c-section under general anesthetic

sokoyo · July 2012

hi,

i had a full spinal fusion to correct scoliosis when i was a teenager. my only option for delivery now is a c-section under general anesthetic.

i'm feeling really scared and overwhelmed by this. has anyone had any experience delivering this way?

thanks so much..

OceanBreeze1 · July 2012

I did. It wasn't planned but that's how it went down. It was rough emotionally, not gonna lie, but that was because it was so far from what I thought was going to happen. Since you have time to deal with it hopefully you can prepare yourself and accept that it's the best thing for you and your baby.

Honestly, seeing your baby will make it all worth it. And you will do great (physically it wasn't a big deal, and pretty quick). Good luck!

White0rchid · July 2012

I did, but it was because of an emergency with DD1. Physically speaking, it wasn't that bad. I woke up really quickly and they brought DD1 in as soon as I was awake. I was up and walking within 12 hours, and I had very minimal pain. It was a tough recovery mentally, though, because I had not at all prepared myself for the possibility of not being awake when DD was born. I think you'll be fine, especially since you know what will happen ahead of time and can prepare. Good luck!

fadedgrace · July 2012

I'm just gonna copy and paste my answer from a previous post! I hope this helps!

Due to a prevalent medical issue I am unable to have a spinal. So when I became preganant with ds I knew that with a vaginal delivery I would be unable to have an epi. Fast forward 8 months and baby boy was so breech, they wouldnt even let me try a natural delievery.

The last two weeks of my pregnancy I was really broken up about being put under for a c. I wanted to be awake to hear babies first cries.....I wanted dh to be able to be present at the birth....I wanted to meet my little baby before all of our family got too...I was anxious about the anesthetic as I had my gull bladder out and ended up vomiting from the meds....and so much more. BUT it was actually ok, as I look back on it (baby was born almost 3 months ago) my experiece was actually really good, I had a wonderful support team and the hospital staff were awesome! I made my wishes very clear and everyone was so supportive and accomadating. I have no regrets/hard feelings abou having to be put under.

If you have any questions or concerns or want to know more about my experience just let me know Smile

Edited for more info:

dh was able to be with up until I actually went to the or room, he was able to be with me in the prep room and waited with me until they were ready to take me in. When ds first came out they immediatly took him to dh who was waiting in the nursery, one of the things we wanted if we had a natural birth was for dh to cut the umbilical cord; our ob made the initial cut and then allowed dh to trim it in the nursery! Another wonderful thing to come out of my c section was that our anthesiolgist took pictures of ds being born! He took our camera and took photos for us !

I was out for less than an hour, little man was born 8:45 am and I was awake by 9:30. As far as remembering things, I remember bits and pieces waking up in the recovery, and getting back to room but from 10:00 am on I have full memory of the day (some parts are fuzzy but details also fade with time). My recovery from my c section was quite easy.

melandjudd · July 2012

I would talk to your OB about what your options are as far as DH being near, being the first to hold baby and if someone could take pictures. Something we did with my c-section was that nobody but DH was allowed to hold DD until I was out of surgery and could hold her. It wasn't the most popular decision with our family but it made me feel better about the situation that I wasn't the last to hold her.

zyas · July 2012

I might have to go under general for my c-section as well. It's scheduled for 2 weeks from now but I have a disease in my spine and if there is an inflammation at the time of the surgery they might not be able to do a spinal. So basically I won't know until I get in there. I've talked to my OB though and he said DH can be in there for her birth even if I'm under general. He said as long as its not an emergency, then there's no problem. I would ask your dr if that's a possibility for you as well.

sokoyo · July 2012

thanks so much everyone for your wise and comforting words. i feel less alone reading your stories. it helps more than you know!

another question - how bad was the pain when you woke up, and what was the recovery process like? it's hard to imagine trying to heal my body while also taking care of a newborn at the same time!

KitKat83 · July 2012

The only thing that was upsetting for me under general was that my husband called his whole family and my mom called all mine before I was awake. I had congratulations on my Facebook wall before I even knew what I had, so my advice is to have a plan that you and your hubby agree on written or verbal, just so everyone is in the "know".

I had no pain when I woke up, it didn't set in until a few hours later, even then it wasn't that bad, I think I got 3 or 4 morphine shots, then just ibuprofen for two weeks. Don't get discouraged if the first few days are painful, it gets sooo much better every day, by a week I could walk around pretty good and by three weeks I was 100%!! I had a pretty traumatic birthing experience too, so if it is planned it might even be better recovery wise! Good luck and don't be afraid to take the pain meds!

mlf625 · July 2012

Have you discussed this fully with your OB? I assume so, but just checking bc a good friend of mine had the spinal fusion and was able to deliver her baby vaginally. She couldn't get the epi, so she did have to go all natural, but she did have an option other than the c/s under general.

Best of luck to you, either way! All that matters in the end is that your baby gets here safe and sound - you've done something miraculous to make that happen, no matter how you deliver!

nursebride2be · July 2012

I had to go under general anesthesia due to spinal not taking for my c section due baby head not turning for vaginal delivery. At that point it was 1100 at night and I had Ben pushing for over 2 hours. I was out about an hour, I remember waking up in the recovery room, them brining in ds, but it was about 2-3 hours before I really felt all with it. We were team green and my dh decided that no one was going to know the sex of the baby till I did, so all he told our family ( only 2 close friends were at the hospital) was that the baby was here and doing well. Looking back on this I am so glad he did this cause it would have sucked if everyone found out before me. It did suck missing the first couple hours of ds life and not hearing his first cry. The nurses went ahead and did the first bath which was ok with me, he was a nice clean baby when I woke up. I had no trouble breast feeding after I woke up, he went right to breast.

Looking back on it ( was 2 years ago) it is weird " losing" couple hours of the night. But I knew it was best for my baby. Since you have time to plan for it, see if they will have some one take pictures and let hubby be first to hold etc.

Good luck with the c/s and new baby. Doesn't matter how the baby gets out once you are holding them.

comfortable · July 2012

Hi I had a spinal fusion, so I have titanium/etc. in also... Also two other back surgeries, so I was in the same position but I also had the option to deliver vaginally without medication. I delivered vaginally non-medicated/natural (1st pregnancy) and was hoping to b.c. I didn't want to go under general having been under it many times before unfortunately. I am also a cardiac patient, so that worried be being under. You might ask as PP stated about a friend. I had to birth plans written up for the hospital one for natural and one for general. Good luck!!!!!

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