c-section questions

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Few questions about c-section:

Regarding recovery, how long did it take for the pain(i mean abdomen ect pain due to surgery) to go away? How long were u stuck to IV etc and what pain medications did u take?
How long after your section were you allowed to get up and move around? How long did they leave catheter in?
How long before you were allowed to eat? (i heard they allow food only after passing gas, is it so? sorry timid).
How long before u had 1st bowel movement? is it painful
Were you able to nurse right away?

Thanks for your help!

pain-hurt when painkillers where wearing off and for weeks and weeks if i moved too quickly-took months to not really be aware of it but it was quite copeable with.hated catheter that came out after 24hours i think,both times,also hated line(canular) into hand,bashed it every time I fed the baby.both babies fed easily in the recovery room.Can't remember when i ate anything,so it clearly wasn't a problem.also poo thing-as normal no probs,didn't really hurt other than creeping to the loo and sitting on it.

recovery: couple of weeks all healed fine. paracetamol for first day afterwards but otherwise better left so you can feel if doing too much / wrong thing. iv antibiotics for 24hours afterwards but in retrospect i should have told them no.

up and about: it was an ecs and i'd been in various stages of induction for three days/nights previously. so i went to sleep for 10 hours. catheter removed after that. i got up, ate, had shower, took stockings off etc. poo, can't remember so it can't have been a problem. every other bloody thing was.

Were you able to nurse right away? no and shit support. didn't get latched on till 5 days afterwards at home. beware this in particular.

I'd like to make a point about nursing:

I went Private and had MWs to support me round the clock. I think BF might have been more problematic without them.

Just thought I should point that out.

I think the nursing thing all depends on your midwife (not necessarily private ones). My midwife in the recovery ward was fantastic and I certainly think I would have found nursing more difficult if I had been sent home straight away.

There should also be a breastfeeding counsellor in your hosipital who you can ask for.

If you are worried about feeding afterwards I would get in touch with your local breastfeeding counsellor (check with your local NCT) and have a chat with her before the birth. That way, if you do have problems you can just give her a call. Mind gave me great advice on feeding through mastitis.

Re breastfeeding - if you're having an elective make sure you discuss with this your midwives repeatedly (you'll have several - recovery, theatre, pre-op) and make sure they understand that this is a priority for you. Asking for skin to skin contact in theatre does make a difference - if only because everyone is aware that it is very important for you & will they will forced to interrupt their normal routines & help where necessary. It can also go in your birth plan for an unexpected/emergency section if you write one.

After I went up to the ward I barely saw a midwife though - HCAs did pretty much everything.

I always take extra pillows with me - really helpful for feeding in the first couple of days - rugby ball hold is good because there's no pressure on the wound & you can request a bassinet cot which clips onto the side of your bed so that the baby is really close & it makes frequent feeding easier. Both times I have spent (literally) the whole of the first night feeding - I prop myself up in bed, put the dim light on & world service on the radio really quietly & just breastfeed - a private room makes in much easier. I also have all my visitors in after afternoon of they day of the section, but only dh the day after - means I can sleep while he looks after the baby.

Food is really dire, dh or my mum bring me meals & snacks & the ward is boiling (especially in winter) so it is really easy to get dehydrated, HCAs are great & bring litres of water.

I had my cannular out really quickly - certainly by the time I had visitors in the afternoon - if you're managing to drink enough & not puke there's no reason (in normal circumstances) that it needs to stray in. If they haven't taken it out buzz the mw & ask them too - often it's only in because they forgot about it/haven't got around to it yet.

Before you leave recovery make sure you ask the mw (if they haven't told) what kind of stitches you have - they don't always use dissolving stitches & the information that they'll need to come out at some point often gets lost on the pn ward.

Cannula - that's it! Yuck.

I forgot to say: I told everyone in advance that I wanted the baby to be handed straight to me, but when it came to it, I felt sick and in some discomfort, so DH held her instead until I was a bit more comfortable.

When they hook you up to the drip, they do warn you that the anaesthetic can cause your blood pressure to drop - and that this can make you sick. So if you do start to feel sick, say so, and they'll increase the drip and get your BP back up again!

One final thing I forgot to say: don't look up at the lights while they're doing the section. I did, not realising that there are mirrored surrounds on the lights, and regretted it enormously!!!