Cat 3 EMCS - experiences and questions to ask

[Meier]

Hello,

I was due to have an ELCS (due to traumatic first birth, decision made following many discussions with various consultants).

Popped into triage today for something that turned out to be fine, but baby didn’t pass the first monitoring check (not active enough, but they said they weren’t too worried) so they’ve changed me to a Cat 3 C section, likely tomorrow if they can fit me in. Being back on this ward is more triggering than expected, so popped on here to ask:

1. any questions I should ask during pre op conversations ? im going to ask for delayed cord clamping and skin to skin if possible… but anything else I need to think about? My minds gone a bit blank with the shock of it all.

2. any positive c section stories to help with the anxiety would be much appreciated 💕

'fraid not. Ideally it shouldn't be much longer than normal rules (6 hours for solids), but that can be difficult to time on LW. They possibly could have done a bit better with oral fluids during the day, but that's easy to say from here - it may genuinely have been unavoidable. If you're still not done by now they probably need to have a think about whether to call it a day and giving you some food, but it depends a bit on what the reason for the section is and what the rest of their current inpatient load is. Don't be tempted to snaffle some secret snacks/fib about it if things do go ahead tonight. For a cat 3 section it is normal to be fasted according to the standard rules (and it'd be sod's law that if you just decided to eat then theatre would become available). If things change and become more urgent then they'd normally weigh up the pros vs cons of proceeding unfasted vs waiting (and for the more urgent cat 2/1 sections usually the risk of waiting is greater but it does still make for a hairier anaesthetic).

Thank you, that’s really helpful. Was told around 8pm section wasn’t going ahead today so finally ate some food. Just had a chat with a really lovely midwife who properly explained the scheduling lists to me, and said it’s quite common for cat3 sections to wait like this. I wish someone would have told me that when I was admitted so that I could have mentally prepared a bit more! but at least tomorrow I know what I might expect so things won’t feel so confusing.

thanks so much for your replies and keeping me company (virtually) while I was waiting for info here !

Good luck for tomorrow @Meier. My ELCS was the best day of my life. I was so anxious beforehand and posted lots of questions (under another name), which @Greybeardyalways so kindly answered for me. It was honestly such a fantastic experience and I think anaesthetists are bloody marvellous people. I’d do it again in a flash. Hope you get some sleep tonight and I shall look forward to a heartwarming update tomorrow!

Thank you 💕 keeping my fingers crossed that we meet our baby today, but also so much more mentally prepared than yesterday ! i also actually slept last night which makes a huuuuge difference.
its such a weird feeling - mostly I’m desperate for it to be my turn, I can’t wait to meet my baby, and I don’t want to have multiple days of not eating and drinking properly etc…. But then I’m also quite nervous to experience the operation itself thinking “eek I’m scared!”.

Aw I hope it’s today for you. One thing that surprised me was how quick it was once it got started! From the first incision to baby being born was only four minutes. It was such a lovely, relaxed atmosphere. I was so nervous before hand, but looking back, I’d give anything to do it again.

I had to the c section on Tuesday, and it was overall a really positive experience!

since the op, my scar had been tender, which I expected, but I’ve been keeping on top of it with paracetamol and ibuprofen.
in the night at around 3am, it was really tender, and I thought it was because I overdid it yesterday (it was our first day home and reunited with our toddler, so I did more and moved more than I did while I was hospital).
then this morning, all of a sudden I have numbness above the incision (and a bit of general numbness, like when I stroke my skin elsewhere i can feel it but it’s a bit muted) and hardly any pain.

I know numbness is common, but is it normal for it to come on that suddenly ?!

thanks
:)