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Austin Babies
Emer
member
Scheduled c/s advice?
Emer
member
So, next week is my c/s and I'm getting nervous. I had one last time, but it was totally unexpected. I know this time will be much more calm, but can anyone give me an idea of what to expect or any advice? I have to be there 2 hours before, I'm assuming for fluids and such. I'll be getting a spinal instead of an epi, and have only heard that the spinal wears off more quickly.
It's with Dr. S, if anyone has input specific to him. TIA!
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Re: Scheduled c/s advice?
its honestly pretty uneventful
i'm sure planned will be a much more calm experience than 'emergency'! you will be monitored for an hour or two while given fluids, etc
then you walk to the operating room, sit on the table and hunch over while they give you a local and a spinal. by the time they lay you down your toes will already be tingly! spinals are so weird- you think you should be able to feel things but you can't
then they put up the curtain so i couldnt see anything. shaved/iodine/prepped the area and before you know it, they are bringing in your dh (this is when my hospital lets them in, you are alone until this point) and then making the incision and pulling out the baby!
that is just my experience of course, and not with dr. seeker. i hope it helps!
Yay! You're having your baby next week!! I bet everyone on this board is sick and tired of me saying this, but: I loved, loved, loved my c/s with Dr. S. It was all very calm and exciting- we were there 2 hours before, I got hooked up to the monitors and answered about a million questions from the nurse. Met the anesthesiologist and went over side effects. Then Dr. S showed up right on time (surprise!), and we all headed down to the OR together. I met his surgical assistant (Tina?) in the OR, she is fantastic and sweet as can be. Got the anesthesia, and in what seemed like about 5 minutes, we had our baby! They showed him to me and we took some pictures (be SURE to bring a camera and get someone other than DH to snap pics during the surgery- my L&D nurse did that for us and it was great- I treasure those first photos of DS even if they're kind of gory), then I got put back together while DH and DS headed off to the nursery.
Just rest assured you are in wonderful hands. I heard over and over from the nurses what a great surgeon Dr. S is and how great his incisions always look. I felt really comfortable in his care and my recovery was seriously a breeze, which I attribute in part to having a great surgeon who knew what he was doing!
Best of luck!
(read it. you know you want to.)
anderson . september 2008
vivian . february 2010
mabel . august 2012
Dr. S. is apparently notorious for forgetting to show the mom the baby, so be sure and mention it. He did not show Babytaffy to me, so I didn't get to see him like he came out, which saddens me.
I was actually disappointed with the birth experience. I felt like a body and not a person. No one talked to me. After DH and the baby left the room is one of the most isolating experiences I've had. Dr. S and the staff all discussed their favorite episodes of CSI. A couple nurses complained about how many placentas were in the placenta bucket and how it needed emptying. I was laying there, strapped down crucifixion style, naked, awake, the center of the activity yet totally ignored - alone, vulnerable and kind of like that junior high feeling where you don't fit in with the clique. It's hard to explain. Just completely isolating.
If I were to have another child, what I would do is to have a second support person at the ready. That way when DH and the baby left, someone else could come in and be there for me, emotionally. I don't doubt the staff and their abilities to be there for me physically and take care of my body. But as an emotional pregnant/birthing lady, I really needed someone there talking to me while everything was going on.
DH also got in trouble for having a camera out during the procedure. Dr. S had given us the go ahead to take pictures, although that was against hopital policy. DH was actually using the video feature of the camera to video Babytaffy coming out (something I really wanted - I hated that stupid curtain and not knowing what was going on, next time I'm insisting the curtain come down). Anyway, a nurse started yelling at DH and DH ERASED the video. I would have just pretended to erase it myself because I know how important that video was to me. So even though Dr. S. was okay with the camera, you have to watch out for others.
Dr. S was late to my c-section by about an hour. It was on a Thursday which is his Bailey Square surgery day and one of those was running long. We just hung out in a small room until he got there, me in bed with machines strapped to me monitoring me and the baby, an IV with fluids.
The spinal is nothing to be afraid of - just two pricks. You'll curve your back over and probably hold on to a nurse while it's administered. Afterwards many women experience intense itching in their face. I couldn't stop rubbing my nose. Just ask for some meds, they were quick acting.
I was bored in recovery and used our cell to start making phone calls announcing the baby. DH and the baby were in the nursery getting the first bath during this time. They brought the baby to me for a few minutes to nurse and then took him back again and we met up in our post-partum room.
Dr. S. is a fabulous surgeon. I had no problems with recovery and was home less than 48 hours later. The scar is very difficult to see and I don't have tenderness or numbness. Dr. S. never came back to the hospital to visit me. The nurse practitioner came the first day and the on call guy stopped the second day to release me (when I asked, he would have let me stay if I wanted to).
Good luck!
Wow Taffy! I'm so sorry your experience was like that. That makes me so sad for you.
My scheduled c/s w/Dr S 3wks ago was very different. It was at NAMC, at 7:30am on a Friday (so we got there at 5am). Dr S was on time and came in to see us in the pre-op room, then I saw him as I walked into the OR. He was very excited for me/us and was his usual wonderful self. The nurses helped me get on the table, I needed a stool b/c I'm short. The spinal was better than the epi, IMO - didn't take long and started working very fast. They walked me through the whole process the entire time and my anesthesiologist was wonderful (her name was Jennifer, I remember, b/c I kept calling for her during the c/s when I felt sick so she'd give me more meds in my IV). I was in constant communication with all the nurses in the OR and Dr S would tell us what was going on every few minutes and he was sure to tell DH when to start taking pics. Dr S showed us DD over the curtain so I could see her (I didn't ask him to do that, I figured it was standard practice). Dr S and another Dr were talking about the weekend while they sewed me up and he even commented on how he was giving me a mini-tummy tuck (jokingly) b/c he cut out a sliver of skin - I told him he could take out as much as he wanted! I was starting to feel the shakes by then and wasn't much for conversation anyway, so their convo about other stuff was actually good for me b/c I focused on that instead of how I was feeling.
DH and DD joined me in the recovery room, but my shakes were so bad by then that I didn't care if he was with me or with the baby, I just wanted to sleep and wanted the shakes to stop.
Dr S came back the next day (Saturday) to check on me and told me he would write up the discharge orders so that I could go home whenever I wanted to (Sun or Mon) depending on how I was feeling. I ended up going home on Sun afternoon. I was impressed the Dr S came to check on me on a Sat and wasn't expecting that.
***on another note, my new pedi came to check on DD EVERY DAY that we were there; Fri, Sat and Sun. I was really impressed with that! DD was in my room the whole time so I got to see the pedi and talk to her about what was going on w/DD each day and that was really nice/cool. (Dr Cepeda w/Jollyville Pedi if you're interested)
I don't have much else to say. Except that my experience too was very different from Taffy's. Dr. S was actually early! They did talk to me after DH was gone and we were encouraged to take pictures and video.
I was late for my C/S time - opps. I got there only a hour and a half early. I got there, they put in an IV, asked tons of questions, gave fluids, arm bands, allergy bands - I had to wear 5 bands. They hook you up to the fetal monitor and want you to stay on it the whole time so go pee before they do!.
My spinal was wearing off less than an hour after surgery.
I was a Friday section and Dr. S was not on call. I had Dr. Uribe come and visit me. I had my section on Friday afternoon and Dr. Uribe said I could go home Sunday morning if I wanted since I was moving so well.
When I do it again I would ask Dr.S to write orders for an early catheter removal (if my urine output was good) and putting a hep lock on the IV. I was drowning in fluid!!!
Thank you all so much for your replies. It's nice to hear a play by play of how things normally work.
Taffy- I remember your story and have my dad on standby just in case. They knocked me out after DD was taken out, so I don't even know what happened last time. They also didn't show me DD, I only caught a glimpse of her as they carried her over to check her out. It wasn't with Dr. S, though.
I'm the first surgery of the day and Dr. S said I would see him each day. I'll probably only see our pedi once, but that's more than I saw her with DD.
Thanks again. I keep rereading the responses just to calm my nerves
I felt kinda bad writing my story since it was not a happy experience, so I wanted to restate that I don't think my experience was at all typical. I have heard from quite a few other moms that he also forgot to show them the baby, so just be sure to remind him when you see him.
My experience certainly hasn't stopped me from being one of his patients. I will just have a long talk with him before delivery next time if we end up having another kid, so that I have a better experience the next time.
Glad you'll have support, and I'm sorry you were knocked out last time. Here's hoping for a beautiful birth experience for you this go 'round!
i fasted for 12 hrs prior. 2 hrs prior i walked up to the check-in desk with ken and my parents and said 'my name's jessica moore and i'm here to have a baby.' they checked me in and told me where to go. a nurse took me to a room and before i even put my stuff down was handing me a gown and cup to pee in. apparently, they were trying to get as much done as possible before their shift change (my scheduled CS was unusually early in the morning because they were squeezing me in - it was 8am so i got there at 6). then one nurse ran through a list of questions while another started an iv and another hooked up the monitors. then we basically did a lot of waiting until our OR was ready. my dr stopped by to check on me and the anesthesiologist came by to introduce himself and briefly summarized what was going to happen. the nurse had me drink something gross.
once the OR was ready, my nurse walked with me to the room and helped me on to the table. during this time, another nurse was getting ken ready. back in the OR, when the anesthesiologist came in, the nurse had me face her and lean on her shoulders (like we were hugging) while the anest did the spinal. first he did a numbing thing that was just a little pinch, then the actual spinal. as soon as he finished, they told me to hurry up and lay down, and the nurse helped me do so. i felt like one of my legs wasn't straight, but that i couldn't fix it. it really bothered me! so i asked the nurse to fix my leg and she said it was straight and i said 'i know i sound crazy but it really feels crooked. could you just lift it up and put it back down to humor me?' and she did. at this point she put in the cathetar and did the shaving. anest repeatedly asked how i was doing/feeling. my doctor came in with another dr. that he introduced me to, and ken came in shortly after. then the dr. told me he was going to get started and the rest is history.
and, i threw-up the gross thing they made me drink at about the point that my dr. got to my uterus.
Taffy- I appreciate you posting your experience. It helps me remember that things may not go according to the plan and to be prepared for that. It also helps me to prepare DH with things like show me the baby!
Jezca- I'm totally worried about throwing up. I HATE to throw up and that has me as freaked out as anything! I didn't last time, though, so I hope I will have the same luck this time.
it was a VERY odd sensation.... i couldn't feel myself heaving. i was just burping a lot. i told the anesth that i really felt like i had to burp a lot and he said 'do you want to vomit?' i answered 'i don't think so' and he told me to let me know if that changed. and then i felt like an upcoming burp was going to be juicier.... so i said 'i think i'm going to vomit!' and as he said 'i'm giving you something for that' (through the iv) he handed ken a rag and sure enough, i turned my head and vomited into the rag. it wasn't much because my stomach was empty. i really think i just hurled that dumb drink! annoying, because the purpose of that drink was supposed to be to keep me from vomiting.
i'm with you - i HATE throwing up! i could never be bulimic.
anyway, my point is that it really wasn't bad. just unexpected. i asked tons of questions on this board and of other c-section moms before my scheduled c-section and nobody ever mentioned vomiting on the operating table, so i was weirded out when it happened. it was quick and afterwards i stopped burping. so if you start burping, tell your anesth to give you something to prevent vomiting. they can control/prevent it - i just didn't give him enough warning.