Positive Caesarean stories

[Lululabelle]

Hi Ladies!!
I'm being kept in hospital until Wednesday for a caesarean, came in yesterday to be induced and my little man, my third, has spun around and is breech, feet first and some cord so too dangerous for me to go home! Anyway all I can find are scary caesarean stories online! Did anyone have a positive experience they would like to share to put my mind at ease?
Xxx

Congratulations and good luck OP, my second was a planned C section for health reasons/complications with my first. I think you are in very safe hands. The whole process was great, staff were wonderfully reassuring and calming and our DS2 was delivered quickly and safely. Don’t be afraid to speak up and say what you want or don’t want. Hope it all goes well for you x

Hi lovely
I've had 4dc,2natural labours,one emergency c sect.one planned section
Emergency section was just a relief to have it over.staff were calm and very good with me as I was exhausted and scared
Planned section was a beautiful birth experience as everyone had time to explain stuff.music was playing in the background,I was chat away to anestheatist(sp?) Before DP joined us in theatre.my DD was born and she left with dp and when they were stitching me up I felt a bit like I couldn't breathe.i mention it to himhe smiled kindly and explained the tables tilted very slightly to head end to reduced bleeding and sometimes blood pools a little causing a feeling of pressure.he explained to surgeon I was uncomfortable and he said nearly done so we can level her up a bit.was instant relief!her birth was as calm and relaxed as my natural labours and I see it as a wonderful experience!good luck

I've had two. First one was absolutely fine. I chose it because I hated the idea of vaginal birth. No pain, easy recovery, perfectly easy birth.

Second not so much but that was an emergency where they had minutes to act so not applicable here at all. It'll be fine

The second, elective section I had was lovely. I was really, really anxious and the staff were just lovely.
Also I asked and they lowered the screen so I could see the baby born, which really helped me to feel like I was part of the process which was very important to me.

I had an emergency section with my daughter. Loved it. Recovery was tough, but not really tougher than friends who had vaginal births and tore. Good luck,!

I had an emergency section, it was fine. Massively relieved to have it and my recovery was brilliant. I was back at exercise classes at 16 days post partum, dog walking at 6 days PP and my GP allowed me to drive at 3 weeks PP as my recovery went so well.
Good luck!

I had an emergency c section and it was absolutely fine (there are different degrees of urgency when it’s unplanned and mine was the ‘not quite so urgent’ type). It was a very calm experience, the staff made feel that everything was under control, and honestly not an ounce of pain. Even during recovery, as long as I stayed on top of my pain relief it was fine xxx

I've had two and the emergency section was fine in terms of recovery but a bit of a shock as I'd had a completely uncomplicated pregnancy and had no reason to expect any complications at birth. The planned one was very calm and positive - I was able to hold baby while they were stitching up and breastfed straight away in recovery. In our hospital side rooms were available for a small charge. I didn't know that the first time but it really helped the second time to have a bit of peace and quiet. You will just be glad to have your baby out! We I suppose people who have had a scary experience are more likely to write about it online as a way of dealing with it so that might be why those are the stories you found. I also remember a nice chat with the anaesthetists who went to the same university as me.

Ps ask someone to buy you a litter picker - very handy for picking things up from the floor while you can't bend! And although I'm sure some people are back exercising two weeks later I would suggest that isn't the average (not for vaginal birth either I would imagine!). So just take your time afterwards and don't be too ambitious.

I had a section after failed induction last year, it was a great experience and the recovery was really quick, was out 22 hours later with paracetamol and went out for coffee and a walk the day after that, driving on day 9 etc, I too had read horror stories from people saying they couldn't lift a kettle for 2 weeks or manage the stairs. I'm 5 months now with DS2 and having an ELCS this time. Good luck

I've had both planned and emergency - both were actually fine. Planned section was calm and just a procedure ... nothing scary. Emergency was with our first child which was a bit scary but only because baby was in distress

It'll be fine

I had an emergency c section when my son got stuck after 2 hours of pushing. I was almost delirious having not slept for 3 days due to contractions but I was so well looked after and despite the urgency I still felt that it was a calm and happy birthing experience (despite my husband almost passing out and having to be helped outside!!). I'm due to give birth again soon and hoping for a vaginal birth but I'm not concerned about another c section if it's necessary. I would ask for the screen to be lowered this time so I could see the baby being born.
I recovered well too - I had the section at 3am and was up walking (very very slowly!) by 11am. Hardest thing was getting up out of bed/certain chairs for the first few days - ask for as much help and pain relief as you need. A scarf tied to the end of the hospital bed helped me to pull myself up and I'd recommend arnica tablets to help with the swelling/bruising.
Wishing you all the best

I had an elective section with dd2, it was much nicer than the natural labour I had with dd1! The recovery was difficult for the first couple of weeks but as long as you have someone to do all your fetching and carrying and you rest lots and keep up with your painkillers you should be fine. I was driving after 3 weeks and felt pretty much completely back to normal after 6 weeks. Good luck!

My emergency was horrible but my subsequent two electives were absolutely WONDERFUL. No stress, no anxiety, all nice and safe and calm. The recovery was tricky but totally and utterly worth it.

Can I offer a slightly different perspective? I can't say I enjoyed it. It is surgery after all. No one is ever asked if they enjoyed their hysterectomy or having a broken arm pinned! But it got my baby into the world safely and me out the other side of the experience. There seems almost a kind of pressure to enjoy a CS. You don't have to. It's a medical procedure that does what it needs to. If you don't enjoy it, that's fine!

Thank you so much ladies, I think I just needed a bit of reassurance, I haven't had a terrible pregnancy just not 100% straight forward with a big baby and awful SPD now this 😂 but I'm glad to have an ending in sight for it now and I'm trying to enjoy the rest in hospital for a couple of days before hand while the husband does all the housework looking after the animals and childcare 😂 though I dread to thing what my two DDs hair is going to look like for school over the next few days!

@eurochick I agree completely!! Friends who have had caesareans kept telling me to just go for it, it's easy! You'll know when you're going in etc when it was offered due to babies size, I think the flip side of the horror stories is the people who act like it's a little thing when really it's a major operation, I just needed to know it wasn't going to be all doom and gloom and awful blood loss etc.

Despite being a fairly major Emergancy (delivered very early due to pre eclampsia) my c section went very smoothly. I thought the spinal injection would be painful but I barely noticed it. The operating theatre was calm and friendly. No sense of panic or stress. They gave me morphine on a clicker but it made me sick so I stopped clicking, they then said they'd get me something else but they forgot so after 12 hours I had no pain relief at all and it was fine. Sore, obviously especially when changing position, but a completely manageable level of pain. I was up and about after 24 hours and fully recovered after a few days. First c sections are the easiest to recover from though I'm told.
My advice, force yourself to get up and move very early on (my ds was in nicu so massive incentive) and I really believe it helped me to recover.

In terms of blood loss, I lost 200mls with my planned section (the average vaginal birth blood loss is 500mls).

I found the procedure virtually painless (worst bit was the cannula which you often have with vaginal births anyway), and recovery was better than expected.

I also had very bad spd for months before, and section recovery was far, far less painful than the spd (which mostly went at birth).

Thank you ladies!!
@Sleeplikeasloth! I was saying to my husband earlier that at least there is some estimated end in sight for recovery from a caesarean and how unbearable It's been having SPD so it couldn't be any worse than months of that 😂 so your reply is so reassuring!! SPD disappeared basically straight away after I had my last DD so I'm hoping for the same again x

I've had 3 successful sections and healed amazingly after each one. My first was an emergency after failure to progress, so like others who've commented it was a very welcomed section. My other 2 were elective due to me producing small babies so VBAC wasn't recommended. I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever and I will be having my 4th in July XX

Wishing you the best of luck and congratulations in advance for the birth of your baby. You will be absolutely fine 💐💐💐 x

Hi ladies!!! Just thought I'd give you an update! My little man was born on Monday via caesarean! I lost a litre of blood but felt fine and didn't realise anything was happening! Baby weighed 9lb 10oz at 38 + 2 and I finally got home last night!!

P.S excuse the amount of boob in the photo 😂

😍😍😍 Congratulations he is a beauty! Just read the thread glad all went well!

@Angelmiracle thank you so much! ❤️ xxx

Oh wow, he is beautiful.

Thank you @pineappletower