Elective c-section (ELCS) under general anaesthetic (Gen A) - experiences?

[feijoo]

Hello everyone.

In 8 weeks (all being well!) I'll be getting ready for my baby's delivery by elective c-section under general anaesthetic. This is for medical reasons as I cannot take an epidural or spinal injection.

I have read many horror stories about emergency Gen A c-sections but I can't find any experiences from mums who have had an elective Gen A c-section.

I'd really love to hear honest experiences about the process... How long did it take you to come around? How was the experience for you? What about the first feed and initiating breastfeeding? How did your partner respond to being the first one to hold baby? What about bonding?

Thank you so very much for sharing anything about your own experiences here xx

Just bumping this in case anyone out there can help xx

I only know one person who had a general in a csection. I know that it was a planned normal c section but then something went wrong and they had to do a general which isn’t your situation. She felt very upset about it. That was the bulk of the issues. I think it’s different knowing that you are going into it versus it happening to you under emergency.

I had a general for my last two electives c.sections. I was awake in theatre afterwards and fully awake by the time I was transferred to the ward.

I had a general for my elective c-section for the same reasons as you.
It was fine. I was properly awake within a few hours. Baby was a little drowsy and needed encouragement to feed, but scored fine on the apgar, it was just she got a little dose of anesthetic obviously. I remember them saying they start lighter and go quickly to get her out quickly then put you under a little more.
My only advice....don't let them put the catheter in until you're under....rather uncomfortable!!
But she's now a grow up 19yr old and fine!
Hope all goes well xx

The reason for doing the catheter awake (and sometimes prepping skin and draping) is that it reduces the time it takes to deliver the baby and therefore the amount of anaesthetic the baby gets.

I had a regular C section but wanted DH to be the first to hold the baby as I was shaking so much from the meds and the operating bed I was lying on was very narrow and I was worried about dropping the baby. DH and my son both seem to be unscarred by the experience.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with me 😍

I had an elective under a ga and it was fine. I was out for an hour after he was born and I was pretty drugged out of my head meeting him for the first time but I still remember it. He was fine , he was handed straight to my husband and he tried to breast feed from him. Any other children i have will have to be born the same way. The team I was under did pretty intensive research into it due to my medical issues.

Do they do G.A if you can't take a spinal due to anxiety/phobia? I've known people have it if a local hasn't worked. My closest friend who delivered this way was just happy to have a healthy baby, altho different situation yours as they'd tried to deliver the baby in other ways first.

Hello, I just had a c section yesterday under GA. Very different circumstances to you because I was booked in for an induction but within 20 minutes of the process being started my body had a bad reaction and we lost babies heartbeat. Due to having a previous stillborn baby they didn’t waste anytime in putting me to sleep and getting him out!

Timeline wise, my induction began at 13.10. My baby was born at 13.54 and I woke up at 15.30. I was absolutely fine on waking up obviously just wanted to know my baby was alive. My husband was sat having skin to skin with him and he was well and healthy! I didn’t feel too drowsy, I was actually so very pleased that they did what they did and if I was to ever have another I would not hesitate at all to opt for the same thing again! (Although obviously in less of an emergency!)

I am so so lucky that I was in the best place possible and that my baby girl must have been watching over me and her baby brother because it was found that there was a problem with my placenta and he would have been very unlikely to survive a vaginal birth or even my waters breaking could have been a devastating outcome!

I’m not in too much pain, it’s very manageable, last night was honestly lovely, I had a good amount of sleep and rest, I don’t think there is any problems in bonding at all, baby is on my chest right now and he calms down as soon as I pick him up! Feeding wise he isn’t too bothered at the moment, I keep trying him but he is sleepy, no one seems concerned at the moment.

The worst of it is how windy I feel! The gas pain is way worse than c sect pain! Im
managing on just paracetamol though and can walk around and change him etc!

I think I can go home today providing baby is ok (he hasn’t done his poo yet and he has a little bit of skin across his little bum hole so we need to see if that will affect things for him, he will be having an op at 8 weeks to fix this).

sorry, that was really long!

I had a planned caesarean with GA as I had placenta praevia. I was out for a while (more than an hour) & DC met the whole family before I did.

To be honest the only thing I cared about was that we were both alive. I remember signing the consent forms & being told we’ve never lost the mother even if we’ve lost the baby.

The bonding is fine & managed to breastfeed interspersed with bottles as blood sugar was low due to being born early.

My biggest surprise was when dc2 was an emergency caesarean & there were only 3 or 4 medical people in theatre. I asked where everyone else was as I had around 15 people in the the theatre with dc1 due to placenta praevia.

Dc1 is now a strapping 24 year old & not damaged by our experience!

Hi @feijoo ,
I know this is an old thread, but how did you get on?