C section alone

[Iamsaved1995]

Hey ladies. It's looking like I'm going to have to go into my c section alone, has anyone done this before? Are the midwifes/doctors helpful? Just wondering about the practicalities of it if there's no one else with you. Feeling a bit deflated and worried about it but what can you do.

Thanks

Most hospitals will recognise your circumstances and support you accordingly. Midwives are generally quite supportive from my exp.

Do you have someone to help you get home?

One of my friends has offered to give me a lift home thankfully!

I think it depends on how well staffed the ward is. My husband was with me for my c section, but was sent home around an hour later because it was Covid times and visitors weren’t allowed. It was an extremely challenging night in all honesty, because I was completely numb from the waist down for around 12 hours and on a catheter and so couldn’t move. The ward was extremely understaffed due to a high number of babies being born that day, and nobody came whenever I rang the call bell. I barely saw a midwife the entire time I was there after the surgery. This meant I had to sit bolt upright holding my baby the entire night, and so didn’t sleep at all. I just had to make sure that nappies etc were all in reach and cope as best as I could.

I begged to be discharged because of this, and was out of hospital less than 24 hours after surgery which was far too soon in retrospect.

However, this is not a typical experience at all. I was recently in the antenatal ward and the care was world’s apart- midwives in the room most of the time, routine check ins, and all calls answered within about 30 seconds.

In hospital there is plenty of support. However, will you be home alone?

I highly recommend getting a small adult bedrail so you can get out of bed easily. My recovery was fine but the one thing I found difficult up to around 6 weeks was getting out of and into bed. We do have a particularly low bed though.

You can carry your baby but try not to carry other stuff. Baby is sleepy and doesn't need much for a few weeks, you'll spend most days in the sofa.

Buy a really good baby carrier - it saved me around the 4-6 weeks colic crying mark when I had to do lots of bouncing, it's still hard carrying him around for ages but the baby carrier distributes the weight evenly on your back.

I found the midwives attentive. Hopefully that will be the same for you too. The woman next to me was on her own and they did seem to check in on her more and let her stay for an extra night.