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| February 19, 2010: Cesarean #5, Maria Catherine |
I have had five cesarean deliveries; I have only ever given birth via cesarean section. It began with Morgan, who went into distress after many hours of labor. My family practice doctor went for a second opinion when, with each contraction, one minute apart, Morgan's heart rate slowed down to a very scary point. The second opinion said that she needed to come out NOW. She did, and via cesarean, we delivered a healthy baby girl. We became pregnant with Madeleine when Morgan was four-five months old and were told that a VBAC was unsafe, for many reasons I won't go into here. VBACs are controversial and we believe our decision to deliver via cesarean to be the best decision for Madeleine and me (so no comments will be allowed that disagree with our decision).
That said, what would I recommend for someone who knows they're heading for a cesarean?
1. TAKE THE PAINKILLERS. KEEP TAKING THE PAIN KILLERS. DO NOT STOP. Tell your nurse if you need more. It doesn't make you a drug addict. You won't want to look back at the first few days of your baby's life and see it through a haze of pain. A cesarean delivery hurts. There is medicine that will make you more comfortable. You don't have to tough it out.
2. You can keep your baby with you after delivery, if there are enough nurses. Just ask.
3. Do follow the advice of the nurses, but get out of bed only when you feel ready. If you do not feel ready, simply tell them no, I will do it later. Then do it later.
4. Allow the staff to help you out of bed and into a chair, and have someone support you when walking for the first time after surgery. Take your time! You're not going to be able to walk well for a couple of days.
5. Do rest, rest, rest. Even when you feel well, REST. When you're tempted to get up to get something for yourself, resist the urge. Ask your husband or helper to do it for you. It'll pay off later.
6. When you think you are feeling well enough, you might overdo the physical activity. SIT DOWN.
7. Plan for a good 12 weeks to get back to normal.
8. For the first 6 weeks after birth, I always woke up feeling like I got hit by a Mack truck. Keep up on the ibuprofen and take the painkillers at home. All my babies survived breastfeeding with me on painkillers and are remarkably healthy! After 6 weeks, although slightly sore, I began to feel much better.
9. Backtrack: During surgery, if you begin to feel nauseated, tell the anesthesiologist right away. He can give you something that will keep you from vomiting and will make you feel better. Dry heaving during surgery is not a fun thing.
10. Do not freak out when you see your incision after surgery. It's very, very ugly for a long time. It gets less noticeable, I promise. The ugly bruises go away within a week and the scar will fade to pink, then white.
11. If you have pain in your shoulder afterward, or under your ribs, you may have a small pocket of air stuck in your abdomen. It is important to tell the nurse, you will need extra painkillers, but it does happen (twice to me) and it does resolve itself without intervention. However, your nurse needs to know so that they can ruld out a blood clot.
12. Look out for Postpartum Depression, especially if the cesarean was unexpected.
13. Afterward, get a few pairs of granny underpants, the kind that come up waaaaay past the incision site. Do not allow things to rub the incision site; it will hurt, even a few months later.
14. Some doctors tell their patients that they can only have 2 cesareans. Hogwash. I've got the maternal-fetal specialist in our area, and after 5 cesareans, we're still good to go, should God bless us with another child. It is extremely rare that a woman can have only 2 cesareans.
15. Visit Morgan's blog, Adventures in Diapering and Beyond.
16. Want to know what to expect, play by play? See THIS post that I wrote after Maria's birth.
Have you had a cesarean and have advice to offer? Leave a comment!
5 comments:
Great advice, especially about taking the painkillers. I am 10-weeks out from having had my 3rd c-section, and while my recovery has been a bit slower than in the past, it is still allowable and doable!
BTW...Morgan's husband and my husband are fire fighters at the same fire department. For the longest time I had been following her blog...and didn't realize who she was! Too funny. Such a small world, really.
Blessings,
Valerie
Aw. Thanks for thinking of me :). Although I'm hoping the baby will turn (and actually really excited for my appt this week b/c I think it may already have turned, but need a professional to confirm), learning all about c-sections from you has put my mind at ease in a big way should it come to that. Not that I think it would be easy. Just do-able.
sounds like all good advice.
My sister has had 3 c-sections and a surgery to remove a grapefruit-sized cyst on her fallopian tube, and her doctors said no more babies :( I hope they are wrong. I think having a c-section must be so hard...giving birth is hard enough wihout having to recover from surgery too. You are very accepting of this cross you have been dealt :)
I have a friend who has had 6 c-sections. She was told to wait at least a year before having another baby, but not told she couldn't have another. I suspect many women are told far too soon that they simply can't have more.
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