Caesarean Chatter - May 2005

I was the same Christy - preferred to sit rather than lay down & also found it difficult to roll over for a while.

I just had my second c/section and it felt so much different than the first.
When i had my first one they told me everything they where doing this timei knew nothing other than the pulling pain i felt i even felt them pull Alexander out.

I was up and about by 10am the next day.

I am so looking forward to sleeping on my side again. Feel as if my throat is always sore from sleeping on my back all the time.

It`s now 2 weeks since my c/s and since about Saturday I have felt much better, but with Matthew being sick with the flu I`ve had to get up and down to him so many times in the night that my scar has been a little tender and at the change table it`s at the right height for him to kick Mummy right on her scar, it feels more bruised now when he does kick in that area. I know I`ve been doing a few things I shouldn`t be doing and my belly does remind me.

Now just trying to think of when they got me up after the c/s, it would have been about 3pm the following day, so 22 hours after the op. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been best if they got me up sooner to move around it might have been so painful, looking back at it all now the memories of pain certainly fade.

I was talking to a lady a few days ago she has an 11 week old and had a c/s and says she`s still tender and she also mentioned the pain of having a c/s. I`m glad Im not the only one here who thinks c/s are painfull.

Sarah - Your like me what skin to skin contact, as I`ve told you I was in recovery for 2 hours and didn`t see my son until 8pm and he was born at 5.15pm. Sounds like you had a few awful midwives there.

Kat - It`s wonderful that our DH`s help us out like that when we really do need them. Fancy that they wouldn`t believe you that you had an infection, glad you got some attention eventually.

Kerryn - You poor thing having to walk all that way after a c/s, sometimes you`d like to see them do it and just stand back and watch how they cope.

Take Care

Deeanne

As a nurse, I know the value of getting up and about ASAP, so I was up and in the shower about 5 hrs after my csec, oh god it was painful, but I knew it was best so, I struggled through. I went home at day 3 coz I wanted to be with the big girls too. I also had voltaren suppositories, I HATED having to get up, out of bed, was fine once I was up, but it was the going from lying to standing I hated the most, but I guess the BAD pain, was only for a week or so, then it started to ease off. They are shocking hey girls, and I dont think anyopne would do it for fun hey!!

Sarah - I can't believe the midwives that you had - I'm not sure how I would cope being yelled at?? 8-[ And to go home after day 3 - were you feeling OK?

From all of your posts, I am gathering that to get up and around ASAP is the key to a good recovery and I am loving the idea of the Voltaren suppositories (sp?) I will make a note of these and talk to my OB about this type of pain relief....

As my c/s is planned, I would be hoping for some skin on skin time - but I guess it all depends on the baby?

Megan

I think if you make sure you tell them you want skin to skin time Megan then you should be alright to get it if bub is ok.

I didn't cope with being yelled at very well at all! It was the Tuesday night & I had buzzed them at 10.15 only for her to finally show up at 11.25 to yell at me! Nice hey?! I stuck it out til about 6am when I rang Aaron with Zander & I both crying & said get here NOW!

I hadn't planned on going home that early but just couldn't deal with that particular midwife anymore. I was still very sore & unsure that I should be leaving but felt much much better about it the next day after sleeping in my own bed! It's amazing how different I felt at home with my family to look after me, rather than at the hospital.

Sarah it sounds like your midwives were absolute knobs!

Talk about someone going through the mechanical motions of a "job" rather than striving to do their job to the best of their ability!

I guess it's just like any workplace... some people are nice, and some are not-so-nice. Just makes it hard when they're supposed to be looking after your well-being, but neglecting the emotional part of that (if you're like me and look at well-being from a physical, emotional and spiritual perspective).

As far as skin to skin contact goes, I say go in there with a birth plan that you've shared with your OB and midwives (and partner) and if bubs is fine they'll grant that request. If something happens and they forget, or they have to suction some extra stuff out of bubs or something, be flexible and roll with it.

If you get fixated on that one thing and it doesn't happen, it could ruin the whole arrival for you :D

Thanks for the advice Mistyfying! I am open to go with the flow - but just want to expereince as much as I can with our little boy as quickly as possible...

Sarah - did you complain about that midwife? What hospital was it at? You are so brave and controlled not to scream back at her!!!

Megan

Campbelltown Hospital in NSW Megan. My problem was I just cannot remember her name! I should really find out - my brother's friends mum is a midwife there, but she's in delivery not maternity so she might not know her.

I am so sorry to hear of your experiences Sarah - a girlfriend of mine went to the Royal North Shore Hospital and complained about a midwife there that was just awful to her as well after having a c/s...bugger that you can't remember her name!!

Hope life with your little boy is just wonderful....

Megan

Hi, I'm back. It's only been a few days but this thread has been very active.

Sorry it sounded so bad that I had to walk to special care, oops, I should explain myself more.

The morning after his delivery, they took me to intensive care, bed and all - now this was painful, felt every bump, to see my baby. He was so big in comparison to the premmies. His feet were touching the bottom of the humidicrib and his head the top, even I found this funny. The next day they took me in a wheel chair. But by day 3 they really want you walking, I was in the room with the door right opposite the special care nursery, so they did try to make it easy for me and the midwives would walk with me to make sure I was ok. We were in for seven days and went home the day that he was able to leave special care.

Also re the birth, even though I had a very sick baby, I was still given him to hold and then my husband went with him to the nursery. I think it was another two days before we got to hold him again.

I just wanted to add something that I remembered that is worth sharing. I started to feel really great after around 10 days, well in comparison to how I had felt since I hadn't handled the pain very well. I don't remember when, I think it was after a couple of weeks, I went to the supermarket. Did the shopping, pushed the trolley to the car (all things I'm sure I was told not to do). Next day I was in awful pain that lasted a couple of days, so the lesson here is, it's true what they say about being careful.

I can't wait to see how I handle it this time, state of mind may have a big impact on how the pain is perceived and since I was unable to do anything for my baby, I probably had too much time to dwell on myself. I was also really upset that I had had a caesarean as I had never contemplated that this would happen to me. My first was a 7 hour labour and the second was supposed to be easier!

Naturally, I would love to have a VBAC, since in my experience the caesarean was much harder but it's really scary having a sick baby and the factors against me are:

I'll probably need an induction, which adds to the risk, as I have not delivered a baby before 42 weeks and as I'm older there is a higher risk that my placenta will fail earlier than it did with my son;

My second baby was 9.3 lbs and too big, so this baby will need to be smaller for me to have a chance (so hard to tell);

Also, I'm more scared of having a sick baby than I am of the pain.

So after talking to my OB, I think I have decided to have the caesarean without a trial labour unless it is spontaneous.

Should have told you all to go make a cuppa at the start of this! It's pretty exciting though anticipating what will happen.

Wow Sarah, That midwife sounds horrible! I feel so lucky to have had the midwives I had. They took DD for me the first and second nights I was in hospital. I didn't ask them to, but the first night I think i was still a bit groggy, and the second night DD was crying non stop so they took her again! By the 3rd day I wanted to go home - Well to my parents house, home was still 200 klms away and with lots of bumps on the road too!!

You know something I never gave any consideration to was having some sort of bith plan incase I needed a c/s. From memory, I think DD's 1st bath was from a midwife. They wrapped her up in some nice warm clothes and put her under the heat lamp with DH, trying to keep her nice and warm, so no skin to skin contact here either.

It has definately given me something to think about for next time.

Is there anything that you will be doing differently next time? My biggest concern is making sure DD and myself aren't overwhelmed by all these people visiting the new addition. I'm planning on making the first day just for DH, DD, with my parents and DH's parents either later that arvo or early next morning. The next day can be grandparents and brothers/sisters then aunts/uncles etc...
I know DH family won't like this at all, particularly his grandmother, but I don't care!! :D

Nic

just going back to when you get out of bed after c sec...

i had jaykob at 3.30pm wed, they wanted me up that night. i refused.
i was made to get up at 11 am following day even tho i asked not too - i lost alot of blood and my iron was at 70 ( normal is approx 120) i felt $hitty and weak. They said I was lazy so I got up got into shower, passed out and MY GOD it hurt to get up from the floor.

This factored towards my blood transfusion.

but yeah i wished they'd just let me be in some ways.

I had no pain apart from the fall and when i first woke up ( i had GA) for about 10 seconds.

I had painkillers for three days and then i rejected them, I just didnt feel I needed them.

I had shocking midwives as well. It really contributed to me feeling extremely horrid after the birth........

I wasn't allowed to get out of bed for 24 hours after Jacob was born, and then they got me out and man, did it hurt! I couldn't roll over days either and I felt like I had to hold my stomach to hold everything in IYKWIM?! I had a bed that was wonky too, and the nurses kept trying to experiment with it whilst I was still in it. Basically, it would go up (the back of it) but not back down and despite me telling every nurse as she came on shift, they still tried fiddling with it. One finally got it to go back down, but rather suddenly and without warning!! I went from a semi-upright position to flat on my back in a matter of seconds!!! I couldn't believe the pain, even with the epidural still in place, which was slowly being turned off. I had the epidural in for 24 hours. After that I had voltaren suppositories (ewww), panadeine and had to have anti-nausea medication every day because I was feeling so ill.

oh wow I just realised how amazing my midwives were... I wrote a letter saying so to QLD health because they were just fantastic, I just never sent it 8-[ . After 20 or so hours of labour than an emergency c/s and hearing some of your stories, I was so blessed to have the team I had. They helped me roll over, they moved Matilda around for me, put her on my boob when I was overwhelmed with everything, just sat & chatted when I was anxious... everything, and were just great. I guess when I realise how amazing they were I get a bit teary thinking of how horrible it would have been to have nazi's looking after you!! I had one midwife I thought was going to be that way inclined, but after Matilda was born she came in and visited on her day off and said that she was proud of me for going as long as I did and my determination really showed through, and she was a midwife for 20 years...

I think I'll go and send that letter next week....

Wow! My midwives were pretty good too. In fact, I was the one hounding them to get the catheter out so that I could move around the next morning. I had my c-section at 5pm and didn't have to get up and moving until the next morning.
The only thing that annoyed me was that i said I was really thirsty. They said I could have some ice chips but didn't bring them in! Grrr! Needless to say, I gulped the water down once I was allowed to have it when the drip was out.

Do send that letter, Christy. I can see where the good midwives are undervalued incredibly and probably turn into nasty pasties after a while because they are so over worked and don't feel appreciated.

Tootie - I can't believe that they didn't give you a decent bed to lay in! You would think that they would keep the maintenance up esp. for people who have just had major surgery!

MummyLovesJaykob - OMG @ them calling you lazy! As IF you wouldn't want to get up and move around as soon as you could! Honestly, it amazes me how some forget to treat you like a human being instead of just another number. Just because one person is up and at em straight away, doesn't mean the next will too! As for fainting, that would have been aweful! I bet getting up was horrid!

Gabby was taken to special care for the first night, too. I was still bed-ridden and didn't see her until Neil came in the next day. He wheeled me in a wheel-chair because the special care unit is downstairs from the actual ward at Geelong. I probably should have got to Gabby a lot earlier but I didn't want Neil to miss out iykwim? And the only reason why she was taken there was because there wasn't enough staff up on the ward to attend to her needs. Silly, hey? If I hadn't had the c-section, I could have had her with me and brought her down to special care every few hours when she needed to be checked. Catch 22!

Deb - get this, they finally got me a new bed, and it was a normal double bed so that DH could stay with me if he wanted to (it was already in the room). Thing was, it was so incredibly painful getting in and out of bed at that level, that I actually asked that I get a single bed back and the double bed be moved across the other side of the room where it had originally been, so that DH could still stay. The b*tch of a midwife told me that she would show me how to get in and out of bed so that it didn't hurt me, but having a bad back, I knew the correct way to get in and out of bed and was 99% certain I was doing it the best way possible. Well, what do you know, the midwife showed me, and of course, it was the way I'd already been doing it. When I told her this and said it was just too painful, and again requested another bed, she said this to me "You'll just have to bite your lip and do it". ARGH!!!

I have a confession to make too, which I have to say to this day I am incredibly embarrassed about. I don't know where Jacob was on his first night.....whether he was with me, or in the nursery. I was so out of it from days without sleep, and full of pain relief medication and in such a horrible emotional state that I just can't remember..........I feel so awful that I don't know. DH wasn't in the hospital with me that night either, so he also doesn't know.

I really should come in and share my stories but I am so flat out at the moment trying to just get through each day!!! Asha is teething and fingers crossed tonight she will sleep better (but I won't hold my breath).

A quick run down on it all ... I had an emergency c-section with Jack after 13 1/3 hours labour (epidural which they allowed to wear off so I could push effectively ... thats a whole other story!). I had an elective c-section with Asha because they thought she would be the same size as Jack if not bigger (shouldn't have listened to them!!).

Anyway have things to do for work tomorrow so will come back and fill in all the gory details later ;)

Cheers

Hi - I had an emergency CS with Caitlin and have been offered the choice of having an elective one this time ! I've got a fair while to think about it, but I am leaning towards having it to avoid all the possible drama of having another emergency one, just for peace of mind. I don't tell many people this as the response I've had has been far from positive.

I was fine after the first one, out of bed 10 hours later as caitlin was in the special care nursery for a day with breathing problems. I must have been a sight ! Walking down the hall with the drip on one pole and a drainage thingie in my pocket.

I also had two crabby midwives who tried to take over and do things that I wanted to.

Also - when does the first bath happen ? Caitlin was born on a monday and I'm sure i didnt bathe her until thursday ??

Cheers,
Barb.

Barb, Zander was born on Sunday 1.30am & didn't get his bath until the Wednesday.

Geez Toots it sounds like you had some shocking midwifes as well. You'd think after all the stuff you went through they'd be a bit nicer. As for where Jacob was the first night, I'm not 100% sure where Zander was either. I think he was with the midwives - they kept the bubs with them behind the desk, not in an actual nursery - but am not totally sure.

Christy I think you should send the letter too. In our maternity ward there were forms for Midwife Of The Year, I've filled one out for the midwife I had in delivery. She was great - was with me from 7am-7pm (her shift finished at 3pm) and the came to visit us the next two days.

So who else had their hubby/partner with them? I know Dee's Mark was allowed to stay & by the sounds Tootie's hubby was there... Aaron was only allowed to be there in normal visiting hours. The night before we left I had the baby blues pretty bad & Zander was screaming so he asked to stay a bit longer & they wouldn't let him - it's not like he wouldv'e bothered anyone, I had a single room.

Yeah my DH was there for a few nights, the rest of the time he was at home looking after our furry friends!!

I had a single room too and Dad's weren't supposed to spend the night, but they were allowed to stay as long as they wanted too... so DH left one night at 11pm and they were allowed back in at 6.30am... I told DH to sleep in and come in later in the mornings like around 11am and then stay until late. It was good for him & the dogs too :) He would walk the dogs in the morning & mum would go home around 5.30pm and feed them at night so we would have quiet time in the evenings together.

Barb - Gabby had her first bath the day after she was born and I was expected to bathe her every day (I guess for practice). I think sometimes it depends on the bub's temp. If your little one was in special care, it may not have been possible to bathe her for a few days.
Gab was in special care for the first day and a half but, yeah, she was ok to have a bath the day after. Neil gave her the first bath as per my family tradition. My Dad bathed all of us for the first time. It was soooo cute to watch and he did a brilliant job!

Jacob wasn't bathed for a few days either. I can't really remember why, but I do recall a midwife saying that babies find comfort in being able to still smell the amniotic fluid on their skin.

They had us wait as well for 2 days :-k we didn't even ask why LOL

I don't even know when Alexander had his first bath.

Barb - The midwives bathed Matthew when they took him and DH off to the special care nursery, they bathed him, dressed him gave him his Vit K and Hip B injections all without me being present or informed on what they were doing with him, luckily Mark was with him all the time. The next day, the midwife came in and took over and bathed him, after that I was transferred to my post natal care hospital (thankgoodness) at this hospital midwives were lovely but Mark did the baths as they didn`t want me to stand over the bath and hurt my stitches.

I finally bathed Matthew at home for the first time, he was 12 days old. I didn`t mind Mark bathing him, it was lovely to watch and see them both bond but I was not impressed that they took him away from me so soon after birth to get him washed and dressed.

Take Care

Deeanne

It's hard, isn't it Dee? You go through the motions, esp. with a c-section because, let's face it, they are the experts. It's hard to really convey what you want when there is so much going on. It's not until you look back and think "Hang on a minute!" that you realise how much they have just taken over.
I will certainly be throwing my weight around a little more with the next one. Skin on skin ASAP, and no taking her away from me. The only reason why Gabby needed to be in special care was because there wasn't enough staff on the ward to attend to her. That's not good enough imo!!

It is hard isn`t it Deb, your exactly right it`s not until a c/s happens and later you think I should have told them this,this and this. But I didn`t even think that far ahead, next time will be different and we will not be delivering at that hospital again and I`ll tell them I want skin to skin contact asap not 3 hours after birth.

That`s terrible that there wasn`t enough staff to attend to Gabby.

Yeah... it was a pain, Dee. Her blood sugar levels were low so they had to be monitored every few hours (which meant she got quite a few foot *****s while we were there).
The worst part is, apparently not all babies get tested. Her blood sugar was tested because of the c-section. If all babies were tested, then they would be finding a lot more with low blood sugar (that obviously takes care of itself most of the time!!).
Because I couldn't get up to take her down to special care and there weren't enough midwives upstairs, she had to be away from me. She was fed intoveneously (sp?) through a tube rather than put on the boob which also contributed to my rough start with BFing.

Zander was taken away straight away before I even go to hold him too. I have no idea what they did with him, so I'm really glad that I told Aaron he was to stay with him & not me.

It's not fair that we aren't given the same options that women who deliver vaginally are - it's just normal practice for bub to be handed to mum for a cuddle / feed / whatever isn't it?

I think so, Sarah.
I dunno... maybe babies have to be checked after the c-section for shock or something?
I know I had meconium in my waters so that might be why Gabby was checked... dunno.. I guess I should have asked...
I didn't think of all these questions at the time! LOL I wonder why?