Your c/s and pain?

i'm another who felt minimal pain post c/s - i was up and about as soon as they'd let me (i think maybe 6 hours later when the catheter came out) and was able to do everything for DD from the start. i figured maybe my experience was unusual - i know i have a fairly high pain tolerance for most things - and thought maybe this was another example. i know emotionally i didn't find the section traumatic. i made the call after labouring "gently" from the tuesday night til thursday morning, and actively labouring from thursday morning to friday morning. i was ready for it, and as much as i'd have preferred to not go through major surgery, i did what needed to be done, did it on my terms, and am at peace with it. i stopped pain killers within a couple of days of being home. i was only taking panadol first thing in the morning and last thing at night for those days. i know the midwives were offering me pain meds much more often than i felt i needed them...

i dont know how much your mind set impacts your pain levels. i figure it has to have some sort of impact. if something traumatises you, it has to impact on your perception of things. what you may be able to close out as a means to an end (which is what i was doing) may be much more at the forefront of someone elses experience and they may feel it more. they may not be able to shut it out or ignore it so much.

and as Bx said, i think our anatomy is very different for each and every person - there is a basic groundwork for how our muscles and nerves are laid down, but each person is different - we are all built just slightly differently. i often wonder if my size has had an impact - i am a larger lady and wonder if having extra "padding" means my nerves are less exposed etc. it's just one of those thoughts i have

i'm not completely healed yet - i have no intense pain or anything, but when DD decides it's time to stand up on my stomach (which is allll the time - she hates sitting!) it feels rather bruised. i'm guessing it's part of the healing process and will go away

as to the question of VBAC v repeat c/s - i honestly don't know. i was induced for pre-eclampsia, and my understanding is that, for VBAC, you shouldn't be induced. given that scenario, i would again be at peace having a c/s if it warranted it. i would love to birth a baby (if we were to have more - that's very much up in the air!) naturally - but having been induced and tied to machines, as you would be during a VBAC (i believe) with additional monitoring and stuff, i just don't know what option i would choose - i guess it is something we'd have to discuss if we were to have another baby.

Mine REALLY hurt the first time and not so much the second time. Well it did really hurt, but I think seeing the first time was soooo bad, I seemed to recover a LOT quicker the second time. I was walking around very very slowly the second day and the third day I was much better (but still being careful of course). Maybe they didn't pull your guts open very far when they actually did the CS? I really don't know. Are there different degrees of pulling your guts open?? LOL

Just wanted to pop in and say thank you to all of you for sharing your experiences. I had a vaginal delivery last time - 17 hr labour, epidural (which fell out during transition. Not good for your brain going from no pain to 10/10 pain in a few minutes!), forceps and an infection in my perineum due to a bad job stitching me up :rolleyes:. So all in all not a very nice experience. It took me at least 8 weeks to stop having pretty bad pain due to the infection.

This time around I'm seriously considering an elective C/S for several reasons so it has been really helpful to read all of your posts. I had only heard about women having terrible pain after a C/S, which had me totally terrified. If I end up having the C/S I think I will be able to go in with a more positive mindset after hearing all of your experiences. Of course it's impossible to know how each person will react before hand, but I'm very relieved to hear it's not all bad.

Thanks again to you all :D

Good Luck Jandals, whichever way you decide to go.

I agree that its good to hear lots of perspectives, even though your own experience will be unique & totally unpredictable.

So very true, not only are our pain threshold varied, but our bodies are different from everyone elses...
With DD I rocked up to my 40 week appointment, I was told I was in labour..I thought the 'pain' I had been having, were mild braxton hicks lol....40 hours later on, no sleep, pushing for a couple of hours, we were told she was stuck.. upon reading my notes a couple of years ago, I also found that there was meconium present, and she was posterior (suppose that explains the back pain i was having)
Spinal block didnt work, so GA was given. The pain when i woke was not nice at all. But it was when i started vomiting that my stomach really killed. It took me months to recover...I was so weak (think I may have been lacking in iron)

With DS, rocked up to the hospital for our scheduled c/s, told the OB when he arrived, that i was having some pain, he checks and tells me I was about 8cms! The pain from the second c/s was different from the first...(could have been that suppository I wasn't aware i was going to have) Vomiting again, and stomach begins to hurt even more... BUT, I did get around so much easier 2nd time round. GA also with this one, but not such a long hard labour (Leasha, think you have a real valid point there.)

I once read something that described how we recover differently depending upon the lead up to the c/s. If you've been labouring, your recovery could be longer, the longer you labour, the longer the recovery, also what drugs you were given pre and post c/s, how you reacted to those drugs, if you were given a spinal,GA, did you have gas, pethidine for pain relief in labour, or was it administered for a c/s ( I was told that pethidine shots given for spinals were a stronger dose than those given for GA's, which is why I could have been vomiting - I was given a dose for a spinal, had a spinal, didn't work, so then had GA drugs..

BG, I think you are right about the no induction if attempting a VBAC.

If I had my way, next time I would attempt a VBAC..Just not so sure my VBAC friendly OB would let me :(

Hey Bx... get lost :p (just kidding love). You're bang on about the difference in nerve positioning in different people. The positioning of the baby can make a huge difference as well.

Also, each c/s, regardless of whether it is an elective or emergency, is physically different to any other even if it's the same operation, so our responses to it, I believe, have very little to do with our inherent pain thresholds. And even our emotional state is not necessarily an indication of the subsequent response to pain. Someone with a high pain threshold and who is otherwise in a favourable position (emotionally and in terms of overall health) to respond well to recovery postoperatively can still have a really rough time, depending on the specifics of the operation. So yep, there are vastly different degrees of pulling your guts open LOL.

Labour prior to the surgery can a double whammy - you get to recover from both labour and major surgery. But labour also influences the positioning of the baby, if a c/s is performed once the mother has started pushing, the baby is usually very low in the pelvis which makes it more difficult to remove them.

Oh, Mara, the primary reason that a uterus will be 'removed' for stitching is when there is haemorrhaging, it's not really done as part of the common methodology. This happened to me, and yep, I can testify that it makes for a bloody painful recovery. As does 36 hours of labour prior to surgery culminating in 3 hours of pushing and a large posterior baby securely wedged into the pelvis.

On day 5 after surgery I was still heavily reliant on opiates, and needed codeine for probably another four days after that (I would have liked opiates for longer, but I wanted to go home more). I still found it quite painful up to two months after surgery, with nerve spasms and burning reducing in frequency over the next four months. By about six months I was feeling more or less normal with the occasional twinge.

As for next time, I would have loved a waterbirth first time around and would love one next time, but unfortunately I am not a favourable candidate for a VBAC so will be having a c/s.

I knew for 2 weeks before DS was born that I would be having a c/s. The first week I was upset and stressed about the operation and the pain afterwards, but was lucky enough to have an extra meeting with a doula and calmbirth practitioner and I think she helped me no end in getting my head in the right place. I have no doubt that helped with how I felt afterwards. Sure, there was discomfort and tenderness but I wouldn't say terrible pain.
I was up and about looking after DS, showering, walking around the ward etc. 6.5 months on I still have tenderness in certain areas, so I don't know that I would say I recovered quickly but I did feel lucky that I was able to get up and about and do as much as I did with only a little discomfort.
If I did feel pain, it was usually due to laughing or coughing and not bracing my tummy quickly enough!