Hi there,
I wish I would of been shown this a few months ago, so I have decided to share with you. This is written by a mom talking about her first Caesarean experience and guess what? it is POSITIVE.
I have had an interesting run down of horrible C sections (not surprisingly but people who have no had one but "heard" of one happening with someone they knew who knew someone ect... with the very odd story thrown in about a positive one but this lady sums up her experience wonderfully. Thought I would share as I personally found her insights valuable. Even though I have no other choice but caesarean. It is so nice to hear something so positive for a change. I cannot wait to share my story.. Not long to go now. : )
"I had a planned C-section for the birth of my first child 4 months ago. I am writing this post partly because in my extensive research on Cesarean deliveries, i discovered an undertone of general disapproval or and attitude of "failure" if a mom gave birth through a C-section. I feel my C-section experience was a wonderful, enjoyable, respectable way to give birth and i feel people who want a c- section should be allowed to pursue that option without judgment from others.
About 3 weeks prior to my due date i began to feel very strongly that i needed to deliver via a c-section. My baby was not breech, and i did not have a severe anxiety about childbirth. I usually do not have strong intuition about most events in my life, and am pretty conservative and conventional in most respects. Anyway i could not get over this strong feeling and mentioned it to my doctor. He told me if I wanted, I could plan a c-section, and advised me of the pros and cons. He stated that in most planned c-sections, the procedure is actually safer for the baby and just as safe for the mother as in a vaginal birth. We went ahead and scheduled the c-section and I prayed that i was making the right choice.
I checked into the hospital at 6 am, was in the OR at 7:30, and my son was delivered by 8:00 am. There was no pain, just pressure, with the procedure. My husband held the baby next to me while my OB completed the sutures. I was wheeled to the recovery room for about 40 minutes, where i fell asleep until my husband and baby came back from the nursery.
At that point, my OB came in and told us the baby's umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck twice and then looped through "like a hangman's noose" (can you believe he used that term?) . He stated i would have required an emergency c-section if i had gone into labor, and even then, the tightening of the cord around the baby's neck would have cut off oxygen and could have caused brain damage. Needless to say, i was so relieved that i had followed my gut feeling and demanded a C-section.
The epidural which completley numbed my legs began to wear off within a few hours of the delivery, and i did not feel any type of abdominal pain that day. The next morning i was out of bed and was able to walk the hallways of the hospital, change my son's diaper, and move around just fine.
The worst pain i experienced was a feeling of soreness in my abdomen similar to when you do too many sit ups or strain your abdominal muscles. I never once had any sharp pain or any unbearable pain whatsoever. I was on Lortab pain medication for the next two days, at my discretion, and then on to occasional Ibuprofen when i needed it, which wasn't often.
As for the following weeks, I did take it easy and didn't do any strenuous lifting, hiking, etc. But i was able to do normal activities around the house, and even take walks around our neighborhood, shorlty after the surgery. By six weeks I was cleared by my doctor for normal exercise, sex, etc and was feeling great.
A planned C-section is not for everyone. I know some people judge harshly when they hear of people choosing a c-section, or choosing anything they consider not to be "natural" childbirth. People try and scare you when they say "but it's major abdominal surgery!" and yes, it is surgery for sure. But I am not dealing with any tearing, episiotomy, incontinence, or loss of pelvic floor function, or sexual dysfunction which can sometimes (not always!) accompany a vaginal birth. My cesarean was the best experience i could have hoped for, and certainly was the best for my baby, and i would do it again in a heartbeat."
