Well finally after much deliberation i have decided to go with the "elective" (still love that term) CS. I would love any tips anyone has to offer, what got you through, what helped with recovery, best clothing to pack and any of those things you just wish you had known before hand. I would love any advise anyone has to offer. Thanks
hrmm... um, don't really have any tips for the actual surgery itself cause mine was horrible! Um, through recovery having good pelvic floor muscles helped ALOT so if you haven't started doing them now I highly suggest you do cause you will need them for EVERYTHING afterwards... um, I had actually packed alot more than what I actually needed while I was there. Cause I was in bed for 2 days before I was actually allowed to get up (due to catheder bags and what not) and only had to stay in hospital another day after that. that's all I can think of at the moment, but will keep watching this thread incase I can add anything more
I would say take the drugs. Helps get you up and about much sooner and the sooner you get up and moving, as much as it hurts, the better you will feel. Hard to do that without pain relief! I just took what they had although I cut back on one morpheine one that made me feel ill. I also let the nurses take James for a few hours each night so I could sleep, it is hard to get good sleep during the day and as much as I wanted him to be with me, I needed rest far more - and knew that once I got home resting would be even tougher.
I found very loose fitting pjs were fine,and once at home I lived in Bonds trackies tat are loose. If you are a nightie wearer get one that buttons down the front - I have one from Sussan that was good but mainly wore pjs. I would just pull the top down or off my shoulder when feeding.
Support briefs are great once you get home to support the wound and will help your tummy get back to normal much quicker as well. Im still wearing them! Also a pad stuck on your undies over your wound can help support it plus absorb any sweat if it's hot.
General hospital stuff especially if you are sharing a room, ear plugs, eye mask to help you sleep while people are watching tv etc! Nice body wash - I spent ages for my first shower just sitting and washing all the "surgery" feel off me! You will be flat in bed for at least 24 hours afterwards so it's nice to get out and smell delicious! That's all I can think of for now!
Well, I found it difficult imagining what was being done during the surgery. I asked my husband to keep me busy with talking about anything else. If you are the same make sure that he asks you questions so that you can concentrate on what he is saying and not the fact that they are cutting you. Talk about what you are going to do with the baby maybe. Oh, you will feel everything they are doing just with no pain and the operating table with move alot. Afterwards you might get the shakes in recovery and they give you extra blankets and a heater. It's all normal. Take underwear with that will cover the wound (not bikini panties) and black is better so you don't see the blood stains. Also, you will want to throw away the first few pairs you wear so don't bring your best. I actually used disposable undies with my first caesar. Make sure you husband or someone you feel comfortable with is there for your first shower. You might need help getting in and out and just to lean on someone. You can be quite breathless when you first get up. No one told me either that my legs and feet would swell up after birth and that I would feel like an elephant. Apparently normal but scary if it is your first time.
The pain isn't that bad after. Take the meds and concentrate on baby. Just remember that if you cough or sneeze to hold your abdomen with your hand. It helps with the pain.
Yeah drugs definately, but also a good point about the taking of the baby!!! In the first day I remember they would put ava so far away from the bloody bed and i'd have to try and reach the cradle and bring to beside the bed and just rock her until one of the nurses came to give her to me for a feed cause I couldnt' lift her... I sat there rocking with her screaming for an hour one of the days !!!! but they took her for 2 1/2 hours on the second night and it was really good to get some sleep even if it was only for 2 and a bit hours...
Just fwiw, after the op everyone's pain is different, mine was really really bad, I was so sore so if you need meds definately take them.
Hi there Ive had 2 CS, first one emergency CS, 2nd one nearly 5 months ago Elective CS.
I totally recommend during the CS
- talk to your anesthetist before the operation, mine called me 3 days prior to make sure of the procedure and if I wanted spinal block or epi and also because im allergic to morphine he confirmed he was using fentenyl instead of morphine.
- during the spinal block/EPI focus on a spot or an object or look/smile at your partner and think about the baby going going to be born. The anethetist will be talking to you throughout the procedure asking you how you are feeling as the needle goes in. The 30mins I had to wait between the spinal block and being wheeled into the theatre operating table was the longest wait as I just couldnt wait to have our baby born! It was just DH and I in the room and honestly it was exciting to focus on the birth of our baby!
- Once they put you on the OP table it all happens really quick. The OB makes sure you are ok, the Anethetist is by your side the whole time as is your partner, focus on talking to your partner about the birth of your baby and how exciting it is that the baby will be born very shortly!
- When they prep you to make sure you cant feel anything, they top up the spinal block or epi last minute and you feel warmth of the anesthetic go up your body, if it feels weird ask for oxygen, they gave me some as my chest felt heavy, then they test your belly with ice and you talk to your OB and then they dont tell you when they start, I coudnt feel anything, but honestly it was only really less than 10mins before Tara was born! all I cared about was hearing her cry and seeing her! Once she was born I was so happy! and then she was put on my chest the whole time they stitched me up!
- I was only in recovery for 45mins then back at the ward with my hubby and baby Tara and BF straight away. Tip for first BF after CS dont lean too far forward it will hurt or twinge your stomach a bit, even though you are on painkillers. Have someone help prop you up as you wont be able to feel your legs for a while after.
- Take the painkiller meds they offer. I got offered PDA of Fentenyl cause I cant take Morphine it was great and wonderful, I was allowed to give myself a dose every 10mins it worked wonders. If they give you your own pain relief you press they have to give you oxygen apparently a rule I didnt know cause I wondered why I had oxygen also. The oxygen was actually fantastic.
- As soon as you can get up after the catheter is out try and walk a few steps, yes your ankles/feet will be swollen thats normal and you maybe shakey but try a few steps and get someone to help you. The sooner you walk the better your recovery will be.
- with my emergency c/s I was in heaps of pain due to labour and c/s and could hardly move for days, and on painkillers panadine forte for 3 weeks with elective c/s there was no as much stress on my body so by day 4 I was off all painkillers and had no issues walking around.
-Pads - the kotex brand was best for me others didnt last as long
- disposable toilet wipes, bring some best things and so handy or just some wipes for yourself incase it hurts down there
-make sure you eat cereal in the morning and fibre, very very important, no one tells you this, they make sure how long it takes for bowel movements and if you dont eat these it will be really difficult and they will offer dispositories or whatever they are called as they wont release you from hospy until they know everything is working ok
Good point! - place the baby in the cradle close to you so you can rock them if they cry, you wont be able to lift them, so make sure you buzz the midwifes about 5mins before you want to feed as they maybe busy/flat out and take ages to respond to your buzzer. Sometimes I had to wait for ages. Also tell them your BF or formula feeding plans, ie, demand feeding or 3 hourly feeding if they are good midwifes they will come in and ask how you are going and if you want to start now etc... mine did.
Hope this helps!
Last edited by *Belle*; December 17th, 2008 at 06:14 PM.
i would and have stayed awake during op.
take full briefs so it doesn't rub on scar. before hospital make sure everything is easily at reach so no bending right down at home.
And lay flat in bed when you can even if you get that slight pulling sensation. With my first CS i didnt and i couldnt straighten out and walk for well over a week. by CS3 i learnt my lesson. And get up and walk withing 24 hours with assistance at hospital and take the drugs!!!!
I agree with what everyone has said here. As people have said take any pain killers and don't let the nurses guilt you about taking them (I had one nurse who did that). Don't be afraid to ask for help from nurses or family.
When laying in bed I found it helpful to put a pillow under my belly for support if I was laying on my side. Some people also advised me to have several pillows around you for support but I never tried that as I found the one pillow enough.
I agree with asking the visitors to wait until you are ready. I had the c/section on a Wednesday and didn't have any visitors til the Friday, other than my mum to bring DD1 in.
Definately get up and moving ASAP and when you do, try to stand straight and tall. Painful at first but it helps in the long run. I also had a contingency plan JIC something occured during the surgery that would mean I was unable to hold bubs - no one other than DH would be able to hold her until I was able to. That was very important to me as I didn't want half a dozen people holding my baby before I did.
Find out if you will be able to have skin to skin with bubs in recovery. If you can't, do it as soon as you are able. Your milk can take a bit longer to come in after a C/S.
I've not had a section but these are tips from friends
1. BIG pants! Get cheapo ones with the low leg and the high waist for the first few days and posher support ones (also a high waist and low leg) for the weeks following that - in the early days it stops rubbing and the support ones are great for supporting tired sore muscles as they heal.
2. Nighties - several friends have told me that lifting your legs up to get trackies or PJ-bottoms on can be really hard for a few days, so take a few longish nighties to wear for the first few days too. If you're not a nighty girl then when you're getting dressed or changed roll the legs of the bottoms up and tuck the pants into them, so you're putting your foot through both the pants and the PJ's leg-holes at once and you don't have to do it all twice.
3. 2 kinds of pad - maternity pads for the obvious and normal AF pads for the suture-line - as others have said, stick them onto the big pants to sit against your scar.
4. lie flat, stretch your legs RIGHT out in bed and stand up straight. Straightening up/out for the first few times can be utter agony, but the earlier and more fully you do it the less pain you'll be in later on. You can use those labour breathing exercises afterall! Take a deep slow breath and as you straighten up breathe out slow and steady - it will hurt! Vocalise if you need to (low moans, just like labour) and focus on keeping the breathing slow and steady.
5. Follow the prescribed programme re: recovery. If they say don't drive for 6 weeks then don't drive for 6 weeks. Only one of the women i know with sections did this properly, and she is the ONLY one without post-operative adhesions/burning on activity/random pains and a raised scar. All the rest lifted too much and too soon, drove, returned to normal activities far too soon etc. The first 2 or so weeks it's easy to stick to the programme because it hurts, but then you start to feel better and the temptation is to do more and more. Most women feel this is positive - that they've recovered faster than normal, but in fact the doctor isn't telling you how to heal fast, he's telling you how to heal PROPERLY. Taking that time to heal properly and well will make future VBAC AND future c-sections easier and safer, and make your general life more comfortable (adhesions can HURT!). This is one thing with the pain-relief - it's good to take it in the early days because you NEED to get moving again ASAP, but taking it to allow you to do things you were told to avoid is a big no-no!
HTH hun, best of luck with it all, i know how hard it was making this decision, you have really done your homework on all this and deserve a great experience.
I seonds Bx advice on the extra pad for over the scar. It was really a great thing for me. I used some really thick ones, so there was lots of padding round the scar.
Also, be very careful with stretching behind you, cause for me, that really pulled at the scar, so make sure things are close by in front of you, and you don't have to reach to far.
I liked the advice from one of my midwives, saying don't lift anything heaver than your baby for 6 weeks, and I followed that and didnt have much pain at all.
Oh and the best advice I can offer, and I don't know if it is possible for you, but I had my DH stay with me, for the time I was in hospital, so I didn't have to rely on the midwives and he was my fetch and carry man. It was particularly helpful for the first 24 hrs, and he was able to get up and change DS and give him to me for feeding, and then do the walking and settling, until I was mobile enough to do it.
Another thing, I really wanted to do baby led attachment, and didnt get to for my first feed, cause I was not able to get into a good position, and didnt have much help from the midwife, but I was still able to get DS to do it on the third morning, and it worked like a dream, and we didnt have any problems feeding from that point on.
Another thing I remembered. When you do pick bubs up don't sit in your bed and lean over because that will put way to much strain on your wound. Make sure you stand up and keep your back straight, no twisting. Believe me, the temptation to stay in bed and pick bubs up when you are sore and exhausted will be there.
And as Bx said, big pants. I remembered the big undies, but brought low waisted pants. They sat right on the wound.
aww girls i cant thank you enough there are so many gems of info in there that i just know i wouldnt get anywhere else, i have started a list (must buy more undies ) to start with. i was feeling so un prepared and at least now i feel i am better informed. I must admit im really going to struggle with the not doing anything bit as i find it hard to sit still for 5 mins but i will force myself i really want a speedy recovery so i can get on with caring for DD. Again thank you
There has been some great adice here, but one other thing... when you stand up, pull your stomach muscles in to help you stand straight (don't slouch). You think it'll hurt to pull your stomach in, but for me it actually provided relief rather than hurting.
Oh, and if you have a belly belt or something similar it really helps to stick a pad to it to help support and cushion the wound, and also your skin around the wound will fell a bit tingley and *****ley and might hurt a bit if something is rubbing (like your pants) so the belly belt helps stop that too.
There is some really fantastic advice - especially Belle's post. i had a 'elective' c-section for breech and it was really really positive. I don't really remember being in any horrible pain - could of possibly just blocked it out - but overall it was a really good experience.
In my case when I had the epidural, our hospital didn't allow my husband to come in with me. He had to go sit in the nurses tearoom and have a cuppa - not really sure why I think it was just hospital policy. I had a fantastic midwife with me the whole time, and basically did what Belle suggested and just completely focused on her. She just held my hands and was great. I am almost glad my DH wasn't in with me, because I probably would of started to cry (I was a bit nervous and tend to get sooky around him ).
Definiately take a lovely bodywash with you and a big sponge for that first shower.
Keep up with medications even if you don't think you need them. I just took Panadol and Voltarin while in hospital and then panadol at home, and always feel pretty good.
After my c-section, the next day I started having a lot of pain in my shoulder - which apparently was air trapped in there after the c-section. Apparently it is quite common so the nurses just gave me heat packs and massages which helped out. That was probably the most painful bit - the pain in my shoulder, although it was gone in a day.
Definiately make sure you have bubs in reach on that first night! We made the mistake of putting him across the other side of the room, DH left for the night and then DS starting screaming! The nurses were flat out and took ages to come! I ended up sleeping with him in my bed which was lovely, and then DH stayed at the hospital with me for the next 3 nights - on a pull out stretcher bed. That was really nice.
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Helps get you up and about much sooner and the sooner you get up and moving, as much as it hurts, the better you will feel. Hard to do that without pain relief! I just took what they had although I cut back on one morpheine one that made me feel ill. I also let the nurses take James for a few hours each night so I could sleep, it is hard to get good sleep during the day and as much as I wanted him to be with me, I needed rest far more - and knew that once I got home resting would be even tougher. 
. They sat right on the wound.
) to start with. i was feeling so un prepared and at least now i feel i am better informed. I must admit im really going to struggle with the not doing anything bit as i find it hard to sit still for 5 mins 
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