Who Has Had An Emergency C-Section? How was it?

[bearmama]

3 weeks since I had mine and I want to know what is going on down there in my abdomen. Can someone tell me what happens with this surgery (besides the obvious!) and if i should still feel tender now? Scar is healing well but my belly area feels so odd!

I had a crash section 14 months ago. I had no idea how much it would affect me. I couldn't do all the usual things - like putting washing in the machine, emptying dishwasher etc. I took it easy, learnt how to move a buggy up on the pavement by using arms or feet to help manovere it up. However, now I have full feeling and no side effects.

I was told in the hospital to not get pregnant for a minimum of 12 months - preferably 18 months - as this is how long any woman's body can take to recover from pregnancy and labour (this is without a csection). Also this is how long it takes for the scar and internal parts to heal after a section.

Three things that might help are:

1. handy andy - mechanical arm from boots that older people use. Great for picking up things like muslins, bibs etc as well as my own socks from the floor - saved bending over lots.

1. bumptothree website - offical grobag site - sells a belt to help protect the scar (3 fillings - heat, cool and padded I think)

1. nursing cushion - for feeding baby (either breast or bottle) takes the pressure off tummy area

1. online food shopping like tesco or ocado - they can deliver straight to your kitchen so you don't have to lift heavy bags of shopping

Take it easy as it will heal. Make the most of any help you can get

Its been 3 3/4 years since mine, and still numb! Went on to have a normal delivery last year, and so much better. You might think so during the labour, but when its done its over (bar a bit tender)

Mine didn't bother me at all, no pain afterwards but very itchy rash where i'd been shaved .

Drove after 2 weeks. Had dissolvable stitches and have virtually no scar now!

I had a crash cesarean and have numb patches above the scar (12 inch bikini) still have to be careful sneezing and have a lot of lumpy adhesions internally - had IBS for months and months after the birth. Only recently have been able to do situps -4 YEARS ON! can't lie on my sides either and sex life non existent due to pain....

However, I found the book "lose your mummy tummy" very useful and it helped me correct an abdominal muscle separation (diastisis). And I've been able to move on a bit.

Hope all goes well with the feeding and congratulations on the cesarean birth of your baby!

had mine 17 months ago and scar still numb but otherwise ok - be careful and take it easy as I popped a stitch lifting carry cot onto pram at about 5 weeks

Hi, Had mine Dec 2006 and still big scar and very numb, also really bobbly (through haematoma)....not as bad as it was though. It was emergengcy section and I bled out badly afterwards so recovery in hospital was weeks and at home was months...eeek!

Has anyone had a second and asked them to cut around the first scar? I've heard it can be done and wondered what the result was like?

Had mine 2 years ago - and I still can't believe my daughter's mine. Went in for a normal ante-natal appointment, and was sent home to get my hospital bag, cos my sod of a daughter was lying across me and had been doing so for the last 2 weeks, so had to go home to get my bag, then go straight back to hospital, where I was whisked down to theatre, the anaesthetist tried SIX times to get an epidural in and failed, so I had to have a general. I felt (and still do) robbed of the whole giving birth experience. I had no waters breaking, no labour pains, it was literally like sitting here, being knocked out, coming round and being told I had a girl. To be honest, my back gave me more grief than my c-scar. I felt like I'd been kicked in the back by a horse. It's only now, 2 years later, I feel like my body is back to normal. I still have numbness across my scar, but I've been told that's normal. I feel ready for another baby now, so we'll have to see what happens!!

Had mine 2 years ago -emergency c-sec. Feel fine now, even though sit ups are still really hard (should try more often though)
But as mulls says, body really only feels back to normal now and thought numbness would last forever.
When I think about it, it was a traumatic experience. But, when I was ready I talked through my notes with a midwife and was able to ask lots of Q's. Even spoke to very nice consultant -briefly!-about some things midwife could not answer. Think this helped a lot and the fact that I had tried to mentally prepare myself that this might have to happen. (planned a homebirth and laboured at home for a good while)
Take it easy, before you know it you'll feel back to normal.

Four weeks ago, after 12 hours on gas & air, and 4 hours with an epidural, I was told there was NO way the baby was going to fit and he was taking way too long to recover between contractions so I was sent for an emergency c-section and delivered a beautiful little boy weighing 11lbs 14oz!!!

A c-section was absolutely the last thing I had wanted (all along I'd been planning a natural water birth), but I have to say, apart from the shock and disappointment at not having the delivery I'd originally wanted, the whole thing went really well. The operation itself went really quickly and even the stitching up seemed to be over fairly soon too.

Recovery wise I found that if I took the pain killers at regular intervals, rather than waiting to actually be in pain before taking them, then I felt fine. I stopped taking them within 2 weeks. Now bits of my tummy still feel a bit numb/odd, almost like it's not my flesh - a bit weird.

I've also found that every time I think I'm feeling absolutely fine, and try to do the normal things (ie vacuuming or (stupidly) going shopping) then I have a massive increase in my blood flow (tmi, sorry) which my midwife told me is my body's way of telling me I need to slow down. So, although I'm feeling great, I'm making sure I don't do too much too soon, although I'm itching to drive and go shopping for the baby etc, I've been forcing myself to wait as it really is a major surgery and it's not worth risking any complications.

Although before I was terrified at the prospect of a c-section, having had one, I feel much more positive about them. Wishing you a rapid recovery!

Snap Imyflutterby re wanting a natural birth and ending up with the oppposite!

Haven't read all the posts so sorry if repeating but I was told that the numb feeling would stay as they cut through some major nerves during the op. I had a c-section 6 months ago and still have a numb feeling on one side of the scar but I was amazed how neat the scar is - was expecting to a big smile on my tummy!

Just had my 4th c-section 11 weeks ago.Still feels a bit numb but the feeling does come back.I was home from hospital in 36 hours and i was driving after 2 days.Don't know why people make such a fuss about c-sections for me being pregnant is much more uncomfortable.If you lie around all day i think it takes longer for you to feel like your old self,personally i prefer to just get on with things.

Sportybird - I have. I asked if they could go through the same scar as I didn't want tram line they said they do automatically. They cut away all the old scar tissue and gave me a nice new scar - which has healed beautifully. (both my scars were very neat)

The old scar removal also has the unforeseen bonus of having removed the top half of my bikini line so I no longer have to worry about the top! lol

I am 11 months on from the second section, losing weight nicely and well able to do sit ups etc.

Cheers, RedFraggle...hee hee hee I'm hoping they might take a bit of extra skin out too!!!! Then I'll almost have that tummy tuck!

I look at my little girl every day and think that my crash section was worth it, BUT I have had the horror of having an incisional hernia where my c-section scar is. Since then I have had 2 operations to try and repair it(touch wood the last one worked) , so that's a total of 3 lots of major abdominal surgery to get through. Basically because I did a lot of sport I was desperate to restart after the birth and probably did too many sit ups too soon and caused the hernia. My advice is to take it easy, ignore the braggers at baby group. It's not a race to get a flat tummy. Save having cosmetic surgery, I will now never have a flat stomach again because of the hernia. Everyone recovers in different ways from this - so listen to your body..... good luck bearmama

Had mine in January. Scar very dscreet and fading alrready. Wasn't anything like as bad as I imagined. Sore for a few days afterwards. Only thing was I felt that good a week after that I started to do too much and caused the wound to start weeping, so had to slow down a bit. Feel absolutely fine now. To be honest, knowing what I know now, it wouldn't faze me at all to have to have another one. Baby was breech by the way which they hadn't figured out in any of my ante natal appointments. I had actually been told by midwife at ante natal that baby was head down and engaged, so when I went into labour I toddled off to nice midwifery unit only to be sent to another hospital for a c- section. He was a big baby too, 9lb 1 oz, and I'm only little so I was relieved it was a CS in the end.

Pamsy makes a good point about not trying to exercise too soon. I only started doing sit ups about 2 months ago. DS is 11 months now, I went for slowly increasing walks and did the post-natal exercises they recommend but that was it for about 9 months. Possibly I took it a bit too slow but at least I feel I am totally recovered now.
There is no point doing yourself an injury trying to be a toned skinny person straight away. There will always be someone who is straight back in their size 8s [grrr] But to balance them out there are dozens of women who are slowly, slowly working their way back to normality.

Sportybird Remember too that an elective section is VERY different to an unplanned one. I had a crash section with DD due to her heartrate plummeting and an elective with DS. The elective was so calm and wonderful that it really helped me to dispel some of the demons from DD's birth experience.

Having had two emegency c- sections at two different hosptitals, I have to say the after care was completely different. After the first operation, (heart beat drastically dropping and maternity nurse jumping on my bed like something out of ER to ensure monitoring could continue) I was still having to get on my hands and knees in order to pick things up from the floor four month later as I could not bend down without feeling real pain. I was in and out of hospital with fever, and was told by my surgeon that if I had had a similar op for another reason, I would have been told to have six weeks complete bed rest, but as I had a baby ( a gorgeous son) I simply had to get on with it. Wanted a natural birth with my DD, but ended up with second E C-section for the same reason, dropping foetal heartrate, but the after care was wonderful, and within a couple of weeks felt things were coming together. No fever, no pain, only staples to take out ( if given the option, don't go for staples! They nip like when taken out!!) and could hold my daughter no problem. So I think it is a mixture of circumstances that lead to the outcome, but the only thing that really matters in the end is the safe delivery of the baby. The rest can be dealt with.

My emCS was nearly 15 years ago now and tbh I can't recall when it was healed ok as it took me years to bring myself to even look at the scar Many report of feeling numb, or tingly, or cold.

It must have healed no problem because now I have to really look to make it out from the rest of the skin. But I definitely felt nukb in that area for a long time.

I tend to advise people to use Arnica to help with the healing, to take it VERY easy and give your body the time to heal. Plenty rest, good food, plenty water, LIGHT but regular exercise, and listen to your body, if it starts to niggle, STOP doing too much! There are no prizes for heroics, only pain. You've had major abdominal surgery!!

it took 9 months for it to feel ok to touch it as it was sooo tender before that. i recovered well despite having a wound infection but was cleared up quick with antibiotics.

i had mine in oct 04 and it was last year that i started to feel more of my skin around the scar. its about just over a inch that is numb now.

bear - get a grip woman, 3 weeks after major surgery is NOTHING. you are expecting far to much of yourself. just becase teh skin is healing doesnt mean that everything is Ok underneath. all these big muscles have been cut and they will take a while to heal

you need to listen to advice re not doing heavy lifting, especaily twisting at the same time. i have a show off friend who ignored thsi and was back at the gym aftre a few weeks and ruptured things

my CS was 2 years ago. i have no numbness but still have that attractive overhang. so no more bikini modelling for me LOL

i had some pulling for a while but was back at pilates aftre 3 months. still find sit ups hard but maybe just coz I'm fat and middle aged

forgot to say, scar was totally invisible aftre about a year i think

HI, I had a c-sec 13 mths ago and have been seeing NHS physio at hospital for the last 8mths. I suffered some kind of nerve damage after the epidural as it took 4 attempts to get the thing in. I had to fight hard to get the physio referral and had months of pain, taking drugs every day for the first 5 months. It had a really negative effect on my feelings of being a new mum for the first 6 months and massive strain on my relationship. Id advise anyone who has nerve pain or funny feeling in tum to go see your GP and push if you not happy with the answers and your discomfort continues. I had problems at my 8 wk check but I was too uncertain to push for help, now I really wished I had and could have avoided some of the distress i had this year. I am slowly on the mend and doing pilates exercise given by the physio. Which are helping to rebuild my tummy muscles and support my back.

hi everybody, I had 2 c sections one 7yrs ago and the other 3yrs ago. I am still getting a lot of numbness and stinging feelings from the inside. The scar has healed brillantly, you cannot see it at all. Does any one else experience this problem ?