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C-sections
general anesthesia
Hi Ladies,
I'm about 35 wks pregnant now, and due to some complications, we may be leaning towards a scheduled c/s. (I'm a FTM). But, there is a good chance I may need general anesthesia instead of a spinal, because of some hardware in my back. Has anyone had GA for a c/s? How long are you typical under? Barring any complications, does the baby get to stay in the same room with you until you wake up?
Thanks, just trying to get mentally prepared!
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Re: general anesthesia
I had g/a with my c/s. I have rods and screws and a fusion so an epi wasn't possible. I was out for about 3 hrs total, I think. The worst part is that you are awake the entire time they prep you, so that's a little weird. My DD was taken to the nursery as soon as she was out. Then she was given to DH and he had her until I was out of recovery. As soon as I was awake enough, I was brought back up to maternity and was able to nurse and be with DD.
Good luck!
I had an emergency c-section under general, so obviously yours would be different.
I was under for almost 2 hours. About 5 minutes after ds was born, DH was allowed to enter the operating room. Dh stayed with ds and the nurses while the dr's did my stitches, staples and fixed my episiotomy.
When I woke up, I was in recovery and stayed there for about an hour or so before moving to the room I had labored in.
~after 34 cycles we finally got our 2nd little bundle of joy~
My IF blog
I was under g/a w/ my 2nd c/s b/c they couldn't get the spinal to work. Here is what stood out to me.
1. G/A they prepped me while I was wide awake. That means catheter, etc. Ask if you can have that done post c/s.
2. The pain hits you faster than a spinal. Stay up on your pain meds. General means you're asleep not inhibited from pain. Don't let the pain get ahead of you. Make the nurses write the next time you get meds.
3. Ask to have husband come back in while you're asleep if possible. As you wake up you're really out of it and he will help to keep you calm and realize what just happened. I didn't even know that I'd had a baby for a couple minutes.
Best of Luck!
I had an emergency c/s with GA at 35w4d due to HELLP syndrome. DH said they had DD out within 5-7 minutes and he went with her to the NICU. The nurses called the NICU roughly an hour later to tell them I was recovering in my L&D room.
They had to insert my cath pre-op which gave me some major anxiety but didn't actually hurt once they did it. They wheeled me to the OR and had me climb on the table. I was awake for all the prep... roughly 5 minutes or so. The anethesiologist told me it was time and I told him I was terrified and he reassured me that he'd take good care of me and all the nurses told me I'd be fine and I was OUT.
I don't remember the pain upon waking.. I had morphine and apparently they had my pain under control before I was too lucid. They brought DD in my room and everyone took pictures of me holding her and I remember NONE of it. To be honest, there was about 7-8 hours post-op that I have very little recollection of. My nurses were great though and helped me BF and take care of DD until I was able to do it myself.
The day after surgery I had the nastiest raspy voice and cough from the tube they put down my throat with the GA. The cough sucked because it hurt my incision, but it all cleared up within a few days.
Good luck with your LO! Make sure you take a pair of baggy pants that will come nowhere near that incision and some granny panties to the hospital- trust me, you'll need them!
I had GA after being in labor for 18+ hours was exhausted and decided to go for a c-section. (The GA was not because of a medical emergency but because I have a genetic condition that occasionally presents with spinal tumors, since they couldn't know with 100% certainty that I didn't have I wasn't able to have epi/spinal at any point in labor).
Don't remember too much about the prep, just that it was really fast. I think I was one of the lucky ones, was probably only under for a very short time and was able to see hold DD within 15-30 minutes of her being born. Everyone has a different reaction to GA and I was apparently one of the lucky ones (fast time to being awake). I also didn't suffer with a lot of pain and didn't need to rely on the pain meds once at home.
I was also at one of the top ranked hospitals and do think that may have been a factor (great team of doctors, good mom/baby policies etc)