C-sections

[AraW]

Newbie here so please humour me (you have all been very helpful so far!). I’ve been told that I may be better off having a C-section for medical reasons (digestive and pelvic floor issues for decades). How bad is the recovery? This will be our first baby so we’re both new to this and neither of us has family nearby or anyone else who can help. Do you need to stay in bed for weeks and if so does caring for the baby fall mainly to your husband or partner? I’m a bit concerned about being out of action.

No they make you get up and walk later that day or the next day. First three days are tough

A preplanned c section is a much easier recovery than an emergency one. Even with an emergency section you’ll be up and about within 12 hours usually.

I didn’t find it particularly painful or hard to recover. You shouldn’t be rushing about or carrying heavy loads for a while, but usually not much is difficult after a couple of weeks. I found it an easier recovery than my keyhole gallbladder removal!! Strangely the only time I was really aware of having had the section was when pushing a supermarket trolley. I left that for a couple of months.

Oh that’s interesting, thank you. So it’s possible to look after the baby yourself without support? Obviously my husband will support but I don’t want to leave it all to him.

Elcs is absolutely fine assuming no complications (which can happen but are rare).

I was in at 7am, baby born 9am, catheter out by 2/3pm, having a shuffle around the ward about 8/9pm and checking out by midday (so 30 hours or so after going in?)

You.look after your baby and most.thongs getting in amd out of bed in the worst bit across days 2 and 3 after that its fine.

Assuming no complications, you’ll need help with the baby until the anaesthetic wears off and you can walk and pick up baby. But that will be pretty soon. You can plan ahead with eg changing mat and what you need both downstairs and upstairs in house to avoid repeated trips etc. But hopefully your husband will be about for at least a fortnight or so when you get out of hospital.

But all this said, don’t take any crap with people whoever they are making light of or disregarding the fact that you’ve had major abdominal surgery. Make sure they don’t insist on staying for hours and tiring you out.

Thanks @SalmonOnFinnCrispand @EvelynBeatricereally helpful. I’m v nervous so trying to educate myself as much as possible.

Yes it’s fine. I was home the following day and walked around the block a couple of days later (very slowly).

I wasn’t ever in pain, just uncomfortable and moving was very slow. I’d compare it to the hardest gym workout you’ve ever done, and you know the feeling where it hurts to walk up and down the stairs?

Its like that, when your sat still it’s fine and I was perfectly fine looking after the baby.

You can’t say. Some women are fine with it, others it’s awful.

You will need support from your partner. You can still care for baby but you might need them to pass baby to you, help you lift lower from bed / sofa etc.

90% the worst is usually over within a week. The last 9% of strength takes a further month I would say. And the last 1% to return to complete normality can take 6 months to a year (but this latter is true for all pregnancies as your body returns to normal).

I had an emergency after induction l long attempted labour then the section. I found it very painful. But was stood up 7 hours after it, waking round the ward. When I say this is wasn't with ease!!! But do able.

When I go home i had help but I was able to lift my baby and feed her. I was lucky to have help but you can do it.

Turning over in the night was a killer for me 😅!

Obviously not meant to drive or lift anything heavy so your partner will have to help with hoover and washing ect. Xx

After my first c section I was okay, once the catheter was removed I was encouraged to try walk around slowly. My dh couldn’t stay so I looked after my newborn alone the first night in hospital and managed okay to get out of bed although a lot more slowly than normal.
At home it was nice having support and did find it difficult to get up from lying down. I wasn’t ever in a great deal of pain as I took regular pain relief as advised.

My second c section was actually a lot worse and I found the recovery really difficult which I wasn’t expecting. Although, 2 weeks later when my dh was retuning to work, I was able to move around a lot easier.

I would say that your dh could pick up the household jobs and you focus mainly on the baby whilst you’re recovering at first. The first few days at home can be tricky and uncomfortable but be honest with your midwife and health visitor with how you’re feeling and go at your own pace. They will encourage you to slowly ge tho and move about but don’t rush yourself to get out of the house until you’re ready

My first C section was great in terms of healing. As someone else said, they get you to move about and shower on the same day as the C section.

I did all of the nights initially as I was breastfeeding and was totally fine to look after my baby. It didn’t stop me from doing anything and I didn’t need to rely on anyone else to look after the baby.

I was walking the prom 4 days later and healed v, v quickly.

2nd C section was a lot more painful and took me a lot longer to recover, but I was still able to do night and look after baby totally fine, it was just sore to get in and out of bed and I had to walk a bit slower than normal and was slightly more hunched until it stopped hurting!

I had a c section due to baby being breech. It wasn't an emergency, nor a planned one, more of a 'would you like one?' I said yes to get baby safely out as he was overdue anyway!

Honestly, it was a lovely experience. We had music playing, it was over quickly and I actually quite enjoyed the sensation of the surgery itself.

Recovery was OK too, obviously quite sore but the midwives gave me very strong painkillers and told me to stay on them for as long as I needed.
I could hold the baby, was up walking (gingerly) within about 18 hours and did feeds and nappy changes. I needed help picking him up and getting up and down but within 2 weeks I was lying on the floor playing with him and going for walks.

Scar is tiny, just a neat line. He was 10lb plus so a good result all round.

Good luck, I'm sure you will be grand!

My biggest issue was my lack of core strength after. I could pick up and hold the baby to feed etc but couldn’t bend over to bath which shocked me as I felt like she would/could drown if my husband wasn’t there.

I do think each recovery is different, but I definitely found c-sec harder than my first natural birth to recover from

I've had five sections. I've had varying experiences. I would say the most important thing is to take all the analgesia for as long as possible, longer than you think! Take extra pillows to the hospital with coloured pillowcases on. You'll need the pillows to support you sleeping, mostly upright, the first night and maybe beyond. Get a pair of pyjamas with buttons up the front and spend at least the first night with your baby skin to skin. You can do it with a stretchy baby wrap too. This is more settling for the baby and you won't be able to get the baby in and out of the cot without calling for a nurse. This way you'll get a lot more rest. Picking up and looking after your baby should be your focus, not hoovering, when you get home. I'd personally have the house well stocked with meals I've prepared and snacks.

Honestly i had 2 x and am very happy with my choices.

My "bad experience" of birth came from the woefully bad maternal care i received on the mat ward post birth.

The elective and birth itself were 100% the best bits of the whole thing.

It was calm and pleasant we had music on and the team were incredible (totally professionals i felt very safe in their hands and confident if anything went wrong they would deal with it)

I really recommend silicone strips 3-4 weeks post partum and a good "post partum mot" with osteophysio incase of diasti recti, thry can also correct rib flaring etc
NHS dont bother mentioning any of this- god knows why not....

I’ve had 2. Mobilise as soon as the feeling is back in your legs, make sure they give you the good drugs and take them on a schedule. It was a bit sore but not once did I ever feel in pain. Caring for the baby is fine, you can lift them out of the cot and do nappies and bottles. You ideally need to avoid twisting and bending motions so that rules out stacking the dishwasher but DH can and should be doing that!

Thanks so much everyone. You’re all so helpful. I’m still terrified though 😅

@SalmonOnFinnCrisp it’s lovely to hear that you had a positive experience of the elective itself. Do you mind me asking which hospital you were at?

I had an emergency C-section, I was up and walking the same day, it was sore but not painful. I was walking 45 minutes into town by day 10, no complications, felt just fine. I know it's not always the way for all women but I want to tell you my story so you'll know it's possible to have a very positive experience!

My 2nd, vaginal birth was horrendous, I couldn't sit down for weeks and I have terrible pelvic floor trauma nearly a decade later.

Definitely have the c section - I so wish I had chosen it for my second child as well.

I barely felt mine! Weird experience but up walking no pain the same day, discharged just over 24hrs after going in, up and down stairs/sofa/out of bed no problems. And only on paracetamol! I couldn’t recommend an elective section more tbh.

Apologies if this has been mentioned but one super useful thing was to tie a dressing gown cord to the bed frame to help turn over and get up from lying down in bed x

I had a planned section and recovery was absolutely fine, they like to get you up and moving as soon as possible. I had baby at 9am and by 11am the next day we were home. I also had a toddler at home so I took on most of the baby care while my husband was occupying my eldest, the only thing I didn't do for the first few days was carry her up and down the stairs because I felt quite weak and very slow until about day 7-10 but everything else care wise was fine. I was back doing the nursery run on foot (around 1 mile each way) by 2.5 weeks as DH was back to work, I just took it slowly and was fine. Good luck op!

I’ve had two -both planned. One was an easier recovery than the other but both were fine; I think emergency ones are a whole different story though.

With the recovery I’d say the first couple of days are pretty tough - you’re not unable to care for your baby but you should be resting. After the first couple of days you feel noticeably better with each passing day. By day 6 I felt more or less ok to be going for walks/on my feet cooking tea etc and by day ten I felt back to normal.

I don’t know if this is the norm but the hospital I went to, they like to have you on your feet within two hours of surgery. So you’re up and about pretty quickly afterwards.

The best advice I can give is:
— stay on top of your pain killers for the first couple of days. If you’re taking them every X amount of hours then do that - don’t wait to see if you’re in pain, just take them when you’re meant to.

Do not (I repeat do not) let yourself get constipated under any circumstances. I heard about this one absolute dickhead who was so preoccupied with her gorgeous new baby that she went over ten days without having a poo before she realised . Nearly needed a longer recovery period for the shit than the c-section.

Don’t look at your stitches if you’re squeamish.

If you get the continuous metal stitch thing, don’t stress about the midwife removing it because it actually doesn’t hurt.

Shave the top of your pubes beforehand.

Don’t lift anything heavier than the baby for a while after. My midwife reminded me that just because the surface has healed, there’s still 13 layers underneath all knitting together too.

If you get sent home with a really shit amount of decent painkillers, tell your midwife and they’ll get you a prescription for more. I think I got sent home with enough for a day and a half and both times I just said I didn’t think that was going to be enough and they got me more without any hassle.

Oh and last thing, the thing about not being able to drive for 6 weeks after is a myth. I had no choice but to be driving after the first week anyway (dh works away) but my insurance company said it’s just whenever you feel able to do an emergency stop.

I've had two c-sections now and honestly had EXCELLENT experiences. Key is to get some good postpartum recovery bits like a good belly binder. Take it slow initially and then work your way up to moving your body gently again. Walks with baby helped my recovery a lot. Belly binder made such a big difference tho

I’m going to be honest here OP. I had two difficult natural births (nearly died the first time), haemorrhaged, had terrible stitches and bruising and swelling etc. Decided to have an ELCS 4 months ago for DC3 as I thought that it’d be easier as my births were hard. It went very smoothly, no haemorrhage etc. I have never felt pain like it during recovery. I was in agony, couldn’t stand up straight for about 2 weeks, just did a bent over shuffle around the house. It was awful, I’d never choose it again BUT if they’re advising it on medical grounds then you should do what you think is best. Best of luck whatever you decide.

I had one after a natural birth previously. It wasn’t anything like as bad as I had anticipated, BUT I followed all advice to ask for as much pain relief as I needed and got a prescription to bring home either me.