positive ELCS stories please- 39 weeks & nervous

[Terri22]

this^
hear so many awful & terrifying stories about recovery etc & hoping to hear some positive stories

I had an elective CS with my second baby earlier this year (after an emergency CS with my first). It was a lovely experience - the nurse who prepped me was kind and explained everything, I saw the consultant and the anaesthetist beforehand who went through everything. When it was my turn I walked through in my gown and slippers and the nurses and anaesthetist greeted me in the theatre. I had my spinal, lay down and the consultant came in - three minutes later my daughter was placed on my chest and about twenty minutes after that the consultant told me I was all done and I was transferred to a ward bed and taken to recovery. Was kept there until I’d eaten sth a couple of hours later and then moved to the postnatal ward. All very calm and lovely. Recovery with my second was better than with the emergency - I was up and walking six hours after the op and the wound stayed nice and clean and healed very nicely. There was some pain in the first couple of days but manageable with paracetamol and ibuprofen. They do have liquid morphine in a syringe if you need it.

Good luck, don’t be afraid to ask questions, and enjoy the birth of your baby xx

I had one in September at 39 wks for my breech baby- honestly I was blown away by how quick my recovery was. You will need to take pain meds at the right intervals, set a timer. I had the op at 3pm, up and about able to shower by 8am. Home in the afternoon.

Don’t read horror stories!! Chances are it’ll be much better than you think.

I had my second ELCS last week
Baby born at 3pm, home by 5pm the following day…

I was given painkillers in theatre, then the nurses brought them every few hours from then when they did my obs
I asked for one shot of Oramorph at about midnight but have otherwise been fine with ibuprofen and a couple of days of codeine (which I stopped on day 2 for the sake of the post-delivery poo..!)

My top tip is to tie a dressing gown belt or similar strap to the headboard of your bed and use your arms to pull yourself up when you need to sit up, roll over, get out of bed, to take pressure off the scar and allow your abs to heal

Don’t eat too much for the first 24 hours, drink peppermint tea and ask for lactolose so your digestive system is ok

And don’t listen to horror stories from people who have had emergency sections - they are very different in terms of the op and recovery

Yes definitely lactulose!! I had bad constipation after the op but lactulose sorted me right out.

Is constipation from anassthesia ?

Yes I believe so. You can get wind also from the op so take some peppermint tea with you, but I personally didnt have any with either CS (and still have several hundred peppermint teabags in the cupboard!)

@Terri22

Is constipation from anassthesia ?

A combination of the spinal plus the morphine you are given in theatre and recovery plus the ‘shock’ your bowl gets from being moved during the section.

But pretty much all women have a bit of a stressful time with their first post-birth poo

Oh no one prepared me for the post birth bowel movement so it’s good to be aware. It felt a bit like giving birth to be honest.