Caesarian survival tips

[Soutine]

In a few weeks' time I am due to deliver my third child by elective caesarian (previous two were natural deliveries).

As I have never experienced a caesarian delivery before I would be very grateful for any practical advice on survival either during and/or afterwards. (Incidentally, we havetaken the vital step of lining up some full time help for a couple of months after the birth... we already have a 3 year old and a 1 1/2 year old.)

I took Arnica tablets in the weeks prior to my delivery by emergency C/S. Don't know whether it was coincidence but I seemed to be up and walking around a lot quicker than the others on the ward!!

Hi Soutine.
I had both my twins and my dd by elective caesarian and I swear by the power of arnica! My GP prescribed it ( she is also a homeopath), 200c potency, and I had to take it the day before, the day of the op and thereafter until I felt ok ( 4x a day). By day 4 I felt great and was turning down the offers of painkillers and although they gave me some to take home, the only time I took them was for back-ache caused by breastfeeding in a bad position.

Do avoid hoovering and any unneccesary housework for the full 6 weeks ( or even longer if you can) but it's a myth that you are not allowed to drive afterwards- all you need to do is contact your insurance company with a note from your doctor saying that you are fit to drive.

As for during the op, don't forget to take a cd to listen to, helps to take your mind off what's occurring.( My dear friend suggested that I took Bat out of Hell!)

Best of luck.

Start taking high strength arnica pillules about a week before surgery is scheduled. This homoeopathic remedy is widely felt to be helpful with reducing shock and bruising and promoting healing.
Pack a small bottle of essential oil of peppermint too. This, taken a few drops in warm water, can really help with any abdominal bloating/trapped wind you might experience post-surgery.
Get your midwife to demonstrate the correct way to get yourself upright/off the bed and back on again. Post-operative pain relief these days is so efficient that you might, as I did, start flinging yourself around too energetically.
Pack BIG knickers even if you preferred below the bump pants during pregnancy. You need something that is not going to rub on your bikini line. My carefully chosen disposable briefs turned out to be unwearable for this reason.
And, on a lighter note, shave the top inch or so from your pubic hair before you are admitted. Somehow this was not communicated to me and I ended up having to do it with a teeny useless hospital razor on the morning. It would have been easier and less painful for me to gnaw the wretched stuff off myself...
I had to attend hospital briefly the previous afternoon to meet the anaesthetist (I found out afterwards I was the only one of five booked electives that day who bothered to keep this appointment...). It was well worthwhile because I am a bit unhappy about needles and she was very kind and reassuring. You can check whether the elective will be done under spinal or epidural anaesthetic, ask about procedures etc.
And you might also want to find out from your consultant how things will be managed on the day. Who will be your surgeon? Will you have a chance to meet him/her before the op? Is your midwife able to tell you if you will be able to hold your baby as soon as he/she is born? Can you have music playing in the theatre? I never thought to air these concerns so although my c-section went fine from a surgical point of view, it was a bit perfunctory.
Good luck with the operation, anyway, Soutine. Hope you are one of the lucky ones with a quick and uneventful recovery (most are, I wasn't, so am keen to avoid one if possible next time).

Definitely BIG knickers, preferably close fitting up to the waist ones. They look hideous but they keep the maternity pads in place (yes you still bleed the same afterwards) and they don't irritate your scar. You are likely to be in hospital for 4 days or longer so make sure that you have plenty of supplies, unless you have a very obliging dh you will need loads of maternity pads, breast pads, nighties and knickers in your hospital bag.

I would recommend that you get active as soon as possible and try to move little and often throughout the first few days. This helps with healing and prevents thrombosis.

You won't be allowed to have a bath until your scar is healed but my hospital allowed showers from day 2 or 3 if you tied a plastic apron around your waist to protect the dressing.

I had a general anaesthetic (emergency section) and was very groggy for at least 36 hours - it gave me the perfect excuse to turn my back on the MIL. I also suffered a sore throat for a few days which is apparently quite normal and due to the gas/tube down throat.

You will not be allowed to drive until pronounced fit by a doctor which around here is not before 6 weeks and I would not recommend it any sooner. My aunt had an accident a few weeks after a tummy tuck operation and her scar burst open, that was an operation which didn't affect the stomach muscles like a caesarian does. You also need to avoid vacuuming and carrying heavy things around as it will become immediately obvious by the pulling sensation when you have done too much.

Soutine - you may be lucky, as I was, and have absolutely no side effects - I had an emergency C/S so was knocked out by the aneasthetic but had no problems whatsoever - of course, I pretended I was feeling weak for some time to get as much help as possible with the housework etc!!

My top tip- even though you're starving hungry by the next day, do NOT eat an absolutely enormous breakfast as soon as they allow you to eat again. As you will guess, I did just that and had appalling indigestion/trapped wind or something that was more painful than the scar. Good luck!

Soutine, I was absolutely fine after both of my elective c-sections, and in my hospital you had to have a bath on the same day as the op, they got you out of bed about 6 hours after, the most painful part for me was the injections into the belly of the drug that prevents thrombosis, I had to have these for 3 days after my second section, but after my first I just had to wear long surgical stockings for 6 hours (until I got up and moved around), I think it depends upon your consultant.

Hi, Soutine. I don't know how a first elective section affects you after you've had normal deliveries - I have had 4 electives and no vaginals so my experience is different - but for me the worst thing, always, was getting out of bed the first time - especially after an epidural because you have that lovely long lull with no feeling at all. (One of mine was under GA.)

The pulling sensation across the scar is quite scary when you first get up but after that it's not nearly so bad. The bloating/trapped wind didn't bother me but the nurses always mithered on about moving your bowels - which you will do eventually, so if you haven't I would recommend lying about it, otherwise they might make you have an enema (eurgggghhhhhh). Hospital food didn't offer much fibre back then (my youngest is 10), probably better now, anyway try to get wholemeal bread, bananas, apples etc where you can, and as PamT said move about - gently - as much as you can.

It seemed to me that I didn't bleed afterwards nearly as much as the normal deliveries - I think they must hoover you out before they stitch you up.

I did have that "quick and uneventful recovery" described by Marina (but I always have been a quick healer and have very clotty blood) but the major problem I had with my babies after sections was breastfeeding. If you don't plan to then it won't matter, but electives tend to be early and not quite ready to be born so don't have the major survival/sucking reflex that term babies have. You don't give the reason for your elective (breach or something?) but if you can, get them to leave it as late as possible so the baby is as near as it can be to term. (I also had milk supply problems though so it wasn't just the earliness.)

Having full-time help for a bit is an excellent idea. My kids were a minimum of 3 years apart, not 18 months like yours, and getting everybody organised and out of the house used to defeat me on a regular basis for the first few weeks - especially with the unsucky babies who wanted to be fed a small amount every 5 minutes! - with help you can send the older ones out and concentrate on the new one without them feeling a nuisance or you feeling hysterical.

Incidentally all the medical people in theatre were brilliant for me, despite no previous contact as mentioned by Marina, in fact I particularly remember the (German, training) anaesthetist I had with no. 3 who was as involved as we were and delighted in pointing out the effects on my heartrate of different parts of the op - as the baby was delivered it practically doubled, he was thrilled!

Lots of luck!

Lavender oil is great in the bath to help the wound heal and prevent infection, especially if you have put on weight while pregnant, and have an attractive 'overhang'. My scar never saw the light of day, still battling with the bulge!

Also, don't do what I did, after a couple of months, feeling 100%, decided to join in with 2YO DS in his play tunnel. Commando crawling is one of the last functions to come back after a CS - I ended up completely stuck, unable to go backwards or forwards!

Full time help is good, I tried the same thing which was helpful up to a point except that DS took an instant and unreasonable dislike to the lovely lady and would not let her do a single thing for him.

Good luck!

I agree with all the below, but it sounds to me like every hospital has their own rules. I go up about 6hrs after the op, I refused to stay in bed longer and wanted the catheter out. They wanted me to prove I would be able to get to the loo!! Also I drank copius amounts of water which meant the first poo wasn't too bad and I didn't get to much trapped wind. That can feel really uncomfortable. I was allowed to shower the next day, and I picked up my 2 yr old the next day!!

I did all the things you aren't meant to do, by 5 weeks later I went back to the gym I think it realy depends on how you feel, I felt fine although I got an infection in my wound which wasn't fun. I drove in 2 weeks (didn't get a Dr's note, didn't know I had to), and was back to my usual self by then.

My main bit of advice is to find out what kind of stiching they use. 1st time around I had a kind of plastic thread with little beads on each end, this was great, really comfortable (?) and didn't hurt to remove. 2nd time I had staples, these are b***y painful to remove, left a far worse scar and not to be recommended. See if you can get the running stitch thing.

Hello.

I have had two caesarians - one emergency and one elective. I found them both OK - had the running stitch both times and was SHOCKED when they pulled it out after 5 days and thought everything would come apart!! I was up and about to the extent that the midwives didn't realise I had had ceasarians but then I always have to be on the go anyway and really didn't find it difficult. I'm sure everyone heals at different rates. The second time my eldest DS was just 2 and I couldn't pick him up very easily so sat down with him. Driving wise your insurance won't cover you for two weeks after any major op and then you can drive if you can do an emergency stop without pain. Main thing I thought was to focus on having a successful birth in terms of getting the baby at the end and not get hung up on the way s/he came out! It was weird with the elective walking into the operating theatre and climbing on the operating table ut after that it was OK - not worrying the way the emergency one was - but still quite surreal I thought! Just take it easy if you need to and accept all and any offers of help you might get - and do those postnatal tummy exercises for goodness sake!!

This is all really sensible advice. I think that there is a lot of negative talk about section deliveries and recovery. Much better to listen to all these other mums than to things you might come across in the media etc. I had no side effects other than getting stuck once or twice getting in and out of bed, but then I didn't listen to the physio's advice who you should get a visit from before leaving hospital.
One other point, which admittedly may be far from your mind once you have three young children, is that caesarians mean less interruption to your sex life. Well we thought it was a plus point!

Thank you for all your fantastic advice... this is so unbelievably helpful and raises a number of issues that hadn't even occurred to me. Crunchie I love your "stuff it" attitude to all the rules that are laid down.. although of course I will see how I get on before leaping on the rowing machine too quickly. And v. good tip from maryz re sitting down when DD1 and DD2 come into room as I know it will be tempting to pick them both up at once. Ouch!

I'd definitely endorse lying about having had a poo if you haven't by the time you want to go home! They were bloody obsessed! And the last thing you need to stress you out is the idea that you have to perform on command. Of course, if one still isn't forthcoming some time later, let your midwife know! Big pants - yes! Do what you can to avoid trapped wind - ouch...
One I didn't do and lived to regret was you still need to do your pelvic floor exercises so try to keep these up if you can.
My elective was a very positive experience: calm, gentle and dd was born to the sounds of "Let There Be Love" by Nat King Cole. Good luck...

So agree with the big knickers, and lots of curries help things move - I also lied to my midwife about having been. But be careful - they need to know if your bowels are functioning as this can be a major complication. I knew I was Ok - I might not have been producing anything but wind but boy could I fart
Try and walk as much as possible, never refuse drugs that are offered. Insist on running stitch rather than staples and don't allow them to put a drain in - it's not necessary. You will find it impossible to sleep comfortably on your side for the first few days, so make sure you have help to get comfortable in bed before peole leave you for the night. When you do get more active try to remember not to bend over sideways to grab things, especially not with a baby in your arms.

During the op, don't worry if you shake uncontrollably. It is a side effect of the spinal block drugs on your blood pressure. It does not mean that you are about to die and leave your husband to bring up your baby by himself (I only realised that much later). And reassure your dh, parets etc that you will be spaced out for 12 hours or so. My Mum was really worried about my mental state when she saw me just after the op, and watching the video I can see why. I was completely blank, hardly looked at my baby, couldn't string two words together - but by next morning I was fine - and I'd never realised I was acting strange. Oh the joys of morphine

mine was an emergency c section under general anaesthetic.
If you have a catheter in there will be a bag on wheels beside your bed. Mine looked like a tequila sunrise - bloody urine, then yellow - but nothing to be alarmed about. Ask for it to be removed asap - dammed uncomfortable.

I had no problems with breastfeeding - make sure you get the midwife to help position your baby properly. The one who helped me was a star!

Take all the painkillers on offer - I didn't sleep much for 4 days, and the pain seemed to increase on day 3.

Try to shuffle around the ward as much as you can. Helps prevent DVT and makes you feel better.

Agree with anti bloating remedies - the pain from trapped wind is terrible! I was so pleased that I told EVERYONE on the ward when I had my first post op poo!!

I had an emergency section as my daughter was in distress and wanted out - I was fine! The nurses etc were brilliant even when my epidural wouldn't top up and I had to have a general and was knocked out.

Recovery was ok, felt a bit cheated initially as I wanted a 'normal' delivery but the midwives explained there was no such thing and the main thing was mum and baby were fine.

I was up and out of bed the next day, and could have showers etc. In hospital for 5 days which was bearable as I had lots of visitors bringing M&S food goodies - good idea. My staples didn't hurt when they were taken out and I didn't have that many painrelief tablets either when I got home. I must say though that I didn't do ANYTHING but learn to breastfeed and be a new mum for the first few weeks, my husband and family rallied round and I reckon this helped recovery no end.

I had an emergency section, and found the hardest part was trying to work out the 'system' in the post natal ward.
As you know you are going to be in there for at least 3 days ask if you can visit and check up on the basics. e.g. will food be brought to you or do you need to hobble somewhere to get it, will baby be in a cot attached to the bed or do they use traditional bassinets which require someone to pick up the baby and pass it to you for feeding etc. , can you get an extra pillow to use to cushion your scar whilst feeding baby, do you need to ask for painkillers or will they be given/offered to you, will someone help you have a bath/shower or will they look after the baby whilst you clean yourself.
I was also suprised by how large the scar was, from one hip bone to another.
I was a lot better once home and able to potter about.

Bluebear, I really hope this doesn't sound unbearably smug, but do you mind me mentioning for Soutine's sake that scars aren't always that big? Mine is about 6 inches I would say, completely invisible once the hair grew back (sorry to be gross). Your advice about getting to know the ward system is spot on, it can all seem so mysterious.

Another quick recoverer here - mine was emergency cs, but I had been taking arnica anyway for labour (which I also had 36 hours of!!) and continued to take afterwards. Get up and about as soon as possible - I asked when I could get up and they said when you can do without your morphine drip - so got them to take it out asap, and found that being mobile again was the best thing to be. There was a lot of abdominal discomfort similar to doing about one million stomach crunchies, but it was bearable, and they give good drugs for the pain . It was a little bit hard to pick ds up out of his cot for the first couple of nights, but that got easier.

Once home, try not to do too much, accept all help offered and if you feel up to it get a doctors note to drive so that you can get out and about - I drove from four weeks with permission from insurance company who helpfully advised me to practice emergency stop before attempting anything!

HTH

how jealous am I - how come you lot all got painkillers galore - I got morphine the first night and then was on the paracetamol (by suppository I add - oh how cruel to remind me of all those bits down there) - no wonder I seemed to find it b**painful compared to other stories I've heard. So the nhs beats private yet again!

My stitches weren't removed at all - is this a running stitch? If so, don't worry about the knot bit at the end (or try to pull it out like I did) as it just falls off but after about a month or so in my case.

I also wasn't allowed to have showers or baths for 4 weeks (how smelly was I) and couldn't eat for about 3 days either - 1 while in labour 2 post op - sounds like some kind of torture camp compared to the rest of you.

And don't worry if your pubes seem to take forever to grow back - at 7 months post op mine are still only halfway back to their normal straggly forest look.

One final piece of advice is to ban the video camera from post op shots - I have one of me flat out on the bed and it is not flattering.

All the best

Blimey, bluebear, hipbone to hipbone??? Was yours a really extreme emergency? "Get that baby out NOW!"?

Mine is about 6" too, Soutine! I think that's more usual with an elective. I once had a single running dissolving stitch with a little knot on the end, like morocco's (the knot stayed for years, I got quite attached to it) but that was abroad, the others were old-fashioned black thread stitches - not staples. (I was once on an ordinary surgical ward and the woman in the next bed had had a thyroid op, she had staples right across the base of her throat, she looked like something out of Frankenstein!)

I think I know what Bluebear means - when I got home and looked in the mirror - only two days after Ds's appearance - the 'wound' (yuck - horrible word) seemed to go from hip-bone to hip-bone.

Add the deflated balloon 'overhanging tummy' effect, the crashing hormones and the ridiculously pneumatic, pumped-up chest and needless to say, I burst into tears.

So, the best bit of advice I can give is not to look in a mirror at your body for a fortnight at least. Actually, in my case, I still should probably be happier if I still avoided doing so now (over 2 years later)!!!

Incidentally, my scar is now relatively tiny, and well hidden, but I still have a huge unsightly horizontal wrinckle across my tum from the overhang... mmmm, nice.

D'you know I've only just realised that the c/section has caused that overhang... doh!