C-Section - What do you wish you'd known?

[freneticfox]

Ok, time for some brutal honesty!

I've got an ELCS scheduled next week at 39+4 (due to health reasons) and while I know it's the right decision for me and my baby, I'm still experiencing a certain amount of anxiety. I've read stories, both good and bad. I feel relatively prepared but yet I still feel like I'm careering into the unknown.

No matter how TMI, what are things you wish you knew pre-CS? At the moment my main anxiety is rooted in a phobia I used to have (emetophobia, fear of vomiting). For the most part I'm ok now, but I'm extremely anxious about being sick in theatre, or straight after when I have a very raw scar! Any tips to help avoid this much appreciated...

Thanks :)

Haven't read the whole thread but ask for numbing cream prior to Canula insertion.

You'll be absolutely fine, from your last post sound like you have great support (as did I) which is very important.

ENJOY & it don't be long until your little one is in your arms & you'll wonder why you were so stressed - I has an ELCS for maternal health reasons so I really do understand your concerns.

Oh take a pillow for car journey home to protect would from seat belt!

Pack windeeze and charcoal tablets. Don't anyone you are taking them, because they may um and ah about whether you can (my gp and my gp friend have both said it is fine). Trapped wind is excruciating.

Morphine is wonderful stuff and you are actually allowed an hourly dose of oromorph.

Pillow over your section incision for the car ride home! Slowly over any bumps in the road!

Keep up with the painkillers even if you think you don't need them. I didn't and freaked out because of the very strong after pains (of uterus going back down) I did not know what it was happening. Had I kept on schedule with painkillers would not have been a problem.
Yes to strong itching with painkillers. It got too much, finally I realised it was an allergic reaction. They swapped for a different kind of painkiller and it was all great. Good luck. It will be fine. The first shower you have aftwrwards is great but walking there is scary. Take your time with everything.

I've just remembered - apparently you are not totally flat on your back during cs, you are slightly tilted to one side on a wedge (or at least I was).

I had mild SPD during pregnancy, which got worse the week after my second cs because my pelvis had been out of alignment. Not sure if I was just unlucky, but worth knowing just in case.

The majority of the operation is "aftermath" -- the baby is out in a few minutes but then there is a lot of rummaging around (feels like someone doing the washing up in your abdomen) and stitching up various layers.

Itching. Doesn't happen to everyone but not uncommon and it took a huge effort of will not to scratch my legs raw.

Getting the shakes as a reaction to anaesthetic while in theatre. Again, doesn't happen to everyone but not uncommon. It didn't last long, though.

The constipation. Painkillers constipate you, iron supplements constipate you further, hospital breakfast tends to be jam sandwiches on white bread and every HCP you meet is obsessed with whether you've done a poo yet. Find a laxative or stool softener that's safe to use and start taking it ASAP after delivery.

Showy I was back in the gym after 2 weeks with each of my DC having had ELCS with all of them. I also didn't take advantage of pain relief after the first dose - it made me sick, I was better off without it. With DC3 I was desperate to get rid of the vile stockings (making my legs itch, I think it was an allergic reaction) so I was walking around by the late evening (she was born at midday) however this meant I had to relinquish the catheter too which was a wrench - I loved the catheter. Having what felt like a completely empty bladder was BLISS after what felt like aeons of constantly needing to wee.

I didn't eat any of the hospital food (I'm a vegan, I'm used to having to source my own scran). I ate mainly peaches after having DC3 and that meant that I wasn't really constipated at all. Which was a massive improvement on my first two experiences when I was and it was horrible).

Dingalong - me too! She had to be forceped out as cord was all wrapped around her.

I was very anxious about my section but I loved it. My husband videoed her being lifted out. I wish I'd known this was something we could do as I'd have asked him to video more. Those six seconds of footage are so precious to me.

I recommend you take lactulose with you , windeze and lip balm. I was insatiably thirsty afterwards and bottled water with spouts was brilliant.

Look forward to it. I would relive it again in a second. Having her placed on my chest was heaven.

And yes to the injections you have to do yourself at home.

I was not expecting that.
I couldn't do it, Dh did for me. I did later learn you can get someone to come and do them for you, a district nurse I think they said. DH nearly fainted every time he did mine.

Straws! For drinking out of cups whilst you are in bed so you don't tip everything down you.

Bit of a weird one but when I was being stitched up it felt like my heart was hurting (not in a poetic sense!) Apparently this can happen as the muscles they're pulling about are in line with ones further up your chest (think that was the gist, I'd had a lot of drugs and been awake for two days). Obviously don't keep heart pain to yourself but don't panic if this happens!

In the spirit of not sugar coating sometimes babies need to be whisked off for a bit with breathing problems as they haven't had the mucus and gubbins in airways squeezed out by travelling down the birth canal. I didn't get to hold mine for a while which was tough as I wasn't prepared. This doesn't always happen but can! I was madly in love with him from the start so bonding wasn't affected although it can feel a bit surreal at first as your mind tries to catch up with how quickly they get bubs out sort of a 'did that really just come out of me and I felt nothing?' moment!

The pain of the trapped wind in my shoulders was worse than the pain in my stomach. The nurses advised me to eat mints containing peppermint oil at home & they worked a treat.

Keep up with the painkillers, don't wait until you need them.

You will need two hands to get out of bed for a few days, can prove problematic when holding the baby, I got stuck & had to wake DP to rescue us both.

Definitely big pants & over the bump leggings to sit above the scar or trousers you can pull down to sit below the scar.

Move around as soon as you can but take it steady. I went out shopping for a couple of hours a week after & felt very light headed as I hadn't actually stood up for more than about 20 minutes.

I had my emcs 4 months ago, no skin apron, feeling completely back. If it wasn't for the scar you wouldn't know I'd had a c-section.

In my hospital they have a camera so you can watch the whole operation or, like I did, just watch the baby coming out.

Set up a changing station downstairs so you don't have to keep going up & downstairs. I found a side on changing table was much more comfortable than stretching with a length ways one.

Good luck!

On the topic of big pants - where did you get yours from?

I bought pure cotton ones from M&S, but expect supermarkets do them to.

like this

I used big cotton pants, just cheapy ones from asda but I also got some proper c-section pants from mothercare. They are expensive but very good I thought. They are more tightly elasticated and have a little pouch that sits over your scar so you can put a dressing on if needed. I didn't use them straight away because I had terrible water retention and swelling and had to let they subside first.

Primark

C section babies do not always cry immediately when they are born. DS did not really cry at all. The people in theatre were constantly reassuring me (before he was brought over) that he was fine.

I have had three c sections and always lost my appetite for about 48 hours afterwards. I brought cartons of full sugar Ribena with me as I knew I would be able to drink those and they would keep me going until I felt able to eat. I also brought apples and my favourite cereal bars which I moved onto. So bring the sort of snacks with you that you might feel like eating if you were getting better from being ill.

I did have to do the clexane anti clotting injections in my stomach when i came home. I think this is a new thing. If you have to do this search on here for Clexane injection and there was a good thread with lots of tips on how to do it.

Hospitals currently like to get you out asap after c section. For me 48 hours was too soon (getting home in the car was agony) but it's a personal thing.

I also have no skin apron.

I'm on Clexane right now. I've been taking them for 9 weeks and will be on them for at least another month (due to being on bedrest) and honestly they are fine. I make my DH do them but I could do it myself if needed.
You just push the needle in and click, its a fine needle too.
I wouldn't say the injection hurts that much its acually adter its done has done the site hurts for a few minutes and I'm a lot more sensitive to them now than at the beginning, I'm fairly brusied from them now.

After my Op the pain of trapped wind was awful, I assumed it would be my fanny that hurt! I even called the midwives only to be told I needed to fart. I can only imagine what its like after a C-section.

On a positive note, you will recover faster than you can imagine on the first day. I had a section a week ago and every day I have felt heaps better than the day before.

That it wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be! I cried when I found out I'd have to have an elective section but I had such a great experience that this time I have opted for an ELCS again without hesitation (I do have various reasons why it'd be best for me anyway). I felt very relaxed throughout.

I felt no pain whatsoever afterwards; I just regularly took paracetamol and ibuprofen.

I have no 'skin apron' whatsoever. Just after I'd been stitched up the midwife (weirdly!) told me that I'd have a flat stomach. I thought she meant literally, straight away, but now I know what she meant.

I have hardly any lochia; I thought something was wrong after all the stories I'd read!

I did find the being tilted at an angle weird. Also, I shook throughout which was very strange.

My midwife came daily to do my injections, so that is an option if you don't want to do them yourself. She wasn't available one day so someone else came and it did hurt afterwards that day!

I also worried about having the stitches out but I didn't feel a thing.

have to say i have had 4 and was never in much pain, apart from trapped wind.
i felt sick in theatre, due to blood pressure dropping. they wacked in some drugs and was ok