Cesarean Worries and Concerns
Hi IMs,
I am a FTM and at 36 weeks bub is still breeched. I am scared at the thought of having a C section so wanted to ask some fairly specific questions to some experienced C section mummas. I have nothing to compare it too, and no one in my immediate family or friend circle has had one either.
I am nervous about the whole procedure, i have no idea what to expect, or feel, or how the whole process works.
1. Epidural or spinal block? Pros and cons of both? Both scare the heck out of me
2. Pain management afterwards? Do you recommend buying some supportive pants or bamboo wraps? I have heard of the SRC recovery shorts but hesitant to buy as they are almost $200 a pop.
3. How long before you were driving?
4. How long until you could be intimate with your partner?
5. Could you have skin to skin afterwards with bub?
6. Does it affect breast feeding?
7. Anything you wish you knew in hindsight?
8. For those that have had VBAC and CS, what was honestly better?
Thanks for your time helping by answering. Hopefully it will calm me down somewhat.
Love from the rookie.
7 Replies
I've have a natural birth and 2 Caesars. My natural was a far better recovery and birth. My first c-section was because my 2nd child was breech. I had an epidural with both. I got skin to skin after my 2nd c-section but not my first. If I had a more supportive partner breast feeding would have been great. I drove after 4 weeks with both of them. I never brought any special pants for healing. In hindsight I wish I was more prepared the sooner you can get up the better. Don't just sit around light exercise makes your recovery better. Good luck!! Oh and look up natural ways of getting your baby to turn :)
1.epidural they can leave a plunger in to administers pain relief straight into your back
2.see above, i didnt need that much pain relief the nurses really make sure your not in pain.
3.i drove 5wks after each section
4. We had sex 5 to 6 wks after but very carefully
5.skin to skin straight away in recovery, once baby is born it only takes about 5 to 10 mins once your out in recovery and they never take baby out of your sight
6.sometimes because your hormones take longer to kick in
7. Take some nickers a few sizes bigger than u normally wear your scar will be right on your nicker line. Bring some comfy clothes/pants and get up and move asap the longer you lay around the hard it is and sorer you get ive had 3 sections. My last i had at 9am and was up walking by dinner time the same day. Lastly DONT over do it when you get home otherwise you can rip your stiches and it will just take longer to heal i learnt that the hard way
1. I've only had an epi but I highly recommend it! Haha. The anaesthetist will go over the options with you but as far as I know the epi is the most common;
2. I was taking Panadol and Nurofen. On the dot of 4 and 6 hours, respectively, but that's all. I had some back pain after (I'm not sure if that was from the epi or the rough labour I'd had, but a heat pack helped) and some pulling sensations in the wound but no real pain as such as long as I kept up with the meds. Taking it easily is vital. They encourage you to move around but KNOW YOUR LIMIT;
3. I drove after 3 weeks. Your doctor can assess you periodically to see if you're safe;
4. It was a little while before intimacy returned, not only because of the surgery but also BABY. It was uncomfortable to have DH on top for some time;
5. Yes, I had skin-to-skin in recovery. Hubby went ahead with bub while I was put back together and then we laid together for a good long while with bub on my chest. The midwife attached her to my nipple there too for the first time;
6. It can affect breastfeeding. It didn't for us. We breastfed for 2.5 years. Lots of skin-to-skin, ask for help when you need it. The hardest part of it for me was finding a comfy spot to do it and a good position as my breasts were bigger than her head! Stay in hospital as long as you need so that you are confident when you get home.
7. In hindsight, I wish I'd known how hard it would be to get out of bed. You have to rely on your arms to push you up and it's HARD! It was honestly the most stressful part but that was also because I was also exhausted. Thankfully that part doesn't last long.
Good luck xxxxxxx
1St for me was CS - the op was excellent but it's the recovery after that's the bitch. I found the recovery painful and the pain lasted for about 3 months. Bub was a big 4.5kg and breech so it was the best for both of us. As for breastfeeding - the 'football' hold was the most comfortable and kept wriggling bub away from the stitches. I didn't have any special undies, mostly went commando under a loose dress as was more comfortable not to have anything around the scar.
Then I had a vbac - it was induced. The drugs were horrible. I tried without an epidural but couldn't cope (midwife said something like 95% of induced labours get the epidural). Ended up exhausted and they 'vacuumed' bub out. My placenta wouldn't detach so at 1am I was carted away to have a d and c - it was stuck to the c-section scar. After all that I ended up being unable to control my bladder and had to undergo physio. I had some of those high-waisted undies with tummy support - nothing expensive - $20 each or whatever from bigw or target.
Love my kids, but for me a CS and vbac were both as awful as each other.
1. Not sure I was given an option! I think I had a spinal.
2. I used a stretchy tube bandage thing that a physio gave me. Wore it most days for a few weeks.
3. I think I drove short distances by about 4 weeks. My OB said that the main thing was that I had to be comfortable with heavy braking in an emergency.
4. Well I had this disgustingly huge plaster across my lower abdomen for 5-6 weeks so there was no way I was getting intimate with that. But was also still a bit sore. I think we tried at about 7 weeks. Thankfully my OB had warned me to get lube! I needed that for quite a while, even though I hadn't expected to be affected in that way after a CS.
5. I didn't have as much as I 'should' have in retrospect (see below).
6. It did for me, mainly because I think I was not prepared. My daughter slept a lot and even though I asked the midwives no one really told me that I should be waking her for feeds, so we got on a downward spiral where he was too weak and not feeding well and my milk didn't come in and he lost too much weight. Once we gave him formula it was very hard to get off it so I mix fed for months. Anyway I'm about to have #2 (I think maybe you replied to my post??) and saw a lactation consultant to get my head around trying again. Honestly I'm not as fussed this time about whether or not I exclusively bf, but I want to give it a go and hopefully get off to a better start. So I'm going to do more skin to skin and also make sure that I'm feeding about 8 times a day by day 3, even if it means waking it. The lactation consultant did think that sometimes a CS will affect how the milk comes in, if nothing else because the baby was not as ready to be born and may be more sleepy. Others may disagree that it has any effect, but in my mothers group almost all of us who had CS had feeding issues and only one who had a vaginal birth had issues.
7. I did end up with mild nerve damage which still hasn't gone away after nearly 3 years. Not much I could do about it though. It seemed to me that quite a few ppl who had had CS did experience some numbness around the scar for a while but for me it was a larger patch, front and back. Over the years the patch is smaller but still there. REally crossing my fingers it doesn't get worse this time.
Oh and also this time I'm going to try to do vaginal seeding. Recommended by the lactation consultant and my OB is supportive. May be BS, but there does seem to be some evidence in favour.
8. Wish I could find out.....
1. Ive had both epi and spinal and recovered the same for both. For me neither was more uncomfortable or painful although I'm quite certain I lost bowel control with the spinal block (none of the midwives would confirm this though)
2. Granny jocks that sit above your scar are fine. I took the pain meds in hospital and that was it really.
3. Drove after two weeks with both
4. Waited until my 6 week check up but could have done it a bit sooner
5. First baby no because it was an emergency and he was rushed to NICU, second baby I had skin to skin while I was stitched up, then as soon as I was in recovery I had her back in my arms again
6. For me no, it didn't affect breastfeeding apart from the fact that my milk took a few days to come in (but I've had friends who had vaginal births that also had a few days before milk arrived)
7. you still bleed... A lot. I didn't pack near enough pads at the hospital and had to send hubby out to get them as the hospital only provided a few. Oh and take loads of bottled water and snacks because you will be super thirsty and hungry and sometimes the midwives are run off their feet and can't get to you straight away.
8. I will hopefully be able to answer this in 6 weeks when I attempt my vba2c :)
I had a spinal that suited me perfectly.
I only ever needed Panadol and nurofen
Belly support really helps
Practice how to get out of bed ( roll onto side and push yourself up)
It helps if your other half can spend a few nights with you
The third day is the worst pain wise ( don't ask me why)
The spinal doesn't hurt
I had no issues breast feeding what so ever
I packed dresses that were loose and flowy and high waisted underwear. You want something that sits above cut and pants aren't that comfy.
Try to get up and move as much as you can
Enjoy the experience. My c section was such a healing experience compared to my traumatic first birth. And I healed so quickly after it.