If you had a c-section.... I am doing a small survey!

[pupuce]

Spurred on by the discovery that two of my clients who had a first c-section after a long labour (and took no or very little pain killers after their emergency section), they went on to have planned section for their babies and were both on pain killers at least 7 days (if not 10!) after the birth.... so here is my question.

If you had a planned (meaning NO labour) section - how many days did you take pain killers for? The section can be for a medical or just "elective".

If you had an emergency section after a labour (please say if it was induced and if you had pain relief in the labour not just for the section) - how long did you take pain killers for?

I am wondering if the fact that your body makes endorphins in labour (endorphins are hornones that have a -strong - pain killing effect) leads you to need less pain killers after the c-section.
My 2 clients were very surprised to be in so much more pain this time, they had assumed (as I probably would) that a long labour and a section would be the worst of both world.... Is it a complete coincidence or is there a trend. I am sure it won't be black and white of course !

Your help is much appreciated

Sorry to provide contrary evidence to a sensible sounding theory pupuce, but first section ("emergency" after 44 hours of failed induction at 37 weeks, only got 1cm dilated despite strong prostin contractions, used only TENS) required a lot more pain relief afterwards than second (elective at 37 weeks).
1st time I was begging for injections (morphine?) into my leg, and then took co-codamol like sweeties for 2 weeks.
2nd time I was given regular top ups into my epidural site for the first 24 hours, then I think I only had 2 lots of voltorol. I actually went home after 4 nights without any pain relief (my choice) - the worst pain I had was referred wind in my shoulder which eased with peppermint tea.
Of course, the fact taht I had my first labour in a hospital with 2 midwives for 10 women, and my second with 2 midwives just for me - and a motorised bed for the first 24 hours might also have something to do with it

I never allowed myself to get in pain to know if I 'needed' them or not...every time I saw a MW I asked for drugs and took them at home until I ran out...more or less pain free!

My pregnancy ended in an emergency CS after a 30-hour ish labout that failed to progress (DS got stuck). Had about 24 hours of contractions. After the CS I had all the morphine they gave me but then I had no need of any further pain relief and taking stitches out was also painless

I've had two planned c-secs, both for breech baby. After the first one I didn't need any pain relief at all, but after the second I was on quite strong stuff (Voltarol) for a week. It's pretty well known that subsequent c-secs are harder to recover from in many people, especially if there was a lot of scar tissue to sort out from the first c-sec. Sorry!

1st birth was an emergency c-section for "failure to progress" after (only) 12 hours of labour. Almost snuffed it after because of loss of blood. Don't remember any pain meds after, lots of needles, tho! 2nd was planned c-section & was offered morphine for pain from sciatica, would you believe, not c-section.

Didn't accept the morphine, tho. Wish I had, just to see what it was like.

Hi Pupuce, just helping you get to 100! I've had one elective section (due to breech) and I took the painkillers for no more than 2 days afterwards. I had more need of the peppermint tea for the wind to be honest!

I had an elective (maternal request) section.

I had morphine in my spine as part of the spinal block. They also gave me 2 suppositories at the delivery - one was diclofenac, no idea what the other was!!

I was then on Ibuprofen and Paracetamol for 3 days, although by the 3rd day I was forgetting to take it. However, I had a blocked milk duct so I was back on Ibuprofeb for that on days 5-7.

I was amazed how non-painful it all was

1st emergency c-section - approx. 3 days analgesia.
Same for the 2nd emergency c-section and the same for my 3rd elective c-section. I found being up and about, as soon as possible, helped with the discomfort levels.

I had planned C-section because my ds was 1st baby and breach. I took painkillers for aprox 7-10 days afterwards.

Same as Prufrock! (2 rebels then).

1st emergency - 25 hours labour, 2 weeks painkillers. 2nd elective - 3 days painkillers. 2nd was soooooo much easier it was positively pleasant. Not sure whether endorhins played a part though - I put it down to the tension and stress I felt with the first (begging for epidural for 12 hours...), plus the fact that i had no sleep for 48 hours.

I HAD EMERGENCY C-SECTION WITH MY THIRD.INDUCED ON THE FRIDAY AFTERNOON.LABOUR STARTED SLIGHTLY AT SUNDAY LUNCH TIME.WAS IN LABOUR WITH GAS/AIR FOR ABOUT 3 HRS THEN RUSHED IN FOR C-SECTION,HAD EPIDURAL.HAD PAIN KILLERS FOR ABOUT 3/4 DAYS.

First birth to DS two years ago (0403) at Queen Charlottes, approx 2 midwifes to 10 women, as I seemed healthy and slow in progressing, they just left me for 95 hours (thats about 5 days) until my baby was in such bad shape they had to perform emc. it was FXXXing awful and unexpected and I was on painkillers for 7days until i realised they kept him very docile, they gave me nightmares (well the pills + probably the whole experience) and I kept waking up in a sweat, never done that before. After 7 days i threw them all out and replaced all painkillers with homeopatic remedies (despite no previous experience) the pain eased down and besides regular stinging pains for over a year I think it's safe to say i was ok to walk and move about after 8 wks. Am now 38 wks w nr 2 and trying for a VBAC at stMarys.

oh sorry forgot to say i was administered an epidural just 1 hour before they rushed me into theatre, only pain relief other than gas and air and TENS.

Took pain killers for about the same amount of time post 'emergency' and elective sections. For about 4 days each IIRC. Withe the emergency one I was in labour and was having contractions every 3 minutes for over 12 hours prior to the section. I would have thought tha would have been enough for endorphins to kick in

Second birth was elective and was on pain killers (paracetamol) for 7 maybe 10 days. It hurt a lot!

It was my second birth. First was hideous with 3/4 degree tear, 5.5 hours second stage, 1.5 hours surgery, etc. Was on pain killers for 2/3 days. Bounced back very quickly physically (emotionally is a different matter!).

One emergency c/s preceeded by a 22 hour labour during which only pain relief administered was paracetamol(!) TENS (don't even bother) and about 2 whiffs of gas and air (which was promptly terminated when found to be totally useless and ineffective).

c/s performed under spinal block. Not sure what I was given in the operating theatre post operatively but it was given by suppository (Voltarol?) and an antibiotic injection. On the postnatal ward I was routinely given one Heparin injection per day and a little cocktail (peppermint with some sort of painkiller mixed in Cocodamol I think) and a Voltarol tablet twice a day for the duration of my 5 day stay. I really only took the pain relief because I was offered it and felt I should be having something although it was never ever forced on me, only offered. The pain never really came on big time but I suppose fear and ignorance made me worry that it might so I always took what was on offer!!

Was discharged with a load of Voltarol tablets but never felt the need to take them at home.

Recovered very well and quickly and couldn't really understand what all the fuss of a c/s was all about - pain from sore/engorged boobs was much, much worse - guess I was just one of the lucky ones!!

Never since felt the desire to repeat the childbirth experience so can't provide you with any more empirical evidence - been there, done that, got the tee shirt!!

i had an emergency c-section after failed induction with drip and around 30 hours of labour. Had all pain relief the NHS could throw at me, including lovely epidural and only got to five cms when told baby in distress with infection and was wheeled to the theatre. Poor DD was SCBU for eight days and I recovered from c-section by using stairs from ward to SCBU to BF her. Had portable morphine drip for two days (but didn't really need it) and paracetamol. No pain, was walking around after two days and have a v. neat scar. MW said surgeon had done an excellent job which is maybe why I recovered so quickly.

Planned section, strong painkillers for 24 hours and then just ibuprofen for a few days.

Elective section due to breech at 39 weeks.

Was on strong prescribed pain relief for one week and then had to be re-prescribed due to urine infection which did not clear up after one lot of antibiotics because they were the wrong ones [given antibiotics that covered MRSA but not the infection I had!! V. handy!]

Elective section at 40 +2 because ds wouldn't descend at all. Was on morphine for the first 24 hours I think then voltarol. Left hospital on 4th day with a week's worth of voltarol but have just cleared out medicine box and half the packet was still there, so I obviously didn't need it that long. Think I took paracetamol at intervals for a few days after that, seem to remember thinking I could knock the pain relief down a notch.

Hi - 1st birth was an emergency CS for foetal distress (ds's heartbeat dipped up and down fairly drastically for an hour) after about 12 hours of spontaneous labour, with just a TENS machine and gas and air for the last hour. Afterwards I had patient controlled morphine for about 12 hours and voltarol and then cocodamol for about a week.

2nd birth was VBAC with an episiotomy and two pushes worth of forceps, and I clung to my cocodamol for longer because my episiotomy stitches were sorer than the CS ones! Or maybe I was more of a wimp second time round . . .

Hi there.

I had a planned c-section!
I was only on pain-killers for about 4 days. It wasn't really sore for me unless I was walking around a lot.

Hi

I had an elective section @ 36 weeks for placenta praevia (so not in labour at all). I was given a morphine injection immediately afterwards and another some time later that day. Never again! Made me feel HORRIBLE... not like being pleasantly drunk at all (which is how the effects were described to me beforehand) but horribly spaced-out and unable to think (I couldn't even remember what we'd called our baby and got really panicked about it... sounds ridiculous now, I know ). Also, the second morphine injection went in badly (not sure what happened, maybe it hit a nerve or something) and was probably more painful than the pain from the section! AND I got cramp in that leg regularly for about a month afterwards. If I'd had a section with my second dd, I'd have refused all morphine and gone straight onto paracetomol and codeine. I had paracetomol and codeine for about 24 hours after the second morphine injection (i.e. probably from about 12 hours after the birth) and then just normal paracetomol for another couple of days. Can't say I found the pain too bad, really. More just a wierd sensation that my top half wasn't really properly connected to my bottom half, IYKWIM!!

With my second dd I had a VBAC, so no comparison. Mind you, I didn't have much in the way of pain relief then either, just a few puffs of gas and air, so maybe I just have a high pain threshold. Either that or I got lucky!

I have always wondered whether psychological reasons have something to do with the amount of pain perceived; i.e. the worse you feel about the op, the more you feel the pain. I was initially very angry and resentful about having to have a section (had planned a home birth and was terrified of hospitals, and ended up staying in for 10 weeks and having a section!) but I had 9 weeks to get used to the idea and by the time d-day arrived I was very happy with the birth experience I had. I was sure that made a difference. But your experience Pupuce suggests the opposite... interesting!