It has taken me a while to write this as i didnt enjoy one bit of my c section experience.
It started out from early on when having all the testing for SLO that we knew i had grade 4 placenta previa so i would need a c section i was booked in at 38 weeks but at 37 weeks started bleeding so was in hospital for a few days i was trying to push for it to be done then and there as i went into labour 3 weeks early with my last son and having quick births didn’t want to risk anything going wrong but the doctor said no i was also worried because i kept dreaming there was a problem with the umbilical cord night after night the same dream it was in a knot or wrapped around bubs neck.
I asked at every u/s (there were many) for them to check the cord and only once did the tech say it was bunched around the chest area.
Anyway the night before the c section i started to feel funny but slept fine i was suppose to be at the hospital at 6am and my c section was scheduled 3rd on the list and i was told around 12:00 lunch time i should be going to theatre.
Well little miss had other plans on the way to the hospital i started having contractions just light niggles by 8am they put me on a monitor and said looks like the very early stages of labour but by 9am i was feeling it so the panicked and put me 1st on the list and i was rushed down to theatre where i had the specialist ob waiting and the specialist anaesthesiologist so i was in good hands they made me feel safe and were fantastic in explaining every step of what i should and should not feel i had to sign consent forms for a hysterectomy if i haemorrhaged and needed blood transfusions i said as long as bub and i both live do what you have to.
The surgeon put on some 80's music and started dancing around then all the nurses and other doctor joined in i must admit i was so at ease i can not regard them highly enough.
Anyway the surgery was fine easy they didnt even have to push the top of my belly to get her out i was so compacted and tight that missy moo just popped out a sweet 6lb 7oz dark haired beauty i got to see DH cut the cord and have the 1st cuddle then she was given to me for a bit and then i was off to recovery.
The specialist came and saw me and said we were very lucky that we had a c section as Ella had the cord wrapped tightly around her neck 3 times and a natural birth would have been dangerous or she could have died from cord asphyxiation before going into labour it was that tight HOW FREAKY I WAS DREAMING THAT.
OK getting to the bad bit.
That night was horrendous the midwives couldn’t read the doctors notes properly and they took my PCA morphine machine away thinking i had a long acting morphine injection in my spinal but i didn’t so by 10pm that night i was in excruciating pain i was gripping the bed crying i started to bleed from my wound through the bed sheets and blankets i had doctors and nurses panicking talking about sending me back to surgery they thought i had internal bleeding so started me on an oxytocin drip (same as when they induce you to make my uterus contract) to stop bleeding that hit me like a tonne of bricks contraction after contraction with a uterus that was just cut open and stitched back up F#CK!!!!! i was in pain i could have died and i didn’t care that went on most of the night finally the doctors called the specialist surgeons to come have a look at me when i again bled through the sheets and blankets this was 4 am they were horrified that my PCA machine was gone and informed the doctor on duty and nurses that this poor lady just had major surgery and has no pain relief what so ever they looked shocked and said the normal procedure for c section mums was to come back from recovery without a PCA machine and having had a long acting morphine in the spinal injection.
The surgeon changed mine because they had to pull my uterus out and place it on my belly to sew it up and put it back in place so wanted better pain relief for me.
So they strapped my wound really tight OUCH!!! that was horrible and ordered some strong morphine A.S.A.P by 6am i was pain free.
That day i had hospital officials and pain management people come and apologise for the stuff up and the midwives that took my PCA machine were sooooooooooo sorry that they miss read the notes and told me they have never seen a mum go through the pain that i did and said i am one strong woman YEH RIGHT!!!! what choice did i have i couldn’t move couldn’t speak i was in so much pain my DH and mum came in 1st thing in the morning and asked how was my 1st night i burst into tears i didnt even get to see my Ella all night the midwives had her and she had no feeds over night at all they were waiting for me to breast feed when i was well so i was p#ssed off i hoping my girl wasnt crying hungry all night i didnt ask i didnt want to know.
I was up and showered by lunch time and DH was mortified when he showered me because i was black from the incision site down to my vay jay jay even my lips were swollen and black i looked like i had ball's the doctor said it was from all the pushing they did on my belly to stop the bleeding and the oxytocin drip was full on so i had truma in that area and all the blood had pooled in my neither regions
I ended up with a temp so they thought i had an infection so was put on a drip but that was just a precaution.
4 days later i went home with no pain relief i was glad it was over and my girl was safe.
So that is my c section story sorry it was long.
Ella Jean Christine Spacey our miracle.
6lb 7oz
48cm long
34cm head c
By all means do i have had 4 natural births and they were nothing compared to the pain after my c section and it took 3 weeks until i was able to get up and down from sitting without pain and to get out of bed was a whole different experience ouch!
I am so sorry to hear your post surgical pain relief was so horribly mis-managed, there is no excuse for that in this day and age.
But I am so happy for your that your precious DD made it safely into the world, what a special connection you must have to have the warnings in your dream space.
Tashy-Well i can only believe it was Abbi sending me some sort of message that made me dream of the cord around Ella's neck because it was bizzar that turned out to be true.
Kit-i really dont know how i managed the night and i tried to be as quiet as possible because there was other ladies in the room with me and i thought what i was going through was just normal after a c section so i thought i was being a sook turns out i am stronger than i give myself credit for.
Wow, there is so much in this post! The good was good and the bad was horrific.
I can't believe that the nurses didn't communicate with you about your baby...ummm, you only were in there to have her
Hopefully, they all listened about your dreams and what transpired and don't write off a mother's intuition so quickly.
You did very well - as you say, you had no choice, and to not listen to you is very professionally negligent (and personally negligent!).
Congratulations on getting through that rocky start to mothering Ella - fingers crossed you guys sail MUCH smoother waters from here on in!
Well done ferrals! What a horrible experience to go through - people who think a cs is the easy option have another thing coming! I'm so glad that you and gorgeous Ella got home safely and you're going ahead great guns now. The nurses really stuffed it up there - if they can't understand the orders you RING SOMEONE FOR CLARIFICATION!!!! Basic nursing rules 101.
Glad you got through it mostly intact you wonderful mother
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The Good and Bad of my c section
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