Planned c-section - positive feedback and advice? (sorry a bit long)

[MabelMay]

Hi,
I'm 40 weeks pregnant with my second child. In my first pregnancy (2 years ago) I planned the full touchy-feely waterbirth at midwife-run birth centre. Sadly, that didn't happen. Baby was 2 weeks late - I was in labour for 48 hours, on a drip, everything, but never dilated to more than 3cm and had to have emergency c-section in the end. It turned out the baby was very big (10lb!) and my pelvis was too small for its head.
This time around I really wanted to try for a VBAC. However, sadly I'm measuring very big again, the head is still floating around and it doesn't look like baby is going anywhere. Doctor thinks it might be the same problem again. As a result, after talking to doctors and midwife, I'm booked in for a c-section next week when I will be 41 weeks pregnant. [Baby still growing rapidly at this stage apparently].
Anyway, sorry to go into such detail - but really I just want to hear from people who have had planned c-sections for whatever reason and what their experiences of it were. Also, any advice as to how I should prepare/what I should take to hospital??
Was there anything you found really helpful useful to have with you?
Did you experience any prejudice from people/midwives about your decision to have a c-section?
MM

bumping hopefully...

Havent had experience but i work in maternity unit and see many CS's! You will not see any prejudice from staff!You have a prev. CS and many go for a second without trying for labour.

It will be very relaxed this time and hopefully a good experience.

You should need to pack your bag thery way you did for first baby, but make sure you have enough clothes for up to three days.Cant think of anything specific!

If theres anything else you want to ask, feel free.

Hi there

I have had two c-sections. The second one was elective, I did not have any prejudice from midwives even though I went into labour before c-section date and still insisted on CS.

Things I can recommend are really big pants - so they don't irritate the wound.
Arnica pillules to help with bruising.
Breastfeefing pillow if breast feeding.
Comfy loose clothes for you.

Can't think of anything else atm.

I had a planned c-section for my first baby because of previous back surgery. Went into labour the day before I was booked in so it ended up being an emergency procedure.

It wasn't a great experience because DS got stuck and I spent a long time beating myself up about it. I'm now pregnant with my second child and am having to make the decision whether to try VBAC or not. I think the best advice is to go for what feels right for you and don't beat yourself up about it afterwards.

With a bit more research and the benefit of hindsight I now realise that DS would have been stuck whichever way he came out so I think a section would have been inevitable (he wasn't massive but has a ginormous head!). Just wish I hadn't spent months blaming myself for bringing him into the world in such shocking fashion.

It would be lovely if we could all have natural drug free births but I think sometimes we have to go with what happens and make the best of it. It's impossible to compare because you don't know what will happen if you try go 'natural', it could be fantastic or it could be a repeat of last time for you, you'll never know.

Get the 'net' pants from the NCT, they were fantastic for healing, I wore them for weeks afterwards.

Hope this helps a bit, I'm certainly not saying a section was a great experience but I now have a gorgeous happy son who arrived one piece (if a bit battered & bruised) which I think is the most important thing of all.

Good luck!

Hi there,

I had an elective C-section three year's ago as my daughter was in breech position. There was absolutely NO prejudice that I picked up on, however there shouldn't have been as I wasn't even given the option to deliver naturally!

The proeceedure was slick and very professional. Everyone was very happy and it was a good experience overall.

People say to me 'oh at least with an elective C-section you had a good rest before your baby came', but I can honestly say I didn't sleep a week the night before the big day, so I felt completely jaded before we'd started. I brought earplugs into the ward and was so glad I did as I managed to get a few hour's sleep over the three night's I was in desptie the other yelling babies! (I still woke up immediately to my daughter if she so much as stirred though as she was right next to me!)

You'll be familiar with the amount of drugs they pump into you after the op, which you shouldn't refuse, but they do interfere with any natural instincts you may still have knocking around inside. I even forgot the name of my baby at one stage when someone asked me, as i was flying so high on the morphine.

One drawback I found was that when my DD was pulled out the sun roof I didn't get to hold her until about half an hour after the delivery. They wrapped her in a towel, showed me her face and then took me off for analysis, while she was overlooked by my DH. I regret that as I think they should have made an effort to put her onto my chest at the first opportunity and i never got to see her all wrinkly in her birthday suit. Insist they carry this out for you before they start the opperation.

Because they deliver elective babies at 39 weeks my DD was too small to latch on - I think she would have been happy on the inside for another three weeks - so I had to express breast milk for five weeks before I could breast feed her properly. I had to use the pump to extract the colustrium, which was painful, but in the end paid off because it obviously stimulated the flow and I had an abundance of milk (which I froze and used whenever I fancied a glass of wine or two).

Good luck; try to get a good night's sleep the night before. All will go smoothly.

I second the nct pants - fantastic! I had a wonderful elective cs, was able to see the twins lifted out, able to do a birth plan about what we wanted, such a positive experience and recovery soooo much better than I'd thought it would be. Tbh, I never had any sort of desire for a natural birth and was actually relieved when both twins were presenting breech so was in a different situation to you butI have NEVER felt any sort of regret that I didn't have a "proper" birth if you see what I mean. My s-i-l had to have a c-section which wasn't what she wanted and was very upset about it afterwards and had pnd issues.

DO A PLAN - find out what options are available to you. Can you have your own music in the theatre? Do you want the screen there? Do you want to see/hold your wrinkly baby immediately as Spaceman did? 4 weeks after my emergency CS I'm still angry that they didn't offer me that. She was all clean and pink before I saw her, I'd strangely been looking forwad to catching a slimy blue lump in my pool at home! Also it was VERY hard being able to hear her but not see her - this memory raises many a tear... Think of any sadnesses/regrets/concerns about what happened last time - what would you have changed? you never know til you ask. Best of luck. x

MabelMay, my biggest tip for your emotional state is to do a birth plan, and think about every aspect of it, especially the music you want.

In practical terms, my top tip is arnica. I'm sure it helped with my recovery. You can get it from health food shops, and take advice from them about how much to take, but I think you start taking it the day before your op 3 times a day, then on the day itself take it every couple of hours, then 3 times a day for 2 weeks.

And plan all your meals for the 2 weeks after you come out of hospital - make lots of stuff for the freezer now if you have time!

My 2nd CSec was elective, it was great fun!
I got a bit of skin-to-skin very quickly after he came out - he had a high APGAR score and looked about 2wks old so they didn't need to do anything! But I handed him to my sis fairly soon as I felt spacey from the anaesthetic - with dead legs on the slanty op table I was convinced we'd both roll off it.

3rd baby will be booked in for elective at 40wks so there's a chance of VBAC but if it doesn't happen I really won't mind.

Pack a couple of peppermint teabags for the trapped wind.

The midwife should always bring baby straight over to you both unless there is a problem. Its sad that some of you missed out on this. Its the greatest thing, touching your baby as soon as hes born, whatever method of delivery.

Definitely think about what YOU want out of the experience this time & write "birth preferences"

I had an em c/s with my DD (1st) and the worst think was not really seeing her straight away, I saw the top of her head before she was whisked away, I could hear her, but she was out of my eyeline & was eventually presented to DH fully dressed a few minutes later.... I ended up with an el c/s with DS rather than my longed for VBAC (long story, but probably the right decision as he was 10lb 10.5oz - I make 'em big too ) and one of the things on my plan was to see baby straight away & find out the sex for myself & have a cuddle. There were other things, but you get the idea, it's what's important to you that counts. The m/w in theatre was very supportive & made sure my wishes were carried out.

Definitely no prejudice at all, but both the doctor doing the op & the main m/w looking after me had seen me in tears the day before when my VBAC plans finally went out the window (DS was el c/s at 40+10), so I don't think they would have dared to!

Defo recommend the big pants, I just bought cheapo cotton granny pants in a huge size from our local bargain store & have only just stopped wearing them (DS is 11wks)

re prejudice from other (non-medical) people, I had it both ways

On planning a VBAC
"why aren't you having a c/s again?"
"you've already knackered your stomach muscles, why knacker your pelvic floor too with a natural birth?"
"surely having another c/s would be easier?"

on having a c/s
"So you opted for the easy option again?"
"So you are "too posh to push" this time too?"
"It wasn't a good idea having another c/s with a toddler to look after was it?"

I gave up trying to explain myself to ignorant people and came out with a stock answer of "when I want your opinion, I'll give it to you!"

PS - if you want music check what is available in theatre. I turned up with a CD, but they only had a tape/radio machine!

Thanks to all of you who've responded so far.

The point about asking for the baby to be given to me straight away is a good one - I didn't know it was possible as last time (as with many of you) for my emergency c/s, they weighed him and checked him out and cleaned him and wrapped him before he was finally laid next to my head. I didn't get him on to my chest until about an hour after the op.

I've also just been out to buy myself some big pants!

BetsyBoop, I also really wanted VBAC this time and like you I had funny responses to that - like 'WHY on earth would you want to destroy your fanjo when you don't have to?' and 'isn't it dangerous to give birth naturally when you had the c-section less than 2 years ago' etc - so I was starting to feel foolish for wanting to try for a natural birth.
Sadly, anyway, nature has decided otherwise by the looks of it.

Also need to get some arnica and think about the music, if they have a way for me to have what I like.

It's such a different way of doing it all isn't it? But quite nice being able to plan in this way as well. I don't feel as disappointed now as I did a few days ago when VBAC began to look unlikely.

I had a wonderful and calm elective c-section with ds2. No prejudice from staff at all and in fact two of the midwives who cared for me had given birth by c-section too.

The only time I've ever received nasty comments about my planned c-section was on Mumsnet!

I found my elective section to be a fantastic experience, but that was compared to a terrifying one with my first. But then you make the most of what you have don't you? and I was determined to be positive about what was after all my baby's birthday.

I didn't like the spinal block much and I felt a bit woozy during the operation but was given some drugs immediately to get my blood pressure back up. Weirdest thing was that I don't recall seeing the two surgeons who did the op. I certainly didn't speak to them at all. The screen went up and they must have come in to the room behind it, out of my eyeline and disappeared again as if in a puff of smoke. The midwife and anaesthetists (sp?) were fantastic though.

Also, after ds was born, they lifted my legs up so I was positioned as if for a smear and I suddenly saw these two white thighs looming up from under the sheets and for a moment I thought "whose are those legs?" cos I couldn't feel them moving me of course.

Good luck. Come back and tell us all about it.

After much agonising and indecision I eventually decided on elective c/s with dd, after emergency c/s with ds.

Absolutely no prejudice from anyone, pro-homebirthing midwives, mum mates, hospital staff. Quite the reverse actually, lots of the right kind of support.

My experience of elective c/s was okay. Quality of care was excellent, all my wishes discussed and respected, skin-to-skin contact, bf etc. All the surgical tema came and said hello befvrehand, the surgeon came to see me afterwards in recovery and coved a bit over the baby. All very lovely and quite human.

What wasn't so great was that despite arriving at the hospital at 7am, not having eaten or drunk since midnight, I was last on the theatre list so wasn't due to go up until at least 1pm. As it was dd was born at 6pm that evening as there were several emergencies that quite rightly went before the people having electives. I was starving and it was stressful. If I had been prepared for that kind of wait it would have helped.

The other thing is that labour sets off all these great coping/happy hormones which you don't get with c/s. I found it harder to bond with dd at first and suspect this was one of the reasons why. Breastfeeding helped with this enormously.

The other thing is even though you have done it befvre don't try to go home too soon or do too much.

Think generally the elective is better because it's calmer and you know what's going on (although that can be a negative, too, I suppose.)
I was very nervous beforehand, mainly because I went for an elective for good reasons, including the advice from the consultant at the previous birth, but most of the midwives and doctors I saw tried to persuade me to try a VBAC and talked a lot about the risks.

I didn't exactly feel any prejudice about having an elective cs, but I had to wait without food or water from 6.30 in the morning to 6.30 in the evening because they had a constant flow of emergencies. Although I know the emsc's had to take priority, I did feel pretty sorry for myself by the end of the day, and no-one was that interested because it was an elective.
The other thing that was different was that I'd had an epidural the first time, and was completely numb, whereas with the spinal block there was no pain, but the rummaging around bit was uncomfortable for a short while.

Overall was very happy with the experience, and the recovery was much quicker too.

X-posts...

You know, ive never heard anyone saying about not destroying your bits by having a vaginal birth after prev. CS. Arent some people odd. How strange. Its not like they are destroyed forever or even destroyed at all!!

My first was an E Section and 2 weeks ago I had a planned section (different hospital.)

My experience of planned section was so much more positive than the e section!!

The staff were fantastic, I got lots of skin to skin in the recovery room afters before moving to the ward and managed to BF (even though am finding it challenging at the mo!)

I was pretty worried about the whole thing beforehand but loads of MNetters put me at ease.. my recovery is going well (unlike the e section, took me a lot longer)

I also decided to pay for an amenity room (they were very busy) so got lucky in my wishes and think this helped in my positive experience.

My planned cs 5 months ago was so much nicer than my crash cs 9 years ago (I think that goes without saying!)

I encountered no prejudice from any medical staff whilst in hospital, although since DD turned out to be so much smaller than DS, a lot of people, friends and midwives visiting after seem to assume I must wish I had tried the natural route. (Personally I don't!)

Agree with Martha200, if it's possible to get an amenity room, do it! It means you have your own space to go at your own pace, and make your own mess, and I found having my own bathroom makes life much easier.

I had an el c/s for dd and it was so much easier than I had thought. The whole procedure took less than 45 minutes from filling in my forms to being wheeled into recovery. The spinal was not nice but from then on I didn't feel a moments pain, not during or after the op. DD was born very quickly and I was given the option of skin-to-skin which I declined (she just looked so slimy - sorry), so they cleaned her and wrapped her up and put her on my chest to get to know while they sewed me up. I had two young female surgeons who clearely loved bringing babies into the world. THey were so nice and chatty and just cooed over dd. (At one point one of them looked over the screen at me and said: 'I've given you a nice neat cut so you can still wear your hipsters.') That made me lol, she was just so lovely. Hubby held one of my hands and a kindly nurse/midwife held my other. The mood in the theatre was relaxed and friendly. I really can't fault them. It was a lovely experience.

After the surgery I was wheeled into recovery and dd had to go into the neo-natal unit as she was premature. I was sad but not upset by it as I understood that it had to happen. THe nurse in recovery was lovely too, she rubbed my itchy legs (from my spinal) and gave me an all-ver wash. She too was kind and friendly. I had a morhpine pump for painrelief which I could control myself. The anathasist [sp] told me to press it before I can feel pain, it'll be more effective that way. I loved the morphine, I never felt any pain and I was very cheery with it.

I was given a private room as I think they didn't want to put me in a ward with all the new babies as dd was in neo-natal. I think that was very thoughtful of them and certainly very comfortable for me as I got a good rest.

The care in the hospital was great. I was encouraged to get up asap and taken across to neo-natal to breastfeed my dd. I was out as soon as my dd was discharged and was at a BBQ 11 days after surgery adn I drove after just 2 and a half weeks without problems. My scar never gave me any problems and now after two years it's totally faded and since it's below my hairline you really can't see it.

Good Luck ! I'm sure you'll be fine ! It's really no big deal.

LOL I had a female surgeon and she had to put one foot up on the table to pull out DS as his shoulders were so broad - v glad I didn't have to push him out!
Forgot to say I did vomit in the recovery room from the anaesthetic and that spasm caused a whoosh of blood (500ml according to notes) but with all the morphine I just thought it was funny! Felt v cold for a while and still too goofy to hold DS but no probs after that.

Good to hear so many positive stories. I'm starting to get a bit nervous. C-section is booked for tomorrow morning.

By the way, do you leave them to do the pubic shave? Or is that something you did yourself before going to hospital?