Does everyone who has had a c section feel that their birth was traumatic?

[Snapdragon]

l

[Tenk]

Hi katie,

I didn't feel traumatized by my 1st c-section, 5th birth, I guess because I labored for 24 hours (hard labor!) before the section and felt like it was needed. this time however, I am feeling very traumatized by the C-section, not holding my baby, NICU, leaving w/out her, nursing not going well, and a whole list of other thinkgs that are making me ill right now.

I'm sorry yours didnt' go as planned and i hope you find some mind easing stories mama.

[Snapdragon]

Tenk I pm'ed you.

[EviesMom]

I didn't feel it was traumatic, but I also don't generally post here you know? Most people posting here had traumatic births. I had a breech baby, didn't know anyone in my city that would try vaginal breech, and tried many things to turn her. She didn't turn, and I went into labor, so I knew that I would have to do a c-section. However, I let my body labor for a while to help with her lungs and preparation for birth, but had the c-section before the more challenging parts of labor. Also, knowing well beforehand that I was probably going to have a section enabled me to be mentally and physically prepared for it in terms of boppy, good support from family, downstairs bed prepared at home (my bedroom was upstairs and although walking was fine, stairs were hard for a few weeks), etc. It was definitely physically harder to recover than from my natural birth, but it wasn't traumatic.

Are you adjusting to a traumatic birth or are you wondering if you have a c in the future if it has to be traumatic/how to make it as mom and baby-friendly as possible?

[34me]

I do not feel traumitized by mine either. I had an emergency c that was definitly needed as my ds's heart rate went down below 40 and wouldn't go back up no matter what we tried. I was actually put out under general anesthesia because there was not time for an epidural. I was pretty upset as I was being wheeled in to the OR but my baby was fine (he's now almost 14) in the end and I was greatful for that. My second was due to lack of labor. I was 42+1 and there were no signs of labor.

[4Blessings]

No!

[pacificbliss]

I did not feel traumatized. Initially I felt disappointed. I labored for 46 hrs and so wanted a natural birth I was very upset when I needed the c-section. The hospital was very good though. They are a "baby friendly" certified hospital so when DS ws born they showed him to me, kept him in the room the entire time and placed him on my chest after no more than 5 minutes. He rode on my chest to recovery. At my 6 week pp appointment the midwives sat down with me and reviewed how we had tried all we could and reassured me that it was not an unnecessary c-section. It wa the way DS birth was meant to be. I healed pretty quickly but was numb at the incision site for 6 months.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby. I hope you have a speedy recovery.

[Snapdragon]

I think I mean PHYSICALLY traumatized- which is how I feel. the emotional stuff is hard to but not in the forefront for me right now. what is so hard is the physical injury to my body.
so I am wondering if everyone always feels physically traumatized by c sections or if some people just experience healing for a while and then are fine.
Maybe I am asking- if the emotional part wasn't so traumatic, is the physical part permanently traumatic or does it heal?
Layered questions I guess

[ALittleBitCrunchy]

Not traumatized at all. My first was an induction that ended in c-section and my second was a scheduled c-section. I normally wouldn't post here as I feel like I'm intruding but I saw this in new posts and wasn't sure why you were asking...but assume there is a reason and that it will help you in some way.

I hope that you are able to find healing on this forum.

[4Blessings]

Originally Posted by Katie34

I think I mean PHYSICALLY traumatized- which is how I feel. the emotional stuff is hard to but not in the forefront for me right now. what is so hard is the physical injury to my body.
so I am wondering if everyone always feels physically traumatized by c sections or if some people just experience healing for a while and then are fine.
Maybe I am asking- if the emotional part wasn't so traumatic, is the physical part permanently traumatic or does it heal?
Layered questions I guess

No, I do not feel physically traumatized by my c-sections.

[EviesMom]

I was walking well, baby mostly in stroller or carried by DH by 3 weeks after. I was carrying her by 6 weeks after. Did a full day hike probably 7 months later. About 1 year after my c, I felt 90% healed, mild numbness in a few spots. By 2 years after, I felt 100% healed. I don't have numbness or any lingering pain.

[Drummer's Wife]

I've had four c-sections as well, and can't say I necessarily felt physically traumatized by each one. A couple were harder to recover from (the two where I labored 36+ hrs before), and in all honesty I still have occasional pain related to the sections 3 years after my last one. But, I'm not sure it was traumatizing physically. In some ways, yes, b/c major surgery does that (i had a 5th abdominal incisision 2 years ago when I underwent a laparotomy -- That, was much harder to recover from).

Some women heal easier than others, and of course this often depends on the surgeon, how the c-section went (was it emergency, was the baby hard to get out, were there complications, infections, scar tissue or adhesions?), as well as how easy she takes it afterwards, plus how fit/healthy one is before and during pregnancy.

PAin tolerance, too, plays a role. It amazes me when women say they never needed anything stronger than ibuprofen for a few days, when I was taking percocet for almost a month after one of my sections.

So many aspects involved - including emotions, b/c I do believe they impact physical healing. Some women are very much physically traumatized, while others would say they weren't at all.

[Storm Bride]

I've had five c-sections. I felt physically traumatized by all of them. I felt emotionally traumatized by four of them. The last one sucked, but it wasn't actually traumatic.

As to whether it heals - the physical part - that varies wildly. My first one healed up beautifully. I don't remember exactly when it stopped bothering me, but I walked 15 blocks uphill (about 3-4 blocks were/are very steep) home from my six-week checkup. I was a bit slow, but it didn't hurt. By the time I was a year out, the only physical thing I ever noticed was the numbness right along my scar line.

Another hurt for 7-8 months.
Another healed up pretty well, aside from an infected part of the skin incision...but left me with what is probably permanent numbness in my abdomen, and I haven't had full bladder sensation since the surgery (almost 5 years ago). The physical part is just all over the map.

[Right of Passage]

I have a friend that has choosen her last 2 births to be c-sections because a vaginal birth traumatized her. She has expressed no issues with her c-sections juts great joy.

[luchadora13]

Overall, I would not say my c-section was physically traumatizing. Although the weird numbness and seemingly displaced nerve sensitivity in my abdomen bothered me a lot, so I just spent a while not even looking at or thinking about my abdomen. (I still have some numbness, and still generally don't look or feel down at my scar much.) I also fretted over the swelling after the surgery. I didn't swell at all during pregnancy, but after the c/s I couldn't fit into any of my shoes for over a week.

I was able to carry and feed my baby no problem once I was home, which I think made a big difference in feeling OK about being in pain, and not focusing on it too much. Getting up and down hurt for at least a couple weeks, but I could do it. But then again, I took the pain meds for about the first week without even blinking.

About 3 weeks after I had a horrible, popping and tearing sensation, and walking hurt for about week. That worried me a lot. (The nurse said it was the epidural?!?) Then a week later the popping happened again with a very sharp pain, but it seemed to fix the pain with walking.

I guess what still lingers about the physical aspect of the surgery is that whenever I feel something weird, or something is not right, I worry that it has to do with the surgery. For instance, I experienced "asparagus urine" for the first time a couple weeks ago (crazy thing, look it up)...and when I smelled that heinous smell, I assumed that it had to do with my c/s and was really worried. Ends up it was asparagus!

[mama2toomany]

I am sorry for anyone whos had a traumatic birth


But I thought my c/section was amazing and I healed very well from it.

[Snapdragon]

m

[_ktg_]

Katie34 I could not pass by this without offering s

I've had 2 (the 2nd was a failed vbac) and had a bit physical trauma from the first, though the second was longer and harder on my body. The first I felt all bruised on the inside and my exact quote to my DH was "I feel like I went 10 rounds with Muhammad Ali"

Only until I've started doing my doula work, I am learning how much Birth is a traumatic event, some mothers end up with scars (c/s scars, tears, emotional scars) and just how much it takes out of a person.

For me I had to turn it around and look at is as we are all warriors and even the best end up with scars from our battles.

[Realrellim]

I wouldn't describe either of my two c-secs (one emergency, one a failed VBAC) as traumatic, at all.

The first saved DD#1's life, no question about it.

The failed VBAC c-sec wasn't an emergency. It was extremely disappointing to discover that despite walking, visualization, mantras, and pit, I hadn't dilated at all in 30 hours, but it wasn't traumatic. If nothing else, at least it allowed me to have some of the things that hadn't been possible in my first birth.

If anything is traumatic, it has been having to constantly defend my first section to natural birth activists over the last five years. It is really hard to be told repeatedly that I must not have trusted my body or was uneducated or should have told my providers where to get off or that I somehow caused the situation that led to the emergency c-sec. It's really hard to have people who don't know the first thing about that pregnancy or my labor to immediately dump me in the "unnecessarian" pile or to hear comments like "if I had a dollar for every woman who thought the c-sec saved their baby's life." It's also difficult to hear other women comment that they should disabuse me of the notion that my child's life was saved for the sake of the cause (i.e., lowering the c-section rate, as if that can be accomplished by shaming women without any actual knowledge of the situation).

It's even harder to hear people who would argue that I didn't really "birth" my child, or that the c-sec somehow has hurt our mother-child relationship, or variations on that theme.

This time around, I've found that it's really hard to listen to successful VBAC stories, especially ones that started, as my birth story does, with their water breaking. I don't know why I didn't dilate, and unfortunately, I can never know if perhaps, eventually, my body would have kicked into labor. What I do know is that it had been 30 hours, I was tired, my BP was starting to go up, and that even if I continued to labor for hours or more likely, days more, there was no guarantee that I'd dilate. Heck, most women are already dilated a little bit by 36 weeks, so to be closed up tight after 30 hours of contrax really suggests that all the waiting in the world wasn't going to change the outcome. And yet, there's that little bit of doubt...and the knowledge that some women will judge me just because they can.

FWIW, if you look at the WHO's c-sec goal, 15%, then it's worth noting that about half of all the c-secs done in America ARE necessary. That doesn't change the fact that many of us did not get the ideal birth experience, but hopefully it can give you some peace about how it turned out.

[Bokonon]

My first was a bit traumatic, but not because of the actual procedure. DS was born at 32 weeks due to severe preeclampsia, and he and I were both very sick, so I hardly got to see him before he was taken to the NICU. The actual cesarean wasn't the problem.

My second was under similar circumstances, and wasn't traumatic at all, especially because at 34 weeks, DD was much healthier than DS and we got to spend a few hours with her before she had to go to the NICU for some issues she was having.