Anything you liked about your c-section or afterwards?

kcvasquez · November 2011

So we all know the things we hated but does anyone have anything they liked about having a c-section? I think it's good to dwell on the positives as well since a lot of women may plan on having a RCS or will end up needing one.

JG362009 · November 2011

Like the actual surgery and recovery? No. But if your c-section was medically necessary, I think you can be thankful that it's possible to have one relatively safely. If it saved your baby's life, then that's surely something to be thankful for, too.

shibby00 · November 2011

I have a couple things I'm thankful for regarding my c/s:

1. I didn't have to have an episotomy or tear thus needing stitches in my vag.

2. I don't have to worry about waiting to go into labor with any future children as I'll be having a RCS.

That's about all.

ladybugpjb · November 2011

I think I actually recovered a lot more quickly than if I had had a vaginal birth. I never even got to push, so the only soreness I had was around my incision.

I still wish I could have had a natural birth, but I don't know whether I'll opt for an RCS or try for a VBAC next time.

ETA: By "recover," I mean my ability to move around without pain. I definitely had to take it easy for quite awhile.

capulet · November 2011

I LOVED my spinal. I'm sure I won't love it as much this time around since my c/s is planned, but after being in labor and having intense contractions one on top of the other, it was awesome.

I really liked my anesthesiologist. Not just because of the spinal, but because she was great to talk to during surgery.

I enjoyed my hospital stay. It was nice to get food off a menu for every meal and not have to cook it - decent food, too. If it's not as good this time around I'm sure it will be a factor in getting discharged earlier, but that was one reason I didn't mind spending four days in the hospital. I had great nurses, too, and I think the extra time helped me be more confident BFing by the time I was discharged.

pepomntpat · November 2011

I really liked how involved DH got right from the get go. I couldn't do anything for the first 12 hours until they took my catheter out and the massaging boots off of my legs. DH made it possible for DD to room in with me by being there, changing all the meconium diapers and giving her to me for all the feedings. He'd never been around a baby before and he jumped in to the deep end with both feet because of my c/s. I think it gave him a lot of confidence as a father.

misskristina21 · November 2011

After watching my SIL give birth vaginally.. I was really glad I didn't have to push a big head out my va-jay-jay.

Other than that, I also really like how involved DH was able to be. I also liked the 5 day hospital stay.. It was really nice.

iris427 · November 2011

I really wanted to have a natural birth and I think having the complete opposite of that made me a better and more empathetic person in the end.

faith194 · November 2011

I am jealous of those who had yummy food and rest. . .I couldn't rest with all the interruptions. I do love how DH was involved, though. That is about, at this moment(besides being able to have a healthy son!)

RoxBride · November 2011

We were able to resume sexual activities post birth with zero issues. Awesome!

My husband was so much a part of the birth, and getting to take care of her for the first hour of her life, I think it really made him feel important, special, and so bonded to her.

I wasn't tired. I didn't miss any sleep as a result of the c/s, since I wasn't laboring, etc.

I look awesome in my post birth pictures, since I wasn't laboring.

They were able to remove a ton of endo at the time of the c/s saving me from another surgery.

And best of all, when DD recently asked me how she was born, I could tell her "well I went to the hospital and they took you you". Easy!

sassafras007 · November 2011

Can't think of one thing... worst experince of my life!

mdotm0904 · November 2011

For me, the entire experience was positive. my hospital stay & nurses were amazing. my doctor was fabulous. and i had textbook recovery. like zero problems and minimal pain. i'm aware that if i have to do it again, it could be polar opposite. but as a FTM i'm very pleased with the way everything went.i actually didn't mind my c-section or recovery. i don't feel like i missed out on anything. my goal was: bring home a baby by any means necessary. at the time of course i was nervous about having major surgery but i wasn't progressing after 22hours of being in labor. so it had to be done. but that's about it. i don't have feelings of sadness that i missed the first couple of hours of her life or that my sister was able to see & hold her before i did. i'm not even upset that i had to undergo general anesthesia instead of getting a spinal.

goldenleaves · November 2011

DH was the first one to hold our son, the first one to call him by name, the first one to kiss him... I think it was a wonderful experience for him! For me on the other hand....not so much!

mlroadifer · November 2011

My first one was 10 years ago and I was 17. DD was 3 weeks late already and I was conviced nothing that big was coming out of a hole that small. They induced me on a Wednesday night, broke my waters on Thursday morning and by 11pm Thursday they finally decided on a c-cection.

I was bound and determined that there would be no baby coming out of my privates area!

I dont feel as if I missed out on anything at all. I still had to go through induced labor, which was awful, and I made no progress.

Looking forward to schedualing my second one for December!

LindsayNY · November 2011

I realize I am in the minority here, but I had a very easy c-section recovery. I was off the pain medication the day after and only took it because the nurses told me I was not in pain because the epidural was likely still in my system.

I had the c on a Wednesday afternoon and by Thursday night I was begging to go home. I was moving around and only on the motrin, which is available at any drug store. I remember telling the nurses I felt like a well person in the hospital. (I hate hospitals.) I ended up being discharged a day early and walked home from the hospital with DH and LO. Granted it was only 5 blocks away and we went slow but it was not painful at all.

During the whole cs recovery I only experienced mild discomfort. My favorite thing about it is how easy it was and next time I will definitely be going for an RCS.

Also, I do not have a high pain tolerance at all. I labored for 20 hours before needing the cs and received the epidural after 11 and a half hours. I was begging for the epi from the moment we arrived at the hospital.

To a PP - I loved my anesthesiologist too! He was amazing and put me at ease when I was hysterical crying. I threw up on him too (DH told me later) and he didn't say anything about it!

JG362009 · November 2011

sassafras007:
Can't think of one thing... worst experince of my life!

Ditto.

ellesmama · November 2011

I feel like an odd ball too. I had a scheduled C with DD because she was breech. I was a nervous wreck beforehand, but afterwards I was extremely thankful that it was as easy as it was. I had a really easy recovery- and like PP said since I never labored I was never tired/lost any sleep- other than being up in the middle of the night with a NB. I had her on a Thursday morning and was discharged Saturday morning. I actually went to church Sunday. I actually can't think of any complaints about it.

cottonlily84 · November 2011

JG362009:

sassafras007:
Can't think of one thing... worst experince of my life!

Ditto.

I'm leaning towards this LOL. The only good thing was that it was available. Since she was a footling breech she had all these awful bruises just from being inside. I'd hate to think what could have happened if a c/s wasn't available. So I guess I liked the peace of mind I got from knowing she was going to come out safely. I was freaking out lying there after my water broke early and dr told me she was coming one foot first. I'm glad I had picked a hospital where at least they try to make c/s as pleasant as possible even tho it was still pretty horrible! I'm def trying for a VBAC and going natural if I ever get pregnant again. I'm jealous too of the nice long hospital stays. I was HURTING after mine so bad. I had her at almost midnight on Saturday am and the dr on call wanted to send me home on Sunday morning! I got one more night but that was it. It was rough.

samm1983 · November 2011

The only good thing about my c-section is that I have my healthy baby in my arms now. I'm not usually one to complain about anything pregnancy related, since I was/am just so thankful to be able to go through it, but it has been rough recovering. I labored for 26 hours, then had my c-section, felt helpless for the next few weeks as the pain was so bad and I felt I couldn't take care of my baby, then developed an infection and my incision busted open, now have a wound vac attached to me and the incision has to be repacked every other day at the hospital. Yep, that sucked......BUT I have my baby and if that's what I have to do to have him here, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

girllennon · November 2011

I had a medically necessary c-section and came out of it liking two things: my constant rib pain was gone (LO bruised by ribs from being frank breech) and that my vag was intact. You don't want to know how many times my DH said how thankful he was for that.

My recovery went well and I had no complications, but my post op recovery sucked. I was fine during surgery but reacted badly after surgery to the spinal. I had the shakes for over 5 hours and couldn't feel the lower half of my right leg. I loved that DH was with me the entire time, but I couldn't hold my son.

I had to keep my catheter in for 24 hours, I got a horrible tape burn from the nurse who ripped off my incision bandage and took a small patch of skin off. THAT hurt so much so that I never noticed my incision pain. I also gained very little water weight and ended up with puffy legs and feet that hurt from all the fluids they pumped into me.

With that said, it is what it is and I am thankful that my son was healthy and with no complications. I was painfully up and about in the hospital, walking through the maternity ward to see my son in the nursery. I must admit, it was pretty lonely being the only mother limping in the halls and having the nurses tell me they were amazed at how well I was doing. There were two other c-section moms in my ward that wouldn't get out of bed if you cattle-prodded them.

magdalina.h · November 2011

I liked having a set day, I got to choose the medical staff who was in the OR (I'm the exception, my OB normally doesn't do that). I knew what I was facing. I liked being able to say "Oh hunnie I can't do (fill in the blank) I just had major surgery".

Am I happy that I can only have c/s? No, but I might as well make the best of it.

sabrina69barnes · November 2011

I liked knowing when LO would be born. I planned my meet the baby party and made invites before DS2 was born.

I liked not being in labor. It was fun to be in L&D just hanging out with DH and watching TV right before the birth. I didn't have to worry about progressing like I did with DS1.

I loved getting to stay in the hospital for 4 nights. I would have been fine to leave after 2 or 3 but we chose to stay. All I had to do was lay in bed, take care of LO, eat the food which was really good, and sleep. It was a vacation and I'm looking forward to those 4 days again.

I had a lot of people from our church offer to help with meals, laundry, and light housework. They were still asking when DS2 was almost 6 weeks old. The ladies group that volunteers doesn't offer help to moms with vaginal births for that long.

sabrina69barnes · November 2011

RoxBride:

And best of all, when DD recently asked me how she was born, I could tell her "well I went to the hospital and they took you you". Easy!

DS has been asking about this since he saw LO on the ultrasound yesterday. I just told him the mommy will go the the hospital the the Dr will take the baby out of mommy's tummy. He has been asking about how the baby got there. "God put it there" isn't wnough for him. If we had gotten pregnant through more advanced fertily treatments being able to tell him the Dr put it in there would be much easier, lol.

capulet · November 2011

sabrina69barnes:
RoxBride:

And best of all, when DD recently asked me how she was born, I could tell her "well I went to the hospital and they took you you". Easy!

DS has been asking about this since he saw LO on the ultrasound yesterday. I just told him the mommy will go the the hospital the the Dr will take the baby out of mommy's tummy. He has been asking about how the baby got there. "God put it there" isn't wnough for him. If we had gotten pregnant through more advanced fertily treatments being able to tell him the Dr put it in there would be much easier, lol.

When DD asked me where her baby brother was going to come out and "At the hospital" wasn't a good enough answer, it was certainly easier to explain a c-section to her than vaginal birth. But I did explain vaginal birth too, since I don't want her to think all babies are born by c/s. It's clear that c-sections are much easier for her to visualize.. Fortunately she hasn't asked how her little brother got in my belly yet.

ChristinaMT4 · November 2011

I liked everything about the actual surgery. I found the whole process very interesting. And of course hearing my baby cry for the first time and seeing him was just amazing.

I had 3 vaginal births prior to my c/s (scheduled for transverse baby) and I am most proud and fond of my c/s experience. The recovery was a bit rough, especially because I got a UTI within the first week, but it wasn't as bad as the recovery from my first baby. The pain was much more manageable.

LadyXaverian · November 2011

I had an overall positive c/s experience. It wasn't elective, but it went smoothly and recovery was relatively "easy". I have no complaints!

anchalmasako · November 2011

I am thankful for not having a wrecked vagina. And my husband had to learn really quickly how to take care of the baby, since I couldn't when I was recovering. In fact, he had to teach me how to swaddle and change diapers once I was able to move around.

2-Step · November 2011

Mine was tough at first, but the since then watching a few friends go through natural labor and recovery has made me happy that I didn't have to deal with severe tearing or the issues with sex afterward. We picked back up right where we left off and I didn't have any issues with that. I think that made DH happy too!

Also, no bladder incontinence issues. Overall I think the lasting effects of a c-section are less than they can be with a natural birth, so the longer afterward the better I felt about it, especially listenting to some issues some of my girlfriends still have and have been told they will likely deal with forever or require surgery to correct.

flutepharm87 · November 2011

There's not much I liked about having a c-section, however, I'm thankful that this option allowed me to survive my pregnancy and come out of it with 2 healthy baby boys. However, DH is very appreciative of having my vag remain unchanged after-babies. He was very worried I'd be super stretched out if I'd pushed them out rather than having them cut out of me! Men...

mrswright2006 · November 2011

DD was born vaginally, and I tore so badly that sex hurt terribly for almost a year, and was still uncomfortable for another year (I can still feel the scar, and it sometimes hurts STILL after almost 5 years). DS was a csection, and since he was almost 3 pounds heavier it was no surprise that he got stuck, and wouldn't descend. The pain was actually less sever (even in the beginning) than recovering from my vaginal delivery.

Oh, and I also enjoyed I will never need to be induced again. I never progressed without pitocin with DD, and had to be induced due to size with DS, and now I never have to deal with that devil drug again.

ghdst1 · November 2011

I actually appreciated the extra time in the hospital. It allowed me to have more time to rest (with the baby in the nursery at night), use the LCs on a daily basis for BFing help, and feel more prepared to take care of DS. BUt the recovery part sucked.

Mjmksb04 · November 2011

It was nice not needing the squeeze bottle of water every time I peed and didn't need to only sit on pillows and soft surfaces in the days following.

tim+erin · November 2011

Yes. I had high blood pressure/pre-eclampsia with my first pregnancy, labored for 26 hours and was at risk for a stroke. They pulled my DH into the hall and said they needed to do a c-section because both DS and I were at risk. I am glad that I had the c-section so that I can be a mom to my son who is now 4. Had a repeat c-section with DS2 because I did not want to chance anything. Will have be having c-section #3 in January.