How bad is a c-section?

[rosepetalsoup]

Hello,
I am about to have a second child - first was born vaginally (but not easily!) but it looks like this one is breech. I think the midwives and Drs will offer me a c-section and I am feeling very frightened about the possibility. Can anyone tell me how bad it is? My first labour was about as bad as it gets, the whole cascade of interventions except c-section, so I'm no naive spring chicken, but also worried about the unknown.

Thanks.

Had 2 c sections. First was an emergency. Second was ELCS. You'll be fine. Some great advice given on this thread.

Definitely would recommend getting one of those grabber reacher things that pick things up- really useful so you don't have to bend/ reach. Useful for picking things up slightly out of your immediate grasp.

Make sure you accept all painkillers on offer and demand too, like pp have said.

Honestly, I never had natural labours and wouldn't change my c section experiences for a natural birth, if I was given the choice to go back and do it again. Your baby's safe delivery is the most important thing, regardless which part of you they arrive from!

Good luck OP :)

I am so glad I found this thread, I am 22 weeks with my second child and had an appointment just this morning with a consultant to discuss birthing options, I had an undiagnosed-at-the-time third degree tear with my DD that is still causing me troubles 3 years on, so the consultant this morning strongly advised I go for an ELCS. I am feeling gutted that I will miss out on the 'magic' of labour and birth and the surprise element of it all, but after reading through this thread I feel a lot better about it!
Brilliant advice too, those of you who recommended peppermint do you mean to drink peppermint tea, or have it another way, to stop wind?
Also can I ask a very personal question, how soon after a c-section do you start bleeding? Is this something you can 'take care' of yourself or do the nurses have to intervene until you are more mobile!?

Also, good luck with your birth OP, I hope it goes really well for you whatever the outcome, and thank you for starting this thread!!

Gingerbread I think (was a good few years ago now) one of the midwives brought me peppermint oil in hot water - it definitely wasn't peppermint tea although I think a strong tea might work as well. Check it out before you start glugging oils though! It is probably a tiny splash.

Re the bleeding - I think I was on an incontinence pad in recovery and then when I went up to the ward was washed and had hospital disposable pants plus mattress like sanitary towel put on (was still numb from waist down and catheterised, so all this was done for me). Some people report less bleeding after a section, but I found it about the same as my subsequent vaginal birth. Section was early hours of the morning, and I think I was up and having a shower by early afternoon.

It totally depends. I've had two - one totally fine (emcs) and one absolutely horrendous (ironically - this was an elcs). It's the luck of the draw..!

Ps - the poster Above who said an ELCS was a piece of piss should be ignored - theirs might have been but that's far from guaranteed! I had a totally unforeseeable massive haemorrhage which made the op and recovery really, really hard.

Gingerbread I hardly bled at all. They said they'd given me a good Hoover out (nice!) but I was glad of it. After reading mumsnet I had more giant pads than I knew what to do with. I really only bled for a week, after that it was very very light.

elective Caesarian - very straight forward but slow recovery. Needed help to get up the stairs and push buggy for ages.

My vaginal birth - 2nd and 3rd vaginal births were excellent

All electives are different, just as all vaginals are different.

Out of my 3 births the elective was the most difficult, with a very long recovery.