Talk to me about "natural" c-sections

IBackBevo · January 2014

So I have heard several people on TB discuss "natural" c-sections. I gather it is where several things are done to make the experience more natural...i.e. immediate skin-to-skin and breast feeding, etc.

With my c-section, they cleaned DS up and showed him to me briefly and then he got whisked off to the NICU and I didn't see him for the next 12+ hours. DH and my family got to visit him, but I didn't because I still had the epi in and was recovering. I don't think this helped the breastfeeding situation. I want to have a VBAC, but if that doesn't work out, I would at least like to have something a little less jarring than what happened last time. Can anyone tell me more about the "natural" c-section and what all it entails? How did you bring it up with your provider? Did the skin-to-skin happen why they were still sewing you up? Or after in recovery?

Edit: typo

pistolpackinmomma · January 2014

Was he taken to NICU because if complications? I was thinking he was premature but I could be wrong. We did skin to skin and BFing after I was stitched up and wheeled to the recovery room.

bumpuser9353653 · January 2014

Never heard of a "natural" c/s but there is never any harm in asking your provider about it. Now that you have brought it up, I think I will ask mine about skin-to-skin right away. It was 3+ hours before I got to see DD after briefly holding her in the OR. would love to be able to have skin-to-skin with this next one right away or at least in recovery.

IBackBevo · January 2014

pistolpackinmomma said:

Was he taken to NICU because if complications? I was thinking he was premature but I could be wrong. We did skin to skin and BFing after I was stitched up and wheeled to the recovery room.

He was slightly premature and IUGR. He was taken to the nicu because his blood sugar was dangerously low...I'm guessing because of the IUGR, but it may have been because because I had basically been in the hospital for 20 hours before my c-section and they had not let me eat anything during that time. I think my blood sugar was low, too, by the time they finally did the c-section!

I had come in to L&D the afternoon before because I was bleeding. I was actually scheduled to be induced the following day. When they hooked me up for monitoring, they found that DS was having heart rate decels so they never induced, but decided to go ahead with a c-section. They gave me the option of waiting for my OB or having one then and there. I opted to wait, but due to the fact he was having the decels, they would not let me eat anything in case I had to have an emergency c-section. Then, my OB got there, but we got bumped for a more urgent c-section so I ended up not going into the OR until 1:30 the following day.

Allibob · January 2014

There was an article floating around last year about them, but I forgot what all it entails. I know part of it was dropping the drape after the initial incision & dissection is done so you can watch them pull the baby out. If you're going to do skin to skin right away, you'll also need your arms free & not strapped down. I forget what else it included, but I'll see if I can find it again.

To be honest, I don't think I want the drape dropped. I'm not squeamish about blood or surgery at all, but it was uncomfortable enough last time when they pulled her out that I wouldn't want to watch. I'll settle for arms out & skin to skin. I'm going to ask my nurse friend for the CS protocol to see what they do & the timing if it. I think they do skin to skin while they're still sewing you up for a certain amount of time, then go take their measurements, etc while they are finishing and bring baby back to you in recovery.

I'd ask your OB about it to see what they can do & what their opinions are about it. I have several NICU friends that attend CS, and they're always complaining about having to do skin to skin (even though they understand the importance, it's just harder than their usual routine). You may get some resistance if your hospital doesn't routinely do it, but as long as baby is stable you should be able to request it.

Funnygirl34 · January 2014

My hospital is considered "baby friendly" which means, although I've never heard the term, they value natural csections. With DS, I help him within 15 minutes of his birth (once I was all closed up) and I was able to breastfeed and do skin to skin as soon as I was in recovery (prob 25 min after his birth). I was pleased with the experience.

LLolaBean · January 2014

Most hospitals will let you and dad hold him while you're being sewn up, not usually skin to skin at that point though. The operating rooms are freezing and there's very little surface area to put baby on when you're still on the table as you're covered with a drape and your abdomen has to stay sterile. Also, as your spinal wears off, if that's what type of anesthesia you have, your upper body may become shaky which is totally normal, but hard to hold baby safely on the skinny operating room tables. If you and baby are stable, you guys should be able to go to recovery room together where you can then skin to skin and BF.

Allibob · January 2014

Well, it's pretty easy to find by googling, but here's the medical paper describing their technique:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2613254/
I would expect most OBs to not want to do the delayed baby removal/uterine squish if that's not their routine. And the reason skin to skin is hard is because you only have one arm free, so the baby nurse and/or your H has to help hold the baby so it doesn't fall. There's enough room & doesn't compromise the sterile field at all.

spinsoffresonance · January 2014

I did ask my Ob for a couple things that people consider part of a natural csection (only heard that term a few months ago on TB) . I had a scheduled c-section so I cleared it with my Ob ahead of time. I wanted immediate skin to skin (on me, or DH if not possible on me) and delayed cord clamping. I had no interest in lowering the drapes, but they gave me the option. Delayed cord clamping we couldn't do. My Ob approved skin to skin as long as there were no complications. Before going into the OR they had DH put on a gown so he could do skin to skin if I wasn't able to. DD was delivered, my Ob brought her around the drapes so we could see her, then took her to get checked out by the neonatal pedi. DH went with DD to the corner of the OR where she was weighed, measured and evaluated. It lasted maybe 3 min. Then they brought her to me, set her on my chest and untied one of my hands so I could hold her. They also had DH right next to me hold her on my chest because I was way too out of it . She was no where near the sterile field so that wasn't an issue and the drapes were still up the entire time. DD remained on my chest the entire time they were stitching me up, maybe 30min. Then we all went to recovery together. The nurse came by almost immediately to have me try to breastfeed.

spinsoffresonance · January 2014

Here we are doing skin to skin in the OR minutes after DD was born

IBackBevo · January 2014

Allibob said:

Well, it's pretty easy to find by googling, but here's the medical paper describing their technique: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2613254/ I would expect most OBs to not want to do the delayed baby removal/uterine squish if that's not their routine. And the reason skin to skin is hard is because you only have one arm free, so the baby nurse and/or your H has to help hold the baby so it doesn't fall. There's enough room & doesn't compromise the sterile field at all.

Thanks for the link to the article. I did do an internet search (not on google) and only came cross a bunch of threads from babycenter. I did not know it was something that they had done actual medical research on. I honestly thought it was just a term coined here or on BC.

jenb_99 · January 2014

I've never heard of a natural c-section, but when DS was born it wasn't an option. He aspirated meconium-filled amniotic fluid and needed his lungs suctioned and pumped; then the pumping collapsed both lungs and the nurses rushed him to the NICU to be hooked up to the CPAP. They leaned down and put him next to my face so I could get a quick upside-down look and nuzzle his cheek, and then he was gone. Then in recovery I developed a fever, so I didn't get to see him for another 30 hours.

I'm hoping this time things go more smoothly. I doubt I'll demand immediate skin to skin or any of that (mostly since I'm also having an ovary removed during the surgery, so I'll be in there awhile longer), but I have told DH that I want him to try to keep the baby in the OR as long as possible and let me see her for more than half a second. Not knowing what DS looked like for the entire first day of his life was disturbing and pretty upsetting. Then again, our situation could've been a lot worse and we were both well taken care of, so it's all good. I trust my doctor and the hospital staff, and I won't love my child any less if things don't go the way I want them to.

Xath · January 2014

With my first, my spinal never took, and I started having a bad reaction to it, so they put me under general anesthesia. I got to hold him right after I woke up (about 30 minutes after he was born), so that was nice.

With my 2nd, she was pre-term so they wanted to do a bunch of checks on her right away. I have a fairly low body temperature, so they weren't comfortable with me doing skin-to-skin with her and ended up putting her under a heat lamp.

I'd love to be able to do skin to skin right away, but I'm just planning on taking this pregnancy/birth as it comes.

IBackBevo · January 2014

jenb_99 said:

I'm hoping this time things go more smoothly. I doubt I'll demand immediate skin to skin or any of that (mostly since I'm also having an ovary removed during the surgery, so I'll be in there awhile longer), but I have told DH that I want him to try to keep the baby in the OR as long as possible and let me see her for more than half a second. Not knowing what DS looked like for the entire first day of his life was disturbing and pretty upsetting. Then again, our situation could've been a lot worse and we were both well taken care of, so it's all good. I trust my doctor and the hospital staff, and I won't love my child any less if things don't go the way I want them to.

I feel the same way! Even though I saw him and even had a picture of him, I had this weird, irrational fear that they had switched babies when they finally brought him to me because I thought he looked different. I was at The Women's Hospital of Texas--which deals with thousands (if not tens of thousands) of babies every year and has all sorts of crazy procedures (including a tracking device on the baby's umbilical stump) in place--so I know this was irrational. Still, I hated that feeling.

jenb_99 · January 2014

@IBackBevo I didn't even think about the switching thing. DS looked so much like DH when he was born that I could see that even in the 2 seconds I looked at him upside down in the OR. I was more upset by the fact that I had nothing to bond with, and everyone else got to see him and hold him before I did. And I love that he received such good care in the NICU, but I never felt like he was mine when he was in there. NICU nurses are pretty territorial and they made it very clear to us that DS was theirs when he was under their care. A very strange feeling overall.

If we have a similar experience this time (which I pray we won't), at least we'll be prepared and will know better how to react and what to ask for and what demands to make.

Oh, and I did have one picture, but he was swollen and bruised and his face was 50% covered by tubes and the CPAP, so that wasn't comforting at all. Ick.

mmks · January 2014

I have this in the back of my mind if I am unable to have a VBAC. With my son, I was so sure that I'd have a 'normal' birth, that I didn't read anything about c/s. This time, I'm going to be more prepared by being ready to advocate for a few things:
1. I want to see my baby RIGHT away as long as it is safe. With my son, I saw pictures of him that my husband took before he was introduced to me. I was the one who had done all the work of growing him and I didn't get to see him right away?!? (There was no medical reason not to have me see him.)
2. I want my baby with me in recovery if it is safe for us both. When I had my son, I didn't consider why it was that I was alone in recovery. The only thing wrong with me was that I was tired. There was nothing wrong with my son, but for some reason, they took him away to the nursery for 2 hours.

bumpuser10194737 · January 2014

I recently read these two articles/blog posts. They had some pretty good info and gave me some things to ask my OB about. One of them includes a video.

https://www.naturalbirthandbabycare.com/planning-a-family-centered-cesarean/

https://www.jaxmomsblog.com/babies/c-section-secrets-part-2-have-a-birth-plan/

DaisyTortilla · January 2014

My OB does this, he calls them "family centered c-sections." It is as what most people have described (lower drape, skin to skin and bf ASAP). Even then, I still opted for a vbac. But due to the recovery time, I will need to be able to carry DD, who will be 11 months old and care for both of them. DH will be gone to work for months.

I will not lie thou, that cs has gotten the best of me when I start feeling afraid of the unknown of a vaginal birth. My biggest fear is not getting a vbac due to rupture, I'll need an emergency cs and it won't be "family centered"!

cnbean · January 2014

I think a lot of these things are more up to hospital policy than your OB. I know that the hospital here does not allow the immediate skin to skin or anything like that. I would talk to your OB about it, but it probably won't be up to them.

Shell+Bell · January 2014

I would love to do skin to skin immediately but I don't see how it's possible/safe?! With both I had terrible uncontrolled shakes. No way I could hold my DS's myself. And the second time there were complications with the anesthesia, so they had to give me more drugs that made me loopy. I did however get to have both DS's in recovery with me the whole time where we did skin to skin, BF, and just lots of snuggle time.

I'm good with that

Allibob · January 2014

Shell+Bell said:
I would love to do skin to skin immediately but I don't see how it's possible/safe?! With both I had terrible uncontrolled shakes. No way I could hold my DS's myself. And the second time there were complications with the anesthesia, so they had to give me more drugs that made me loopy. I did however get to have both DS's in recovery with me the whole time where we did skin to skin, BF, and just lots of snuggle time. I'm good with that

I don't think they let you do skin to skin with either of those things (sedation or too shaky).

ETA: wording

bumpuser10194737 · January 2014

Shell+Bell said:
I would love to do skin to skin immediately but I don't see how it's possible/safe?! With both I had terrible uncontrolled shakes. No way I could hold my DS's myself. And the second time there were complications with the anesthesia, so they had to give me more drugs that made me loopy. I did however get to have both DS's in recovery with me the whole time where we did skin to skin, BF, and just lots of snuggle time. I'm good with that

I couldn't have done it with my first either. It was an emergency after 27 hours of labor, I was exhausted, and something went wrong withy epidural when I was in labor and they had to fix it which I think somehow have me too much because my arms were numb for a little bit. It took about 30 minutes for it to wear off enough for me to hold him in recovery. I was fine with my second though and totally could have done it. Hoping this time will go as smoothly!

IBackBevo · January 2014

Honestly, if I end up having to have another c-section, I think I would just be satisfied with getting to do skin to skin with my son in recovery and not have him being whisked off. That was my main issue. I remember being pretty out of it on the table, too. Not in a bad way...I kept asking if they gave me something because I felt great (euphoric) and they kept telling me that they had not given me anything, but everything is also sort of blurry.

mmks · January 2014

https://newburydoula.co.uk/2013/08/20/the-natural-caesarean/
Here is another article about this topic. I just found it in my pins on Pinterest.

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