C section booked. What do I need to know?

[wifeywoo2]

Hi girls,

My C section is booked for July 9th. What do I need to know? My DD was born vaginally so all new to this.

I have read up on C sections, so I think I know most of the usual things, but I have a couple of random questions.

I have read that u can't have nail varnish on at they need to see your skin tone. Does this include toes?

Should I use hair removal cream on my hair so I don't get shaving rash?

Can't think of anything else at the moment x

Thank you xx

 

[Linny]

Hey hun, I too had a first vaginal birth so felt very nervous about a section with number two.

I got a pamphlet from my hospital that explained all the dos and don'ts. Did you not get anything?

Anyways for me no nail polish at all so toes included, no perfume, creams or make up either.

I just shaved with a razor the morning of the section. I wasn't sure I did it right cos I couldn't see but if it needs to be sorted out more the mw will do it at the hospital.

Good luck x

 

[wifeywoo2]

Thank you for your response.

I didn't receive anything (I think my consultant/surgeon was in a rush to get somewhere), but I'm having another growth scan 5 days before my section & she said I will sign consent & other things like bloods then x

Poo about the toes, I wanted to get shellac done

How are you feeling & how long did u stay in for? X

 

[hopettc3]

Hi! It looks like you got the info, but just wanted to add. I didn't have anything specified about hands and feet for nail polish. I just didn't put it on anywhere just in case. My dr was really anal about making sure I was shaved before I came, but the nurses told me that they would do it if I missed any spots.

 

[Linny]

Thank you for your response.

I didn't receive anything (I think my consultant/surgeon was in a rush to get somewhere), but I'm having another growth scan 5 days before my section & she said I will sign consent & other things like bloods then x

Poo about the toes, I wanted to get shellac done

How are you feeling & how long did u stay in for? X

Ah right, yeah my section was booked at my growth scan for five days later so I got all the stuff there and then.

In terms of how I'm feeling, I'm doing pretty good. I'm 19 days post section and only feel a little sore when coughing or sneezing. I actually was very strict with myself and have taken it very easy. Only light house duties etc.

I had my section on the Tuesday and came home Sunday afternoon. The only reason I stayed was for my DD with low birth weight and trouble feeding. They said if all had been fine with her I would have been out the next evening.

As a section newbie I had no clue what I was getting into so I have a few tips if your interested.

1 - pack a few nighties, pj's will most likely rub on wound. I took some soft comfy harem trousers and maternity joggers too.

2. Try get out of bed as soon as you can. You will be given lots of painkillers which really help and about 12 hours later when I had feeling back in legs two midwives helped me up and took me for a short walk. The next morning the catheter was out and I took myself to the shower (if feeling unstable get your partner to help)

3 - don't overdo it. Short walks, and caring for baby is about all I did that first week. Since being home I've just done light household duties and some cooking. The easier you take it in the beginning, the faster your recovery.

4 - take all the help your offered from family and friends. I've had meals cooked, house cleaned, my 3 yr old taken out and ferried to and from nursery.

5 - keep taking pain relief your offered even if you feel ok. Keeping on top of pain meds really helps keep it at bay.

Best of luck with everything. Just shout if you have anymore questions x x

 

[wifeywoo2]

Thnx for all the info. I bet your DD is tiny! I hope you recover quickly, but you sound to be doing great!

Thank you xx

 

[x__amour]

I had an EMCS & failed VBAC/ELCS so I hope I'll be able to help. Granted I only had about an hour to prep for my second it was still more time I had than my first.

• I was never told to remove any make up or nail polish. I had nail polish on for both and make up for the 2nd.

• I don't remember what happened with shaving with my first, everything was so rushed. With my 2nd they shaved me prior.

• I know you won't get one but I definitely found an epidural more painful than a spinal. With my epidural I cried and cried in pain and my spinal I was able to breathe through it (while squeezing a nurse lol). Every sensation varies by person but all I could feel was numbness going down my entire body.

• You are more than likely going to experience violent shaking during surgery. This is completely normal and will be controlled by your nurse who stays by your head the entire time.

• You may feel nauseous and may vomit. Normal again. I threw up with my first and was very nauseous with my 2nd.

• If you cannot control your heart rate, you may be lightly sedated. I had a panic attack with my 1st and was sedated. It was a horrific experience so I worked extremely hard to relax myself during my 2nd.

• You will not feel "pain" per say but there may be times in the surgery that can be uncomfortable. They will push down on your ribs and depending on how descended baby is it can definitely hurt. My 1st was engaged and was horrific when they pushed on my ribs. My 2nd was only uncomfortable.

• I want you to understand that afterwards is going to hurt. It might get to the point where you think, "I can't do this." but just remember that it is not forever.

• Stay on top of your medications. I cannot even begin to explain the pain when you're 1 day PP and your nurse has forgotten your medicine while you sleep and you're 2 hours overdue. You want to throw up it can hurt so badly.

• Alternate medications, do not depend on pain killers alone. Try and do 12 hour increments. Take prescription pain killer. 3 hours later take ibuprofen. 3 hours later take acetaminophen. 3 hours later take ibuprofen. 3 hours later take prescription pain killer. Repeat. If the pain is too unbearable, take your pain killer.

• You must walk. Must, must, must. It will hurt but when you start walking you will feel better, I promise. Your body needs you to walk so you don't develop blood clots and so that your bowels can start working again.

• You need an anti-gas and a stool softner. Surgery slows your bowels as well as pain killers. If you feel sharp upper shoulder pain, it's gas. It's pretty much awful being constipated and having a giant incision. These are life savers.

• It may be painful to urinate after the catheter is removed. This won't last long.

• Try not to over-do it when you get home. You can seriously hurt yourself. I tore my back muscles with my 1st and couldn't walk for 5 months without experiencing crippling back spasms that floored me.

I am from the US so I'm not entirely sure how much of this will apply to you but I hope I've helped. Also these are only my experiences so they may be completely different for you. Best of luck to you.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I had an EMCS & failed VBAC/ELCS so I hope I'll be able to help. Granted I only had about an hour to prep for my second it was still more time I had than my first.

• I was never told to remove any make up or nail polish. I had nail polish on for both and make up for the 2nd.

• I don't remember what happened with shaving with my first, everything was so rushed. With my 2nd they shaved me prior.

• I know you won't get one but I definitely found an epidural more painful than a spinal. With my epidural I cried and cried in pain and my spinal I was able to breathe through it (while squeezing a nurse lol). Every sensation varies by person but all I could feel was numbness going down my entire body.

• You are more than likely going to experience violent shaking during surgery. This is completely normal and will be controlled by your nurse who stays by your head the entire time.

• You may feel nauseous and may vomit. Normal again. I threw up with my first and was very nauseous with my 2nd.

• If you cannot control your heart rate, you may be lightly sedated. I had a panic attack with my 1st and was sedated. It was a horrific experience so I worked extremely hard to relax myself during my 2nd.

• You will not feel "pain" per say but there may be times in the surgery that can be uncomfortable. They will push down on your ribs and depending on how descended baby is it can definitely hurt. My 1st was engaged and was horrific when they pushed on my ribs. My 2nd was only uncomfortable.

• I want you to understand that afterwards is going to hurt. It might get to the point where you think, "I can't do this." but just remember that it is not forever.

• Stay on top of your medications. I cannot even begin to explain the pain when you're 1 day PP and your nurse has forgotten your medicine while you sleep and you're 2 hours overdue. You want to throw up it can hurt so badly.

• Alternate medications, do not depend on pain killers alone. Try and do 12 hour increments. Take prescription pain killer. 3 hours later take ibuprofen. 3 hours later take acetaminophen. 3 hours later take ibuprofen. 3 hours later take prescription pain killer. Repeat. If the pain is too unbearable, take your pain killer.

• You must walk. Must, must, must. It will hurt but when you start walking you will feel better, I promise. Your body needs you to walk so you don't develop blood clots and so that your bowels can start working again.

• You need an anti-gas and a stool softner. Surgery slows your bowels as well as pain killers. If you feel sharp upper shoulder pain, it's gas. It's pretty much awful being constipated and having a giant incision. These are life savers.

• It may be painful to urinate after the catheter is removed. This won't last long.

• Try not to over-do it when you get home. You can seriously hurt yourself. I tore my back muscles with my 1st and couldn't walk for 5 months without experiencing crippling back spasms that floored me.

I am from the US so I'm not entirely sure how much of this will apply to you but I hope I've helped. Also these are only my experiences so they may be completely different for you. Best of luck to you.

What great advice

I will add that if you feel nauseated, ask for something right away. They slip it into your iv and it's almost instantaneous relief.

I was told NOT to shave prior to surgery, and I did anyway for aesthetic reasons. I got a little ingrown hair under a piece of tape after the staples were removed, and it caused a tiny infection where the tape covered my incision. So maybe verify what they want you to do

Also, can't emphasize enough about the walking!!

 

[DHBH0930]

Lots of great advice so far,

Mine was an emergency c section so no preparing for it for me.. But

Everything they said plus

-Drink lots and lots and even more water after! It speeds up the recovery

-getting in and out of bed is the hardest part, for me it was a couple weeks before it was easier. I actually slept in a recliner since it hurt too much to get out of bed

-biggest thing like they said stay up on the pain meds! Don't try to tough it out, taking them makes you able to get up and walk without wanting to scream, and since walking leads to faster recovery it is win win

-coughing and sneezing hurt, it can help to hold a pillow tightly when it happens

-when they check on you they will most likely have to push on your abdomen, it will hurt like hell

Not trying to scare you, and everyone's pain tolerance will be different, but lots of pain involved, so TAKE YOUR MEDS!!! The first few days are the worst, then the next couple weeks aren't great, but then it starts to get a lot better, hope it all goes well!

 

[x__amour]

Oh gosh, yes! I totally forgot that. They will push on your stomach multiple times a day to see if your bleeding is normal and this is NOT comfy. This was by far one of the worst things.

 

[Linny]

Omg I think it must be different over in uk cos no one touched my stomach. If they had I'd have slapped them. They would just check the wound every day but didn't touch it.

I also had the teeth chattering and shaking when they took me in to theatre which they said was adrenaline. But it wasn't scary.

I think this thread shows in itself how different everyone's experiences are. I think I was very lucky and could have been more cos mine section was planned but it really wasn't as bad as I expected.

Try not to worry and enjoy it if you can because the most important thing is you will get to meet your baby x x

 

[the why bird]

Just to add a little reassurance, my section was nowhere near as bad as what the others have described.

I didn't feel any discomfort when baby was taken out. No pain from the catheter. I did get nausea but they put something into the IV which was instant relief. I had very little pain afterwards - didn't need extra over the counter meds and I was off the hospital ones by about day 4 I think.

Getting in and out of bed was a bit sore (and a bit scary because you're very conscious of your incision). I don't remember anyone pushing on my stomach so if it happened, it can't have been that painful.

I did have to take injections for about five days afterwards (meaning I had to take them myself at home) which caused a burning pain for about thirty seconds. And it did take me a while for my bathroom habits to get back to normal.

 

[DHBH0930]

Part of the problem for me that shouldn't be the case for you is with the preeclampsia I was on magnesium sulfate and therefore a catheter even after the epidermal wore off, I had to be on it for another 24 hours, so I had a late start to getting out of bed to walk around. I think that made it THAT much harder and more painful.

The shaking was not something I was expecting, it lasted throughout the surgery and I think it was less then an hour after that it subsided. Just was annoying more than anything, I wanted to stop but it wasn't anything I could control.

I also did have my heart racing during the section, I don't think it was nerves (maybe just partially) I think it was another side effect of the epidural. They never had to sedate me, but I was very aware of my heart beat, felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest.

I'm sure a planned c section is better then an emergency section

 

[Night Flower]

(Post came out weird, will add later)

 

[Srrme]

I had my tummy pushed on after my c-section and they were VERY gentle compared to the tummy pushing after my vaginal births.

 

[wifeywoo2]

Going to be using some hair removal cream next week & then repeat a day before my section. How low do I need to go?

 

[the why bird]

My scar is above where my pubic hair stops. Don't know if I'm just less hairy than most people but it wasn't something I needed to be concerned about. I wouldn't worry about more than the top inch. And our info leaflets say no shaving or hair removal for a week before to avoid the risk of ingrown hairs, so you might want to check before doing the repeat on the night before.

On the off chance you haven't used it before, be careful not to get the hair removal cream too near the lady bits, it burns!

 

[Srrme]

My scar is above where my pubic hair stops. Don't know if I'm just less hairy than most people but it wasn't something I needed to be concerned about. I wouldn't worry about more than the top inch. And our info leaflets say no shaving or hair removal for a week before to avoid the risk of ingrown hairs, so you might want to check before doing the repeat on the night before.

On the off chance you haven't used it before, be careful not to get the hair removal cream too near the lady bits, it burns!

My scar is actually below my hair line! And I am not very hairy, haha. I did shave that morning, thankfully (they'll shave it for you if you don't, and I didn't want that after I saw the way they shaved my sister's).

 

[wifeywoo2]

Thanks ladies. I'll do the top few inch. It will look a bit funny!

 

[Linny]

Mine was a total hack job but must have been good enough cos they didn't need to correct it x