Your c/s and pain?

I had a planned c/s after OB scared me that I had a big baby and my pelvis is small. I know now that it's a load of craps. I went into labour a few days before planned c/s date, and had the c/s anyway. The birth experience itself is considered nice & lovely, they let me have the baby (wrapped in blanket, unfortunately no skin to skin contact) for awhile whilst I was being stitched up before I was being sent away to recovery and DH went away with bub. From here everything went bad, I threw up many times in recovery and the next 24 hours. I was told it was due to the morphine that how my body reacts to it. And then the catheter & being bed ridden, it was ridiculous. I felt like I had a tumour removed instead of giving birth. I was in so much pain, on the scar, the whole stomach and even my private area was tender & swollen. They gave me voltaren plus and once the student nurse ignored my request to come early and keep it on top the next dose, and it was due to breastfeed my baby - it hurt as h3ll! With every uterus contraction I was in agony god knows for how long when finally a more senior nurse gave me a little injection of pain relief (whatever that was) to take the pain away. I was already screaming in pain whilst my baby latching on my sore & swollen boob.... Not to mention the long & painful recovery afterwards as I had infected scars, had to have 2 weeks dose of antibiotics. And it took me 4 months to be able to change my baby's cot sheet as I couldn't lift the mattress..

Nope, definitely have no desire for repeat c/s. I'm attempting VBAC Feb next year.. fingers crossed...

Note: Sorry for long posting & sounding like I'm venting (maybe a little! :D), but that's how my experience with c/s pain was.

I had pain but not incredibly horrible pain.. With my first c/s it hurt like buggery to stand up but I honestly think that was because I wasn't expecting it kwim? With my next 2 c/s I took deep breaths and stood up and was fine..

I have no c/s experience, so do feel free to tell me to get lost, but these are some thoughts i had when reading this thread.

My mum had 2 sections, one emergency (my brother, 31 weeks, abruption of placenta praevia, massive bloodloss, GA, oxygen problems during surgery, brother nearly died, mum nearly died, just awful) and one elective (me, 37+4, first c-section at that hospital to be done with mum awake with spinal block, mum, an ex-nurse, watched the whole thing with interest in the operating lamp reflectors). She always said she was in much more pain after my brother than me, and that most likely it was because when it's a true emergency they are very rough getting you open and your guts out of the way, in order to get in asap and save you and the baby. With me they took their time and were much more careful because i was fine, mum was fine (mum's BP was 80/37 when they began cutting my brother out) there was no need to hurry. She also remarked with surprise when her hysterectomy, years later, which had some severe complications, was MUCH more painful. Which brings me on to the other thought i had...

When i had my teeth (4 premolars and 4 molars) removed from my jaw when i was 10 i had some pain, not agony, but it was like i'd been kicked in the face. When my XP had HIS molars (same position) removed his tongue went numb and he lost his sense of taste for 18months. Because the nerves that feed HIS tongue were close enough to his roots that they got very badly damaged. And when i stupidly stuck a hand-wood-carving chisel into the ball of my left thumb the doctor told me i must have missed the nerve which allows one to bend one's thumb by millimeters and he i should be grateful i don't have "normal" nerve patterns there or i'd have lost my grip on that side. Not everyone's nerves run in exactly the same places, and not everyone will experience the same kinds of pain from having a particular nerve cut as others might. Mum's surgeon after the hysterectomy told her he'd cut out the previous scars from the csections, and just those few extra millimeters higher and lower on the same area had obviously interrupted nerves which left her in much more pain that the previous surgical cuts had. There was a neighbour when i was a kid who only had one arm, having had the other removed after polio (it was paralysed and got injured and infected and they took the view that he'd be better off without it) and we were fascinated with his stumpy shoulder. I once asked him if he still got an itchy hand on that side and he told me that for months after the amputation he had to be tranquillised for long periods of time because he felt like his arm had been skinned and rolled in salt, he was in such agony. His brain registered the nerve severage at the site of amputation as major major damage and issued emergency-type pain impulses for a long time.

My only personal experience is of tooth extraction, which i never find to be more than a bit tender the next day. My DP was similar, but XP (same one with the numb tongue) is in agony, real blinding agony, for weeks after an extraction.

It's unfortunately a bit of a lottery as to which nerves will be cut during a csection (depending on where one's specific nerves run - some women have very little numbness after a c/s and some feel nothing from their navel to their knees from then on) and how one's brain will interpret that damage and react to it. I guess that might be one reason why some are in mild discomfort and some in terrible agony after surgery of any kind.

Best of luck for all the VBACers-to-be!

Bx

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I have no c/s experience, so do feel free to tell me to get lost, but these are some thoughts i had when reading this thread.

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Tell you to get lost...hehe never, that was a very interesting read & I think you have hit the nail on the head ;) It all makes perfect sense to me.

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!