Planned section this Friday.

[beckieperk]

Going into hospital Friday am for my planned section for ds2.

Any top tips??

I'm a little nervous and very excited.....just want to be as prepared as I can be. 1 day left to sort everything. Amy help greatly appreciated.

**any not amy

Wow, exciting :o

DC2 was a planned section almost 5 years ago and I still remember how excited/nervous I was, infact I was more nervous then than I was in the lead up and during an EMCS with DC1!

In the days leading up I just made sure all the practical things were sorted, bags - confirming plans etc etc but mostly just chilled out and spent as much time as I could with DC1 because it's hard to get 1:1 time afterwards!

I also cooked a few things for the freezer so that DH could take charge of the kitchen or I had stuff ready to throw in the oven... Of course this would've been more useful if DH hadn't left the freezer door open when he took DS and stayed at my Mums for 3 days whilst I was hospital!! :o

You might be waiting around quite a while so bring a magazine or something to do/ read etc.
Remind your partner to bring their phone! It hadnt occurred to us we could as dp was all scrubbed up etc, til the surgeon reminded him to bring it with him for photos.
Also, dp to wear a shirt so he can have skin to skin with the baby if you cant while youre being sown up. (Didnt need to in the end as i could but just in case)
I was also told we could take music in if we wanted

I found it much calmer than i expected. Good luck!

Ooh how exciting! For my planned section I wish I had brought a magazine for the wait because I ended up being second and waited until about 11 to be taken to theatre (I had been in since 7). I had some books but I couldn’t focus properly I was too excited!

For afterwards a water bottle with a straw was a great help as well as “snacky” things. I didn’t feel too great because of all the drugs so didn’t want the hospital food so things to snack on were ideal.
The usual after birth things were good - big pants (make sure they reach your belly button or they’ll dig in right at the scar) and pj’s that could be inbuttoned. Even if you decide to bottle feed straight away you wont want to lift your arms up over your head after a section.

Also my hospital had me get up on the same day. My catheter was removed about 10 hours after it was put in and I was encouraged to walk to the toilet in the room. When walking after make sure to stand up as straight as you can. It’ll be uncomfortable but it’ll make your recovery better.

About a week after mine I was feeling much more human and about 4 weeks after was pretty much back to normal. Make sure to take it easy still though!

Good luck for Friday! It’s the best experience of my life (not sure if DC1 was a planned section for you so you might already know that!)

I had an EMCS and they took all my nail varnish off -had taken me absolutely ages to reach my toes at 41 weeks pregnant - so I'm not sure if that's still a thing! Other than that I only remember having to hold a pillow tightly to my scar area when I coughed/laughed/sneezed for a few days after because it hurt a bit. Good luck

You don't have to take nail varnish off your toes... I learnt the hard way like itwentinmyeye

Looked a mess for weeks till I got to the beauticians

Thank you. Some good ideas here. I'm really excited.....but I've forgotten exactly what I was like after my last EMCS. Think I was in a case tbh. Hoping this time is going to be more chilled also seen as I won't have been in labour for 36hrs+ before I'm hoping to be a little more with it.