C Section under GA

[MomToBe2025xx]

Has anyone ever had a C Section under General Anaesthetic? What was your experience like?

I had an emergency CS under GA. It was all very rushed - I’d just gone in for a normal check-up when they found baby was in trouble. I was alone - there was no time to get dh there before they put me under.

so my dc was just taken to the nursery/NICU after birth - my dh was still en route - so no cuddles or parental presence for him which I’ve always felt bad about I was alone except for medical staff for some time after coming round, too, and it would have made a great deal of difference if my dh had been there to reassure me that our baby was indeed ok. . My dh saw and held dc
before I did, in fact.

if you have to have a GA, hopefully you’ll have someone with you.

My next cs, with a spinal, was almost a party atmosphere

in terms of recovery, they were about the same.

I’ve heard it does depend if it’s planned or emergency.
Mine was a crash section under GA so less time to get my head around it and also quite chaotic with lots of medics rushing.
I think my incision was rushed and I bruised a lot more than my first emergency section under epidural (less of an emergency).
So the wound site was worse but I think that’s because of baby’s deteriorating health.

The pain when I woke up was not nice - because GA pain relief doesn’t last after surgery unlike epidural which carries on a bit longer.

i also woke up confused and v tearful but again I think it was just disorienting.

I’ve had GA before and woken up very happy and dreamlike state so I guess if you knew you were having planned GA you might feel a lot differently

Yeah I also had a crash c section under GA. Very chaotic, mixed communication from doctors. Baby was taken to DH almost immediately thankfully, but it took them several hours to stitch me up (lots of blood loss) and bring me round. I was on morphine when I woke up to manage the pain for the first few hours. My physical recovery seemed on par with a spinal c section, but mentally it took a while to feel like myself, and I struggled to come to terms with what happened.

recovery will depend very much on why it's being done under GA (emergency or elective/fetal or maternal reasons/what the contraindication for spinal is etc) and any other medical issues. There is useful information on the labourpains website (General anaesthetic - Labour Pains ). HTH (doi: obs anaesthetist)

I had a section under GA. I was told by my doctor that my baby had to be born within 24 hours because I carried group b strep. No one else had told me that at any point in my pregnancy, but you're vulnerable, so you agree. I can't have an epidural or spinal (I have a spinal cord abnormality), so GA it was for me. The doctor was a nasty piece of work, and was wrong about her 24 hour rule, but denied she said it later. I had no debrief and only found out by requesting my medical records what had happened to me in surgery. Genuinely awful experience and my sweet baby girl was left on her own in theatre for an hour before she was taken through to her dad in recovery.

My husband and I want to have another baby, but I would elect for a section next time given what happened before. If anyone has any tips on electing for a GA section, and how to make it less terrible, please do share!