How different is an emergency to elective c section ?

[littleweedandherflowers]

having A planned c section in a week, got 2 dc already both emergency c sections so I do know what to expect but I’m getting those last minute nerves and wondering how different an elective is to an emergency c section? How different is the recovery ?
xx

My first was emm cs. 2nd last minute elective was lovely in comparison because I wasn't exhausted and everything was just a lot calmer.

Main difference for me was that I went into the planned section much better rested on the sleep front, as opposed to staying up all night laboring then ending with surgery and then still having to care for the newborn. All brutal, obviously, but missing that entire night of sleep was especially difficult.

I’ve had two elective sections in two different hospitals. Hospital A was very medicalised and it didn’t feel like a birth at all. Hospital B was incredible. We had music, they offered dimmed lighting, the midwife took photos and videos of the birth, etc. It was great. I would say advocate for yourself to ensure that you get a ‘birth’ experience and skin to skin as soon as baby is delivered. Good luck!

I've had both, although a long time ago. I don't remember anything different about the recovery in general terms, tbh.

Although I had a worse time in my second emergency section as I experienced a dural tap in the panic (I was only 29 weeks) - so I guess you are unlikely to have that risk in an elective section.

Good luck!

just to clarify re. 'dural taps' - most elective and a lot of emergency sections are done under spinal anaesthetic where the intention is to do a 'dural tap'. A spinal injection is essentially a lumbar puncture where instead of taking samples out we put anaesthetic in. About 1:250-500 obstetric patients get the headache after a spinal. The main problem is an inadvertent dural puncture with an epidural needle (which is bigger and therefore more likely to cause a headache), and epidurals come with a 1:100 chance of a dural puncture.

Emergency is awful, you're knackered, so is baby, and the recovery is wank.

Planned is 1000000 times better.

In my experience.