Elective C-Section & Travel Straight away & Visitors

[Babyonthewayy]

I’m wandering how everyone was after their normal straightforward elective section in terms of travel home in the car.

I have had to relocate for the last 3 months for constant checkups at a certain hospital. We are around a 9/10 hour drive from home.

We are both keen to get home ASAP, the doctor has said we will be fine after 4 days to do so if everything is smooth sailing but I might be exhausted, but to be honest we just want to get back to our home! One of the other (crazy in my opinion) consultants told us to get a flight.

Has anyone taken such a long car journey so soon?

Also how soon did you take visitors after you got home? DH is already receiving calls requesting to know exactly what time we will be arriving home so that his sister and brother can come over with their 5 screaming children. Bearing in mind I’ve had a house sitter to watch my dogs - we don’t even know what state our home is going to be in after a 10 hour drive with a newborn!!!

Sounds like a long and exhausting journey, I'm not sure that a flight wouldn't be a better option, though no idea about insurance implications so close to surgery!

Remember also that current guidelines say that newborns should not be in a car seat for longer than 30 mins at a time, so a 10 hour journey is going to have to be broken up into a LOT of shorter legs with breaks etc...

It's a crazy idea. Every bump in the road was agony for the first few days. And with a newborn you would have to stop all the time (look at latest guidelines for time in car seats). A flight with assistance through the airport would probably be a better option.

I was fine in the car after the my up I went, but i would not have wanted a 10 hour journey.

More importantly, as already mentioned, the baby can’t Be in the car seat for extended periods.

I would be telling brother that the children won’t be visiting the day you get home (or them either).

The 40 minute car journey home left me in tears. I had big issues with my c section recovery.

That journey is going to take forever if you stop every 30 mins or however often is recommended with a newborn too

It’s a crazy idea. It will take forever with a newborn, you’ll have to stop constantly to take them out of the car seat and to feed them. Far better idea to fly, although check whether you’d need an extended course of blood thinners and compression stockings to reduce risk of blood clots.

I’d also be concerned about the risk of a DVT from sitting for so long. Are you having heparin/clexane injections? I’d want medical advice about the risk.

Dd1 was born by em c section away from home - I ended up in hospital for 9 days before I went home. The drive was okay, only two hours, but we had to stop twice so dd could feed (not ideal - breastfeeding a newborn in a car a week post c-section isn’t easy).

Absolutely no to visitors before you’re back home & settled.

As has been said every bump in the road hurt and I had to hold my seatbelt away from my scar.
I also think it’d be very hard with a newborn baby; they can’t be in a car seat for very long at all at first and need to feed so much that the journey would take you days.
Flight would actually be much better

Your risk of developing a DVT means that you are usually advised not to fly for six weeks after a c section. A ten hour car journey would also be potentially risky - you would need to have frequent stops to get out and mobilise.

I had to visit my sick DD who was still in SCBU about 50 miles from home on a daily basis once I was discharged after my LSCS. It was not at all comfortable and I eventually passed out ( luckily in the hospital a couple of weeks after I'd had her)
A 10 hour journey is too much in one go. I wonder if you could break it up and stay in a travel lodge or something half way from home

As already said, newborns can stop breathing if left in a car seat for longer than thirty minutes. Even older babies ought not be in one for longer than two hours.

In short, bad idea, even if you weren't having a section.

Yep I agree with everyone else. It’s a crazy idea. The baby can’t be in car seat for more than 30 minutes anyway.
Tell the brother they can’t visit for a day or two after you are home. Or else say just the brother and no children and half an hour tops. That’s a v unreasonable assumption from the brother.

I would get the flight and then get home and say no visitors until the next day. Honestly the worst thing you can do after a c section is over do it.

I had Emergency CS 3 weeks ago. The 25 minute journey home was agony. Could barely get in the car. Sat in the back so could keep an eye on baby. Couldn’t turn properly to get in/out without DH help. Tummy still very swollen from op. Scar painful. Every bump /sharp braking painful. Plus as above newborns shouldn’t be in car seats for more than 30 mins. Could be a long journey...

I only had a 5 minute drive home from the hospital 4 days after csection and it was rough! I kept leaning sideways to check on baby in her car seat and just that position placed too much pressure on the surgery site. Was in agony by the time I got home and could barely move for the rest of the day.

I would definitely avoid a 10 hour drive for the sake of the baby since newborns tend to slump a bit into their seats and it’s quite scary not knowing if they’re ok!

It’s a crazy idea. Mainly because it’s not advisable to travel with a new born in a car seat for that long. I think it’s recommended that they have a break from the car seat for every hour travelled in it. So your 9/10hr car journey will become double that if you also factor in feeds and nappy changes etc.

You can't drive 10 hours with a newborn!!! Never mind after a section!!!

Could you get a lie flat car seat like this?

www.jane-uk.com/Mobile/en/Matrix-Light-2/m-cc-35.aspx#instructions

We drove about 3 hours when DS1 was about a week old. We probably stopped once if not twice. I don’t remember it being terribly painful by that point (I’d had a c/s).

Is a train an option? First class might make it more bearable. Or a sleeper carriage if you can get a night train?

I’d fly.

I assume with those distances involved that you live somewhere fairly remote and longish car journeys for other purposes may be needed in the first few months. So I'd seriously consider looking into lie-flat car seat options for your newborn - no I don't know if safe ones currently exist. Feeding would be my biggest concern on a journey that long and I'd break it up over at least 2 but quite possibly 3 days if I absolutely had to do it. Flying sounds a good option to me too.

With regards to the timing, if I'd had to wait until feeding was working smoothly I'd probably have had to wait 3 weeks after both of mine, so my first thought that 4 days might be better prolonged to 6 or 7 was followed by "but will that gain much?". It might do in terms of your own comfort I think. Definitely allow several days, not just one, to recover at home and find your routine, before visitors (other than, perhaps, your own mother(s) ).

Best wishes for a safe delivery, it sounds like you have had a challenging pregnancy.

Even with a straight forward reasonably pain free section I wouldn't attempt it. Hospitals try and get you up as soon as possible because sitting can slow your recovery and cause problems with the scar healing. Stopping every 30 mins to get your newborn out of their seat and walk about, even if possible, will make the journey so much longer. Can you not change to a nearer hospital. I would expect medical staff to be very concerned if you told them you were travelling 10 hours in a vehicle with a newborn.

With regards to lie flat car seats there are a few that lie flat in the car but many only lie flat in a pram. The ones that lie flat in a car are not as safe as a traditional one in the event of a crash.

Tell everyone that you don't know and you will be prioritising the health of your baby. You'll call them when you are home (and then do it only 24 hours later). You will be beyond shattered.

This is bonkers.

With a small baby I found every car journey took twice as long as normal as you need to factor in so many stops. It’d take you days.

I had a good recovery from my ELCS but it was still utter agony sitting in the car over the first week.

A flight sounds better but you’re not really going to know when you’ll be ready to travel. I’d plan for at least a week before you fly.

Oh geez, that sounds like fucking torture. At 4 days post elective section, my baby was starving and unsettled because my milk still wasn't in. After every attempted feed, she'd get formula while I used the hospital grade double pump to stimulate my supply. And then she'd need a nappy change and all the bottles had to be washed up. And then it would be time for the next feed. All really hard to do in a car.

My pads felt disgusting at 4 days post partum, they needed changing so often. Again, not pleasant in the car, or in public toilets.

And then there's baby blues, where the hormones come crashing down. I was in tears over tiny things, like giving my baby formula, my husband bringing me my favourite sushi, the hospital meal trolley lady having no more strawberry cheesecake, etc etc.

I still needed pain killers spaced evenly through the day and night to keep the pain under control. Plus antibiotics because my scar got infected (and those gave me the runs, kind of OK cos that hurt less than opiate constipation...) Not great in the car either.

I understand you want to just get home, but be realistic about this. If there was a plane trip, I'd be taking it with both hands. You might be fine, but why risk it?

Good luck with the birth and trip home.

Absolutely not. It’s not safe for the baby and I would have found it agonising. I still remember the 15 min trip home I had at 4 days as the most agonising trip of my life.

Find somewhere to stay local to the hospital for a few weeks.

The 10-15 min journey home after 2 night s was fine bar the speed bumps jarring a bit. I was pretty comfortable going for maybe half an hour journey in the car within the first week. Tbh, pain in the car never really registered as a reason to do/not to do a journey so I don't think it was that bad.

But a 10 hour journey with a newborn will be very difficult. If you're in the back keeping an eye on breathing, and baby is healthy and fully term, I dont think you need to worry particularly about the 30min rule, but you'll still be stopping every hour - two hours I expect, if not more frequently sometimes. So it will take ages.

Personally, I'd go by train instead (with your partner too) as you can be more free in holding your child etc. Flying may or may not be an option but is preferable to a 10hr journey.

If you do drive 10hrs, then I'd recommend splitting it into 2 days, and have lots and lots of breaks.

As for visitors, I had them from arriving home, but after a nightmarishly long journey I think you'll need some time to recover.