My Doctor say's I may have to have A C-Section,I am very scared,I am hoping someone can tell me what I have

Question

to look foward to after having this C-Section and how long does it normally take to heal?

Answer 1

I know how you feel. I was scared when I had my first c-section two years ago. I was hoping to avoid another one, but I went overdue and my labor didn't start naturally the second time, so I had another c-section a month ago. It takes different amounts of time for different people to heal--but, generally, here's what to expect:

1. After you check into the hospital, they bring you to whatever area they prep people in and start getting you ready. In my hospital the area was the same as the recovery area, so we could leave all of our stuff in the place that we would end up in.

2. You'll change into a hospital gown.

3. A nurse will start an IV drip. You'll be hooked up to a heart monitor, a pulse-ox monitor, and a blood pressure monitor. You'll also be hooked up to 2 monitors around your belly--one for the baby's heartbeat, one to monitor any contractions you may be having--until the time comes for the operation. In some hospitals they fit you with compression stockings on your legs so you don't develop blood clots from lying down for a very long time.

4. Anesthesia will be discussed and administered by the anesthesiology team at the hospital. (Personally, I went with the epidural to numb me from the armpits down for both c-sections.) A catheter is inserted into your bladder after the anesthesia is given.

5. Your labor coach will be dressed in a gown, head cover, shoe, covers, and mask and led away to wait until you're in the operating room and prepped.

6. You get wheeled in to the OR, where they transfer you from your gurney to an operating table, hang a curtain in front of you, and prep your belly for surgery.

7. You get reunited with your partner and the doctors do their thing. YOU SHOULD NOT FEEL ANY PAIN FROM THE SURGERY--you should feel tugging and they might actually ask you to "push" by taking deep breaths.

8. Baby is out in minutes--usually. He or she is weighed, measured, and brought to you for a quick kiss and hold. Then he or she is off to be evaluated by the pediatric staff. You don't get reunited with baby until you're at least in the recovery room. Your partner, however, can usually follow the baby--if everything's relatively fine--and watch all the poking, prodding and cleaning.

9. You get stitched up by your doctors while your baby is attended to and get transferred back to the gurney to go back to the recovery room.

10. In recovery, they wait until you start to get feeling back before they let you go to a room. My son was in the recovery room waiting for me, where I was able to nurse him for the first time.

11. After you start to get feeling back in your legs, they bring you to your room.


12. Nurses will be in and out of your room all of the time to check on you and the baby--if the baby is rooming-in.

13. Your catheter will stay in until you can get up to go to the bathroom by yourself--which is usually the next day. The first time you get up, it hurts to walk. Walk as much as you can--but don't overdo it. Moving around is what gets you healing and able to go home.

14. The initial dressing on the wound comes off the next day.

15. You will be given a diet of liquids until you can pass gas, then they let you eat. (Bring gum with you to the hospital--it helps this along.)

16. As long as the doctors feel you and the baby are fine, you may get discharged on the third day--I'm not kidding.

17. A week after birth, your baby has a doctor visit, and so do you. This will be to assess the wound and remove staples--if they were used to close you up. They stick steri-strips on over the scar if staples are removed.

18. Six weeks after birth, you have your post-partum check-up, where the doctor tells you whether you can get back into your old routine.

Since I had my son a month ago, I'm still recovering. The doctors told me no strenuous activity for six weeks and I'm sticking to it. The outside scar has healed, but not faded. I still sometimes have little phantom pains in the area, but nothing to worry about. And besides a serious case of sleep-deprivation from having a newborn in the house, we're all fine. I nursed the baby for this first month, but have started him on formula in the anticipation of returning to work in a few weeks. Nursing definitely hurt my uterus because it helps contract it back to normal size. (Another reason why I chose to stop nursing.)

As far as how I look: I am only a size bigger than my pre-pregnancy size, so I really don't feel that bad. Not being able to exercise has bothered me because I exercised through the entire pregnancy.

I hope this helped. Remember that everyone heals at their own pace and no two c-section experiences will be exactly alike. Good luck and congratulations!

Answer 2

I had a c-section on Dec. 14th because my baby's head was a little too big for my birth canal. You'll be prepped beforehand, they will run an IV line and a cathether, and shave you down below. When you get to the operating room, the anastesiologist(my spelling is horrid, I know) will numb you from the chest down w/ a spinal or epidural, which usually all you will feel is one quick pinch when they use a local before they put the spinal in. The strangest part is being awake, you feel no pain but will feel some tugging and things moving around as they get the baby out. It's very strange and has been known to make some women nauseated, that's why you won't be allowed to eat or drink anything for hours beforehand. They used glue to close my incision right up and then I was taken to my room, where I got to meet my baby girl and hold her. You will have some sort of pain medication afterwards too, and the nurses will pester you all night and check on you a lot. They will check the incision and push on your stomach firmly to make sure that your uterus is shrinking back into it's proper shape and that the top is firm. By the next day they will want you up and walking, and it sucks to move at first, but the more you walk that first day the sooner you will heal. Plus, once you start getting up, the cathether comes out. You will ache while in the hospital, and as I said, getting up and moving around does suck at first, but the nurses will help you. I had my baby on a thursday night at 7:53 and I got to leave the hospital Saturday afternoon, although they gave me the option of staying until sunday. Now it's been 4 weeks and my incision is mostly healed, but I had an infection because the water where I live had a boil advisory and had some weird germs in it and I had a shower before I knew about it. But that's just me, most incisions take about 3 weeks to properly close and healing all the way just takes time. Good Luck, and enjoy your little one, the most important thing is that your both happy and healthy!

Answer 3

I had a c-section with my second child. It was a great experience for me (compared to my vaginal delivery). The stay in the hospital was 3 days.
My best advice for you is to get up and moving as soon as possible. Everyone told me this and it works (less pain).
I really did not have any pain after the c-section they offered me stronger drugs, but I only took Motrin. The one thing that bothered me was the intense gas from the surgery (being opened up caused the gas).

You will have a catheter that will be inserted before the surgery (after the epidural/spinal) and taken out after delivery. You will be numbed from your chest down and you will feel no pain. You will feel a little pressure as they move around and pull the baby out.

In the recovery room they push on your stomach to make sure your uterus is contracting. They really do push hard with all there weight on your stomach.

After surgery I was on a liquid diet for a day. I could not have solids until I could pass gas. Then I was able to eat solids. I was not allowed to leave the hospital until I had a BM.
It incision sight was a little sore and I could not drive or pick up anything heavier than the baby. Stairs was a no no (risk of hemorrhaging). I can't remember how long it took to actually heal. I want to say 3 weeks.

Now, my incision sight is numb, but nothing too bad.
Don't be scared. You will be just fine. But, please remember that delivery, even with c-section, can be different for each women.

Answer 4

I had a c-section with my daughter 4 years ago. I remember being terrified. It really wasn't as bad as I imagined. You will have some pain, especially when standing or walking the first 2-3 days, but it significantly improves after that. .My surgery itself went fine. There was a few minutes during it as they were delivering my daughter that I felt like I couldn't breath. The doctors reassured me that I was fine by showing me my oxygen meter. After my c-section I was only given 4 Motrin every 6 hours due to a mistake in the doctor's orders. I'm sure you will receive some real pain medication so hopefully you will have less discomfort than I did. The nurses had me up and walking around just a couple hours after her birth. This was very painful, but not unbearable. When I was in bed I didn't experience much more than discomfort. I found the worst pain was when the drain they had coming out of my stomach was filled with blood because it pulled on the incision. Once it was removed my pain really wasn't bad at all. Holding a pillow to your stomach when you move the first couple of days really helps a lot. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days. My doctor gave me an option to leave the hospital after 3 days, but I choose to wait the extra day as I was afraid of the staples coming out. But I found that having them removed is not painful at all. Once home I had very little pain and was moving around well on my own. With the exception of some sensitivity on my scar I was mostly back to my old self after only 10 days. This really surprised me since I never imagined during the first day or two that I would feel better any sooner than several weeks. Of course I followed my doctors advise and didn't lift or carry things heavier than the baby for several weeks. Good luck. And remember that the best thing about this is a healthy baby.

Answer 5

Recovery after any surgery is a highly individual thing -- if you are in good health and well nourished you should heal faster. C-Sections today are much safer and less intrusive than they were in the past.

Smaller incisions mean you will probably be able to get out of bed within 24 hours and be able to do light activity within a few days. After about a week you will feel sore but somewhat more like moving about and doing things -- but it is important that you follow your doctor's recommendations.

Most doctors do not recommend resuming actvities such as exercise or sex for at least 6 weeks after a C-section. (But considering that you have a new baby to take care of , you may not care about those types of activities for a while anyway.

Alley

Answer 6

I had a c-section with my little girl. I was up and moving around the next day. My husband had to go back to work after she was born so I had to be up and down all day. I felt fine, but it did take about 3 weeks for the incision to heal. You will be in the hospital for 3 to 4 days due to you having surgery, but you will get to take a 8 week maternity leave if you plan on going back to work. Good Luck!!!! PS...if you do have the c-section and plan on having another child most docs will want you to have a c-section with your second child too.

Answer 7

Hi there dear. You have nothing to worry about, I can reassure you from a professional and a personal position. You will be fine. All four of my babies were born by C-section and I have to say that I had a wonderful experience. I think that the most important thing for you to do is to request being awake for your delivery. They will give you an epidural so that you will not feel anything at all. I got to watch my babies being born, I even got to nurse them while I was in the operating room and my husband was right there with me. I did not miss anything except the labor pains and the episiotomy! Of course as the epidural wears off you will start to feel pain. The key is to ask for pain medication before you *really* need it. Most places will put you on morphine in a patient controlled IV. You will just push a button when you feel that you need it. I stayed in the hospital for 7 days with my first. After that, for my other babies, I stayed 3 to 5 days. They send you home with pain medication to use as needed. Here again, stay ahead of the pain and take your medicine before the pain gets really noticable. For some of my babies I barely needed it.
Having a C-section will in no way impede your ability to breast feed. I nursed all my babies for over a year.
Honey, I took natural childbirth classes and at the last class we watched a baby being born. It was an uncut version and it scared me to death! I cried all the way home with the vision of those scissors cutting into the mother's sensitive flesh....I knew that I could not do it! I sat there with my huge tummy crying and telling my husband that I knew I could not do it! All I could think about was the size of the baby's head.....
At my next appointment when my doctor told me that my pelvis was less than half the size required for a vaginal delivery I jumped off the table and hugged him! lol....as I said, all my babies were born that way and it was wonderful! All the good parts of childbirth with none of the bad.
Talk to your doctor about your concerns. Make a list of the things that are scaring you the most and I bet she will be able to reassure you. Most c-sections today are done with a horizonal incision, you can even wear a bikini afterwards if you want and your scar will not show! If your baby is lying in an abnormal position sometimes the classical incision must be used. That is the kind I have and it is just a faint pink line, it does not bother me at all.
If you have time, check into Cesarean Childbirth classes. They are wonderful and will teach you everything that you need to know. There is a great deal that you can do to reduce the discomfort and make your experience a wonderful one. I am sure that there are books available that contain the same useful information. See if you can check one out at your local library. If you want to buy the book I am sure that a large bookstore will carry them.
Do not feel like this is in any way a failure on your part! You know, there must be a reason that movie stars and famous models have C-sections....they surely do not do it because it is MORE painful! (Not that we should imitate them, it is just something to consider).
If you would like to write to me I can tell you the specifc things that we learned at the classes and give you some of the tips that we were given as far as reducing pain after your delivery. I would be happy to share with you.
Congratulations on your baby and your impending birth! Good luck and please do NOT be scared! Write to me if you still are, I will be happy to answer any questions that you have!
Love and Blessings
Lady Trinity~

Answer 8

While it is a major surgery, there isn't anything to be scared about. Millions of women have had one and been absolutely fine. You're given an epidural and kept awake the whole time. Your partner can sit next to you while the C-section is done. It's usually about two weeks until you're allowed to drive, and it can take up to six weeks to heal. But even if you have a C-section this time around, if you have another baby you might be able to have a VBAC (Vaginal Birth After C-section), but you need to speak to your doctor about that if it comes up.

If anything, speak to your doctor about it all, and check out http://www.babycenter.com.

Answer 9

From what I've read over 28% of American women these days have c-sections, and they turn out fine. The doctors REALLY push for it. But the other reality is only about 4% really NEED to have a c-section. Many times the doctors suggest it for their own liability. I have nothing against doctors, I can understand they don't want to get sued, but check out your options first. You said you MAY have to so it sounds like its not 100% yet. Seriously research this, think about it and talk to your doctor about it- find out why he wants you to have one. If its because the baby is breach there are many natural ways to rotate it without hurting the baby. If he thinks its too big, thats a risk you have the choice to take- you don't HAVE to have a c-section if you really feel you can deliver your baby naturally.

Answer 10

I had a c-section 4 months ago. It is ot hard at all. During the c-section i didnt feel anything. i was walking the very next day. And another thing they usually give u pain medicine but i never really took it. Afterwards i was home alone for a week and it was not really that hard at all. I did everything on my own. So good luck

Answer 11

A c-section is a major surgery. It takes a good 6+ weeks to heal and ask the hospital for an extra girdle because they aren't easy to clean and will make you sweat like crazy.

Not to be an alarmist but I did have complications with mine. The spinal did not work and I felt the whole thing. It's super rare but complications do happen. If something like that happens to you ASK TO BE PUT UNDER. I didn't think to ask and they didn't think to offer... hopefully I can save just one person the pain I went through with my advice and that's worth all the thumbs down in the world.