Those with young children at home already who had c section

[baileybubs]

Hi there,

I'm currently looking at what i would like to do regarding the birth of my 2nd baby. I had an emcs with my first and so have the option for ELCS or vbac.
I would like to try vbac and so far midwives are saying they don't see a problem with that (yet!) but I keep swaying between going for it or not.

So one thing that makes me want to opt for vbac is the (hopefully) quicker recovery afterwards as I have an 8 month old who will be 15 months old when new baby arrives.

Can anyone give me stories of how you managed with a young child and newborn when recovering from a c section?

Also for anyone who has had an EMCS then and ELCS was there a big difference in the recovery? I know it differs for everyone of course but it took me a good 3-4 weeks to be able to get out of bed without hurting after my EMCS and I walked like an old lady for ages too, which will be hard on my own with 2 of them as df will only get 2 weeks paternity leave.

 

[Eternal]

I had a 22 month old, yes it hurt but I managed, mine were twins too, so not only did I have the two year old but TWO newborns.

I'm possibly opting for another c section if I get the option, it took a long time to be "pain free" but I still managed and got out etc.

 

[Banshee]

Ds1 was 18 months when I had ds2 by my second emcs. The hospital give all this advice about not picking up your toddler for x amount of time but what young toddler would understand why mummy can't pick them up? Also my husband had to go back to work after a couple of weeks so I had no choice but to pick ds1 up to put him in the cot and high chair etc. It is painful but you just have to try and be as careful as possible and rest when you can.

 

[baileybubs]

Thanks ladies, I will hopefully be having a chat with my consultant about it all when I eventually actually get seen by anyone!!! It's taken 4 weeks just to get to see a midwife!
I do think I'm edging towards vbac, but then you never know whether that will end in EMCS anyway do you? All I can do is get all the info and see how my pregnancy goes, knowing my luck this little monkey will be breech or something and I won't have a choice lol! X

 

[blinkava]

My 1st was 16 months when his brother was born and it wasn't has hard as I imagined. I will have a 8, 7 and 1 year old this time around and I'm not as worried about it.

 

[The Alchemist]

You can't lose or win either way you choose. Both have its own pros+cons. The good part to this is you have experience with cs. My first was natural birth. My second was scheduled cs due to breech presentation. When ds was born, dd was 20 months. It was definitely hard with a newborn but my OH had 4 weeks paternity leave. He would have dd and I tended to ds. I was up and walking around the house the day I got home. Slowly walking. I also wore a post partum wrap. The hospital gave it out and it made it some degrees easier to move about.

 

[Clara85]

15 month gap here and I could look after toddler fine so long as I took the painkillers and didn't walk too far wasn't an.issue

 

[Marythefairy]

Stalking. I had a traumatic emcs after 2 hard days of Labour and am having to have an elective this time my lo will be 32 months. I'm hoping that recovery after an elective will be better than an emcs as I had to have several blood transfusions last time and 3 hours of surgery. Plus I won't havehad pethadine and syntocyn and failed venteuse and whatever
else they gave me to try and get them put which I can't remember!! Glad to know it's manageable though thanks girls

 

[sethsmummy]

I had an ELCS in march last year and i loved it. ds1 was a traumatic forecep delivery so i got to choose to have a section and i loved how calm it is.. i felt so in control of everything! healing time is faster after a planned as there is no rush so they dont do as much damage while they are in there.

ds1 was 3 years 3 months when ds2 was born and i didnt struggle at all.. infact i had to pick him up the day after my section because hed fallen off the hospital bed and smacked his head while dh had hold of the baby and it didnt hurt. Just make sure to keep up with your pain meds and dont do too much and you should be ok hun. I had my section on the tuesday at 9:30am and was up on my feet at 4pm, and once my cathater was removed at 6am the next morning (i begged the midwife haha) i was up and mobile (after a shower i felt like a new woman).. i didnt need help with anything at all in the hospital and was home on the thursday at 11am and walked straight down to ds1's nursery to pick him up as id missed him so much lol. the only things i didnt do was lift the pram up the stairs (live in a block of flats) and do the hoovering for a while but your body will let you know what it is and isnt ready for. xxx

 

[minties]

Thomas was an emercency section, Sophie was a planned one. Recovery was more painful with Sophie, but it was still 'easy'. No problems lifting my toddler, hanging out washing etc. By 2 weeks PP I felt 100% normal again. We were going at it having sex 9 days PP and I was driving 3 days PP.

 

[MonyMony]

Hats off to some of you ladies! I'm envious of how quickly you recovered from your c-sections. Mine was sort of elective, in that they did give me a choice on whether to continue laboring naturally or to have a c-section. So it wasn't an emergency and it wasn't rushed. It was quite orderly and I'm sure they did a great job--I barely have a scar.

BUT it took me at least 6 weeks to recover. I couldn't go up stairs for two weeks--and our bedrooms were on the second floor! So I basically had to stay up there and have my OH wait on me. There was pain for a really long time, and then there was itching from the healing that drove me crazy. I certainly could not have lifted anything but the baby for the first three weeks. I was lucky my son was too old to need lifting. At four weeks I was still crying about how awful I felt.

I've often wondered if I made the right decision regarding the c-section. So I guess you really never know what recovery will be like, but I wish you luck.

 

[Louppey]

My DD was 2 years 8 months. It was hard but honestly I found the recovery a lot better second time round. I was up and walking hours afterwards rather than the next day. All in all much better

I swayed between VBAC or ELCS the whole pregnancy. Ended up with ELCS at 41+1. Wish I just opted for the ELCS tbh. Could've had her at 39 weeks and not suffered with the SPD any longer. It's very very hard towards the end with a toddler

 

[baileybubs]

Thanks ladies,

I'm still unsure what to do, I have my consultant appointment on Wednesday though so hoping I'll have more info then.

Tbh now I'm wondering whether c section will be more convienient, my df already has his boss trying to give him a specific date on when he will be going on paternity (he explained it doesn't work like that but as a chef his boss just makes his life he'll if he doesn't do what he wants) my dd will need looking after whilst having the section so my mum or MIL will need to be available. But then I think about how much I really would like to try vbac. I know I would like another child in the future and I don't know how difficult it is to have a vba2c here in the UK so this might be my only chance to try.
Plus I would rather not have to have a surgery a recovery if I can help it I suppose. It's all so confusing!

I guess it's still far too early though coz anything could happen during the pregnancy to determine the birth, if my BP goes high again I might have to have a c section coz I refuse to be induced. Or baby may stay breech.....who knows?

 

[mojobear]

My DD1 was also 15 months when I had my section with DD2.

Tbh I found the recovery time with my second csec to be harder/longer than my first, I put it down to having my 2 pregnancies close together and also having some complications hence having to have another csec. Also my daughter was not yet walking so I was having to pick her up and probably didn't have as much rest time as with my first.

The positives on having a planned section for me was that at least I could arrange support which I had for the first 3 weeks after that I managed pretty well although I had pains (mainly by the end of the day) for nearly 6 months after but nothing that couldn't be eased with some painkillers.

Good Luck with whatever you decide.

 

[baileybubs]

Thanks mojo bear, I should ask you tips on how you cope with the small age gap lol! The support is why I'm thinking ELCS could be easier as my df can take 2 weeks off then my mum can straight after, whereas if I try to vbac and end up having another EMCS that won't necessarily be possible.

 

[littlesteph]

My little one turns 1 on my due date, I am still debating whether to go for vbac or not, a part of me wants to go for it as you get the release of hormones that help with the bonding with baby, but theres apart of me that wants to go straight for the section because the idea of vbac scares me. I was induced with my first and didn't get past 2cm and there was the issue of fetal distress.