no screen during c-section?

[issywoo]

i am 39 weeks and not engaged so my obs thinks its unlikely i'll have a vaginal birth. my last baby, like this one, was posterior and never engaged and despite a 38 hour induction i never got beyond 3 cms. so if i don't go into labour by 41 weeks he's going to do another c-section. last time i felt really cut off from what was going on because of the screen - can i ask them to remove it or will they refuse? also, i would like the moment the baby is delivered to be caught on video (my husband doesn't relish doing this) - will they object to that? i just want to feel a part of it which i think i would if i had a vaginal birth. any ideas?

What colour was it?

He said, 'Oh you know, it's dark red just like your muscles'
I don't know what colour I was expecting, maybe I thought all the organs would be a different colour like on a child's anatomical model.
Was very spaced out.

Well that's a relief!

(Still wondering why they took it out though...)

My epidurals (they call them spinals now, don't they, what's that about? I'm sure they used to say if you had a spinal they'd got it wrong and you had to lie flat for 3 days; now it seems to be that what was an epidural has become a spinal and now if you have an epidural you can still walk about???) were v complicated going in and one of them hurt like hell (sorry, issywoo, this is years ago!) but once in I felt a warm glow - no shakes - why did you shake, suzy? (Just curious!)

I think it was too much epidural over a long period of time. I had had one in for 10 hours ( I am a very slow dilater) and it was an emergeny C so they had to top me up again before they sliced me open. It was most alarming I can tell you.

"Top me up before you slice me open" - can just hear Wham singing that one!

Blimey, sooz - nasty experience - thank god for modern obstetrics though, eh?

PSL
Totally. I know exactly what you mean, if it was 100 years ago .............

Oooh JanH, first time I've ever heard anyone else talk about the warm and fuzzy feeling - it was great for me too! Is that because its a narcotic - think its the closest I'll ever get to the "trainspotting" experience thank goodness but can see where they're coming from. Sorry for uninhibited posting (usually lurk sinisterly) as well as excess use of exclamation marks and inverted commas - have been on the wine for once and am now confirmed lightweight!

suzywong, did you have your c/s at the whittington?

yes
both of them

am going to go away and hurl now, I thought that was the case SueW

Must remind myself was all worth it, have 2 brilliant kids

tia, i like what your surgeon did - seems like a good compromise. will try to broach it with my obs
this week at my final check up. suppose i ought to clear it with him that he doesn't mind photos/videos being used. i don't want to get on his bad side!

issywoo- The hospital where I had DS by elective c-section offered me the same as Tia. But being the coward that I am, I refused to have the screen lowered. But I do remember the big light above me, I could see lots of red!
As soon as DS was born they lifted him high so I could see him. Once he had been weighed they gave him to DH to cuddle next to my head. I actually enjoyed the whole experience. They also had the radio playing in the background so DS has his very own birth song!

Hi, Croak, hope you will delurk again soon!

SueW, thanks for that information, I had no idea (although of course it makes perfect sense when it's pointed out).

issywoo, my deliveries were just like kid's, with the baby lifted high to show me, checked quickly and then brought over next to my head while all the repairs took place - I never felt I wasn't part of it, I seem to remember getting a running commentary from somebody too, but if you really really () want to look you should certainly ask (the decision will be down to the senior obstetrician present, presumably).

For both my sections (one emergency, one planned) the screen was up and though I'm really squeemish I think I would have liked to have seen a bit more of the action - certainly during the panic free planned section. I love the idea of it being lowered at the crucial moment - I reckon you wouldn't see that much gore because your bump is still in the way even once the baby is out (mine's still in the way 7 months later...)

Suzy/JanH - I had really violent shakes both times. First time I assumed it was shock but when it happened again I asked and was told it was just a side effect of the spinal.

When I had my 2nd C-section which was elective, they had a trainee to administer the spinal block. They were discussing that when it is in the right place it will pop! I hate needles so I was horrified at having to listen to this. Well he did it, but it turned out it hadn't popped so they had to have another go! The 2nd one worked but as I'd had double the dose my entire body including my face went numb. I thought it was quite amusing at the time but the doctor panicked and made me sit up straight after I'd been stitched up. I have read a story in the past where the mother has actually helped pull the baby out when having a c-section. I wonder if there are many hospitals that offer this?

I had the screen lowered for both planned sections, at different hospitals, and babes were brought straight to me before washing etc. I haven't seen the documentaries, but given the amount of pulling and tugging I could feel after the delivery while everything was put back in, I really don't think it would be a soothing expereinece to see the surgery. Like suzywong said, it is a different matter when it's your own insides where the surgeon's hands have disppeared up to the wrists. But we have got the most fantastic photographs of both deliveries. in the first set dd is being held up with the cord leading down inside me (you can't see much of me) all streaked with vernix etc, it's a very powerful picture. in the second set all the staff are turned towards th camera with big grins - as if they are taking a bow after a performance-it's hilarious! You need to get the surgeon's permission, and I found the anaesthetis was the best person to ask each time, then they delegated to their assistant or whoever was available.

PS I should add that 'lowering' the screen just meant they folded the top down from about 4feet high above the table to 2 feet high, so you could not see any of my body anyway. Presumably it needs to be higher to stop splashes?

hovely, i would love photos like yours. i hope the surgeon will be up for it, will discuss with him on monday when i am admitted.

Issywoo, agree with you that Tia and Hovely seemed to find a great compromise and I will certainly ask for this if I have to have another c section. Really loved my experience (the best day of my life by far)last time (not just because of the drugs, despite my earlier post )but also felt a bit uninvolved (what happened at my section sounds like Janh's or Kid's) and think that perhaps being able to see the baby coming out and then having skin to skin contact straight away could make it all seem like less of a 'procedure' iyswim. Good luck with your meeting with the consultant, let us know how you get on and all the best for the birth - hope all goes well.

Hello everyone! Bobthebaby was right ... it was me that has a c/section recently (3 weeks now) without the screen ...
Here's my take on it ...
1st baby ... emergency c/section after 40 hour labour ... middle of the night ... had a screen ... - I felt totally removed from the whole thing and when they held up DS over the screen I thought "Oh, a baby ... " I still, 4 years on, struggle with the fact that DS actually did come from my body ... when he was a baby I felt that he was any old baby and that someone might as well have got him out of a cupboard. Harsh ... but that is how I felt ... I am sure this was one of the reasons I suffered from pretty bad PND ...
2nd baby ... Failed induction ... unplanned (as opposed to emergency) c/section after 18 hours of half hearted contractions ... NO SCREEN.
As I posted on my birth announcement thread ... IT WAS THE MOST POSITIVE, WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE OF MY WHOLE LIFE!!!!! I didn't see any gore at all ... unless I looked in the reflection of the surgeon's glasses (so I avoided that) ... If I had lifted my head I might have seen something but I didn't feel the need to do that ... the anaesthetist was really chatty so he kept me busy anyway!
I felt totally involved in the whole process ... although I couldn't see anything I could see the doctor's and the nurse's hands moving and they both talked my through the whole thing ... In fact at one point the doctor pretty much had her whole arm up me to get DD in a good position ... I said something along the lines of "What, can't you find it?" which gave everyone a bit of a laugh.
AND ... I saw DD as soon as she came out ... I saw her coming out but didn't see any of my bits open IYSWIM ... Fan-bloody-tastic ...
Absolutely NO feelings of being removed from it all ... I know she is from my body as I saw her come out ... she isn't just any old baby ... she is MY BABY!!!!! Can you tell that I am still on cloud 9 about this???
So ... I would say ... everytime ... DON'T HAVE A SCREEN .... you won't see anything ... but you will be much more involved in the birth of your child if that is something that matters to you (as it does to me as I still feel sad that I have not been able to give birth naturally) ...
Anyway ... sorry to go on ...
Good luck Issywoo ... I hope everything goes well with the birth of your baby!
Love
Ghosty xxxxxxx

There was a grim Psycho/slasher moment during my C-section when blood suddenly splashed all over the screen. I presume if there had been no screen this would have gone all over me.