Your c/s and pain?

[aussienic]

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..

[paradise lost]

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

[Fleur]

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.

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.

[briggsy's girl]

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.