C section, any advice? (Please!)

[Lwrenagain]

Hi friends, hope everyone is well! 🌻

I've had 3 vaginal births but 2 of my babies were very large, one being over 11lb! I have a prolapsed bladder and I've also had cervical surgery, so I'm going to have a cesarean with baby 4.

I'm scared truth be told, but I believe between the hemorrhaging and massive placentas being stuck etc, I think this is the safest option.

Can I have some advice from the elective CS mums please? I appreciated emergency sections are a completely different ballgame, but any nice experiences/advice you'd be happy to share with me I'd really appreciate!

Oh, I'm not able to breast feed which takes so pressure off me I guess!

@Lwrenagain
I have a blood phobia and I faint when anything is remotely related to body. Hate needles. And I remember joking and laughing during the surgery... x

(Mine was just unplanned. Agree that it would be different if emergency) xx

@cat709 thanks for replying!
Was the recovery difficult?

Hi OP! I had an elective C for my first born (now 22 months old) and am having my second elective in 2 weeks. They're amazing - nothing to stress over, trust them doctors and keep super calm. The recovery is easy if you follow advice and for me it was the best way to give birth - you know when it's happening, how it's happening and there shouldn't be any surprises. Any questions let me know! I'm a huge advocate of them. X

Thanks for replying!

Oh that's good to hear, I think the recovery worries me but in truth I've struggled recovering from pushing 11lb babies out, so either way, it's not going to be a picnic in the park, but hearing that you had a good experience and are happy to do it again has really helped! Thank you! X

Totally - and if you have a good surgeon (I'm sure you do) then the recovery is honestly easy. I was only on paracetamol by the time I went home 3 days later and was hiking in Switzerland 6 weeks later. Try to see The time at home 'recovering' as a wonderful time to bond with the baby in your family bubble. You won't get this time back. Also some advice - start taking arnica tablets 3/4 days before plus eat a really healthy and not stodgy diet at this point too. The Arnica speeds up healing and the healthy food will help too. I have started eating a big bowl of blueberry's every day as they're full of antioxidants to get the body in good shape for the healing. If I think of any more tips I'll share xxx

@Lwrenagain
Mine was unusual, so yes long recovery. However most ladies I know only had a 3-4 week recovery. Plus if you need it, you need it! :)

I had an elective 4 weeks ago, after an emergency in my first pregnancy. The section itself was lovely and calm.
The recovery has been great, the first couple of days were painful but I kept on top of painkillers. I've found icing my lower stomach has really helped this time too. I feel pretty much back to normal and going for a long walk each day, but still being careful when lifting as know I'm still healing. Good luck.

I had a lovely elective c-section and will be having another one later this year 😊 The recovery wasn’t as bad as I expected. The being in hospital part was actually quite nice since you can’t move and just have to lie there! Getting up for the first time wasn’t too bad for me but I just went extremely slow. I was home 24 hours later. Getting out of bed was the only part that sticks out in my memory as being properly hard! It’s just really annoying because you can’t tense your ab muscles at all so have to do a really awkward shuffle/roll off the bed and even then I found I was causing stitches to pull sometimes. I’d say after the first week that was a bit easier and by 2 weeks it was okay again. Walking about was fine, even in the first week, I had no pain at all but just walked slowly obviously. By 2 weeks I felt back to semi normal almost but was still aware of it but not in pain as such. I have no doubts about doing it again, just hoping it goes as smoothly as last time 😊

Ladies thank you so much, I feel so much calmer with these stories, thank you for your time x

Both my c sections were emergency c sections and one was supposed to be elective but ended up emergency

anyway both times have been excellent after the scars were fine and I healed really quickly and well

advice is to try and rest as much as you can sit down and let others clean up at least the first 2 weeks after that take your time to do things

Thank you! I've heard a few horror stories and I have been quite anxious, but I feel much easier knowing that you lasses have had decent times, I think I just needed some balance of good stories.

I had emergency surgery for the first time a couple of years ago for an ectopic pregnancy and even though I was in pain for a while after but I did heal OK eventually.

I think I'm just a natural worrier 😑🤣