Having c-section on friday (30th).......scared!!

[Beccasmummy2007]

Hiya
I am currently 38wks+6 with my 2nd baby and i'm booked in for a c-section this friday morning (30th) as my baby is in the breech position, i had my pre-admission appt last friday and spoke to the anaethetist etc and although they talked me through the whole thing,i am getting increasingly worried about it all.
I am so excited to meet my new baby but am scared at the same time....really strange feeling if i'm honest

The thing i am worried about is the actual c-section, mainly because i have heard some horror stories (thanks to some well meaning friends) and one said that i won't feel anything at all, another said that i will feel everything and although it's not actual pain it will still hurt abit ........ so as you can imagine i am feeling quite anxious about it as i had a natural birth with my dd and i really don't know what to expect for this birth.

Can anyone give me an honest answer as to what to expect as i want to be prepared.

With thanks in advance xxx

I have had 2 emcs, one under general, so a bit different, but here goes.

You should not feel any pain but you will feel movement, for example. It is a strange feeling but NOT painful. Spinal anaesthetics are not perfect, but as you are having an elective the anaesthetist will be able to take his or her time and get it right. They'll spend lots of time spraying cold stuff on you right up to your boobs and asking you if you feel anything before they start.

Once you are anaesthetised they'll prep you for surgery, so you'll be catheterised, be given a wee shave if you need one, they'll stick monitors on your chest and your tummy will be painted with that iodine stuff. They had a screen up when they did this to me, although tbh I couldn't see over my bump anyway!

The anaesthetist will be by your head the whole time and can talk to you about what's happening. If you feel sick at all or uncomfortable tell the anaesthetist and they'll sort it.

The baby will be out quickly - within a few minutes of the op starting. They may offer to lower the screen so you can see the baby born. Don't worry - the incision/blood etc will be on the bottom of your bump. You will just see your baby being held up.

The sewing up takes some time and can feel strange. They will, for example, rinse out your uterus and it can feel like someone is washing up in your tummy. This might make you queasy but it won't last long. The baby is usually off getting checked over for a bit but then they wrap them up and give them to you/your partner.

You may be encouraged to start skin-to-skin contact and if not you can ask the MW to help you hold the baby on your chest.

And that's it. I appreciate it must be an odd feeling, walking to theatre to have your baby etc, but you so won't care once he or she is here.

Good luck, I am sure it will be lovely.

Hi, I'm also having a section on 30th so join the club! It'll be fine. This will be my 2nd section. DD1 was breach, like your situation, and her birth was fine. As it was a planned section it was all calm and not stressful. The worst bit to be honest is when you get to hospital and then have to wait to be taken down to theatre.

Once the drugs are in your system you won't feel any pain. If you've ever had a filling done at the dentists that's the best example I can give of what it feels like. You can sense there is wriggling going but it doesn't hurt and isn't uncomfortable.

Within a few minutes of the surgery starting your baby will be there for you to look at and that will, if you were like me last time, keep you occupied, while they put you back together.

Within a few hours after the operation you'll get the feeling back in your legs. Last time I had DD1 at 11.21am on a Friday and was discharged by 2pm on the Sunday. Just make sure you take all of the painkillers the hospital give you on release and by the end of them you should feel fine. Just remember it's a major operation and don't try to do too much. Easier said than done but use it as an excuse to sit on the sofa with your new baby and make everyone else run around after you!

I'm a big wuss, had two sections,one emergency and one planned and they were both way better than I ever imagined.

The first time I was in a bit of a state but only because of what preceded it and I'd been terrified about ending up having a section. The reality was fine - it was calm, I felt in very safe hands and the anaesthetist who stays at your head the whole time was lovely. I suffered from dropping blood pressure where I feel as though I'm passing out and I just had to tell him and he'd pump another drug through.

The whole situation was much calmer than I thought it would be, the spinal block not painful but more uncomfortable. Do exactly as they tell you and it will be in and sorted quickly.

The actual procedure is weird but more just like a pushing and shoving than any pain.

I was quite sick afterwards but I always react to anaesthetic - I had a shot to deal with this.

As others say, take your meds regularly and if you are in any more pain (the next day I was quite uncomfortable so had a pain shot to top up) just let them know.

Finally , with no 2 I wish wish wish I had taken more of the offer of help. My lovely mum I know would have been there 24 hours if I'd asked but I felt I had to get on with it. I had my ds then 2.5years and was putting washing on, clearing up etc etc. What I really needed was for someone to tell me to sit down and properly put my feet up and say sod it to the rest of it. I got an infection in my wound but only minor and quickly sorted with anti-b's....

So, post op don't overdo it !!....take it easy and more than anything ....Enjoy !!!
Good Luck, you really will be fine !

Thank you so much for the honesty Haliborange

It doesn't sound as bad as what my friends have told me, you have made it very clear about what will happen

I want to have skin to skin as soon as i'm able to but i'm happy for my partner to have cuddles whilst the sew me up, lol about the uterus being washed out, i didn't know about that ha ha ha, well it will be an experience eh?!
I have been told that if we want they will lower the screen to see baby being born which i would love (i can't see over my bump atm anyway) but as long as my patner doesn't see anything too gory then he said he's fine about it, i don't think it matters how baby is born i still want to see him or her enter the world like i would have if born the normal way.

It's going to be really weird waking up on friday morning knowing that the baby will be born that day but it's still just as exciting and it will be so worth it, i can't wait.....my dd can't wait either, so it will be nice to tell her that baby will be coming that day

Thanks once again for telling me what to expect and also thank you for the good luck too. xxx

Thanks cbmum and herbgarden

Wow cbmum amazing we're having our babies on the same day....wouldn't it be funny if we find out we are in the same hospital lol i live in Torquay btw.

Thats a good way of looking at the numbness feeling like the dentist but just in a different part of the body lol

My partner has got the usual 2wks off but has taken it as holiday as paternity pay is rubbish, so i will have plenty of help once i get home and then my mum is going to come down and help me for a week once he goes back to work, i am going to rest as much as i can but it's going to be hard to resist doing things as i'm one of those people who get fidgety just sitting, but i will enjoy having abit of fuss made for me for a change lol

By the way, i've had my bag packed for weeks but seeing as i'm having a c-section i was going to re-pack it, do you think i need more stuff or just leave it as it is and get other half to bring more things in if needed?

Thank-you all for the advice xxx

As a doctor who has assisted with elective C sections, I think they are really nice chilled affairs. We told patients that they might feel pushing and pressure (rather like when you are having a tooth out at the dentist) but they won't feel pain. Often you can choose the music to be played and can have skin to skin contact down your top while the doctors crack on with the sewing up bit, which does take longer than the cutting open bit so don't be alarmed at that taking a while. Your partner shouldn't see anything too gruesome either but it might be worth warning him that he might notice that the doctors might press quite hard on your abdomen as they deliver the baby. This is completely normal and doesn't mean they are doing anything bad to you or that the baby is in trouble.

Hope it all goes swimmingly.

Pack plenty of stuff for your stay. I found it a pain to keep explaining to DH where things were.

I needed way more pants (get as big as you can) /pads and nappies than I thought (it was nice to change them often) and DD was a very sicky baby even in those first few days which DS never was so I ended up needing more babygroes for her than I thought too. I also (for a strange reason as she wasn't my first) needed more nappies (should have just packed the pack !)...

With the wound, first time I was told to wear big pants and then put a pad loosely over the top of my wound . Second time they had this amazing see through dressing which kept the wound covered (stuck on top) and then I did use a pad for the first few days on top to stop any slight bleeding from it going through my clothes. I also got myself a few cheap tesco nighties to wander round in as they were more comfy than pj's - it's quite tender round your wound for a while.

Hi Beccasmummy2007, sadly I'm not in Torquay but it is my husband's home town and the grandparents will be hot-footing it from your end of the country 'up country' as you lot call it, to us in Cambridge. DH is only having a week off as like you it's holiday rather than paternity leave.

His Mum is staying for 3 weeks though and my parents are only 40 minutes down the road so able to come and go as I wish. Sensibly, DD1 has been in nursery 2 days a week whilst I was working and that is continuing during my maternity leave to give her some consistency and me a bit of a break.

I am not getting involved in the practical arrangements of where the Devon clan are going to sleep, what they will eat etc. They are big enough to sort that out themselves. My plan is to park my bum in bed or on the sofa and get everyone else to run around for me. Last time around I had someone at home most days whether it be DH, my Mum or sister or DH's family for the 1st 3 weeks. This week I've managed to sort out various people to be around for the first 5 weeks which is even better.

My other tactic, if possible depending on when I have the surgery, is to get released the following day so that I can sleep in my own bed. Last time the biggest problem I faced was being on a huge ward with bays of 6 beds and it was really noisy so I got next to no sleep. Make sure you have ear plugs and a huge bottle of drink left by your other half before he leaves you at night so you don't have to get out of bed more than needed.

I had an emergency c-section with DD. I was really worried about ending up with one too, but it was much better than i expected.
They shave you and prep you while your DP/DH or whoever is getting their gown on. You have a drip in your arm and they explain that you shouldn't feel any pain, just pushing and pulling. They said if you feel anything to let them know. I said i feel some pain after a few minutes and when they asked where i said near my ribs. This was muscle spasms apparently and they just injected something in my drip and it went. Then i started to get nausea and they injected me again and that went. The baby is out quickly, it is the stitching you up bit that takes the longest. My DP stayed with me and i told the mw to give DD to my mum who was waiting outside. I'm having another c-section in a few weeks time (cos it's twins) but this time i will be asking if the babies can stay in the room as it felt like ages before i saw her again.
I lost a little more blood than i was supposed to, (not telling you this to scare you, just so you won't be worried if some of this happens to you) so they took me to a rcovery room. I was hooked up to some bags of solution (wasn't blood but not sure what it was) for an hour or two and then i went onto the ward.
They ask if you would like a pain killer inserted into your bottom when you are in theatre. I had it and didn't feel anything. In fact i think i only took pain killers once after the operation and that was because i turned over too fast in my sleep and it hurt. I was jumping out of bed (literally) and pacing the room with my dd from day 2 cos she would be crying non-stop and i was so 'new' to babies that i would be panicking!
The only real problem i remember is if someone makes you laugh or you have to cough, it feels awful- like your insides are going to drop out. I would hold onto my belly to make it more bearable. I bf exclusively from day 1 as well, so that wasn't a problem. I did try to take DD out for a walk after a couple of weeks and even though it was literally 'around the block' i nearly couldn't make it back. You don't really appreciate a c-section as open abdominal surgery (which it is) and you tire easily. Good luck for friday.

I had an emcs a few weeks ago and it was surprisingly lovely! Epidurals should be available from local chemists for 20 quid on a weekend - warm, fuzzy goodness! My boyfriend was sat by my head stroking my hair as we talked crap. I didn't get to see my son straight away due to the nature of our situation and dad went off with him, but the anaesthetist chatted to me whilst I was being sewn up and my boyfriend was able to join me in recovery with photos of the baby.

If you're planning to bf I'd consider starting to pump now, because I was ill, he was premature and it was an emcs, my milk was very reluctant to come in... next time I'll know!

Thanks to everyone
You have all made it clear what to expect and it doesn't sound as bad as i have been told from my well meaning friends bless them lol.

I have got 3days left to go until i meet my new baby and although i am excited the butterflies have set in now and i've been having really bizarre dreams about whats going to happen lol

Thanks once again for all your advice, it has been very helpful

Will pop back and let you know how it goes once baby is born and i am home xxxx