C/Section, some questions for those who have had one

[jofeb04]

Hiya,
I have to carry out a presentaion on c/sections, and want a few "real life" (iykwim) statements from those who have had one.

If your willing to help, can you answer the questions below:

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?

If you want to leave a message here, please do, otherwise, please email me on
jopowell1 at yahoo dot co dot uk

I am aware it may bring up difficult emotions, so please email me if needed.

Thanks

Poor Camilla...

My next birth plan will read, 'dc will shoot out like a bullet during a mildly uncomfortable sneeze' (I'm realistic that there will be some discomfort). Gawd help any unwitting hcp that doesn't ensure this happens. VS, I truly wish you the very best of luck with it. Will keep an eye out for the eventual announcement and your progress along the way.

LOL, well make sure if you do decide to have another you come to the VBAC thread. You get the best advice there.

1. Planned at the last minute.. breech presentation discovered 16 days before EDD.

2. First reaction was shock, horror. No way I was having one after 4 normal deliveries. Panic at the thought of it (needle phobic). Wanted GA and was told I couldn't have it.

3. Caesarian itself was calm. The staff were funny, attentive and reassuring. The anaethetistic was lovely and forewarned of my needle phobia. I didn't have a birth plan as I didn't know what to expect but baby was handed to me fairly quickly.

4. Couldn't fault the care afterwards. Midwives very attentive and very helpful when I couldn't latch baby on. Got a shower next day and allowed to keep baby in bed with me. Had a procession of visitors from medical team- consultant, surgeon etc all came to see if I was OK once I was on the ward. Consultant and the surgeon who stitched me up each came twice!

It was a very positive experience and I recovered quickly.

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?
   Sort of planned, it was discovered DD was breech at 41 weeks while I was in early labour so I was admitted immediately but ended up waiting 36 hours for CS.

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc
   Unprepared, shocked, panicked, pissed off that no-one had spotted that DD was breech, stressed out as I hadn't expected to be admitted then and only had a handbag on me

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)
   NO birth plan for CS, I didn't even meet the surgeon beforehand, my BP dropped rapidly and DD had her head wedged under my ribcage so it took nearly 15 minutes of manipulating to get her out, whole thing was very clinical.
   Skin to skin afterwards was me being stripped by MW as I was wheeled out of theatre and DD being dumped on me before I even got a look at ehr face (good intentions but poorly executed)

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?
   Not great, was put on a ward full or formula feeding mothers who constantly complained about how noisy my BF baby was and kept asking staff to give me a bottle. Luckily I am very stubborn and BF successfully thanks to a couple of wonderful MW's and discharged myself after 3 days as I wanted to go home.

1)1st section for breech presentation (baby had moved and I watched her move back to breech while in the bath day before my section. Asked midwife on admission if I could see consultant but they never contacted him), 2nd emergency as never got past 4cm 34 hours after start of induction, 3rd planned and was given a date when I booked in at 6weeks! Wasn't given a choice about 3rd section.

2. 1st section I was disappointed but went along with it as baby was breech. 2nd time I really wanted a vbac but after so long in labour with no progress was just fed up and wanted her out. 3rd time not really bothered as knew what to expect (but deep down would still have loved a natural birth)

3. 1st time did a birth plan, gave it to the midwife on admission and it was never seen again. 2nd time did a birth plan and midwife completely disregarded it. 3rd time didn't bother. All sections much the same, felt really scared, baby born and watched her being weighed etc, couldn't really cuddle her properly, taken back to ward and waited for pain to kick in!

4. Care was diabolical (and I gave birth in 3 different hospitals) so far as I made formal complaints about the 1st 2 births and gave anonymous feedback about the 3rd. 1st birth they managed to "lose" my baby by not knowing exactly where she was - they'd sent her to special care even though she didn't really need to go and they'd reassured me before the birth she wouldn't go. 2nd birth they left a piece of placenta behind after my section - they sent me home haemorrhaging and not listening to me, saying my pain threshold was low and I just had an infection. Midwife during labour read my birth plan then seemed to persuade me to do complete opposite so didn't get my much wanted vbac. 3rd section worst of all, had to shower myself the following morning with no help, nobody helped with breastfeeding and poor lo not feeding well at all. And because I'm diabetic no midwife could set up or discontinue my insulin/glucose drip confidently so most of the time sorted it out myself. When I went to theatre for 3rd section anesthetist couldn't believe what a mess they'd made of my drips and took a picture on his phone camera.

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?

It was an emergency at 32 weeks for pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome although I had already requested, and been granted an elective section as I did not want to have a vaginal delivery.

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc

Worried because of the circumstances but not because of the section itself.

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)

No birth plan, hadn't got round to one, dd wisked away after I had a brief glimpse and dp took some pics.

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?

For the first 48 hours after the care was excellent. I had one-one midwifery care, ie there was always a midwife in the room with me and I was seen at least twice a day by a consultant obstetrician.

After that I was well enough to go to the postnatal ward and although the midwifes were good the medical care was disjointed with one junior doc coming and doing one thing then another coming and contradicting the first. No one could get blood out of me once they took my central line out so my peripheral veins were shot to pieces. Also no one believed me when I kept telling them that the swelling behind my wound was abnormal. I think they all thought that I was just upset about not having a flat tum straight away. So despite me being black and blue from my waist to my knees and having had derranged clotting and a generous dose of heparin I couldn't have a haematoma behind there could I? Cue return to theatre a week later when my wound burst open to reveal a ginormous blood clot that meant that my wound couldn't be sewn back together and I had to wear a vaccuum dressing with a tube coming out of my tum to a pump for four weeks.

dEspite all this I would happily have another section as I had very little pain and despite the wound probs I recovered quickly considering how ill I was at the time.

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?

A bit of both. I had a complicated twin pregnancy - placenta praevia and recurrant bleeds & my consultant had told me that a vaginal delivery was a 'No Go'. Spent a month in hospital on bed rest (horror!) & c section booked for 36 weeks. Was disappointed as I really didn't want one but accepted that natural delivery was too risky. However, had mega bleed at 35 weeks & they did an emergency section.

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc

As above, pretty pIssed off. I was under no illusions about how much they hurt afterwards and they wreck your stomach muscles (I'm quite sporty). Just thought the idea of coping with newborn twins AND a c section was just horrendous. Which, as it turned out, I was absolutely right about...

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)

HORRENDOUS! Scary and terrifying. I was bleeding very badly & completely traumatised by this, my husband hadn't arrived and then to cap it all everything went wrong. They couldn't get my canula to work (it too five attempts) and then the anaethetist botched the epidural and pushed it in too far. They then tried a different epidural but it didn't work and I felt them cut. So I got a General Anaesthetic. Not sure what they gave me as I've had them before but I felt awful when I woke up. Vomited for hours, which is no fun when you've your belly and muscles and uterus cut and torn open and the epidural hasn't worked. Hideous pain, endless vomiting, tiny, tiny babies with tubes down their noses. Awful. No skin to skin - they were presented to my husband in the corridor after he waited for over half an hour (it took so long he thought they'd died and no one would tell him) and were wrapped in about five towels and blankets. I lost a lot of blood and they also used forceps to get one of the twins out which completely knackered my pubic bone. I've no idea what they did but I had a cracking bruise - as if I'd been kicked by a horse - and the pain was dreadful.

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?

I was on a private ward (thank GOD!!!) so I had my own room and the food was okay. However, after a month of hospital food I was sick to death of the place. The midwives were good but overstretched - a lot of the time they would have to go over to the normal ward and help out as they were completely understaffed. The babies were formula fed for the first three days and I had to nag and nag for help with expressing (couldn't breast feed as the babies had no suck reflex as they were too premmie). In the end, an auxiliary nurse who came to take my blood pressure took pity on me and showed me how to express my colostrum and milk which we then pushed into their feeding tubes. After that though things got a little easier and the midwives helped me with attempting to BF from time to time. But it was hit and miss and totally down to me to initiate it, which given that the place was plastered in 'Breast is Best' posters I thought was interesting. Stayed for a week and couldn't wait to get home. It was clean and nice but the whole experience left me completely traumatised and I got PND.

Oh happy memories...

HOpe this helps. Not sure how - it's a poster story for NOT having a c section in my view. They suck!!

1. Emergency CS at the very end of labour. Yes I knew what was happening at the time and kept informed (baby was presenting face first) - and afterwards my notes were gone through with me several times with members of staff and I was asked if I understood/had any questions.

2. Very scared and very upset. It all happened very quickly and due to baby being in distress, made me extremely upset.

3. Was all very rushed and scarey. Any sort of plan went out the window and I had choice but to just go with the flow, I'dalways skipped the CS sections of baby/pregnancy books so hadno idea what was happening or what would happen afterwards etc.

4. Appalling, absolutely disgusting, and 'care' is not a word I would use to describe the way I was treated during my stay in hospital. It was dirty/toilet was not cleaned in the whole 4 days, beetles on the floor, no one answered our beepers, missed us out for some meals etc, was so bad that I would save up to go private if I ever decided to have another baby!

1. Emergerncy and I sort of know why it was needed. Baby was totally stuck, but why we got to that stage is a bit unclear. It may be that I have a crap pelvis, it may be lack of mobility in labour or it may just be one of those things. Noone from the hospital discussed it with me, so I am clueless.

2. terrified and convinced I was going to die during the op.

3. cs itself was ok. They offered to lower the screen, but I was scared in case I saw gore and said no. There was no skin to skin as the screen was too high and I would have found it hard to hold DD anyway as I had a reaction to the drugs and kept vomiting. No birth plan used as it was unplanned.

4. "medical" care (as I had v high bp after the birth) = great. "Caring" post-natal side, e.g. help breastfeeding, generally feeling "looked after", being fed, cleanliness of bathroom, kind midwives, pain meds on time = hopeless. I escaped as soon as I could but got bounced back due to high bp/risk of eclamptic fits after the birth. The inefficiency with handing out pain meds was a big problem, as was the total lack of understanding that new mothers are tired. On my last night, 2 women came in, switched all lights on and started making beds at 3am. No new patient was moved into the room until 10am so it was just unnecessary. There was just a general lack of "care" IYSWIM. Next time I plan on having a hospital birth but a private midwife (even if she can;t do the delivery), so hopefully she can make up the shortfall and I can get some continuity of care.

I've had 2 c/s

#1 - Dec 05

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?
   Emergency - waters went at 39+4, contractions didn't start, my BP too high & DD showing signs of distress which led to em c/s

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc
   disappointed, but relieved that DD arrived safely

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)
   no birth plan (didn't expect to have a c/s, had birth plan for a natural birth ), c/s itself was a blur, had skin to skin in recovery

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?
   midwives over stretched, wanted help with b/fing but was struggling to get it, eventually one m/w on the night shift took pity on me & sat with me for an hour helping to get the latch on right, without her I doubt I would have b/f DD.
   Pain relief fine, food fine
   Paid for private room to get some peace & quiet.

#2 - Nov 07

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?
   el c/s - DS 10 days overdue & in an oblique lie, cervix showing no signs of action, my BP was increasing & didn't want induction

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc
   sad & disappointed - had desperately wanted a VBAC & DS is definitely my last, so will not experience natural birth

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)
   had a birth plan for the c/s this time, got to see DS straight after delivery (last time just saw top of DD's head... ) skin to skin in recovery.

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?
   varied - had PPH problems, moved back to delivery suite for monitoring as ward short staffed. Okay at first & then D/S got busy. They were supposed to be doing obs every hr but ended up going 5hrs between obs (I'd fallen asleep) I was okay, but with hindsight wonder what would have happened if I'd started bleeding again in my sleep
   Little m/w support on pn ward, but didn't really need it this time as was determined to get home quickly (so had to show I could do all caring for DS anyway) & was confident about b/fing.
   Pain relief fine, food fine
   Paid for private room again, to get some peace & quiet.

1. Emergency CS following 38 hour labour. Got to 7cm on only gas and air in birthing pool but then taken out to be examined told I would need to stay out... had epidural because enough was enough! Then on syntocinon drip for 8 hours only got to 9cm so they did emergency CS because I was exhausted. Luckily ds's heart rate etc was fine. Not really explained why I failed to progress though but lots of moulding when ds was delivered so assume position was wrong??

2. Mostly relieved, a little scared and afterwards quite disappointed.

3. No birth plan for CS. Ds given to dh straight away. I was suffering from reactions to drugs so not a great start. Given some skin to skin in recovery later.

4. Care in hospital was mostly good. Bf advice and help was very very good but I did feel abandoned and found it very hard not being able to get up to get ds when he cried/having to have him in bed with me the whole time because of mobility. I also found it difficult that I couldn't get up to get my food and when I was told to get up once catheter etc removed I bled all over the floor and felt like a small child who'd done something wrong!

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?

emergency C-section after 38 hour labour

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc

disappointed but at that point relieved that it would soon all be over with and overwhelmingly I just wanted DS to b ok

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)
   most pleasant part of labour -had a spinal after epidural failed. staff were amazing and we even had music in the op theatre however I feel I missed out on all those lovely first moments because of all the drugs/tiredness by that stage and i did feel very disconnected from my son for a while afterwards. They did apparently put him on me straight away to try and feed but i don't remember and he didn't feed as was too dopey

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?
   pretty good though i wish someone had explained more to me about whether i could hold him etc i didn't remember most of immedite aftermath

good luck x

Mine was not a great experience at all.

1. Was it a planned, emergency or crash Caesarean section, and do you know fully why it was needed?

Emergency under general anasthetic following a failed ventouse. But I really don't know why we needed ventouse.

2. How did you feel when you found out that you needed one (or asked for one and hospital confirmed that you could have one) - worried, happy, etc

Didn't have time to feel much - I was strapped flat on an operating table and totally knackered. I was distraught when told they would have to give me a GA and when DH left they took my glasses off and I couldn't see anything and felt so scared, worried and alone.

3. What was the Caesarean like (did you still use a birth plan, skin-to-skin quickly etc)

Because of GA I didn't get to hold DS for some time. DH and I have tried to piece together what happened but we still have 40 mins missing where we don't know where DS was and what was happening to him - that is the worst bit. It still makes me cry two years later, and I had some counselling to move on from that. DS was also in a nappy and blanket when he came to us, which seemed strange.

4. What was your care like during your stay in the hospital?

A bit perfunctory. Had the CS in the early hours of Monday morning, was discharged on Weds with no advice - went to the supermarket that afternoon! Didn't realise I shouldn't drive. Had my catheter removed in the middle of the night because the midwife was annoyed at me buzzzing because I couldn't reach the nappy changing stuff I needed.

All in all, I am definately trying for a natural birth this time, I am really hoping to resist induction (which is where I think a lot of the problems started), and if I am told I need intervention I will ask for an elective C section - I desperately want to be conscious for this birth.

Hi.
1.Emergency

1. Fine, I'd said I'd ditch my plan if chance baby was in trouble; I was exhausted.
2. Quite traumatic really when I think about what actually happened to poor baby. But he's fine now and tend not to think of operation. Drugs do work wonders when you need them! Anesthetist felt no need for curtain so I or DH could have a quick peep - BAD MISTAKE on his part.
3. Marvellous. Felt in safe, competent hands all through. ( apart from one anesthetist who was a bit of a joker)Was offered counselling after and chatted a bit (didn't want to at time) So, all staff were great. Glad of private room. Food was atrocious for a recovering, breastfeeding Mom, but just a few days, so...!

Hope helps

1. Emergency. 12 hours of strong labour. Only dilated 1cm due to a broken cervix after a minor op, DS was in distress. About 15 mins from being told I needed it until he was whipped out of my stomach.

2. Relieved! I realised things were not going well and I wanted him out safe and sound asap.

3. Great op. Fab care from professional and good humoured theatre staff, cannot praise them enough. Letting me know exactly what was happening. They lowered the screen when he came out. We forgot to do skin to skin, which may have triggered the BF problems, but TBH its a minor complaint looking back.

4. Crap care afterwards. Was miserable, lonley and am traumatised by the whole experience. Couldn't pick up DS had to wait for nurses each time, not good for bonding. Was hurting and needed massive amount of help that the NHS simply cannot supply for post cs mums.

I've had 2 sections:

1. First C/S was crash under GA due to suspected abrupted placenta - I was in agony, couldn't move (wasn't in labour), felt like my insides were being ripped out. It turned out that cord was very short and was wrapped around DD's middle, hence pulling on placenta.

2. It happened so quickly I didn't have time to think - I was calm, knew things needed to happen fast, I don't worry about operations anyway. Was slightly upset that I was going to have GA, then was absolutely distraught for months afterwards (still am after 3.5yrs but can put it into perspective now) Had planned on natural birth but was realistic that I could possibly need a CS as baby was likely to be big. Never accounted for GA though

3. Got skin to skin as soon as I came round, got to BF straightaway, which was fab. Recovered remarkably quickly.

4. Care was fine, lots of attention, just needed help picking DD out of cot for 1st night.

5. 2nd CS was emergency, although was scheduled for planned CS the following day as I was overdue and couldn't be induced. Went into labour, waters broke (full of meconium) failed to progress and DS was getting distressed, so had emergency CS.

6. Was actually quite relieved 2nd time as I knew this baby was even bigger and was terrified of tearing badly (mum & sister did). Plus was mentally prepared for the elective the following day. Was just happy to be awake to witness the birth, and for DS to be with me.

7. I really enjoyed the actual experience, midwife was lovely, anaesthetist was hilarious, consultant was v sympathetic. We had a great time! Had lots of skin to skin as soon as we got into recovery, DS latched on immediately

8. Care fine again, although I recovered a lot more slowly due to bad sciatica.