C-section recovery stories needed please.

[MissyK]

H all, I am 16 weeks with number 2 & my midwife & health visitor are wanting me to request an elective section from the consultant due to a really traumatic, complicated delivery of ds1 resulting in him almost dying & being placed in special care for 8days & me tearing & bleeding heavily & getting severe pnd.
I am petrified of a natural delivery but the thought of a c-section also scare me reference the recovery period afterwards as I'd have a 4yr old & a newborn to look after, pre-school runs to be arranged etc.
Although a natural birth scares me I know that it could all go smoothly with no complications so am unsure of what to do.

Just wondering how any of you ladies of both elective & emergency c-sections could let me know what your experience was like, hospital stay, recovery, dealing with dc afterwards.

Thanks

You never know how you'll recover, but it can be really easy! I was up and having a shower 7 hours later. Had hardly any discomfort in the following weeks. No impediment to bf, walking etc etc.

I had an emergency c-section with dd and I am asking for an elective one this time round. I recovered pretty quickly from the section last time - it was the days in labour leading up to it and all that caused me problems - so this time I feel that the recovery from an elective will be much betterwith a toddler and a newborn.

I spent 3 nights in hospital and I can't honestly say that the pain of the op bothered me at all. The painkillers you get work well (though you do sometimes have to remind the mw's to give you them!)

When I got home I didn't even take the really strong painkillers as they just put me to sleep and I was worried about that and looking after dd. But I felt fine on paracetomol and Ibruprofen so long as I took them when I was meant to.

I was back driving 3 weeks after leaving hospital (check with your insurance company if it is before 6 weeks).

The people I know who have had elective sections say it is a much easier recovery than from an emergency one.

Hope that re-assures you a wee bit.

Can't comment about dealing with a toddler and a newborn - I'll let you know in march

And that was after an emergency cs. Am booked in for planned cs again, so hopefully will go equally as smoothly as DS1 will only be 19 months old!
At least your 4yo won't need/want to be picked up all the time! Get someone to help with pre-school runs for the first few weeks though.

Ask for dissolvable stitches!

I had an elective after a similar horrible birth and I have a grade 3 (managed) prolapse. I stayed in for 3 nights after and was shopping in Manchester city centre on day 5. I was doing the school run albeit as a passenger on day 7. I also drove after 3 weeks. I feel I recovered very quickly.

Thank-you all, that's reassured me a lot. I am due to have a sit down with the midwife next week for another talk about things so I'll mention dissolvable stitches etc.

As for Bubbaluv in the shower after 7 hours & Suwoo shopping on day 5 I am loving your style!! Hoping if I do end up going for the section that I can recover like that too!

MissyK, an elective c-section can be a really nice experience with a quick recovery - it certanly was for me, although everyone experiences it differently.

I had mine at 7.30pm and was up having a shower the next morning. I was told I could leave the hospital after 24 hours but chose to stay in for a few days because I liked not having to look after my toddler!

I was driving after 3 weeks. The only painkillers I took were paracetamol.

Do arrange help in advance if you can, though.

I am pregnant with no.3 had natural births with the first so hoping all will be fine again but just wanted to say...a close friend of mines sister has an emcs frist time round and with her second baby tried to go natural. The hospital made a huge error as the babys heart rate dropped but the consultant said to keep pushing for 10mins! The baby is still in hospital (I don't mean this to be a horror story) with uknown damage (ie. brain damage) so please if your midwives think it is best go along with it!

Just realised how morbid my post is but am feeling ridiculously hormonal over everything....

I had an em cs after a 26hr labour and a lot of intervention. I was discharged 12 hours post-op. Didn't need any painkillers (cs was done with a spinal block as opposed to epidural so had worn off by the time I left recovery), was up and about after a few hours. Took it a bit easy for a while but walked a mile or 2 to register dd's birth on day 6, did light housework straight away. DD breastfed from the off. The physical recovery was fairly straightforward and not painful at all. I was anaemic though so was a bit dizzy at times. Otherwise, no real complaints.

Elective here;

Lovely calm, relaxed, planned. Had lots of immediate skin to skin and baby breastfed whilst still in theatre. Insisted catheter came out the same day and was up on my feet and in the shower that night.

Stayed in 2 nights (because it was all quite relaxing in my private room) and recovered much more quickly than from my natural birth.

Good Luck c-sections are not the devil

Two emergency sections here - similar experiences to meep's. I think the labour lead-up to the sections made recovery a bit tougher but I recovered pretty quickly both times. I am looking forward to an elective early in the new year.

I was on my feet as soon as possible just so they would let me out of hospital asap as it is so much nicer to be home.

Second time round it was hard not being able to pick up my two-and-a-half-year-old but to be honest I hadn't been doing that much before the baby arrived. We just took things a lot easier for a while and had lots of snuggley cuddles in front of the TV.

Thehouseofmirth posted a link to a great article on this thread.

I had an ECS because dd was breech. Night before I was due to go in for an afternoon procedure my waters broke. We went in to the hospital and the just rearranged everythign for an earlier start.

Was having v painful contractions by the time I got the epidural so was very relieved. The whole process was so quick - about 15 minutes - from the anaesthetist saying "we're starting now" to dd being in Dh's arms, I couldn't believe it.

I got up the next day and had a shower. Stayed in hospital for 5 days because I had a private room and the in-laws were at our house!

Made sure I walked every day and drove after six weeks, no problem at all.

Keep taking the paracetemol - that's my best advice.

And good luck - any which way, childbirth is a yucky old business but these babies have to come out somehow!

I've had four sections, and recovered pretty quickly from them all,

But it is not the easy option by any means. I hated the first 24 hours until they took the catheter out, not being able to move around, having to have the nurses change the maternity pads for me, finding it hard to shift position so I could get more comfortable. Hobbling to the shower the next day was pretty grim. After trying to tough it out, I learned to take all the painkillers I could and never to let the pain start. Having to stay in hospital for 3 to 7 nights meant I got very little sleep on the latter two occasions when there was no private room.

At home I had lots and lots of help and made a big effort to sit down and not do housework. And I made the most of any offers of help for the school run. Because DH works locally and has a very flexible timetable and took as much paternity leave as he could it was alright for us.

But I think I would still have a CS, especially in your position.

I also took arnica tablets from about a week before although may have ben 2- can't remember?! I reckon this had something to do with fast recovery, I took it until they ran out at roughly 1 week post partum.

I had a CS for DS1 and a forceps delivery for DS2. I found the CS a piece of piss to recover from. The forceps took months to get over.

I have had 2, one emergency, and one kinda of selective. They were both very different, as would yours be, yes it hurts like hell, and the first few weeks are very hard, just lying down comfortably then getting up, is a bloody escapade, but know this, if it is the safest way for you to bring your dc into the world, and you are happy with it as an option for those reasons, then all the rest is just a tiny insignificant nothing.

I nearly lost my ds giving birth and my own life, I am thankful he is here!

I had an elec csect with my twins and would recommend it - v calm and relaxed, recovery MUCH easier than had been led to believe. Only real discomfort was turning over in bed (and that was only for a few days).

I was up and walking with catheter taken out within 5 hours of the birth. I was lucky enough to be given a private room if I could walk and use toilet - great motivator!

should add, I was sooo used to being uncomfortable with twin pregnancy that maybe would have felt more uncomfortable if hadn't been so used to discomfort, iyswim? But I would def want another c-section next time, if there is one...

Must just add that even though I had the em cs last time and had an easy recovery and little to no pain, I would always go for a vaginal delivery over a cs next time unless there was a good reason not to. This is my own personal opinion and based on my own assessment of the risks.