I'm still wondering 16 months later.

[Lottiebugz22]

I had an emergency c section. It was very traumatic. I was violently sick throughout and had allot of pressure on my chest like I was under a stone slab. When I came out of my c section my whole body was swollen that much I was unrecognisable. Is this just normal? I asked friends who had c sections and they said nothing like that happened to them at all.

I had an emergency section under general anaesthetic. Nothing like that at all. Problems later but not related to the pregnancy. I’ve never heard of being awoken. Have you had a review of your care? I forget what it’s called but mine was with the consultant who took the decision, as it was a complex case. It can be useful to answer any questions, especially if you’re thinking of possibly having another pregnancy.

I didn't have a section but I was very swollen after giving birth. It's aparently normal.

Hi,

Mine was was the same. I was sick projectile yellow vomit all over my partners face and couldn't stop so had to be put to sleep.

I lost a lot of blood and woke up extremely swollen. When I got home (two weeks later because of me and baby catching an infection) I pissed and pissed and pissed until I was a normal human again.

Birth is honestly the worst thing I have ever gone through and like you, I think back to it often.

Same happened to me with my first csection (also an emergency). I was so swollen afterwards I couldn’t get my shoes on. Took about a week to go down.

Yeah I can't stop going back to it. I need some information really about exactly what went on.

My hospital did an investigation after my emergency c section (normal procedure apparently). It was then independently investigated to see if I had grounds for compensation. I didn't ask for either but it's provided me with a better insight into what happened (medical negligence..) So worth asking if an investigation has been done to give you some answers.

They all sound like normal, albeit very unpleasant, side-effects of a CS. Vomiting is pretty common - the spinal drops your BP which makes you feel nauseated, as does having someone rummage around your insides! The anaesthetist can give drugs to push your BP back up, and anti-sickness drugs, but they're not failsafe unfortunately.

Weight on your chest - they sometimes have to push quite hard at the top of your womb to get baby out. This obviously should get better one baby is delivered. However, one of the drugs we give to deliver the placenta can also make some women feel like there's a weight on their chest, or this can happen if the numbing from the spinal goes higher than usual.

Swelling- not uncommon after any delivery, not just CS. You have a lot of extra fluid on board in late pregnancy and it gets redistributed and eventually peed out.

Sorry you had such a bad experience, but I hope this post helps you understand what happened a bit.

I believe all hospitals(?) offer a birth review service, where you can discuss and get information on what happened to you and why. I’m afraid I’m not an expert so I may be wrong, but I think you can request this- it may be worth doing, to speak to someone appropriate and go through your notes, and get some “closure”.

I didn’t have a CS, but I was unbelievably swollen after giving birth. To the point where the midwives were concerned and ran some blood tests. It went after a week or so.

Im so sorry you had to go through this.

I had an emergency c section, and was really swollen everywhere afterwards. My belly was bigger than before the baby came out!

I was told that gas is pumped into you during the section and this can cause swelling.

I had a PPH, lost 6 pints of blood. I was terrified I was going to die on the table. I kept asking for my husband to come back in but they wouldn’t let him and I thought I wouldnt see my kids again.
I was so sore afterwards and as it was my first section after two vaginal births I was shocked how bad I felt.

A lovely midwife explained afterwards that they would have used massage and weights to try and stop the bleed which would have left me feeling sore.

It took me a long time to get over my section physically & mentally. I went back to hospital for 6 week check up but the doctor was very defensive. I only wanted someone to explain everything to me but Id say she thought I was going to sue or something. She just kept saying I had a healthy baby, which made me feel even worse for questioning the birth.

I eventually went for counselling & made my peace with what had happened.

I understand how you feel and hope you are able to find a way to get through it x

I had the same as you except for the pressure in my chest. I was very sick throughout my whole labour with DC1 (50+ hours) had an emergency csection and was sick afterwards for at least half a day. I was also very swollen afterwards for about two weeks.

If you can, I’d talk to someone about it and get some talking therapy help. I didn’t and it played on my mind for years afterwards. I ended up struggling to conceive second time round, went for tests and nothing wrong with either me or DH so I’m sure it was because psychologically I hadn’t gotten over the trauma of having DC1. Thankfully managed to conceive in the end and DC2’s birth was so much easier and not traumatic at all.

I hope you’re able to get through this

@Mrsbclinton they don't "pump you full of gas" in a CS - that's only done for keyhole surgery. But they do open your abdomen so some air can get trapped there after they've closed it. Usually not enough to cause swelling - but having had an open abdomen can make the bowels very sluggish, trapped wind, bloating etc.

Thank you so much for all the replies. I feel allot better reading them. It's reassuring to know others have had similar experiences.