog off though...
...what did you do with your fanjo pre planned section? did you all have a shave before you got there, just the top bit or the lot, i dont want to go with fluffy muff if no one else did

I really, really recommend this book. Just bought it as I am having a planned section at 39 weeks and wanted to know what to expect / how best to recover. It is really excellent and totally impartial. It even talks about what to do with the fanjo fluff :o I also found the stuff about section hospital bag useful as well as practical stuff about preparing your 'nest' for when you get home e.g. raising things to waist height to avoid bending - stuff you wouldn't necessarily think about in advance.

Fantastic, thankyou :)

Good luck, hope it all goes well :)

Seriouslystrongcheddar dying to know how you got on! :)

I was planning to go for a wax/trim but due to waters breaking I never got round to it so had the most unruly bush I have ever sported, I had barely been able to reach it never mind see it for months. When the surgeon came to do the post op stuff I apolgised for unkept state and asked if she wouldn't mind doing the cut quite high and away from the hair because I didn't want to be shaved and possibly have in growing hairs on top of all my other post twin birth woes. She was lovely and didn't laugh at my last minute panics. Scar is just on the hair line and i was never a bikini wearer (certainly not a skimpy bikini) anyway so it's all good

Most has been said about the actual operation. I'll just add that our hospital have what's like a rope ladder coming up from the end of the bed. As you won't be able to use stomach muscles to sit up the procedure is to use it like a hand ladder if that's a good explanation, to pull yourself up.

I was out after 2 nights, went for a short walk up the road the day after I got home and also baking! Was still using painkillers though, and was tired (which always makes me do odd things) and still on the new baby high.

All the posts on here are fantastic, but they definitely show you how the experience differs for everyone!

I would say don't bother with slippers, buy a pair of cheapo flip flops as you can slip them on without bending down (bending and straightening back up could be a bit sore), and you can keep them on in the shower if you want to. Also, I spent ££ on a thin dressing gown to wear to theatre, only for them to provide me with two surgical gowns - one to wear properly with the opening at the back, and another to wear open at the front like a dressing gown that they then removed in theatre to insert the spinal block.

Best of luck :)

I had been getting Dhaka to keep me tidy at the edges as i couldn't see but on the day the surgeon decided that they didn't need to shave me. My scar is above my hair but still below my kicker line. I can wear a bikini.

Dhaka ? That should say dh bloody phone

Wow. Women are so hardcore.
BrittaPerry your thoughtful, detailed post made me teary!

To follow on...i have more questions. perhaps of the tmi information variety but i cant stop worrying at you lot are my only resource I'm afriad

So, you've had the op, you're lying in bed on the ward...how long until the spinal will wear off and you can stand up/walk?

How long will the cathetar be left in, and why that long?

Surley when you first get up all that blood will have pooled inside and there will be a 'Carry' type gush... do you put pants and a pad on before you get out of bed that first time?

Seen lots about being able to have a shower 'with help'... what kind of help are we talking, I have major issues with being seen/touched... (very mixed up youth ) I would rather really struggle than be that vunerable... will this be understood or should i talk to midwives before the op do you think?

I know i sound nuts (i am ) I really appreciate all your responses so far, thankyou :)

One final thing (i promise) Why do they make the cut so low down, surely it would be much less inconvenient/problematic and painful in recovery if it was above the bikini line...can i request they do it higher so it doesnt rub on pants and wont have to have hair regrowth through scar??

Hi, I've just read all this and want to answer your later questions, as all the posts have been really detailed!

I had my section at 11am, catheter came out next morning and I got up shortly after. I assume they thought I could pee as soon as I could get out of bed!

I was laid on maternity towels and plenty of it flowed out during the day, I can't remember a huge gush as I got up.

Showering 'with help' - the midwife stood on the other side of the curtain, also there was a stool I could sit on. Talk to the midwives - they will help.

Hi again - my op was at 1am (EMCS) and they didn't let me get up until the following morning circa 10:00am. Trust me, you will not be in a rush to get up. You've had major abdominal surgery! And you'll probably be sleeping for some time after anyway.

My catheter was removed just before they let me get up. It's completely painless. Just feels like you're having a wee. And in case you're worried, you can't feel the catheter when it's in and you don't feel like you need a wee, the tube just drains straight into the bag.

You will be lying on a big absorbent pad (about the size of a pillow) and will have a sanitary pad just laid between your legs so don't worry about getting sheets dirty. The mw came a few times and checked the pad and changed the sanitary pad. Wearing pants is quite difficult because of the scar, so make sure you get BIG granny pants that cone up high. I stupidly got bikini style pants and had to send do to shops to get big pants (god, did he love that job!!!) I don't remember any gushing. I didn't bleed that much tbh. But when you're ready to get up, you can ask the mw about putting on underwear.

I didn't have a shower until the following morning, so 48 hours after. And my dp came in with me. The bathrooms are usually quite big and he just sat on the loo in case I fainted. You can't have a proper shower as you need to keep your dressing dry, but I washed my hair and used a wet flannel under my arms and around my bits.

The scar is low so it is less likely to show when you wear a bikini (not that I think I'll get back into one of those for a while, if ever!). Mine is above my hair line and kind if right where those bikini style pants sit. My friend said hers was really low and she had some ingrown hair issue. Speak to the surgeons when you go into theatre. I didn't even think about asking. I assumed it was a bog standard cut.

Hope this helps??

They used to do a vertical incision but that causes more problems with scarring in subsequent pregnancys. I would not question positioning of the scar, I am sure there is a good reason, though I hate hate hate mine.
If you don't like being touched etc, will you be ok with bedbaths etc? Though quite frankly I was off my tits on morphine for the first twenty hours, so didn't really care about anything beyond having a baby.
See my earlier post re standing up. The catheter came out the next day and the drip the day after that.
I had my first proper shower on day four at the birth centre which I had transfered to, it was bliss.

Hello i am a lurker - i am worried about the catheter - how does it work>

can anyone tell me - I remember being given morphine for a nasty burn in hosp and that feeling you want to go to loo but cant, is there any of that - does the bit where they put it in hurt after when you go for pee?

are you worried about it falling out or anything>

Don't forget that bed baths help with showering are not compulsory, you can say no thanks or get your birth partner to help you instead.
I did have a bed bath and it wasn't as bad as I thought but I could have asked them to leave the stuff for DH to wash me (only thought afterwards)
I came home after 24 hours as did one of the other ladies who had had a section on the ward.
Keep on top of your pain killers and move about as often as you can but in short bursts, keeping as upright as you can, so you don't get too stiff.

Oh and I took arnica tablets and my recovery was quicker then my first but that could have been because first was emcs

No it does not hurt to pee after it has been removed. It won't fall out, it has a small baloon that inflates once it is inserted, did not hurt coming out either.
From what I remember you don't get the urge to pee because your bladder is just being continously drained.

Babydubs - I had my c-section at 10.30 in the morning, and had the catheter out and got on my feet about ten or eleven that night - felt surprisingly fine. It stays in that long so that you don't need to get up and go to the loo before the spinal block wears off. (I loved it - had spent the last weeks of pregnancy needing the loo every ten minutes, so it was lovely ro just lie in bed with my baby without worrying!) The removal of the catheter was absolutely painless, though when I urinated for the next few days, I could feel slightly there had been something in my urethra - but no pain at all. Eliza - don't worry, the catheter is put in when you've had the spinal block/epidural so you don't feel it, and I didn't even notice it coming out.

No big gush of blood in my case - had been lying on maternity pads since the end of the surgery, changed by the midwives at intervals.

I imagine you can suit yourself about showering. I had my baby on Tuesday morning and didn't shower until the Thursday morning - did it by myself, and felt fine. (The dressing had been taken off by then.) Which was just as well, because the one movement I found really difficult for a couple of weeks was stepping over the side of the bath...

Second Frida. You can't feel it at all when it's in and you have no feeling of needing to pee. The mw just comes and drains the bag every now and again and I was saying 'oh, have I been weeing?'.

I only remember when they took it out, it felt like I was having a wee but it was probably just 'something' coming out which I associated with weeing, as that's what usually cones out of there!

No problem or pain peeing after. They do want to check that you are peeing though so are likely to get you to drink lots and check how much you pee.

Don't worry about it, honestly. I really didn't like the idea of it at all but tbh I didn't notice anything at all.

Make sure you get MASSIVE granny knickers - your tummy will be quite swollen and a high waistband won't rub on your scar!

Agree with Frida about the tattered nippled, keep an eye on your latch if you're BFing.

Oh God and the smell! Nobody prepares you for the smell - your insides STINK!