c/s- the AFTER effects that you never knew

[maz]

Ok Im sick to death of hearing how c/s are bad ect and no-one listening.

Im hear to say that NO I didnt have a choice in matter - like many other woman dont.

Im hear to tell you my side effects of having 4 c/s and a tubual reversal.

No its not glamorous, beautiful or pretty. Its disgusting!

I have a tummy that has no feeling in it. I can get a pin and ***** it and not feel it. This is due to my nerves being cut and damaged for my c/s. Do you know how horrible it is for your son to say
mummy your bleeding on your tummy
only to look down and see a pin in 1 cm and not feel it.

My tummy also hangs dramitically down over my woo hoo area. The medical term for this is called an apron. I call it a GUNT. It is annoying to have to pile this amount of flappy skin into a pair of trousers or underwear without having a tummy that looks box shaped or overly discorted. Also, the first place I put weight on is in my tummy and it sticks out half amile...almost looks like 2 tummies.

My muscles are also damaged in this region due to my c/s so even doing sit ups wont give me a nice flat tummy or strentghen this area. Jelly on a plate...yep thats my tummy.

My scar also gets sore on a hot day as my darling GUNT doesnt allow for airflow and the build up of sweat lingers. Nappy rash on your tummy is not a nice thing to have...nor is the lovely disgusting smell that comes with it

My scar hurts at the best of times and can get quiet itchy. Not a nice thing to be seen doing when your shopping I can tell you. I also get a bit of pulling on my right hand side if im not careful, I can feel the pain and heat from the pulling on the inside.

So if you think a c/s is a fab way to go...think again. My last one was 4 months ago and I still have these problems. they dont just disapear magically at the 6 week mark, they are with me for life. Its something that I wouldnt wish upon anyone.

maz will get off her soap box now

[visitor1]

Well done for speaking out Maz. I can only empathise with what you are dealing with and what you have to endure post c/s.

I think its good to put the hard true facts out there and you have done that...so thanks.

I wish there was more i could say....but i cant.

All the best hun...im sorry you have to go through all that.

[~breeze~]

Thanks Maz for being so honest...

[MantaRay]

Maz, thank you for sharing that to help others. And big hugs to you.

I feel much the same way about epidurals now - I wish I had known the "untalked about" effects of them before I'd had one.

[Trish]

Maz, good on you for sharing huni. I too hope that this post helps to sway just one mum to be. It is post's like these that make women have a second and perhaps a third thought about it all before jumping head first in.

Huge hugs to you huni

Oh, and PMSL at your GUNT. DP will love that name. And I couldn't agree more. The only way to get rid of the flab is a tummy tuck. Wish I had to $$ to do it.

[sushee]

My sister had 2 vaginal births and 1 c/s (elective but her ob convinced her she had to have it because her pelvis was too small, despite having birthed from that same pelvis twice previously). She told me recently the worst thing she ever did was agree to the c/s. She too has no feeling in her scar, and she hates how her tummy looks now.

Good on you Maz for bringing the reality into focus a little with regards to c/s being major abdonimnal surgery.

[Inanna]

Great post Maz - I thank you for your honesty and Woman -ness.

I hear you, I hear you. Me the water birthing, chanting, active birthing Mama had a c-section too. Yes, that c-section saved my life and it had to happen but I too have the FLABP (not a typo). A flop of flab that I have to tuck into my jeans. I am proud of my body and all that it has done - but the FLABP I DO NOT wear with a badge of honour. It sucks! I have scar pain, irritation too.

Yes, c/s are not without very visible and confidence eroding side effects.

[Rouge]

Hear hear sister!

What about the fact that it took nearly 2 years for me to have full movement back without there being a really painful twinge on my scar line.

Or that I can feel it every time I have my period of a mild case of IBS.

I don't care what anyone says a healing scar is FOUL! No matter how good it is done, I never had an infection but I still thought it was bloody gross! Yet when I had my son all I had to deal with was lochia.

I could walk to my room from the delivery suite (after VBAC) pushing my sons crib (you should have seen me you would have thought I just got given the purple heart). I had that smile on my face and literally nodded at everyone I passed as though they knew I was some kind of legend for doing it myself. I was on cloud 9! Yet with my c/s I was groggy and numb from the butt down, I couldn't get out of bed let alone pick my baby up out of her crib. I needed help in every way possible.

The first 6 weeks were a nightmare, but as you say it continued on way beyond that and yes I have a cat door and hate summer for the same reasons you do. And it has nothing to do with weight let me tell you because even the skinny minni's I know who have had c/s have it too.

Three cheers hon you have done a brave thing And no I'm not knocking anyone's choices, but if I can help one of those who may be unsure then I am happy to voice my concern.

[christy]

I think for me also its the tugging feeling in the scar when you have gut cramps, or when you are pregnant again & the scar has searing pain. I had that pulling feeling from where the drain was for around a year after the c/s. The inability to hold your baby properly, and safely without help for the first few days its so sad....

[nic]

You know, 8 years after my c/s, my scar still gets irritated and itchy, and I can scratch it red raw some days.

Love your description of your GUNT, Maz. Mine is pretty good, except I have the little overflap bit on one end only, which makes it look even worse!

Nic

[paradise lost]

Thankyou for such beautiful posts ladies. The truth hurts and such honesty can be hard to speak too, so thank you all for getting this out there. They just DON'T tell women these things in hospitals...

Bx

[~Raven~]

Love you for your honesty Maz!

[Roryrory]

I haven't had a c/s but am sharing this on behalf of my mum who had one with me. She ended up with an incisional hernia (her stomach/bowel pushed through the muscle wall where her scar was) that nearly cost her life, some 30 years AFTER the surgery. So ladies please keep an eye on your scars in the future....

[Astrid]

Good thread - can't really add more to what has been said. I am not really pro plastic surgery, but I am seriously considering a tummy tuck in a few years when my weight is back in check to get rid of the flap!

[Amity]

My belly is disgusting/gross. I can't explain how awful it feel ssometimes. I totally agree with you Maz, it's awful.

And that I get thrush/skin infections due to the belly flap hanging over the scar site.

And that it hurts like buggery when I get my brazillian done.

And sometimes there are little lumps and bumps that pop up in that region for no apparent region.

And that when i get thrush/skin infection on my wound scar IT STINKS and I feel like I'm REALLY GROSS and unclean.

And that i can scratch it to buggery and still feel itchy.

And that I have very little feeling there at all.

And that my second c/s scar is SMALLER than my first and they didn't clean it properly and it hasn't healed 100% somehow...

oh Maz, I totally agree with you - although I also know that if I didn't have a c/s with Alex, then he certainly wouldn't be here, and there's a very good chance I wouldn't be here either. However, i did feel pressured into having a 2nd c/s with ned, and I so totally wish I'd avoided that... but of course XH knew best... ARGH!

Please think before you "elect" to have a c/s.. there are so many different things you need to consider!

[wardygirl]

Couldn't have said it better Maz.

I hated my c/s but it was an emegency and save both Tyler's and my lives.

I would NEVER CHOOSE a caesarian. NEVER!!!

[LimeSlice]

Good one maz!!

And I know I'm supposed to be all pc and say that I won't knock anyone's choice - but if you CHOOSE to have a CS with no medical grounding inthat decision, I think you are nuts.
It is MAJOR ABDOMINAL SURGERY and it's not a game. It's serious, has serious repercussions that can and will last a lifetime.
I hate my scar.
It gets itchy ALL Teh time, and you cant even itch it because you actualy have no nerves left.
Where it has been sewn together there are pubes trying to brow back from where they shave you and they cant grow properly and itch and get infected and ingrown.
My tummy is all flabby and no excercise will ever help it, and EVERY layer of my abdominal muscles has been hacked through and sewn together and will still not be knit back properly orhave the same strength it had pre-section.

If you want a pain free birth, you wont get it from a c-section.

[DrGirl72]

And I thought my partner invented the 'gunt'. WIll have to tell her she is not so original!