C Section Elective

[3rdbab]

Hello all, hope you're all doing well.
I am booked to have an elective c section soon and I am very anxious/nervous/happy to be meeting my baby.. all the rollercoaster of emotions!

I have had two previous natural births, so this experience is all new to me.
Just looking for a little reassurance of your experience of having an elective c sections?
Honesty please 🙏🏻.
Much appreciated 😌
Love and hugs xxxxx

Mine was a dream. I was planning to zone out but I actually enjoyed it. Everyone’s experience is different but a planned section is a world away from an emergency section. All the best with it.

Mine was a great experience; recovery after was painful but not awful. Big pants and peppermint tea is my main advice for afterwards plus get people to help while you enjoy your baby

One was great , I was very anxious but so well looked after. Recovery was ok, different to natural birth but after a few days I was walking better than friends who ended up with episiotomies! Keep topped up with pain relief though, just take it every 4 hours even if you feel ok. Hope all goes well.

Mine was fab. All very smooth and calm and exactly what I needed it to be after a high stress pregnancy.

I looked online at the room on the hospital website before so I knew what to expect, I also still wrote up a birth plan listing what I wanted to happen in different eventualities which helped me feel like I was still part of the process. I also made a playlist - forgot to bring my phone and headphones in the end up! But I really wished I'd had them as I was really nervous. I was taken first as I had GD but go prepared to wait around like you're at the airport for a while! You'll be taken in to meet your anesthetist who will talk you through everything and they'll stay right beside your head and chat to you the entire time to monitor you. You'll get prepped and then taken to the theatre and then they'll do some form of spinal. I was massively nervous about this and didn't realise my ex couldn't be there for that part either but they won't let your partner in until they know you're properly numbed and first cut has been made and everything is as it should be. This part sounds scary but actually it's extremely quick so it really isn't long at all! It was about 20 minutes from I went in to the theatre to I was holding ds! One thing I wasn't aware of is that if the spinal isn't in quite the right position it can cause a bit of an electric shock sensation but you need to stay really still so it's good to know that can happen. It's not bad just like a little surprise jolt!

After ds was out they spent another 25 minutes closing me up and then ex took ds into the recovery room while they finished off. This part I really wished I'd had my music to concentrate on because it does feel weird, never sore just a lot of pulling sensations and it was funny, because I guess they were nearly done and things were going OK the team were chatting about their Christmas plans and whether or not someone's sofa would arrive in time! It was like I wasn't even there! So having something to distract myself at that point would have helped so I'd recommend it. Then was into recovery and got an hour with ds and ex and toast before going onto the ward. They did checks on me every 15 mins and taught me how to feed. It honestly was fab and if I'd known how okay it was I wouldn't have been half as nervous as I was! I have a real phobia of needles and the team were really, really supportive of that.

I'd recommend getting everything set out that you'll need for you and baby before your partner leaves the ward as you won't be able to get up and about for a while. I was quite dizzy when I did get up so just go slowly and make sure you eat and drink plenty. You also have a catheter (fitted after you're numbed) so when it comes out (doesn't hurt a bit) you'll need to do 3 large pees so they know everything is as it should be so I tried to drink plenty and kind of held on going so I could pee the amounts they needed me to in one go.

Recovery for me was fine. I really hated the injection you need to take for 10 days after but necessary evil. I made sure I kept on top of my pain relief and spread it across the day. For the most part I wasn't in too much pain but by around 8pm I'd start to feel exhausted and sore and just a bit vulnerable, so I'd have gone to bed for an hour at that point while ex sat with ds. You need to prioritise resting where you can and make sure people know that,especially as you have other kids. You'll have had major surgery and you are better taking it easy and being gentle with yourself than trying to push through and prolonging the need to recover. I pulled my wound 2 weeks after birth trying to get my carseat with ds in it onto the pram base (ds was huge) and got an infection and then had multiple antibiotics and it took a while to clear fully and I was kicking myself as I'd started to feel a little better. Try to air your wound as much as you can because it really helps for healing and I set up a change station downstairs and upstairs so I didn't need to use the stairs unless I needed the toilet. A snugglbundl was really handy for moving ds and a good nursing pillow. Pillow over the wound to protect it from the seat belt is also a good shout. Big pants are a godsend and peppermint tea for the wind but not in excessive amounts if you're worried about supply of breastmilk. Take it as an excuse to step back and be taken care of for a few weeks. Good luck and congrats!!

Not sure if you have had your baby yet OP but I had an ELCS with DC2 after having a natural birth with DC1.

It is a different experience but in no way less special. It’s more medicalised from the start, but there are good reasons for this and it made me feel confident that everything was always in hand. It was actually quite a surreal experience having literally every aspect of the birth “handled” for me. All I had to do was lie back and let them get on with it! It’s quite a novelty when you’ve experienced natural birth where you have to put in some much personal exertion and effort to physically get the baby out compared to wandering into theatre and the baby being out within the hour and you’ve not had to do a thing!

Recovery is different. And you need to really and truly rest afterwards. I’d recommend putting as much in place in possible in the first two weeks post partum so you always have someone on hand to help out with any lifting. And do not be tempted to do any housework or force yourself back to do any normal tasks in the first couple of post partum weeks. You need to be gentle with yourself a resist the temptation to push yourself too hard.

To reassure though, I still feel twinges from my episiotomy scar from DC1 whereas I don’t have any lasting pain or issues from by c-section scar from DC2.

Why opt for surgery?
With my 1st, I didn’t know, it was when a friend came to visit from another ward, they told her to be quick as I was going to theatre for a section!
No way, I packed my bags and walked out!
They had to phone my husband to come looking for me!
No way was I going through that when there was no need!!

I think you can see already that just like a vaginal
birth everyone’s c-section experience is different!

I’ve had two electives, in two different trusts, and both were great. The first was a medical need, the second my choice.

In both instances, my husband was there during the epidural, and stayed for the whole time. In fact, the first time he was holding my hands when it went in. First baby was whisked away to SCBU, but the second stayed in my arms from being out, other than for weighing etc. Husband was there during stitches.

I recovered quicker and easier than friends with vaginal births, including out walking early, and driving after 3 weeks (after checking with doctor and insurance company, who both times said it was up to me).

I’d say take it easy, no heavy lifting, but do start to move around as soon as you can.

congratulations!

I don’t know about OP, but I opted for surgery because my first vaginal birth trashed my pelvic floor to such an extent that I took three months to be able to sit down normally. I’m pretty lucky that I recovered from also being completely incontinent, to a point where I only have some leakage. My two subsequent C sections and recoveries were a million times easier.

OP, very best of luck. Both electives were great decisions for me, with smooth and quick recoveries.

Also, my husband stayed in the theatre throughout both times, including when they sited the spinal.

Talk about closed minded 🤣 wow.

OP my 2nd c section was wonderful - so chilled. My first c section (both were elective) involved a blood transfusion but was still LIGHTYEARS better than my vaginal birth. I still haven’t recovered from that 10 years later. It was truly ruinous.

Elective C sections are so controlled, calm, very happy - the team always seem so delighted to be there, it’s so nice. The anaesthetist will be the one to look after you, the midwife is there to look after your baby. I will always remember both my anaesthetists, that 1:1 tender professional loving care is really touching. They also act as photographer if they have nothing else to do :) :) good luck!

Mine was mostly ok - there is a lot of pulling and pushing, which was all fine, but I did have some nausea. Tell the anaesthetist if you feel
discomfort. Mine topped me up with fentanyl and the nausea went away immediately. The birth was just amazing.

Get an extra long shoe horn - like a metre long one from ikea. They are great for when you are too big to bend over, and again after the C-section.

Keep on top of your painkillers! Set alarms every two hours for paracetamol and ibuprofen. I started with stronger painkillers but I felt too good, like I could move furniture 2 days post partum, and I thought it was better to feel something so that I knew when I was pushing myself too hard.

You’ll have to self administer injections for 20 days after to reduce the risk of blood clots. If you’re squeamish get your DH to do it and get this little plastic tool - he should press it really hard around the injection site when administering the injection and it reduces the pain to almost nothing.

ukmedi.co.uk/products/bionix-shotblocker-injection-pain-reducer-bionix-136714-ukmedi-co-uk

Good luck!

Oh also the surgeons used glue instead of stitches for the outer layer! They said the outcomes were much better than stitches, infection rates were almost zero. Every time I had it checked the midwife/nurse/doctor said it was healing perfectly. If it’s not offered then maybe it’s something you can ask for.

I had an elective and an emergency. I found the elective one harder but most people don't. I found the waiting the hardest bit, bring something to watch/read. Also i wished i had waited before putting on my gown for theatre as it's not the most flattering or comfortable of garments and i was wearing it for over 24 hours before the c-section with a small gap overnight when i could put my pyjamas back on. It's a good idea to make sure your birth partner is sat close to your head. Mine was worried about getting in the way so he sat quite far back and i had to twist my neck to see him and the baby.

It’s still major surgery that people don’t need!!!
Maybe if people want this they should pay for it, like any other surgery that’s not medically required!!!

Elective c section doesn't mean you chose it, it just means it was planned, rather than an emergency. I would have much preferred to have given birth vaginally like i did with my older 3 but it wasn't safe and i had to put my baby's safety first.

I’m absolutely certain that my vaginal birth, that required time in theatre, 5 days in hospital, a blood transfusion, numerous follow up appointments to figure out why my bladder wasn’t working, and a readmission for one night cost the NHS much more money than my two electives. Luckily I have private health insurance through work, which meant that the health system didn’t also have to shoulder the cost of 6 months’ worth of specialist pelvic physio to rehab me.

Budgets being what they are, that level of physio isn’t even available through the NHS - which means that, had I not had it, I’d have continued to require treatment long term for incontinence and my trashed pelvic floor. Which costs more money for the NHS.