Caesarean Chatter #3

Welcome to the caesarean chatter thread!

Did you have a caesarean? Was it an elective caesarean or an emergency caesarean? How did you feel about it? Share your experiences here!!

I was just thinking about what I will do if and when I have another baby. I will probably go for an elective c-section. I am assuming that I can do that since I have already had one? I just don't see the point in trying to go through it naturally if the same complications (high BP) will arise. Anyone else thinking about doing this too?

Yes deb, I will be more than likely having an elective c-section. After DD was born, I freaked out a bit about having another c-section and wanted to try for a vbac. It ended up with DH and I having a huge argument one day about it, and him begging me not to try for a vbac as he was worried about losing me! Long story short, DH was waiting for me to return from theatre, holding our DD, and was told I would be back in the room in 20 minutes.. and it ended up being a few hours and he thought something had happened to me. Poor hubby was terrified!

Funny thing is, I find myself daydreaming about being told I can try for a vbac, and I start to get terrified about it! Weird hey?

Nic

Hello Everyone

Just popping in quickly to say that I am having our baby boy via c/s in the morning at 10.30am....please send me recovery vibes when you get the chance....this is our first baby - so I can't answer your question Debbie - sorry!

Hope that everyone is doing OK and I will look forward to chatting in here when I am back online next week..

Best wishes

Megan

Ooh how exciting Megan!! Lots of luck and truckloads of recovery vibes for you!!

Can't wait to hear all about it. :)

Nic

Good luck Megan! You will be just fine! Sending you stacks of recovery vibes. Hopefully your c-section will go as smoothly as mine. Honestly, my recovery wasn't that bad (friends who have had tearing from natural births seemed to suffer far more than I did!). How exciting! You are gonna have your bubba in your arms tomorrow!!

Nic - I don't think it's weird to be terrified of having a VBAC at all! I know a friend of mine that was scared about it after her first bub was a c-section. She reckons that half the trouble was that she was holding back because she was scared about tearing her scar. She then went on to have another baby naturally with no probs. I guess having a VBAC would almost be like doing it all for the first time because you haven't done it before iykwim? Still, I don't think I am brave enough to bother, LOL.

Thanks girls - I appreciate your support!

Talk to you all soon :D

Megan

Good luck for tomorrow Megan :D

Debbie - My second c/section would have been an elective one and if i go on to have another baby i would have another c/section.

Megan - hope all goes really smoothly for you tomorrow and you're up and about really soon :D

Good luck Megan! I can't wait to hear the good news!!

Deb - I will be having a caesarean next time around. The OB said to me at my 6w post-natal check-up that whilst I could try for a VBAC he couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't wind up having another emergency caesarean, as there were some suspect things about my labour that indicated Jacob was not going to get out that way.......and on top of all that, I know that emotionally speaking, I could not handle that eventuality all over again. I didn't cope at all well having laboured for so long to start with.....I felt like I had given birth twice. I felt traumatised and rotten, physically and emotionally. So to ensure my own mental health, and on the advice of the OB, I will have an elective caesarean next time.

Good luck Megan, sending you heaps of easy recovery vibes :D

Same here! There is no way that I'll go through all the crap I did & risk the same things happening again. Tootie the midwife that was with me for most of my labour said to me the next day that because of all the contractions & internals i& everything elese, it was as if I had give birth twice, so I can totally understand where you're coming from there.

Thinking of you Megan! Lots of recovery vibes coming your way!

Good luck Megan, we all know what you are going through, I am on another csec support site, who dont call them vbacs, or elective csecs, but rather EBAC's ( Empowered Birth AFter Csec) as most of us have emergency csecs and if you know what your doing, you next birth can turn out to be a positive experience, whether the bubs comes out the door, or window!!!!
You know like, who's in the room, skin to skin contact, with you or DH after theres a lot of choices we dont realise we can make about a csec until you research it. Good luck to all for having the birth of your choice.

I personally am trying for a vbac, but unlike most people, have givin birth vaginally prior to my csec, so am not fearful of the event!!! Dr's and all are confident in my ability to give birth in this way. So fingers crossed !!

One thing I want to make sure of if I have another c-section is that I want skin to skin contact much sooner than what I got this time around! I wasn't even allowed to look at her feet! Grrrrr. I will bloody-well look at my baby's feet if I damn well want to! Also, I want her brought in to me during the first night to establish bfing. Gabby was taken to special care but that was only because they didn't have enough staff to be able to help me out on the ward. That ain't my problem! Unless it is going to affect the baby's health, I want bubs with me at all times and if there's not enough staff to help me sit up and feed the baby on the first night, then they bloody well have to let Neil stay with me so he can help me. I am not going to allow them to stuff around with my milk supply again! Looking back, I get so mad when one of the midwives said to me "Feeding your baby is more important than visitors" when she kicked my visitors out to milk me like a cow. There's only 4 hours of the day for visiting! Why couldn't they have tried to milk me before or after?? Grrr... the more I think about it all, the angrier I get! Esp. since it wasn't my fault that my milk was having trouble coming in. Look out Geelong hospital when I have my next baby!! LOL

Ugh Deb ISKEWYM!!!! I want the same thing, if I don't succeed with a VBAC and need another CS I want to be sure the hospital I choose has a great C/S policy. My gf went to a hospital that allowed cuddles straight away, and BF'ing in recovery! Marc wasn't even allowed in recovery let alone Paris. I got to touch her and then she was whisked away. I think the biggest problem with MW'ing staff issues is that because they change over so often they aren't aware of how you are going, and don't have time to get to know your life story iykwim. I found the night staff to be atrocious other than one midwife in partcular who was a gem! She told me to tell the rest of them to nick off if they bugged me, she said I had everything under control and to not let them tell me otherwise, she also said that they all treat first timers like this and to take it with a grain of salt. She was great but 1 out of 10 mw's its hard to stay positive iykwim.

But it all makes us wiser right? I just wish I had been told all this before hand ;) Hindsight's great isn't it LOL!

And just so you know, it does get easier to deal with. I remember for the first 2 yrs just thinking about it I would end up a blubbering mess, but now I fine. And I know that due to information and my efforts to make my own choices will help me to make my next labour/birth experience an empowering one!

Take care sweets!

*hugs*
Cailin

You are so right, Cailin. Hindsight is a valuable thing, hey?
One thing I will give Geelong is that both Neil and Gabby were with me in recovery. That's when Gabby got her whole 15 minute breast feed before she was taken away from me :( I was asked if I wanted to hold her while they wheeled me to the ward but I said no because I was scared of dropping her, LOL. Next time they will have to pry the baby off me!!
Sounds like you have a very clear and concise idea of how you would like your next labour approached (which hopefully will be very soon!!) which is great.
Maybe this is why the eldest of the family is always so highly-strung. We are merely test-dummies, LOL.

I am terrified of giving birth either way now. I had such a traumatic experience that maybe i dont want anymore... But i do want two children. I tell you what, all this stuff us women have to go through is tough.

I will prob try for a VBAC next time but am pretty sure I will end up with a c-s.

I know exactly what you mean Deb. My doctors were great but the nurses left alot to be desired. Thats why I cant wait to be private next time.

Pee, same here. I was hoping that the fear would get less as time goes on. Aaah well, nothing better than facing your fears to get rid of them!!

I can't believe how nasty some of the nurses can be. I had a couple of good ones, but on the whole, it was an awful experience and I found them to be highly unsympathetic to how I was feeling, and they seemed to take advantage of the times when DH wasn't there to pounce on me and say nasty things......

I've often thought about writing a letter of complaint, but haven't done it.

It's pretty bad when considering that having a baby is such a huge event in your life, and when you feel traumatised by the birth, why do some of these nurses seem to not understand your feelings? Well more to the point, why can't they respect your feelings and show a little compassion? No offence to the midwives out there, some of you are wonderful and do fantastic jobs, but there are some who aren't too flash (as with all occupations I'm sure!)

Tootie - I don't want to make excuses for the nurses that treated you badly, but I honestly think that the lack of staff in hospitals is a major contributing factor. One of my midwives (one of the wonderful ones I had) confided in me when I could see she was flustered. She was frustrated because she had to take care of 6 woman (4 of which were c-sections) and she couldn't give them the type of care she would have liked to give. She literally said "I hate it because it makes me look like I don't care and that could not be further from the truth".
I also questioned the midwife in special care that was looking after Gabby. She was quite rude to me at times and often ignored me when I asked a question. I was nervous and pretty clueless (hek, I had never done this before after all!!). She was walking me back up to the ward so I tried to strike up a conversation that wasn't baby related and said; "A long night, huh?". She then told me how she was pulling a double shift because special care was so flat-out. She was thoroughly exhausted. I then found that I didn't take it to heart so much when she was short with me. Later, other midwives told me that they don't have a lot of staff that work in Special Care because of how intense the work is. So, if someone is away sick, the others have to pick up the slack.
It definitely doesn't excuse how we get treated but sometimes it's just not their fault. It's the horrid system that has nurses working stupid shifts (day shift one week, night shift the next) and having too many patients to look after at any given time. Any wonder they kind of switch off and stop caring. It sucks so much because it's the patients the suffer - esp. when we are, like you said, going through the most major event of our lives.

I appreciate that there is a distinct lack of staff, totally - whether you are a private or public patient, it seems to be the same.

However, I still think that a little bit of common decency goes a very long way at such important times in our lives. There is simply no excuse for plain nastiness, which is what I experienced. A couple of the nurses who were lovely, were quite honest with me about how busy they were, but were also very caring and considerate of my needs, so I think it does also depend on the person.........

Sarah/Pee - I'm terrified of giving birth either way as well.! I've always wanted a vbac, and like I said, it's been scaring the beejeebies out of me thinking how I would react if this was to be an option for me one day.

On the other hand, I'm also terrified of the c/sec. I know it will be a different experience next time, but I'm still scared. In all honesty, I think that is why I haven't pushed the issue of following up with our referral to see a specialist. That sounds terrible doesn't it! 8-[

Nic

Hi Girls, thought I'd join ya! I had an emergency c-section on 21st May. It took me completely by surprise - I'd never even considered the possibility I might have to have one. Apparently my pelvis and Hannah's head were incompatible (after 19 hours of labour, and 8/nearly 9cm dilated they tell me this!)

It's left me feeling a little bit ripped off and disappointed, but I am just glad Hannah and I both got out of the situation healthy and well. I dread to think what would have happened if we'd lived 100 years ago or so.

I didn't get to hold her for at least an hour. Next time, I'd like to make sure I get a cuddle before then....though I was shaking like a leaf from the epidural and probably couldn't have held her before then anyway.

I would like to try for a VBAC next time (crazy I know!) - because of the shape of my pelvis, my dr says I have a 50% chance of being able to do it next time. Not good odds really.

Just wondering...what do they do with the placenta once they've delivered the baby via c-section? Wouldn't they have to wait for it to come away of it's own accord? Or do they cut it out? Just one of those obscure questions I've pondered since the event...

Yeah, you are right, Tootie. I was meant to say that aswell!

Juliette - I have no idea about the placenta either. But now I wanna know! I imagine because the procedure is so quick, they must just cut it out. Hmm... All I know is that mine was "gritty". I only know that because it was written on the form that they stapled in my infant welfare book. Sorry to hear that you feel ripped-off for having a caesar. I didn't really mind with mine but that's because I wasn't fussed about a natural labour to begin with (because of history of still-birth in my family during natural labours). I hope that you can have a successful VBAC next time tho :)

Juliette - I know exactly what you mean by feeling ripped off and dissapointed by having a c/s, I`m fine with it now but would dearly love to have a VBAC but I don`t think thats going to be possible at all, haven`t seen my OB yet but with having CPD and big babies the two don`t go together, maybe if I had a girl she might be smaller then Matthew but then how small will the baby have to be to fit through my pelvis. In regards to the placenta, I asked Mark what happened to it (he watched everything, even saw inside the hole yuck!!!!) anyway he said my OB just pulled it out, I also remember my anaethestis (spl?) telling me before the c/s that at a certain stage he`d have to push down on the top of my uterus which he did but I can`t remember why he said he had to do that and I asked Mark and he can`t either, I have a feeling it`s to do with the placenta coming out but not sure.

Nic - I`m like you I`m totally scared of having another c/s, I think I prefer not to know what`s involved but after having 1 well we all know what is involved now. It`s a reason why I`m unsure at this stage as to when to TTC again.

Has anyone found that they have been windier then normal since the c/s? sorry if TMI but I have found I`m so very windy and before the c/s I was never a windy person so I`m putting it down to the c/s.

Take Care

Deeanne

Dee thats exactly right... They have to "tug" at the placenta to get it out, and they have to get it out during the c/s there is no way it can come out naturally after the baby has been taken out. So the push down on your upper abdomen & pull it out that way. Hopefully thats not TMI... if they leave any placenta in it can cause serious infection.

I also had more wind post c/s but they expected that as well :-k dunno why they just kept asking me if I was having wind...

Thanks Christy, yeah it gets a bit embarrasing being asked about wind all the time, but should I still be this windy 6 weeks later 8-[

Take Care

Deeanne

Dee - yep, I was pretty windy too. I still am on occasions now but that's probably for other reasons, ;) No one told me that it was a side-effect of the caesar but I just assumed that all my plumbling was a little weird after such major surgery.

Oh yes, wind! I had a lot of that too. I remember there being visitors and me distinctly trying NOT to pass wind! LOL

Yep girls I was the same with all the wind 8-[ And how funny is it when the nurses come around to ask you if you've passed wind yet or not. I think it's the only time in life as a female your actually encouraged to brag about your farts.


Take care
Trish

yes - extra wind here too...and only lately which is strange! How are you feeling now Dee? I feel great and did on day 4 - but am really keen to get back into exercise as I still have a little tummy!

I found my whole c/s experience really positive. Mind you, it was an elective c/s and I wouldn't hesitate doing it again. I'm not disappointed at not having a natural birth, but I would be disappointed at not being able to breast feed (which is my current challenge...)

I took my bandage off today so have had a good look at my scar which is soooo thin! My OB did a really good job...it is still a little hard to touch, but I guess that this is normal?

Megan

Megan - even now I am still a little nervous about touching my scar. Or did you mean it is actually hard? I probably read it wrong, LOL. It's amazing how neat they make it, hey?

Debbie - I meant that it was actually hard (sorry if that was confusing!) I love how neat it is though.....it is still a little tender around the area, but it hasn't been 2 weeks since the c/s yet!!

Megan

Thanks Deeanne and Christy re: my placenta question! I do vagely remember the ob telling me he was going to be pushing on my uterus.... Now I know why!

That is so cool that Mark got to see the whole thing Deeanne! Tim had to sit by my head with me behind the curtain.

As for the wind thing. I found the whole experience really weird - my digestive system went nuts. I just thought it was because everything was moving back into place owing to the uterus not being so big and in the way! I didn't realise it was a c/s thing. Ah the things you learn!

Just wondering how many of you had stitches and how many had staples?

I had metal staples holding my wound together. They were quite uncomfortable when I moved around and they pulled. They were painless to have removed though.

My scar is almost healed over, except for one bit in the middle (about 1cm long) which still looks fresh, and red. I have just been putting betadine on it to prevent infection.

I had staples :D

Staples here too :)

I had internal disolvable stitches. Very neat, none of the train track look.


Take care
Trish

I had the same as you trish, and do you know I don't even have a scar now :shock:

*hugs*
Cailin

mmmm - I don't think I have staples - I'm guessing I would know if I did?? My scar is so thin and the stiches are dissolving. I can't believe they puller an 8pounder out of such a small space! :)

Megan

Mine doesn't look train track-ish either.