Pre-term c section verses full term

[Lilypad78]

Hi. I had an emcs with my dd1 at 27 weeks. I'm now 32 weeks pregnant with dc2 & have been offered an elcs this time which I think I would prefer over a vbac. Although my dd's birth was very traumatic this was due to worrying about her, my memory of the emcs is that it was very straight forward, my scar was tiny & I recovered so quickly it hardly had any physical impact on me but I put that down to my dd being so early & so tiny (1.5lbs). I know that an elcs at 39 weeks with a full term healthy size baby will be different & this time I will have a new baby coming home with me & an energetic 4 year old to look after (though my dh has 7 weeks off to help out too)! I was wondering if anyone had been through a similar situation & would be happy to share their experiences to help me prepare for how much more of an impact a full term section has on your body? Thanks

I've had an EMCS at 40+0 (8lb15oz), and an ELCS at 38+6 (7lb2oz). The impact was worst on days 2-5 with each, being careful not to twist/pull anything. Beyond that everything has gone back to normal quite quickly.

I'm now 8 weeks past the ELCS and doing everything I was before - including lifting 2 year old DS. The scar is the same size, my body is almost back to normal size and feeling around the scar has come back faster than last time.

The advice to walk tall is really useful - first time I lay propped up on pillows for the first couple of weeks, this time I lay flat; being flat/standing straight made all the difference.

I had an emergency c section and was told that an emergency one is harder on the body and that a planned one will be slightly easier recovery wise so I imagine that if your recovery from your emergency one was ok it will be fine with a planned one.

Thanks very much to you both for replying, & for the advice Duggie, it's reassuring to hear your recovery has been straightforward & helps to put my mind at rest a little.

I had an emergency c-section at 37+6 with ds1 and another one at 33+1. For my first section I got an infection which slowed healing down and I was to scared to moved much first week but after getting antibotics on second week I healed very quick. But not as fast as the second time around. Ds3 went straight to NiCU and I went to see him quite often whilst in hospital. When I told my midwife how fast I healed this time around she said it's most likely because I was more active earlier this time around. But few ladies I personally spoke to have said they found each c-section they had got easier and healed so much faster.

I've had three sections the earliest was at 39+3. With all three of them I was no longer taking painkillers after a few days and was pretty much back doing all my normal stuff after a week or two. I was even driving 10 days after my third. Everyone is different though and only you know how quickly you usually heal and how your pain threshold is. I have a very high threshold which obviously helps. An elective section is much easier mentally but physically I didn't find much of a difference.