Left Hand of Dorkness and I are expecting our first baby (a girl) very soon. It’s been a smooth pregnancy so far, and she seems quite healthy, but remains stubbornly breech. Yesterday, the doctors tried an external cephalic version. Not the funnest thing ever and, unfortunately, it didn’t work. So, they’ve scheduled a c-section for December 31.
I’m a little bummed, but trying to look at the silver lining: 1) hey, 2008 tax deduction and 2) when she gets older, she’ll always have people who are willing to party on her birthday.
Do any veterans of the big C have wisdom to share? Dads are also welcome to chime in.
Congratulations! I think it would be really cool to have a birthday on New Year’s Eve.
I had an emergency c-section with my first and a VBAC with my second. The advice I would give you would be to take your pain meds on schedule - don’t wait until you feel like you need it. Also, let people do things for you and just try to spend lots of time wherever is comfortable for you snuggling with your new baby.** TMI warning:** Finally, if they try to give you an enema afterward :eek:, I would suggest opting for a gentle laxative, instead. They like you to go to the bathroom before they release you to go home, but don’t let them rush you.
My wife had our son in October and after 12 hours of labor, the doctor talked to us about a c-section. After it was over, she said that a regular birth probably wouldn’t have been easy given his size to hers.
My advice is to take all of the help that you can get. Don’t feel you have to do anything other than be with the baby. Let someone else cook and clean. You have just had surgery so take it easy. Usually, the hospital stay is three days, so don’t rush out.
While you are at the hospital, don’t let them bully you. My wife was 130 lbs before birth. Our son was born weighing over 9 lbs. She has certain issues that made breastfeeding difficult if not impossible. Most of the nurses still tried to convince her that breastfeeding was the only solution. You have to do what works best for you and baby.
My piece of advice is to get up out of bed as soon as you possibly can. The first time up will feel awful, and you need to resist the temptation to walk hunched over. Straighten up and take it as slowly as you need to. It gets progressively easier after that first time. (My son was transverse, so I didn’t get the nice little bikini-line incision. I got a big honkin’ vertical one that runs from my navel to my pubes.)
Ditto on taking all the help you can get. My son “roomed in” with me, and trying to get in and out of bed or a chair while holding him was damned near impossible. Call for the nurses to help.
Really take it easy at home. If your doctor tells you to limit your trips up and down stairs, DO IT.
You’ll feel a lot better when the staples come out. I found one of those big elastic belly bands to be a big help when it came to rolling over in bed.
Good luck and congrats! We’ll be waiting for pictures!
My history:
My daughter was born via c-section after laboring all day and pushing for 2 hours. I honestly don’t remember much as I was completely exhausted and I pretty much passed out once I heard her cry and knew she was ok.
My surro-baby was born via c-section after laboring all day and pushing for 3 hours. Are we seeing a pattern here? Anyway, with this c-section I was much more alert - I remember the whole thing, I remember being in recovery, I was pretty much awake for everything.
My advice: Let others help you. Do not try to get in and out of bed by yourself before you are ready - it really is the most painful part.
Take the meds if you need them - but don’t take them just because everyone thinks you should. I was never on anything stronger than Tylenol and I never felt the need for it. Nurses and doctors all told me I should take the stronger stuff because it would help, but I felt fine.
Take the stool softeners. Bowel movements after a c/s aren’t very pleasant and the softer your stools are, the better. Trust me.
Walk. Walk, walk, walk. Oh, and walk some more. It will hurt at first but the more you walk, the better you will feel. Recovery is much easier when you get your body going. Just take it easy, but make sure you walk the halls of the hospy whenever possible.
Good Luck!!! And enjoy your little bundle of joy!
C-section dad here. I’d recommend making sure hubby keeps his eyes on your face. After watching my daughter get weighed in I turned the wrong way and saw my wife’s stomach sitting on her stomach. I wasn’t quite prepared for that.
My daughter was a scheduled C-section. Not to minimize the risk of the procedure, but as an impatient person I loved not having to wait through hours of labor.
Thanks, y’all. I knew I would get good advice here. The midwives, nurses, and doctors at my practice and the hospital have all been extremely supportive and helpful, which helps a lot, both physically and psychologically.
The one thing I’m slightly concerned about is that we have a 2-story house, with all of the bedrooms and bathrooms on the second floor. Avoiding stairs will be difficult once Left Hand goes back to work.
:eek:
My husband’s boss–an always helpful fount of wisdom–told us, “It’s just like gutting a deer!” Umm…okay…not sure what we’re supposed to do with that tidbit.
Don’t worry too much about the stairs. When I had my daughter I lived in a bi-level so I had no choice but to go up and down stairs all the time. And this year when I had my surro-baby, I lived in a 3-story house, also with the bathrooms and bedrooms on the 2nd floor…so again, I had no choice but to use the stairs. Just take it easy - go slow - use the railing. You’ll be fine.
I agree with this. When I had my c-section, we lived in a walk-up apartment. If I wanted to leave the house, I had to go up and down the stairs. I just took it veeeery slow. We left the baby carrier/car seat in the car and I only carried him (instead of carrying the seat with him in it).
Lots of good advice, I will emphasize some of it (two c-sections and five additional major abdominal surgeries so yeah I’ve definitely been filleted a time or two, or seven).
Get out of bed when offered the chance. My fastest recoveries happened when I got up and walked and stood as straight as possible. Your innards will not fall out.
Find a small pillow you can use as a splint pillow. If you sleep on your side, you can cuddle that thing which will help your belly feel better. You can also rest the baby on it as you feed–less direct pressure on your incision. Use it when you cough or sneeze too.
I cannot agree enough about NO enema. I was very young with my first child and did have one and I would never ever do that again. Far easier to take stool softeners preemptively and then drink tons of water.
I was terrified of needles for the first three surgeries so refused post-op pain meds. By the fourth, I got over that fear and wow what a difference. I could actually sleep for more than five minutes. Take your meds.
Stairs can be handled by scooting up and down on your bottom. I also had stairs and the only bathroom was on the second floor but food and any form of distraction (TV, books etc) were downstairs. So I scooted. I’m sure I looked like a moron but it worked.
Listen, listen, LISTEN and follow any restrictions your doctor gives you. I did not with the first c-secction and developed a lot of adhesions which hurt. Do yourself a favor and avoid that situation by following your restrictions even when you think they are silly.
When people want to help, have them clean, cook, do laundry – everything that you are not allowed to do. You keep the baby or have them take the baby and you take a nap.
Remember a birth is a birth and at the end of it how your baby got here doesn’t really matter. I felt a little weird like I hadn’t successfully given birth, which was just nuts. I had a baby and that is the very definition of giving birth.
I forgot that one! A small pillow is a MUST! Coughing can be a side effect from the surgery so a small pillow is a necessity! Just hold it on your incision when you cough - without it you will get a searing pain across your incision - not fun!
Don’t let the little brain recording that says “A c-section is wrong and a good mom gives birth properly, no matter what” have its way. A birth that results in a healthy baby is a good birth.
I loved my scheduled c-section, recovery was a breeze compared to the first time, and I just walked into the hospital and had a baby within 45 minutes! And I could hold her!
Ahem. The TMI part. If you don’t give birth vaginally, all those hormones that are supposed to tighten up the birth canal afterwards still work. It will take a while to loosen back up again, so take it easy and go slowly when you’re ready to resume the fun.
I didn’t have a c-section, but remember that your baby will be fine if you leave her for a few minutes to go upstairs to the bathroom, even if it takes you a while on the stairs. She may not like it, and you’ll likely feel guilty if she cries (I always did), but she’ll be fine. So if it’s too hard to safely maneuver the stairs with a small person in tow, leave her while you do you do your business.
Congratulations, by the way! Send me some of that new-baby-head smell.
The pillow thing is important. Press it against your tummy when you need to stand up or sit down or turn over in bed or anything like that.
And then, pretty much what everyone else said. Follow your restrictions, take it easy, accept help from other people, and take your pain meds as much or as little as you feel you need (within prescription, of course).
The other thing is, I didn’t find breastfeeding to be particularly more difficult just because I’d had a C-section. I did have trouble with the classic “cradle hold,” so I used the “football” hold instead. You can find pictures of this stuff on breastfeeding websites if you’re interested. I would also highly recommend a Boppy or other nursing pillow, as I found it very helpful with my C-section baby. Oh, and you can take the pain meds and still breastfeed.
So THAT’S it! I always wondered why it hurt when we resumed activities, when nothing had passed through that way!
I will chime in on taking your meds, if you need them (boy, I wish Tylenol had been enough for ME!). Believe me, no one is going to think you’re a wimp and they don’t keep records on who had to have the highest dosage. And they don’t give you a gold star for toughing it out.
Do let people help. I was always told not to pick up anything heavier than my baby for the first two weeks (although, with my son–who weighed over 12 lbs–they said to be careful with even THAT).
I always found the first few nights at home much easier if I slept in a recliner, because lying flat pulled hard on my incision, particularly before they removed the staples. YMMV.
If you are anything like me, you find it hard to say “enough.” I refer to visitors, both at the hospital and at home. I never wanted to hurt feelings. I wish I’d been able to say, “I need to rest now, thanks for coming by!” once in a while. If this is true for you, it might be good to have someone who will do it for you. You’re going to be plenty tired, even if there wasn’t a baby in the mix!
Listen when they tell you not to drink too much too quickly. Your mouth is going to be dry (think Sahara) after surgery and you’ll want to guzzle liquids. SIP, slowly, or it’s likely to be a round trip, and you do NOT want to throw up with a belly full of staples!
My third baby was breech, so I tried an old wife’s method of turning him. Take an ironing board and lie it against a bed so that it forms a ramp. Lie head down on said ironing board with your legs on the bed, head near the floor. (Cation: it will take some time to get yourself in this position at advanced gestation, but it’s not too bad). Lie like that for 15 minutes twice a day. My son flipped on his third ironing board rest. There was all sorts of pushing and moving in the uterus than I felt him turn.
It wouldn’t hurt to try it.
Ironically, he was my only vaginal birth baby, his older sisters were both C-section.
My advice is to stop taking narcotics right away and stick to non-RX painkillers. I did this for C-section #2 after having trouble with C-Section #1. The discomfort wasn’t more, but I had a clear head and no constipation.
My first was C-Section after a failed induction for pre-eclampsia, second a VBAC.
Another recommendation for a little pillow to hold onto your wound when you have to cough or laugh. I distinctly remember watching America’s Funniest Home Videos and being a little loopy from the drugs, everytime I laughed I felt like something was going to fall out!
Also, after my surgery I was on a liquid diet until I proved the worthiness of my digestive tract by passing gas. I got pretty hungry, so keep in mind that you may be without solid food for a while.
C-Section babies can be a little sleepy and less interested in breastfeeding, we worked this out and did the nursing thing for a while. They do have lovely round heads though!
