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Childbirth

Share experiences and get support around labour, birth and recovery.

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Original poster

Quick question about a birth plan for elective Caesarean

46 replies

Gem13 · 08/02/2004 20:24

Just realised I hadn't written a birth plan for this birth and wondered if anyone had done one for an elective?

If so, what did you write? Can only think of writing DH's name down and the fact that I want him to tell me whether we have a DD or DS.

(BTW - it has been advised due to full 3rd degree tear, etc.)

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

nutcracker · 08/02/2004 20:30

I have had 3 sections. 2 elective and 1 emergency (when i say elective, imean i was told to). I didn't write birth plans for any of them but i would do if there are specific things that you want (like dh telling you the sex). Can't really think of anything else you could include, hope someone esle can help you more

hmb · 08/02/2004 20:34

I didn't have a plan for my second, elective section. As soon as dd (emergency section) and ds were born they were help for me to see. Dh went with them when they were cleaned up, weighed, checked over etc, and he brought them back to me. I fed them both within a few hours, it was wonderful. Makes me go all gooey and sentimental thinking about it. Didn't take any music (but could have), so it might be worth you checking if this is a possibility. Ds was born to the pastoral symphony which I have always loved. Hope you have as positive experience as I did.

aloha · 08/02/2004 20:38

Hi Gem, I had an elective caesarian for complete placenta praevia and wasn't given the opportunity for a birth plan. However the only things I would have asked for in advance were - to have my ds delivered onto me rather than taken away to be cleaned and weighed etc - longest five minutes of my life!! I wish I'd insisted that he was given straight to me, blood and guts and all - he looked beautiful to me anyway. I think you might want to discuss that and skin to skin straight afterwards. Also that your dh is with you ALL the time - recovery and all. I didn't have a problem with this but I think some others have. I also wanted a spinal block as it wears off most quickly (effect goes totally in two hours). You could talk about music in the delivery room and lights being dimmed etc. That didn't matter to me but if it does to you, talk about it beforehand. For me, going into labour was so dangerous it would have been stupid for me to delay my section much past 37 weeks (I did successfully argue for 37+5). If I was in your position I would seriously think about waiting for labour before my c-section rather than agreeing for a pre-ordained date before my due date. It would mean that my baby was genuinely ready to be born and it would be more natural in terms of hormones - I've been reading Michel Odent's book and I think it makes a good point about c-sections being better for the baby if you wait until you go into labour first. I certainly think my son was rather early and my milk took longer to come in (also because I lost a lot of blood, which was unavoidable with PP).
Does this help at all?

mears · 08/02/2004 20:39

Do you know that is a good idea Gem13. We don't do official birthplans like for labour and no-one has ever asked about it. We automatically show parents the baby immediately before they are handed over to paediatric midwife (put the screen down for a minute). Babies are weighed now in theatre where parents can see and then baby is skin to skin on transfer to recovery. I have never seen a baby breastfed immediately whilst section is still in progess - I think mum would feel suffocated
I think making plans for C/S is a good idea.

hmb · 08/02/2004 20:43

Oh, and I was surprised at how much fluid there was Stupid me! I should have realised when all the theater team were wearing nifty whire wellies First time my waters had already broken. Sounds daft but the thought had never occured to me! Both my two were weighed in the room but as I am as blind as a bat without my contacts dh went with the nurse...crazy but it left me feeling better.

hmb · 08/02/2004 20:44

Sorry White wellies.

suzywong · 08/02/2004 20:45

I BF my first while they were stitching me up and that was an emergency C

mears · 08/02/2004 20:47

That's good suzy - how did you manage. Did someone hold the baby at the side of you? Our theatre beds are really narrow.

suzywong · 08/02/2004 20:48

I think I just demanded it and the theatre staff were very sympathetic, plus it shut me up
(great news on your other thread btw)
Couldn't really do it with second, emergency too, as had horror epidural related shivers

twiglett · 08/02/2004 21:24

message withdrawn

Marina · 09/02/2004 09:06

What a great idea, Gem.
As a veteran of two electives I'd agree with everyone suggesting that you ask to hold the baby as soon as he/she is born and that you make sure your hospital will let the baby come in to recovery with you. I think there are still hospitals where that doesn't happen. And at my first elective the staff all bellowed out, "Another boy! What are the odds on that then?" (five electives that morning including one lot of twins, we were last, six boys and they had a sweepstake going) so we did feel a bit sad that they didn't pretend to let us find out first.
Good luck with the surgery.

aloha · 09/02/2004 09:26

One of the two surgeons at Kings who could have done my c-section (but didn't in the end due to not being on duty on the day I wanted) offered to deliver straight onto my tummy - which in retrospect would have been nice. I really didn't like him being held up for me to see - he looked a bit desperate to curl up again. I didn't care what he looked like anyway, just wanted to get my hands on him! I honestly can't remember whether I breastfed while I was being stitched or in the recovery room about half an hour later but my friend definitely fed her dd while being stitched. I didn't mind the dr saying the sex at all - it never crossed my mind that dh should tell me. But I suppose that's exactly why birth plans for elective c-sections are a really good idea Gem13. Mears, how about setting an example (again!) and instituting them in your hospital?
I had to fight for quite a few things I wanted - eg spinal block and not general and now that Gem13 has raised the matter I wish there had been a formal way of putting those wishes on paper.

aloha · 09/02/2004 09:27

Mears, why are c-section babies weighed prior to giving the baby to the mother/father when this isn't done for vaginal births. Seems unfair to me!

nutcracker · 09/02/2004 09:43

When i had dd1 she was checked over then given to me to hold for a while and then weighed. When i had dd2 she was whisked straight off to scbu so i didn't hold her until the next day, and when i had ds he was whisked of to becleaned up and weighed and it did seem an age before i got to hold him. Dp gave me a running comentary of what they were doing though. They were all sections by the way.

mears · 09/02/2004 09:49

Aloha - because C/S babies cannot comfortably get skin to skin during theatre, we have only recently got a set of scales in theatre so that the baby does not need to be disturbed once skin to skin has started in recovery.

After a normal delivery, babies are places skin to skin as soon as possible. It is best if they are left undisturbed, especially if breastfeeding is going to be initiated. However, if the parents ask for the baby to be weighed sooner than that , then we do it.

Regarding birthplans - I will look more closely and see what is filled in for women having elective C/S. I certainly will highlight it to my colleagues. At the moment there is an information leaflet being put together about what will happen to you at elective C/S but there is no mention of what would you like.

squirmyworm · 09/02/2004 09:53

I had a emergency c at east surrey (fab hospital - I had a thoroughly wonderful experience despite a difficult birth and now see midwives as akin to goddesses). The only thing I'd have liked done differently was to have held ds a bit sooner. I had a glimpse of him (still chokes me up, the memory of his little greyish, wriggling bawling self) and then he was taken away to be weighed. There was prob a good reason for it but I remember weebling - is he alright, did you say he's a boy, where is he, is he crying etc etc!

fio2 · 09/02/2004 09:57

I didnt write a birthplan for my elective either, I didnt know you had too! I just let them get on with it

fio2 · 09/02/2004 09:58

also I was given my baby first before he was weighed

aloha · 09/02/2004 10:26

Squirmyworm - SNAP! I found it a little upsetting to see him held up there and then see him whisked away, crying. I just felt this profound urge to hold him. Mears, I REALLY didn't want him taken away and I felt helpless at that point to stop it - stuck on the table as I was. I asked for him but nobody listened. I actually felt a strong desire to touch him, blood and vernix and all, and I did feel deprived of that moment. It was only five minutes or so, but they are a very, very important five minutes. What on earth is so important about finding how much he weighed - he was clearly healthy and chubby? And I did get skin to skin in theatre! My dh helped me unwrap him a bit so I could press him next to me for a bit, then dh held him to I could get a good look and I stroked him.
Fio2, nobody does a birth plan for an elective I think, that's why I think Gem13's idea is such a - um - gem. I would have liked one. I knew I was having a section for months and months beforehand, was well-informed but literally had to chase an anaesthetist down a hospital corridor (no joke at 8months pg with placenta praevia, I can tell you) to discuss what sort of anaesthetic I wanted and the difference between the different types. I was pretty shocked that the hospital's idea was that it was just done to you with no input from you - rather like vaginal birth used to be.
Ooh, I think this idea could run and run. I would have loved to do this.

aloha · 09/02/2004 10:35

I have posted before about how I would have preferred to have been given my ds straightaway, but actually am surprised to realise how strongly I feel about it more than two years on.

fio2 · 09/02/2004 10:42

aloha I think you should be given your baby straight away. I remember when my ds was taken out of theatre when i was being sewn up. Dh went out with him but I just felt like a peice of meat. The staff were lovely, dont get me wrong. But it just felt weird that ds wasnt with me anymore.

Also when I has dd (em section with GA) she was in scbu and that is really hard not having your baby with you for days. I didnt feel like i had bonded with her for ages after

mears · 09/02/2004 10:44

When a baby is born by C/S the paediatrician is usually standing by wanting to examine the baby to ensure all is well. The baby cannot go directly to mum because it needs to be dried otr it will get cold really quickly in the theatre enevironment. Also the baby needs removed from the 'sterile field' so thatthe surgeon can carry on with the op. Recently we have stopped having the paed present for elective C/S and a midwife from special care 'receives' the baby. This has speeded up the time that the mum actually gets to see the baby. It took a long time before and the resuscitaire that the baby goes to is not in the view of the mum.
The scales going into theatre had been good because they are where the mum and dad can see the baby. It means that they can see the baby before it is wrpped up in loads of blankets and held next to mum or given to dad. When the mum is ready to be transferred to recovery, her bed is brought in to theatre. She is transferred onto it then the baby is unwrapped and put in next to her skin to skin. Because weighing is done there is no need to separate them again. It really has helped keep mum and babyclose together for longer.

mears · 09/02/2004 10:47

Should add that another reason for getting the weighing out of the way is that it is the first thing the parents usually ask

aloha · 09/02/2004 10:57

Mears, you know that I'm not having a go at you at all but the surgeon at Kings definitely told me the baby could be delivered onto my chest and I could have him right away to hold, which I thought was going to happen and I was shocked to see him held up (it's seared into my mind,that image) and then whisked away. Some posters were given their babies first, and I would really have liked that for me, I wouldn't have minded him being bundled up in towels, but if it's OK for a vaginally born baby to be give to his mother, why not a c-s born one?

aloha · 09/02/2004 10:58

I suppose all this is a very good reason for birth plans for cs - I would have much preferred him to be weighed after I'd had him for a few hours.

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