Right. What do I need in my hosp. bag for a planned c-section?? Help me pack!!!

[WhipMeIndiana]

this is baby no. 2, but my first c-section.
What will I need??????????????????

thanking y'all in advance X

[WhipMeIndiana]

lovely......thanks for all this stuff its very interesting! 3 weeks to go!

[ilovewashingnappies]

Hello!

Had c-section 10 months ago. It was unplanned but I was glad I had:

• mega cheap, huge knickers from Asda. I couldn;t stand the thought of paper knickers and they were a quid for 5 so didn;t matter what happened to them.
  
  
• Treats - never have I felt so guilt-less than nibbling on mini caramel shortbreads in the middle of the night feeding! Also fruit, fibre stuff
  
  
• make sure dp puts everything in your reach before he leaves.
  
  
• Nice flowers and lots of visitors - twas nice to feel loved. Also enjoyed having other mums around - we had some great laughs and it made the time pass really quick. [didn;t want to be transferred -having too much fun!]
  
  
• Relish the time in hospital and don't rush - get lots of breastfeeding help
  
  I didn;t really have time to read a serious book - trashy mags are the way forward.
  
  How exciting!!!!! Good luck and congratulations

[lorisparkle]

Not something to take in but see if your hospital do cots that slot onto the side of the bed rather than the ones on wheels. This means that you can bf your LO as soon as they need it rather than having to buzz someone to pass you them.

I also agree about taking loads of food onto the ward. The food is often rubbish and not when you want it so take loads of fruit, chocolate, etc etc.

I have had 2 elective CS and the 2nd was so much easier because I made a conscious effort to get up and moving as soon as I could, ate as much as I could, and put on make up / nice clothes. Remember though it is major surgery so don't push yourself too far. Oh yeah take all the pain relief on offer!!!

[JulesJules]

Agree with all the above, just wanted to say that I was in exactly the same situation, had elective CS following nightmare first delivery and post natal repair surgeries. Best thing I ever did, there was no comparison, for example post op pain was nothing compared to how I felt the first time, so hope it turns out well for you too.
Big pants, wet wipes, mascara, lip balm, def flip flops for shower (my top labour bag tip anyway) I took a lovely l'Occitane all in one milk wash thing (hair and body) to save messing about with different bottles. I also took a coolbag full of juice, bottled water, grapes and um mini marsbars and got DH to bring me M&S salads and Greek yoghurt.
The other thing I'd say is make sure that you do take the pain relief every 4 hours. They tell you this beforehand, but in the post natal ward they seemed reluctant to actually hand it out. You do need post op pain relief so you can move around as much as possible. Good Luck!

[MummyAnnabella]

had emerg c/s 10 months ago and having planned one in 4 months.

contrary to above i loved my mothercare disposable pants which held me all in - had no idea how spongy my tum would be. they are designed in really good shape compared to normal big pants. liked just binning them too.

loads of maternity pads as though nurses changed mine in was nice to have extra ones on standby.

nightie for when you have catheter in.

loads of cartons of juice with straws.

bikini wax defo. i was shaved by 2 nurses while 2 more washed my tum 2 more undressed me and put gown on 2 more started wheeling me off to theatre all the while doctor had his hand up my bits for an internal!! was an emergencey though but it is just one less thing to worry about. they didnt manage to take my nice toe polish off though in the rush which i was happy about!!

[oregonianabroad]

haven't read so sorry if repeat, but take your own pillow. so comforting.

[oregonianabroad]

haven't read so sorry if repeat, but take your own pillow. so comforting.

[CurrantBun]

Agree with loads of the above. Arnica was brilliant. I was really, really bruised from the scar down to the tops of my thighs (midwives said they had never seen anything like it) and it was almost gone two days after taking arnica tablets.

Surgical spirit is useful to remove the incredibly sticky residue left behind by the dressing.

I had my C-section at 9:45pm and was out of bed going to the loo on my own at 8am the next morning (midwife accidentally took out my catheter early) but it was fine. Try to stand and walk straight from the start - it's easy to hunch over so as not to put pressure on the scar.

Definitely second getting the call button and anything you'll need to access (drinks, mobile phone etc) put as close to you as possible - I couldn't reach the call button and ended up holding my son all night after a feed as I couldn't call anyone to put him back in his crib!

Earplugs and an eye mask a good idea - if you're on a ward with others as I was, all the babies cry at different times and lights are on and off all night which means you get bugger all sleep, and sleep is what you need!

I had some big incontinence mat things which I put under the sheet at home in case my waters broke in the night, which came in very handy to change baby on while in hospital - you have to do this on the bed and it's not very good if they wee all over everything! I found hospital beds exactly the wrong height for nappy changing after a C-section - my back ached like hell.

The worst bit of the whole thing was having to get the dressing off the wound after the first day - was told to go in the shower and thoroughly soak it and take as long as I liked. The dressings they use are so sticky I was in the shower for 45 minutes and came out looking like a prune. Had to ease it off bit by bit as obviously did not want to tear anything!

[youngbutnotdumb]

I was 6 days late with my DS and I was terrified and exhausted after 12 houyrs of labour to be told that DS's heart rate kept plummeting on contractions due to cord being round his neck twice so had to 'do things the easy way' as the tactless MW told me!!!

But TBH if I was having a planned section I would be very calm because it is painless and easy catheters etc don't hurt only thing that hurt was the bloody dry shave!

WAX I SUGGEST!!!

[AtheneNoctua]

Arnica (lots of it)
Food for you!

[youngbutnotdumb]

I had an ES in June 2006. All I can say is:
BIG GRANNY PANTS!

[ILikeToMoveItMoveIt]

Welshlinz - I had an emerg cs at 6am on the Sunday and was home for lunch the next day. I wasn't kicked out, I wanted to go home.

[pollyblue]

I was in for 3 days after dd was born by section, although i've heard of women being discharged earlier.
Don't be frightened by the thought of drips, catheters etc, that side of things is over with quite quickly and painlessly. My list of essentials are

Big knickers - waist-high granny pants
Magazines, lots of cheap and cheerful ones for when you can't sleep
Maternity sanpro for the first 24 hours, but not Boots ones! I thought they were cr*p. Always/Kotex night-time pads for afterwards.
Dark towels
Dark coloured nightie for immediately afterwards then dark pjs
Socks/flipflops
Snacks and sucky sweets
Wet wipes
A good thick pillow
Muslins
A couple of terry nappies or travel changing mat to pop under lo when changing in case they wee

So the same as everyone else really! And yes, make sure you put the essentials in your bedside cabinet so you can reach them easily.

[welshlinz]

Reading this thread with interest. Although not pregnant at the mo, I have been told next baby must be born via c-section.
This stuff sounds terrifying to say the least !! Big knickers, drips, cathaters ???
Got to admit, it all sounds really frightning.
One question to ask, how long will I need to spend in hospital after the section??. Already got 1 child so wouldn't like to be away too long !!

[mollysawally]

The diarohea is much better than constipation, trust me its painful .. eat the dried fruit

[paddyclamp]

can't say the drugs made me feel sick!

get up and about asap. I was up within 12 hours and in the shower. They made me sit in the chair 4 an hour before they'd let me get on my feet but after that i never looked back.

shave urself! the ONLY discomfort i had from my section was a nasty shaving rash from bein shaved by the midwife!

[WhipMeIndiana]

I got some mahoosive knicks today from Matalan

[WhipMeIndiana]

blimey lots more stuff there...

so you get to wear surgical stockings, eh?

must remember to remove toenail varnish, forgot that with dd..

I was so hungry after dd I ate a whole bag of dried apricots...had diarrohea which with my 3rd deg stitches was NOT fun, I may leave the dried fruit..

thanks for all this, it is really interesting. good to know about a potential baby-mucus incident too

[Martha200]

Um, just thought of something else.. not to take in, but when you go to the ward and get given something to eat, make sure you have one of the sick bowl things near you... I was taking it carefully but then I felt really sick, I buzzed, and waited, buzzed again then fortunately the water jug was nearby and vomitted madly into that.

A staff member came in just as I spewed to overflow, I missed the baby, but hmm I was soo embarrassed. The care assistants were fab, so just a warning, though you may not feel/be sick from the meds, be warned before you eat!!!

[Jennifer08]

Oh yea - and don't get a nice pedicure - they take the polish off to monitor blood flow so a waste of money.
Agree with previous comments to make sure your necessities (baby stuff - nappies, wipes) are near to hand.

[Jennifer08]

Best advice I was given without overwhelming with a long list of what to have:
BIG M&S COTTON KNICKERS! Do not take those big paper crap ones - you want COMFORT and to know they won't roll down on the incision - extra big and if they get bloody then bin then as they're not very expensive.

[Pinkjenny]

Make sure all the pj's and 'normal' clothes you take in with you have high waists, second the fact that you don't want ANYTHING even close to touching your wound. Even the memory of it makes me squirm.

[Highlander]

Whipme - 'resting' reduces blood flow so impairs wound healing and increases your risk of DVT.

[hk78]

hello, i had a planned cs with the 2nd baby too

i packed

favourite cd, they said they could play it in the operating theatre (tbh it was over so quickly i dont even remember it being on)

arnica cream (but didnt use it cos i didnt want to put anything on the wound after all)

big pants that come higher than the wound

i would agree with hayley2u about taking your own painkillers in cos they try to give you only paracetomol: but i can't, cos the midwife told me that they had to know exactly what i've had for their records
(but i would , yeah!!)

if i was doing it again, i would getsome sort of grabber thing, for things that are just out of reach: where it's not important enough to call the mw, but you can't face the effort of moving to get it either (e.g.newspaper fallen on floor, lol)

before i went in, i cooked a load of veggie sausage rolls, stocked up on packs on fruitandnut mix, whatever is your favourite thing, got dh to bring them in bit by bit each day.

baby wipes, tea tree oil,lip balm/vaseline, make sure your pj's or nightie is DARKcoloured, one less thing to worry about

maybe some of those anti-bac wipes if you're worried about dirt, obviously that's something your visitors can do

don't know if you are supposed to shave yourself : i forgot, and when mw came in before the op, she jokingly told me off, got down on her knees and did it herself ,lol (oh the shame) as she said 'shall i do it in a nice heart shape for you?" lol

[Word]

I'd have prunes or similar before going in, too.