Csection Support Thread April 2005 (cont discussion from March) - Page 20

[chantald]

Morning
ANyone heard from OTF? (sorry I don't know your name.. ) Hope all is well.

I was wondering if anyone here has had more than 2 c-sections? I am thinking ahead.. like I usually do, and I am trying to sort out my options and feelings on baby #3, who isn't even a twinkle in my eye yet... I go for a 6 month post partum visit (anyone heard of that?! new to me!) in Mid June and wanted to go with some questions about TTC #3.. timing, options etc..

Part of me wants a vba2c.. and the other part of me says I am being selfish. My second C was not a bad experience, taken as a whole.. a bitter dissapointment.. yes... a hard recovery (harder than #1).. so I am a bit worried about #3..

Chantal

[Cullens_Girl]

why in the world would you need a 6 month pp visit? I've never heard of that.

[its_our_family]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

Strange question-- my scar gets *extremely* itchy and peely when I'm about to get my period. Is that normal? Are the two even related?

I wouldn't be surprised. I tried to make sure to pay attention to mine and see if I saw changes. I didn't notice any. My tattoos get tingly when I ovulate and the first day of af.

I started working 2 weeks ago and I think my body is adjusting to Bryce not really nursing during the day. Af came 5 days early! I was only cd29 this morning and she hasn't been showing till about cd33 lately. I was expecting her to show on tuesday...the day AFTER we get home from our 3 days trip

[shannon0218]

OMG Megan!!! I'm so glad you said that about your tatoos!!! Mine getts itchy and tingly just before my period too!!! I said it to my doctor (family doc) and she looked at me like I was from Mars.

OTF has been posting elsewhere on the board, I think all is well

[OnTheFence]

hi all,

thanks for asking about me. I am hot, tired, and big as a house. baby is still vertex. I never knew there was so much pressure and PAIN down there with a vertex baby. OUCH. Baby is big. I think she may be as big if not bigger than my last baby, and she is strong. I have contractions about every 10-12 minutes but my cervix is tight, long, and high.
we are getting ready for Katie to arrive. this three day weekend will give us plenty of time to get our house in order, and hopefully maintain it. I hope to have a firm date for my csection come June 2nd.
As for our LONG thread, I am going to start a new one on June 1st, with my updated birth plan and a link to this current thread. I really hope we can get more people to participate and talk about their cesareans here and their choices and experiences. I get lots of PMs and emails from lurkers and it would be nice if more people in the forum would come out and talk. I think it would be good for all of us.

Kim

[CharlieBrown]

Originally Posted by chantald

I was wondering if anyone here has had more than 2 c-sections?

I have had three. one emergency and two scheduled at full term.

[chantald]

Originally Posted by sdgirl

I have had three. one emergency and two scheduled at full term.

What were your experiences.. did it get tougher each time? I am wondering if I had such a rough recovery because 1. I was in full labor and pushing for 4 hours before the section and 2. they nicked my bladder..

I am just trying to figure out if I schedule.. if I will have an easier recovery.. I have only ever had my section after long labors..

This is a very difficult thing for me to ponder.. actually thinking of scheduling a section instead of labor..
:

Chantal

[CharlieBrown]

I will post tonight i have to be a mom now.

[Cullens_Girl]

:

curious as well. I labored for 3 days and pushed 3 hours before my e/c. They are telling me to get another c when the time comes but I want a vbac because of the recovery time.

[Storm Bride]

I've only had two sections - one emergency and one scheduled. And, I can honestly say that I noticed very little difference in my recovery time. The first day or two with my emergency section was worse, but I think that was exhaustion (my labour had started at bedtime, so I'd been up a long time by the time they cut) and the general anesthetic. Once I got past that phase, I was about equally incapacitated by each section. Some women seem to find that the scheduled ones are easier/faster to recover from, but that wasn't the case with me at all.

[OnTheFence]

My experience, and research has shown, that mothers recover faster from planned cesarean deliveries vs unplanned cesarean deliveries or those that labor before having a cesarean. Materal outcomes are better in planned, well as fetal/baby outcomes are about the same depending on the reason for your cesarean.

I had one unplanned cesarean in that it was an emergency, the recovery was a nightmare, physically and emotionally.
My planned cesarean was a breeze, virtually pain free. However I prepared for it for months, emotionally, physically and with my OB. I have done the same this time. This time my pregnancy is different, so my birth experience may be different -- so I will let you know, but I still plan on having just as good of an experience and recovery.

There are several things I like about planning my cesarean. I get my OB, I get to request who assists her. I get to pick my anest. and the person who performs it. I arrange for my pediatrician to be there. My support people will make plans to be there as planned, and my childcare is planned for. Things aren't rushed. Last time I got to pick my L&D nurse, this time, I will not be doing that because I don't know any up there at the moment. My sister does and plans to take care of getting me a good nurse. I probably will not even be in L&D but 4-5 hours.

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by OnTheFence

Things aren't rushed.

That was the worst part of my scheduled section! I've had nightmares about waiting for it to be time. I actually found the "emergency" part of my first section to be the easiest aspect to cope with.

[Clarity]

The first 24-36 hours were a LOT easier with better pain control (spinal and duramorph) which I had in my planned c. I was walking, eating, and peeing earlier - but some of that was just sheer practice at how early I could do what. But maybe that also had to do with the spinal since I got unhooked iv's, caths, etc earlier since that's not where my pain meds were coming from. Immediately after was more of a breeze. But after the good drugs were over, recovery and pain are the same a week after with my planned and my emergency with epidural (and a huge drug cocktail.) I would say the first 3 or 4 days were harder with my c-section with general. This incision is healing slower...so in many cases I think easier or harder is a lot of variables beyond just planned vs not.

[pinky]

Originally Posted by chantald

What were your experiences.. did it get tougher each time? I am wondering if I had such a rough recovery because 1. I was in full labor and pushing for 4 hours before the section and 2. they nicked my bladder..

I am just trying to figure out if I schedule.. if I will have an easier recovery.. I have only ever had my section after long labors..

This is a very difficult thing for me to ponder.. actually thinking of scheduling a section instead of labor..
:

Chantal

Hi, I haven't posted much on this thread but wanted to share my experience. I have had two unplanned c-sections. I had a very long (60+ hours) labors with both my babies, my first I did not push but went straight to c-sec, my second I pushed for 3 hours before the section.

My recovery was much harder with my second, but I think this had everything to do with having an older child to take care of and nothing much to do with the labor and surgery itself (although, now that you mention it, they did nick my bladder the second time around). I was just up and around much more, and dh was much busier with my older dd. I think that's just hard to avoid.

That being said, despite the three hours of pushing, overall I felt much better during my second dd's birth and immediately afterwards...I had awesome labor support and was really able to keep my head during a long unmedicated labor. So by the time she was born, I was very tired but still in a pretty calm place...not at all like my first dd's birth!

I think it is a very personal decision whether or not to schedule a c-section, but for what it's worth, I wouldn't trade my labor experience with dd#2 for anything.

Gotta run, baby calling!

[Storm Bride]

A couple of people have referred to having their IVs and catheters removed earlier with spinal/epidural. Why is that? My IV was kept in about 18 hours with my first section and about 18 again with my second section. Of course, they stuck the IV back in after about 6 hours with my first one, because some mental midget decided I had an infection because I was "running a fever".

Is it normal to take out the IV more quickly if you have a spinal or epidural?

[Cullens_Girl]

I delivered at 9:30 p.m. - My catheter was removed very early the next morning. I labored for three days prior to my section and up until the idiots decided I needed pitocin and water broken at 3 p.m. (although I was dilating just fine) did I receive an IV.

Next time I want a VBAC no IV, no monitors, no nothing.

[Clarity]

18 hours is pretty standard it seems like for IV and for urine cath. If you have no fever they're runnng fluids and often pitocin afterwards, sometimes antibiotics preventatively - but those are usually done way before 18 hours. If you want and your doc is ok, they can come out earlier. However, if you're getting your pain medication in your epidural, it seemed to me that stayed in longer. Spinals do not leave in in dwelling tube in your back to deliver pain meds afterwards - epidurals do. Perhaps that's not universal, but that's one reason many people like epidurals over spinals because it's used to deliver the pain meds afterwards. The spinal wears off very quickly once you're out of surgery, so you are able to walk pretty quickly. I think my iv was in longer when i was using the morphine pump. As least for me, when I still have tubes of any sort, it delays my getting up and really walking more than just the few feet to the bathroom. Even that is a pain when you drag a pole along with you.

[OnTheFence]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

A couple of people have referred to having their IVs and catheters removed earlier with spinal/epidural. Why is that? My IV was kept in about 18 hours with my first section and about 18 again with my second section. Of course, they stuck the IV back in after about 6 hours with my first one, because some mental midget decided I had an infection because I was "running a fever".

Is it normal to take out the IV more quickly if you have a spinal or epidural?

I keep my epidural in for about 17-18 hours. They don't take it out after I have the baby. Just wanted to make this clear in case I havent before. They leave the cath in and I am administered drugs on a times scheduled into the spinal column and as I need it I can dose myself. I also have a urinary cath during this time. However I could move, sit up in bed, eat, etc without pain. After the 17-18 hours was up, I had everything removed except they did dose my epidural cath up. I also request that I get antibiotics, so I get those in my IV after surgery -- some people do not do this, I do this as a precautionary thing and so do my doctors. As soon as everything is pulled out, and the epidural pain relief is still working, I get up and move, take a shower, etc. Now with my first csection I had an IV for nearly three days and was cathed over 2 days.

[eleven]

Originally Posted by chantald

Part of me wants a vba2c.. and the other part of me says I am being selfish.

Just wondering what would be selfish about a vba2c?

[sarajane]

I have been wanting to come and join in the coversation here but haven't had the time. I do have a couple questions for those of you who have been through this before. First question is about my incision. It has been five weeks since my section and my incision has two little openings in it. This did happen shortly after returning home, about a week after. I saw a doctor for it and he said it was fine, they would heal up but I needed to clean it more, okay so I did and they closed up fine. It was like the stitches had just come off those two places too soon or something.

Well, now it is 4 weeks since that doctor visit and my incision is opening back up in those two areas. It stings a little bit there sometimes and there is a little bit of blood. Well, naturally there is blood seeing as the skin seems to have ripped back open after healing partially.

Has this happened to anyone? Did it heal up on its own okay? Should I see a doctor for it? I don't have my own doctor seeing as I used a midwife and got transfered so I don't want to go unless I have to.

Also, I am really bothered by this pain in my back from the epidural. It is just so sore! They stuck me 3 times trying to get it right. Is there any relief for this? It is making it really, really hard to take care of the baby and do housework.