How did you feel about having a c/s?

[sunshine_sieben]

Sterla, I have not had a c/s, but I still wanted to comment, I hope you don't mind. I think your feelings are very valid and not uncommon.

I had a completely natural waterbirth. So a very different experience. But, I still sometimes felt like DD wasn't really mine. She was NEVER seperated from me, I was the first person to touch her. But I still somehow felt like sooner or later I would have to give her back to her rightful mother. Maybe that was because my mum, who is a very strong woman, was there at the birth and stayed with us for 4 weeks after the birth to help out. While I'm so glad that I had her support (and I've asked her to do the same with #2), maybe I leaned so much on her that somehow, sometimes I felt like my daughter's sister rather than her mum. Don't get me wrong, I loved her from the second she was conceived. It was just the fact that I really was her mum, that took some time to sink in. It is such a hard concept to grasp that you were the one who made such a perfect little "thing".
Oh, and I didn't really "do" anything to birth my daughter either. I let it happen. I feel more like she and my body were just doing what had to be done and I was along for the ride.

Somebody asked about the hormonal ****tail and whether it is released during a c/s just like it is during a natural birth. The simple answer is: NO. Even an induced labour messes with the normal hormonal balance. But, fortunately nature gives us a second chance and those very important hormones (mainly pro-lactin and oxytocin) can be released after birth mainly through skin-to-skin contact and BFing. So in my opinion, if you give birth via c/s, it is very important that you try and spend as much skin-to-skin time in the days and weeks after birth to "catch up" with those hormones you misssed out on (goes for both, baby and mummy). We are also lucky that many off those hormones have been released during pregnancy so the process of bonding has actually started before birth.

Sasa