kezz_howland
mummy to one and ttc
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I have read such horror stories about c-sections, so I thought I would post a thread to describe exactly what my planned c-section involved, because if you're anything like me... you'll want to know everything that's going to happen or you will panic!!
So, I had my c-section 3 and a half weeks ago. It was scheduled due to my suffering from severe vulvadynia (see my journal if you're curious!). Although I knew I wanted a c-section, when the date actually began to approach I got pretty scared and started searching everything I could think of, and reading as many posts/articles etc on c-sections! I don't know whether it helped or not, but I felt better having more knowledge as I felt more in control of wat was going to happen.
Anyway, I was given two anti-acid tablets, one to take 10pm the night before the op, and one at 6am in the morning. I had to get to the hospital for about 7.30am, and when I got there I was taken to the maternity ward and shown my bed. My midwife came to talk to me and describe the op to me. She told me we would be first in, around 9.30am and asked if I had any qiuestions. I told her I was petrified about the catheter, and asked if it could be put in after the spinal anaesthesia and she said yes, no problem. She gave me a gown and hat and asked me to change into them, and said she'd be back with the doctors in about half an hour.
The doctors came about 5 minutes later and went through the consent form with me, then the anaesthetist came and talked me through the spinal and what I would feel etc.
After that the midwife said it would prob be another half hour or so before the doctors were ready for me. However, after about 5 minutes she came back and said they were ready early! I got onto the bed and they wheeled me into an elevator and down to the c-section room. My partner was left outside the room to get changed into a gown, and while they did my spinal.
I had to sit on the edge of the bed in the operating room and they took my blood pressure and pulse. Then the anaesthetist tried to get the cannula in my hand for the IV. Unfortunately, my hands were all swollen and there was no sign of a vein anywhere! She attempted it 3 times (and it was the most painful part of the whole procedure!) before the nurses squeezed my arms really tight to bring a vein up! Eventually it went in, and then she said she would do the spinal. I had been really dreading the spinal as people had said you could feel it go in etc etc. I had to sit with my feet on some steps, a pillow in front of me, and lean over it with my chin on my chest and my shoulders down. It was hard with having such a big baby bump! But the nurses held my shoulders down for me to get the right position. First they used a little needle to numb my back, which was just a prick (like having blood taken or something), then she told me I should start to feel a warming sensation in my legs and bum. I was thinking 'surely you need to do the spinal first!' and then I started to go warm, and couldn't believe she'd already done it! I hadn't felt a thing it was brilliant!!
When I told them I was going warm, they helped me lift my legs up and lay down on the op table. They put some circle things with wires attached (I have no idea what they're called! lol) on my chest, and a pulse monitor on my finger. There were wires all over the place!! They told me they needed to lift my legs up to put the catheter in, and that it would feel weird. As they did it, i was like pins and needles all down my legs and my legs felt weirdly heavy! They put the catheter in and again I didn't feel anything. Then they put my legs back down and put the sheet up in front of me.
At this point my OH was allowed in and he held my hand. The anaesthetist was lovely and stood by my head the whole time, and said if I needed anything or if I started to feel sick at all just to tell her and she would give me a counter drug.
My legs and belly etc at this point just felt like they had light pins and needles, but I could no longer wiggle my toes! I kept getting sprayed with a cold spray and asked if it felt cold. At first it did, then it got less and less cold, then eventually I couldn't feel the spray at all. I was still panicking that I would feel the incision, but she said she would test my belly with something sharp first. Then she went 'can you feel that?' and I tried so hard to feel whatever she was on about, but I really couldn't. She asked if I wanted to be tld what was happening, and I said to just tell me if I ask!
A minute later I asked if they had made the incision yet, and she said yes (what a relief I couldn't feel a thing!) For the next five minutes it felt like they had gotten hold of my belly and were just moving me from side to side. There was no pain whatsoever, but it was an odd sort of feeling! People had described it as being rummaged around in, but I would say it was more like being moved around. Then I started to feel pressure higher up. It felt like they were trying to pull my lungs out, not the baby! But it still didn't hurt. It made me feel a little like I couldn't breathe, which of course I could! Then I heard a sucking sound, and the anaesthetist said 'any second now' and next thing I knew I heard the baby crying and saw him carried over to the table, where my OH took a picture of him. It turns out the reason I felt pressure so high up was that my little one was wedged rather high, and they had to use forceps to pull him out! I don't think that's the usual from what i've been told.
I shook a lot threw the op, which was a combination of adrenaline and the drugs! My teeth kept chattering too.
They brought him over to me and put him on my chest, and the wobbling my lower body around feeling continued while they stitched me back up. After a few minutes I felt a little sick and told the anaesthetist, who put something in my IV, and 30 seconds later I felt normal again. It took about 10 mins to finish stitching me up, and then they took the sheet down and wheeled me into a recovery room where I spent an hour being monitored and breastfeeding my baby.
After that I was wheeled up into the maternity ward and the curtains drawn. The midwife put a sanitary towel under me, propped me up a little in the bed and left me to it for a little while so OH, baby and I could bond.
After another couple of hours, I needed the sanitary towel and bedding changing from the blood, so two midwives turned me on my side, took out the sheets, bathed me a little and put fresh ones on, then laid me back down. Was a little uncomfortable being turned on my side as it used my tummy muscles a little, but not overly painful. My sanitary towel and bedding was changed another couple of times before the evening, and the catheter kept being emptied. At 6am next morning the catheter was pulled out (took 5 seconds and was painless) and then I was allowed to get out of bed, which was wonderful! I was told I had to pee in a bowl as they needed to see how much I peed? Anyway, I peed for about 3 minutes straight and filled the bowl! I thought it was gonna overflow! There were some blood clots and things and I had to change sanitary towels frequently. The only pain was when doing things involving tummy muscles... like sitting up or lifting the baby.
I won't go into the recovery, but I was at the supermarket on day 5 and took baby to be registered on day 6. Since then the pain has mostly been just above the scar, where it feels like bad sunburn or something. I believe that's to do with the nerve endings mending. My scar has totally healed and looks so thin you can hardly see it at all! And now, 3 weeks on, I feel almost back to normal. I have to stop myself from lifting things cause I forget!
Sorry for such a long post - I just wanted to give a detailed description for anyone out there like me! Hope it helps someone to feel better about the whole thing! And just so you know, I will def be doing it again (not just yet though!!)
So, I had my c-section 3 and a half weeks ago. It was scheduled due to my suffering from severe vulvadynia (see my journal if you're curious!). Although I knew I wanted a c-section, when the date actually began to approach I got pretty scared and started searching everything I could think of, and reading as many posts/articles etc on c-sections! I don't know whether it helped or not, but I felt better having more knowledge as I felt more in control of wat was going to happen.
Anyway, I was given two anti-acid tablets, one to take 10pm the night before the op, and one at 6am in the morning. I had to get to the hospital for about 7.30am, and when I got there I was taken to the maternity ward and shown my bed. My midwife came to talk to me and describe the op to me. She told me we would be first in, around 9.30am and asked if I had any qiuestions. I told her I was petrified about the catheter, and asked if it could be put in after the spinal anaesthesia and she said yes, no problem. She gave me a gown and hat and asked me to change into them, and said she'd be back with the doctors in about half an hour.
The doctors came about 5 minutes later and went through the consent form with me, then the anaesthetist came and talked me through the spinal and what I would feel etc.
After that the midwife said it would prob be another half hour or so before the doctors were ready for me. However, after about 5 minutes she came back and said they were ready early! I got onto the bed and they wheeled me into an elevator and down to the c-section room. My partner was left outside the room to get changed into a gown, and while they did my spinal.
I had to sit on the edge of the bed in the operating room and they took my blood pressure and pulse. Then the anaesthetist tried to get the cannula in my hand for the IV. Unfortunately, my hands were all swollen and there was no sign of a vein anywhere! She attempted it 3 times (and it was the most painful part of the whole procedure!) before the nurses squeezed my arms really tight to bring a vein up! Eventually it went in, and then she said she would do the spinal. I had been really dreading the spinal as people had said you could feel it go in etc etc. I had to sit with my feet on some steps, a pillow in front of me, and lean over it with my chin on my chest and my shoulders down. It was hard with having such a big baby bump! But the nurses held my shoulders down for me to get the right position. First they used a little needle to numb my back, which was just a prick (like having blood taken or something), then she told me I should start to feel a warming sensation in my legs and bum. I was thinking 'surely you need to do the spinal first!' and then I started to go warm, and couldn't believe she'd already done it! I hadn't felt a thing it was brilliant!!
When I told them I was going warm, they helped me lift my legs up and lay down on the op table. They put some circle things with wires attached (I have no idea what they're called! lol) on my chest, and a pulse monitor on my finger. There were wires all over the place!! They told me they needed to lift my legs up to put the catheter in, and that it would feel weird. As they did it, i was like pins and needles all down my legs and my legs felt weirdly heavy! They put the catheter in and again I didn't feel anything. Then they put my legs back down and put the sheet up in front of me.
At this point my OH was allowed in and he held my hand. The anaesthetist was lovely and stood by my head the whole time, and said if I needed anything or if I started to feel sick at all just to tell her and she would give me a counter drug.
My legs and belly etc at this point just felt like they had light pins and needles, but I could no longer wiggle my toes! I kept getting sprayed with a cold spray and asked if it felt cold. At first it did, then it got less and less cold, then eventually I couldn't feel the spray at all. I was still panicking that I would feel the incision, but she said she would test my belly with something sharp first. Then she went 'can you feel that?' and I tried so hard to feel whatever she was on about, but I really couldn't. She asked if I wanted to be tld what was happening, and I said to just tell me if I ask!
A minute later I asked if they had made the incision yet, and she said yes (what a relief I couldn't feel a thing!) For the next five minutes it felt like they had gotten hold of my belly and were just moving me from side to side. There was no pain whatsoever, but it was an odd sort of feeling! People had described it as being rummaged around in, but I would say it was more like being moved around. Then I started to feel pressure higher up. It felt like they were trying to pull my lungs out, not the baby! But it still didn't hurt. It made me feel a little like I couldn't breathe, which of course I could! Then I heard a sucking sound, and the anaesthetist said 'any second now' and next thing I knew I heard the baby crying and saw him carried over to the table, where my OH took a picture of him. It turns out the reason I felt pressure so high up was that my little one was wedged rather high, and they had to use forceps to pull him out! I don't think that's the usual from what i've been told.
I shook a lot threw the op, which was a combination of adrenaline and the drugs! My teeth kept chattering too.
They brought him over to me and put him on my chest, and the wobbling my lower body around feeling continued while they stitched me back up. After a few minutes I felt a little sick and told the anaesthetist, who put something in my IV, and 30 seconds later I felt normal again. It took about 10 mins to finish stitching me up, and then they took the sheet down and wheeled me into a recovery room where I spent an hour being monitored and breastfeeding my baby.
After that I was wheeled up into the maternity ward and the curtains drawn. The midwife put a sanitary towel under me, propped me up a little in the bed and left me to it for a little while so OH, baby and I could bond.
After another couple of hours, I needed the sanitary towel and bedding changing from the blood, so two midwives turned me on my side, took out the sheets, bathed me a little and put fresh ones on, then laid me back down. Was a little uncomfortable being turned on my side as it used my tummy muscles a little, but not overly painful. My sanitary towel and bedding was changed another couple of times before the evening, and the catheter kept being emptied. At 6am next morning the catheter was pulled out (took 5 seconds and was painless) and then I was allowed to get out of bed, which was wonderful! I was told I had to pee in a bowl as they needed to see how much I peed? Anyway, I peed for about 3 minutes straight and filled the bowl! I thought it was gonna overflow! There were some blood clots and things and I had to change sanitary towels frequently. The only pain was when doing things involving tummy muscles... like sitting up or lifting the baby.
I won't go into the recovery, but I was at the supermarket on day 5 and took baby to be registered on day 6. Since then the pain has mostly been just above the scar, where it feels like bad sunburn or something. I believe that's to do with the nerve endings mending. My scar has totally healed and looks so thin you can hardly see it at all! And now, 3 weeks on, I feel almost back to normal. I have to stop myself from lifting things cause I forget!
Sorry for such a long post - I just wanted to give a detailed description for anyone out there like me! Hope it helps someone to feel better about the whole thing! And just so you know, I will def be doing it again (not just yet though!!)
It does make me feel better about my elective c-sec. One of the reasons for mine is vestibulodynia, so it's also good to know that someone out there has had a section in similar circumstances!
x
