C-section after vaginal birth trauma? Any one had this? **MNHQ adding content warning, this is a hard read. Also sending love to all of us who had difficult births**

[Blondewave]

Hello has anyone any experience of recovery after C section after a traumatic vaginal birth and how they compare? I used to work on labour ward as a scrub nurse so I have physically done C-sections to women so I know the process medically from start to finish also I know all the complications and have witnessed them. Post operative I’ve seen women scared to get out of bed. So this worries I’ve also seen big bleeds from c sections and bad stictch up jobs. As there are 4 layers to operate through to get to the uterus and then cut it open and the uterus is a big muscle full of blood vessles which bleeds and bleeds when cut open for c section so has to be clamped and stitched quickly.

My first birth and only birth was 11 years ago. I had pre eclampsia so got induced. Was told I was having a small baby but he was huge. 4 pessaries later still no baby but I went into labour quickly shortly after and was 7cm by time I got to delivery suite. I was then given an epidural to bring blood pressure down due to pre eclampsia. Was rushed to theatre due to heart rate dropping, he was back to back, I’m 5’3 petite 50 kg and small pelvis. They said he was stuck so did a Rotational keillands forceps. It took 4 attempts of two people pulling SO hard I thought i would fly off the bed. Then I heard them say his shoulders were stuck, shoulder dystocia and loads of people rushing in. He was delivered and taken for resuscitation. Whilst I was worried about my baby they couldn’t get my placenta out it had broken up into tiny pieces so I had to have a manual removal where they put thier hands/arms up into my uterus and pulled it out in small chunks. Was like a horror scenes. This led to a haemorrhage and I heard what sounded like a bucket of water being poured on the floor but it was my blood. I blacked out and can’t remember much else but I know they stitched me up as I had episiotomy and third degree tear.
Recovery I tried to walk and my legs were pointing inwards and I couldn’t put one leg I front of the other. The pain was excruciating I had to pull myself across the floor with my hands. The pain in my pelvis was worse than any labour pain or third degree tear. They said I had split my pelvis as my baby was big for my stature 8lb and then the rotaional forceps and shoulder dystocia manoeuvre had led to pelvic trauma. I then passed out on the ward as my HB (red blood cells) were 7 due to haemorrhage but I was never given a transfusion. I was very poorly and had an episiotomy which was the easiest thing for me to heal. It healed quickly.
I’m due to have a baby early days still but I’m already so anxious about the birth.
I feel C-section will be given definitely if I ask but I’m scared of that due to what I have seen working there but then I couldn’t cope of the vaginal birth went so wrong again.
Not sure what to do. C section is major abdominal surgery and I know I ‘might’ not have such a truamatic birth this time but I just couldn’t cope with it if I did. I was ill with PND and PTSD for a long time. The trauma of it led to the break down of my sons dad, my son who is now 11.

I’ve also operated as my job in emergency c sections and I don’t want to try normal labour then go to that as risks again of complications are then high as a laboured uterus as more at risk of bleeding/haemorrhaging more.

As you can see sometimes ignorance is bliss and the fact I worked in this daily does not help the situation. I have witnessed too many horrors 😂

Any advice or reassurance greatly appreciated 😁

I've had 3 CS, first was an emergency as things started going wrong during a v long labour. The others were elective.

The emergency CS definitely left me in quite a lot of pain and PND. Pain was probably down to a lot of muscles having got bruised and battered during labour then cut during the CS. PND was because everything had gone wrong and I had failed at babies (BF hadn't worked either).

Elective CS were calm and enjoyable experiences even if I did have a chest infection when DC3 was born (top tip: avoid colds/flu leading up to CS). Recovery was fine. Lifting the babies was no problem. I learned to make sure that I was sitting straight before coughing (that pesky chest infection).

Best wishes to you.

That sounds horrendous for you.

You will LOVE having a C Section. Book a day, book a time, get pushed in to theatre, meet everyone, have a spinal, lie down, and its over. I went in to theatre with both of my CSs at 1pm (third section of the day for both) and my DDs were born at 1:30 & 1:31. Catheter was removed in the morning for both (around 7am), and I shuffled myself to the kitchen shortly after for tea and toast. I healed well with both.

I had an elective csection with my second child after an awful birth and 3rd degree tear with my first.
All I can say is the csection was 100 times better than the first birth and I’m happy I made that decision.

The recovery of the csection was so much better than the recovery of the tear for me.

Please have a c section! Mine were amazing and positive, no longterm injuries or mental scars.
I'm so sorry you went through that 💔

I have had 2 emergency C-sections (one when fully dilated...) and an elective, and your experience was infinitely worse than anything I experienced. I was able to hold my babies very shortly after each of the operations (and as I'm sure you already know, they are held close to you briefly after they are born even while you are in theatre, so you can give them a quick kiss etc), and whilst it is painful moving around afterwards, you really do feel so much better within a very short space of time. I remember with my first, struggling to walk to end of the corridor to get to the loo after 24 hrs, but being able to walk into town and back (about 1/2 a mile on flat ground) for a coffee after a week, and I am not particularly hardy! I think there is also much more appreciation that you have had major surgery and will need quite a lot of help initially, rather than being left to get on with it. Best of luck with your plans

OP I’m so sorry this happened to you, what a hideous experience.

I had a difficult birth in 2019. Not as traumatic as yours, but a haematoma, undetected third degree tear (so I had to be unstitched and restitched) and then revision surgery a few months later. It affected me badly both physically and mentally. I was advised to have a c-section in my second pregnancy to prevent further damage. And I had it just over five weeks ago.

For me the recovery has been 100x better than my first birth. I agree with a previous poster that the short term immediate pain (first 1-2 days) is quite tough but I found the pain was perfectly manageable by day 5 (unlike after my vaginal birth). I went for a walk round the local park by day 6.

The actual c-section was a beautiful experience. I would do it again! I had my own music on the speakers in theatre. The atmosphere in theatre was lovely - happy, relaxed. I lost less than a third of the blood I lost during my vaginal birth.

I totally understand that you know too much because of your job. And there are risks whatever way you deliver. But elective caesareans are overall very safe!

Sorry to read your story.

I also had shoulder dystocia with my eldest. Horrific experience and a week in hospital afterwards. Looking back it affected my mental health more than I realised too. For my second and third DC I was offered an ELCS and both experiences were so much better. Healed better, babies less traumatised so feeding was easier to establish. An all round highly recommended experience. Just need to ensure you don't lift anything heavier than the baby for the first few weeks as overdoing things will make the recover longer. My scar would swell up a little bit if I'd done too much, like a warning to have a rest!

Stats with ELCS show they are pretty routine and lower risk than ELCS.

Good luck.

Another lovely elective C section after traumatic vaginal birth here. No comparison. C section a dream to recover from by comparison and so lovely and calm. Also wasn’t completely exhausted and destroyed for first week of baby’s life! Don’t hesitate and feel really GOOD about the c section option. It’s great.

The big advantage of an ELCS is that it is planned. No sending out to try and find the anaesthetist, they are right next to you. Everyone who is needed is already in the room and focused on you. All the equipment they need is right there. If anything unexpected happens all the right people are in the room to deal with it.

Give me an ELCS any day of the week.