What is a C-Section like?

Question

Do you get to hold your baby after a C-section or do you have to wait. What is a C-section like compared to having a baby natural.

Answer 1

I had one... if you get local anesthetics you get to look at your baby and possibly kiss your baby on the cheek but you don't get to hold the baby right out of the womb. You can hold your baby a few moments after you've been sewn up and settled into an area away form the operating room. If you go under general anesthetics (like I did) you're out cold and you don't get to see anything until you wake up.

When you're recovering, the area is going to be tender. You're not going to want to cough or sneeze or laugh unless you have a pillow pressed against the area... it helps with the tension that will inevitably happen if you do any of those things. You're also going to most likely have staples and those come out no problem. They might tug at your skin a bit when taken out but it's hardly painful at all.

You're supposed to watch for oozing at the scar and for redness and extreme tenderness past the point at which it should've healed. If you experience any of that or if it turns any funny colors, contact your obgyn immediately.

Now... people say that recovery is really tough but I experienced very little pain and very little general discomfort. The only thing that bothered me was that I was a little anemic and that's a possibility after major surgery but it's not a horrible experience. Nothing too tough about it.

Answer 2

They do let you hold your baby for a few minutes, before they do the checkups and tests.
But some advice:Unless you absolutely HAVE to have a c-section, don't do it. I had to have an emergency c-section at the last minute due to a breech position. So here i am, in full blown labour, contracting my guts out, WHILE they're trying to get an epidural in my back. My husband said he could hear me screaming through two sets of double doors (for some reason he wasn't allowed in while they did that) once that was finally in, i couldn't feel a thing from my armpits down.
Now might be a good time to mention my mortal fear of being cut open alive (irrational i know)
BUT the pain afterward is not something i would wish upon anyone. it was excruciating for me, i occasionally took double doses of pain killers, and that still wasn't enough to reduce the pain by a decent amount. The first time they sat me up, i thought my stomach was going to rip open, a sort of burning, pulling sensation. I couldn't walk anywhere without assistance or a wheelchair for a week. and to top it off, my daughter had to stay in the nursery due to some minor complications. It would normally be a 2 minute walk from my room. It took me 1/2 an hour.
I wasn't fully healed for 3 months, and of course, i couldn't do much exercise to help shift those extra few kilos.
then oh joy, lucky me, i got pregnant again. Oh well. But this time i'm sort of dreading giving birth, because the doc says i may have to have another c-section. not happy. but as long as my baby's healthy, that's all that really matters. the pain does evntually end, although it doesn't seem like it will at the time. Good luck to you!

Answer 3

I'm a mom of two. One was born natural, the other was an emergency c-section. The c-section is a much less painful birthing process, but is a more painful and longer recovery. I didn't get to hold my c-section baby right afterwards like I did my natural birth baby, but they did bring him to me so I could see him briefly before they took him to the nursery for tests, measurements, weighing, and all that. And I did get to hold him once my my surgery was finished (stitches and so on) and I got back to my room. They actually strap you down during the c-section, I guess so you don't freak out and reach down into the sterilized area where they are working. But it's really not that bad. They put a sheet-like barrier between your chest and where the doctors are working so you don't see the gore.

Answer 4

I've had two c-sections - one emergancy and one planned. I think that in some it was better than the baby I had naturally. They gave me a spinal block so that I couldn't feel anything from the ribs down. Then I felt some tugging and such. The whole thing took about 1/2 an hour. After they got the baby out, they let my husband hold him. But I had one arm strapped down with an IV and the other strapped down with a blood pressure cuff on. With me, I didn't get to hold the baby until we were released to go to my room, which was about an hour after he was born. But I did get to breast feed after that first hour. I believe if you insist that they will let you breast feed right at birth with a nurses help if you are determined to have the baby latch on right away. But I think it is up to the hospital you are having the baby at. The healing time is a bit longer, they leave the IV and the catheter in a bit longer. But I found it a bit easier that how I felt after natural. All three of my kids were very healthy though. Good luck.

Answer 5

My sister has had two sections.The first one they had to put
her under so of course she couldn't hold the baby until about 4
hours later.But this past section was done differently.She was awake but couldn't feel anything but a little tugging and pressure.
I asked her what the pain was like the next few days and she said it was more of a sore feeling rather than a cut feeling.It
takes about a month and a half to heal up completely and even then you must be careful.But she didn't get to hold her baby right away after the surgery.I'm not sure if she wasn't allowed to yet
or if it was because her husband wouldn't let go of the baby long
enough before they had to take the baby to the nursery.But very soon after that the baby was brought to my sister.It took about an
hour.

Answer 6

I had my C-Section in a military hospital last year. I watched all the shows about C-Sections, so I was really excited........but....they didn't even show me my baby over the curtain. She was perfectly healthy, but I didn't get to hold her for a couple of hours. I was very dissappointed. I'm sure if you have your baby in a good hospital, things will be fine, I just had a really awful experience. But.......looking back, I'm glad I had a section instead of enduring labor....I was on the operating table for all of one minute before they had my daughter out....and, I didn't feel a thing! No labor, no screaming in pain, no telling my husband that I hated his guts for doing this to me! He was right there by my side, and got to watch everything. The pain after the fact wasn't too much fun, but it was nothing compared to seeing my beautiful daughter in my arms. Some moms will tell you that you are weak for not having a "natural" birth, but you will go through just as much of a "labor of love" as they did, by having 25 metal staples in your gut! As long as your baby is delivered safely......that is all you have to worry about. By the time your c section is over with, you will have a new baby in your arms....and it will be wonderful.

Answer 7

Both my babies were born naturally but I have known women who had C-sections. It takes longer to get over the birth if you have a c-section and even longer if you do not breats feed. I know you are discouraged from lifting anything heavy and this could include our own child, but you could sit with him/her and still have that closeness.Having said that some women have no choice, the babe is just too big or the wrong way around so they have to have a c-section.

Answer 8

it is a lot a lot less complicated. I somewhat have had 4 c-sections. the first 2, I did labor for countless hours and then had the c-sections. fix for those took plenty longer than the subsequent 2. They were planned c-sections and that i replaced into up and shifting interior of hours of surgical operation and felt exceptionally favourite with a week. and that i replaced into in difficulty-free words in want of discomfort killers for 2 days. That sounded extra like the fix time of a vaginal delivery to me. So, definite...it is a lot a lot less complicated.

Answer 9

If you can have a natural vaginal delivery then you should opt for that. C-Section is MAJOR abdominal surgery and there are risks, mainly to you! Yes, you can hold the child soon after it is removed. Remember, it will take you at least six weeks of recovery as this is MAJOR abdominal surgery and should NOT be done unless you cannot give birth naturally.

Answer 10

i had a c-section...but i was put to sleep because after they cut me open and lifted me stomach i started screaming it hurt so0o0 bad...so they put a gas mask on me to put me to sleep...i got to hold the baby after an hour in the recovery room...the healing process of the c-section is long and it hurts to walk straight i was hunched over for a few days and i couldnt laugh or cough because it would hurt so bad...they gave me percecets and ibuprofen afterwards and they did me goooood. it was pretty bad but you forget the pain after a week.