What's with all the pressure everyone's talking about???

ilba2011

The only thing I'm scared about a c/s is that everyone who's had it tells me they had a tremendous amount of pressure before they reomove the baby and you can't breathe...now that's scary, is it true?

mben1119

I didn't have that. I will say I could feel them taking Ds out of me. It didn't hurt at all, just felt really weird, but I still had some sensation.

alizabethanne

I didn't either. I felt hands pulling and my baby coming out, but it wasn't a huge pressure. If felt like a ton of pressure came off. Like they lifted a watermelon off my organs.

RachieTK

I didn't have this at all....

CougFan

My understanding is that your spinal can work a little higher up on your body than necessary and it can give you the sensation that you are having a hard time breathing.

nc@hotmail.com

I did not notice any with my first, but with my second I did. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep breathing. I got really panicked which Im sure really helped the whole situation. I told the anesthesiologist and she talked me through it because it was making me so nervous. It stopped once they got the baby out though. I didn't expect it to feel that way.

LittleFish1

Noticed the pressure afterwards as they were putting organs back. didn't have breathing difficulty. Had extreme shivers though ... they started up with each contraction way before ... my csection was not planned. Best advice of that was received from nurse during recovery don't fight it; go with it and will improve.

tracy41

I had the sensation I couldn't breathe after LO was already out. Freaky sensation. But I had a great anesthesiologist who was right there. I told him and he explained that the spinal can move up and cause you to lose the sensation of your chest moving but that I was still breathing fine. I just couldn't feel it. Still not fun, but he reassured me I wasn't about to die! I was very glad to sit up.

Vana&Renn

To me it felt like the dr's were playing with my lungs instead of taking LO out. It didn't hurt it more felt like I had stayed under water for too long. I didn't have a spinal tho I had an epidural block I'm not sure if that makes a difference.

To me the worst part was the shaking I  couldn't control my shaking, but I wasn't cold.

MrsB*s

I didn't have that, and I'm approaching my third section.  They will talk to you a lot about pressure, but that's because they want to be clear that you will feel, you just won't feel pain. And it's true.  I had weird sensations of pulling, fingers, etc., but it didn't bother me, and it absolutely didn't hurt.  So don't worry!  

Also, with my first (an emergency section), I had been through so much already (had pre-e) that I wasn't handling my section great, and they knocked me out after we met my DD.  So for my second, I just asked if I could be knocked out similarly -- I didn't feel it necessary to lie awake for the rest of the surgery when the baby is out and safe.  And they were more than happy to oblige! They gave me morphine which made me sleepy.  I don't think I actually fell asleep, but I definitely don't remember a lot and it didn't seem like a long time at all.  So if you are nervous about any of it, just remember that you have a doctor right there whose entire focus the time is to take care of you and make you comfortable, and once baby is out and the pics are taken and DH is gone, there's no reason to lie there worried or nervous! 

Mommy2Ronny&Austin

There was a lot of pulling and tugging and some pressure when my son was born via csection back in 2002. I'm pregnant with my 3rd and she'll be a csection as well. I think I'm more nervous this time around then I was the first time.

nicholemhughes

I felt a lot of pressure! It definitely wasn't painful, but there were points when it felt like i was working overtime to breathe. I also had a large baby who was pretty much pushed and pulled out ass first though...so that might be why. I just remember them saying, "You may feel some pressure." and as soon as they started, I knew exactly what they were talking about. 

 

No pain though, no need to worry! It sounds like it's not the case for everyone based on the above comments, so either way, no need to worry:)

CnAnA

I was literally completely numb from my shoulders down. I felt absolitely nothing. No pressure, no tugging, no pinching. Not a single sensation at all.

ishka338

alizabethanne:

I didn't either. I felt hands pulling and my baby coming out, but it wasn't a huge pressure. If felt like a ton of pressure came off. Like they lifted a watermelon off my organs.

All of this.

Zimger

My son moved up when they tried to take him out. So they had to apply a bit of pressure to my upper stomach and lower chest in order to help coax him out. It was a bit difficult to breathe for a second but that went away as soon as they let up. They didn't push to hard.

I did feel quite a bit of tugging but it was not uncomfortable...maybe a little weird but it passed pretty quick as well.

 

pepomntpat

I don't remember feeling a thing...except that I might throw up. That was from the BP drop caused by the spinal.

stardust317

I had csections around 37 and 38 weeks due to high blood pressure. In both cases, my babies hadn't dropped yet so one of the doctors literally had to push the baby lower in my stomach. There was a lot of pressure, but it was not unbearable.

The sensation of not being able to breath is more associated with the spinal. You are numb from somewhere in your rib cage down so the sensation is that your having trouble breathing. Your being closely monitored so there's no need to worry.

Steph7107

I didn't have that. Just felt like pulling. I was also shaking so much from the epidural I didn't really notice much else. If I didn't have the shaking it wouldn't have been bad at all. 

RayRay007

I didn't have this. Sometimes the spinal can numb you up too high and you can't feel yourself breathe, so people feel like there is a weight on their chest and they can't breathe. If you're talking about the pressure in the abdomen, there is some tugging and pushing and pulling to get the baby out, and my anesthetist (sp?) warned me it was about to happen and that I'd feel some pressure, but I didn't feel it at all.

ilba2011

thanks everyone!

SamanthaG+3

I felt a LOT of tugging and pulling..it almost hurt? I was numb, but I think one of her limbs were stuck in my rib cage, or at least that's what it felt like. I had like a burning sensation towards the right side of where i was cut open while they were pulling her out. I didn't enjoy it and it was a relief when they finally got her out.

I didn't have a hard time breathing until after she was out, but I read that it was bc of the spinal, I guess it can be a side effect for some people..i think it said overweight ppl and short ppl mostly get this..and i fit into the short (5'2) category.

Angela814

I had a spinal with DD2 since it was a planned c/s. As the anesthesia kicks in, it really feels like you can't breathe. My anesthesiologist told me to watch the monitor so I could watch my breath count and see that my oxygen saturation was still good. When they pull baby out, they do have to push down on your belly as they are pulling, so that could be part of it. I think I was so numb at that point that I don't remember that pressure.

Angela814

alizabethanne:

I didn't either. I felt hands pulling and my baby coming out, but it wasn't a huge pressure. If felt like a ton of pressure came off. Like they lifted a watermelon off my organs.

That's a perfect description.

eb1113

With my first cs, I don't remember the pressure.  I remember being tugged from side to side as they took DD out.

With the second one, I did feel a decent amount of pressure.  It wasn't so much that I couldn't breathe, but it was all on my ribs.   

KariChadDora

I did feel a lot of pressure during my c-section.  My baby girl was breech and really high up, the pressure was one doctor literally pushing on her head on top of my stomach to move her down lower to be delivered by the other surgeon out my incision.  It was the most intense feeling I could ever imagine, one full grown man pushing on my abdomen as hard as he can while another one pulled on the baby's legs.  I had no idea that delivering a baby via c-section could be so "tough" for the doctors, I thought they just opened you up and the baby slipped out but that was not the case for me.  I did also feel some tugging and pushing but nothing particularly painful except for the intense pressure when removing her, which thankfully only lasted about 10 seconds.  As soon as she came out I also felt l like a huge weight had actually been lifted off of me. 

sogborn1

I didn't have the pressure at all. In fact I thought they were still prepping me, when I suddenly heard my baby cry... Lol. I felt absolutely nothing.

jennajoybeck

I didn't have a feeling like I couldn't breath. Not to scare you, but I had sharp pains in my left breast. We figured out it was referred pain (is that the right word?). When they put pressure on my abdomen I got a sharp pain in my breast. When they stopped applying pressure, the pain went away.

Luckily my anesthesiologist was sitting right next to me, so he was able to reassure me all was fine when I vocalized my concerns.

AshleyDHerring

UMMMM, yeah. The pressure. NO ONE told me about this beforehand. Not sure if that's better or worse. I was so scared. It felt like an elephant was stepping on me. Totally not exaggerating. I am not a drama queen or a wuss. Trust me, I had my LO by myself (no one was allowed in the room) in a foreign country, I'm pretty tough. IT didn't last that long...maybe 30 seconds to a minute. Who knows. It's just part of the process (for some), nothing you can do about it. All you can do is pray that both you and the baby are healthy; that's is ALL that matters.

salt78

That didn't happen to me. I could breathe fine the whole time.