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.)

Someone said that they bled just the same & someone else said they'd bled less with a section, but I was the opposite. I was told that because lying down so long - baby delivered at 7.30 pm, dh there till 10, then (some) sleep, so didn't get up till about 10 next morning, so must have been about 15 hours after op - the blood pools, and I was really shocked & very embarrassed when I stood up as it just POURED out, in full view of a ward full. I was very shocked by it.

I had natural birth after and definitely didn't have that experience.

Question - what full time help do you get - general 'maid'/maternity nurse/cleaner/ or are you lucky enough to have helpful families - and where do you get it from? (Latter is probably dum Q. - I'm not in uk, but seriously considering elective c-section this time, and could definitely use the help, just never heard of anyone actually having some!

My dh saved up his holiday so he had 5 days paternity leave then 2 further weeks after that. My mil and our cleaner also chipped in after that until I was more confident doing everyday things. I got tescos to deliver and when I told them I couldn't do any lifting, they brought the shopping through to kitchen. I left all but the frozen stuff on the floor until dh came home! You can't afford to be neat and tidy at this stage...!

definitely know what you're saying Sue W......

I'va head 2 sections. First one was fine, 2nd was scary but only because I had loads of scar tissue after first one and no one would tell me what was going on (when you're lying in an op and someone starts saying "quick call a consultant- where is he? he needs to get here quick" and won't tell you why it is scary!). First one was a bit weird because I could hear them saying "ovaries- yep here they are, Fallopian tubes- check" and I spent the whole time worrying about the suppositry- didn;t even realise they'd put it in in the end.

I've always had spinals- one side effect is shaking, although that was much better with the elective- so don't be surprised if that happens.

Oh and one final thing- I never realised operating tables were so narrow I was convinced I was going to fall off- especially when they tranfer you to the trolley!

Monkey, same thing happened to me with the pouring of blood. Soaked right through the pad and knickers. Fortunately, I had dark blue joggers on and was saved too much embarrassment as I fled to the loo to sort myself out.

I didn't need any help post cs, but then I didn't have other children at home. I honestly don't htink I felt any different to my friends after natural births. My dh went straight back to work as he'd taken so much time off visiting me in hospital beforehand (in for over a month, ) but he did get home earlier, but that was more for my mental health than my physical health. Small scar, feels perfectly normal. No probs with lifting. Probably did too much and drove very quickly too with no probs, but felt fine and LOVED maternity leave. Ah, never have that again, just me and newborn ds. Sigh.

I never bled like that afterwards. Had a couple of identical episodes before, mind you, courtesy of Placenta Praevia. Afterwards like a not-to-heavy period. Wonder why there is such a difference?

Have only skimmed this thread so forgive any repetition. I got some "netting" pants - I think they were from the NCT - which look peculiar and very unflattering, but I thought they were brilliant and wore them for several weeks. I could rinse them through and they were dry in next to no time. Like Bobsmum I put a sanitary towel over my scar which did make me feel much more comfortable. I didn't take arnica, and had a fairly slow recovery compared to others on here - didn't help that I got an infection in the wound and didn't realise until it burst (thank god for that sanitary towel). I just assumed that everyone had that much pain and walked about with a stoop for weeks afterwards.

Never had a vaginal birth, but I'm sure the constipation after my cs was worse than any childbirth pain. Fybogel did the trick in the end for me - defininitely take some in with you.

Can't remember how long my numbness lasted, but its definitely gone now (2 years on from the birth).

Personally I wouldn't commit myself to a housemove in the timeframe you're talking about - you never know how you're going to cope with the recovery until it happens. Unless of course your dh is ready to organise and implement it all while the grandparents have the other 2 kids and you and the new babe spend a few days at a friend's place?

Oh, yes, forgot to say. If it really hurts for more than a few days, it's almost certainly an infection. don't grin and bear it and think 'oh, I had a c/s, it's bound to hurt', get antibiotics ASAP. I felt totally normal after two weeks and didn't rest a bit, but then I didn't have an infection. Good luck

Also, it was two weeks from my cs to my first bowel movement. I think this was the worst aspect of my postnatal care - of course I felt bl%dy awful when I was completely bunged up. Each day after discharge, the midwife would come and aks about bowel movements and I'd reply 'Not yet' and she'd tick the box....

It was only about 4-5 years later I realised there had been a communication mismatch. She must have thought I meant 'Not yet, TODAY'! It wasn't sorted out until I had a bout of mastitis and was visited at home by the doctor - there being too much snow on the ground for a midwife to come and see me - and he asked about bowel movements and prescribed Fybogel (and antibiotics for the mastitis which prob helped too). Finally I got going although it wasn't pleasant in the least.