C-Section Cancellation Risk

[CountryGirl189]

Does anyone have any experience of this?

I am having a c-section on Monday due to severe Tokophobia and I am being looked after by a mental health midwife for this.

I was expecting to get a pre-op call this week (that’s how they’re currently running them), however hadn’t heard anything so gave delivery suite a call yesterday.

They said that they are so busy at the moment and understaffed on theatre staff, but someone would hopefully call me beforehand at some point, but they didn’t know when. I asked if my section would still be going ahead and they said that, ‘they don’t know at this point’ and that there is currently a change of priorities (unsure if she meant that pre-ops in advance are currently not a priority or if they’re assessing c-sections to see who actually ‘needs’ one. She wouldn’t give me anymore info).

Emailed my mental health midwife who said it would be rare for them to cancel and she thinks it’s unlikely, but of course if there are a lot of emergencies on the day, then this is always a possibility (which I completely accept!). She gave me all the pre-op info anyway just in case they end up not calling me.

Just feeling really worried now after months of building up to this point that it’ll get cancelled.

Anyone else been in this position?

I had one last year for the same reason as you. When you’re this close I would try really hard not to worry! A girl I know went in and was sent home but was just told to come back the next day so I think that’s the worst case scenario. It’s obviously already all been approved and signed off so they’re not going to pull yours now. I worried about every single little thing the whole way through. It totally wasted my pregnancy because physically I was actually fine and looking back I almost enjoyed being pregnant but mentally it was torture. I was petrified of going into labour, petrified of every possible thing that could go wrong, scared of it getting cancelled like you. If you’ve ever read the secret you’ll already know about this but eventually I reached the stage I just decided to make the decision that it was all going to go great. There weren’t going to be any dramas and I wasn’t going to go into labour first. Sure enough it was so laidback and actually such a lovely day in the end up. You WILL get your c-section on Monday and it will be such a nice easy process for you 💫

I had my c section on thurs and has the pre op call on Sunday, and pre op bloods on the wed. I was originally on the afternoon list but ended up first on the day as I’d developed pre eclampsia. There were 5 people on the planned list plus a person who was bumped from the Wed because of emergencies. You will get your c section, it just might be pushed back a day or two for emergencies. Good luck!

@Goodnewsday - I absolutely know what you mean because I go through the same thought processes! I’m just so ready for it all to be over now and have my little baby here, this feels like the final hurdle that I just need to get over!

@Eek3under3 - thank you! I’ve still not heard anything, but the midwife yesterday did say just to come in anyway even if I don’t hear anything, so fingers crossed!

@CountryGirl189 I felt the exact same. The only way I could describe it to a ‘normal’ person, would be that I basically held my breath the entire time I was pregnant. I never really expected that I’d ever have kids because of my overwhelming fear and then when everything went better than ‘okay’ I was almost pinching myself the entire time he was a newborn that he was here and we were both alive and completely fine 🙈 It went so well I’m even considering a second but I just don’t know if I can sign myself up for a 9 month breath hold again!

@Goodnewsday I know exactly what you mean! Constantly feel like I‘be just been waiting for something to happen 😬😅

How did you find your section in general?

@CountryGirl189 so so good, I would 100% do it again and not get myself so worked up next time! The main parts I started to fear as it got close were the cannula in my hand (purely because I’d never had one) and the spinal. I knew after that I’d be numb and not required to do anything so kind of felt like my part was done after that. I told them that when I arrived and the anaesthesist was so lovely, he even put a bit of local in my hand first.. he didn’t even tell me he was doing it but I kind of smiled watching him at how nice it was as I knew that must be what he was doing 😂 it was just a nip and that was it. The spinal was a complete non event. My main fear was that I’d be so nervous I would be shaking or move on the bed and not be able to lean forward at the right angle or something. It was actually a lot easier in real life than I imagined and after the first ‘bee sting’ nip for the local to go in and numb the area, I didn’t even know when the bigger needle was going in. They said ‘the medicines going in now’ and I just thought thank god because I hadn’t felt it happen 😂 I then was in a huge rush to lie down thinking I was going to go instantly numb but it took a while to come on and was actually fine. At that point I think I was so pleased with myself for getting the first two bits that I didn’t care about anything else, I’d almost forgot they were about to give me a baby!

They sprayed the cold spray to check if I was numb and that was so strange as I expected to really feel nothing but you can fully still feel them touching your skin, you just can’t feel anything sharp. I wasn’t convinced I wasn’t going to feel them start the operation at that point but I had no idea when they started it. I was a bit worried about the catheter going in too but I was already numb, I did see her go under the blanket to do it though so was very aware of it but no pain. The curtain then went up, it’s all so fast after that point. I presumed there would be a bit of faffing about first and I could feel someone’s hand on my bikini line area, like they were just lightly pressing on it. It turned out it wasn’t someone’s hand and was the actual operation taking place that I had no idea had started. There was a bit they said that I’d feel a lot of pushing and that happened for less than 10 seconds I’d say, again no pain but it was as if someone was almost doing cpr where I knew what was happening but it wasn’t sore at all. Just over a minute in they dropped the curtain and held up a crying baby! I had been worried about that point in case I saw too much of what was going on but I didn’t see a thing, I was so focused on looking to see what he was like anyway. They weighed him, wrapped him up and put him on my chest at an awkward angle for some of the rest of it. I was aware they were stitching me up, probably just from the pulling sensations you can imagine but again it wasn’t sore at all.

I was wheeled round to recovery holding my baby feeling like the luckiest person on earth. It was so so good and actually so easy! The recovery was fine. The first 2-5 days I’d say are the worst. Standing up for the first time was okay, I just went ridiculously slow. You’ve got so much painkillers in you you can’t feel it at that point. I’d say just keep taking the full dose of them for the first week at least. They kept encouraging me to drop down to less but I thought if I can take them why would I bother being in pain? So I took the recommended amount til the end of 2 weeks after. The only horrible bit is pathetically trying to get out your own bed when you get home, especially if the baby is sick and your other half is as clueless as mine was 😂 I slept propped up in my pregnancy pillow for a few days. I’d say by 2 weeks I was able to get out of bed a lot easier. Just don’t do much at all the first 2 weeks or you can think you’re fine but end up putting yourself back and bleeding more.

I hated peeling the plaster off too, I just didn’t want to look down there at all 🙈 Good luck, you’ll be so completely fine and feel like you’ve conquered all your fears when it’s done! It’s so so amazing, have the best day

@CountryGirl189 good luck - hope all goes well tomorrow 🤞. Just popped on to say also tokophobic and have had a previous ELCS. Similar to @CountryGirl189 it was actually absolutely fine. Only issue I had was when they didn't give me pain relief in time on postnatal which caused a cascade of issues but apparently they now allow self medication which should avert this!

@CountryGirl189 am actually going for number 2 now - bit apprehensive as this time (unless something happens) it'll be closer to EDD than before (although scan date doesn't agree with my ovulation date so actually booked in for 38+2 not 39 and I'm not arguing about that) and I'm having to sort out a plan for what happens if I go into labour before then to manage the tokophobia 😬

D’you mean you haven’t had any pre-op at all? No fasting instructions, bloods, antacid tablets? If not I’d probably phone again today and find out what’s going to happen about all of that.

@Goodnewsday - thank you SO much for this! I’m also worried about the cannula as had one last year for a general anaesthetic and it was bloody awful! But they’ve said they’ll do a numbing shot first, thank goodness!! This was so helpful so thank you!

@Weathergirl1 all good to know, especially about the self-medication as I’ve packed paracetamol and ibuprofen, just in case they’re busy on the ward!

@Greybeardy no, but I have a dedicated midwife at the hospital due to my Tokophobia and she’s advised me on the fasting rules and has said they’ll give me antacids and take my bloods on arrival and to go to the hospital for 7am - I just find it really odd that they don’t seem bothered about them. If I didn’t have that midwife, how would I know what was going on etc? Unless they’ve seen my notes and have seen that she’s spoken to me about it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Any news? ✨🤞🏼

@Goodnewsday

We got the hospital for 7am, all checked in, partner scrubbed up, cannula in, met with the surgeon, anaesthetist, midwives etc (who were all lovely - the surgeon was a bit wacky which I loved 😂), found out we were first on the list!

7 hours later with no communication, we were then cancelled due to staff shortages 😢

So going back tomorrow and hopefully that’ll be our baby’s birthday! My anxiety is absolutely sky high now though and not sure how to deal with it - so much so that I just want to get through the operation and don’t even want skin to skin anymore because my anxiety is so bad 😔

Hoping all goes well tomorrow 🤞

Awww it's horrible that you were bumped today, however hopefully you've had a little test run and know that certain parts weren't as bad as you imagined 🥰
You've got this mama!

@Loulou1712 - thank you for your lovely message 🥰

I am freaking out about the spinal now and it sounds awful, but all I can think about is it being over rather than the baby 😅

I feel like I need to get everything out of the way and then I can focus on the baby after - makes me feel like an awful person, but it’s the only way I can envisage getting through it!

No way did you have to get the cannula and everything before they realised they couldn’t do it! That’s so annoying 🙄 Really hope it’s your turn tomorrow. Honestly if you can go through a cannula (twice) the spinal is absolutely nothing in comparison

I had a c section recently and the spinal is honestly fine! I was so worried about it but really the cannula felt worse. The midwives and nurses were lovely and chatted to me and held me hand throughout it and all of a sudden the spinal was over!
Fingers crossed you don’t get cancelled tomorrow! Really annoying when you’re first on the list, must be some backlog!

@Goodnewsday @Hiddenvoice - thank you both!!

Up and ready to go - definitely got the jitters again and hoping the cannula is as smooth as Monday, I barely felt it!

Will update later!

Good luck ❤️

Good luck

Best of luck!

Hopefully I'm late to the party and your baby has been born already. 😁

Hope all went well today!

Hope today was the day 🤞🏼

We were first in and the staff couldn’t have been more amazing!

Our sweet Penelope Wren was born this morning at 9:58am 🥰

Congratulations!! Enjoy the new baby bubble 💕

@CountryGirl189 ahh congratulations! Sounds like it was a really positive experience ☺️