Quote:
Originally Posted by stafl
Absolutely everything about my cesarean is clouded by the very severe trauma I experienced and am still feeling in the way of PTSD. I could never say I was "pleased" with any aspect of it, it's still very painful to even think about, three years later.
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Uh huh. I think an expected, planned c/s is MUCH different from an "emergency", unplanned c/s. Both in terms of immediate experiences (ie, making your wishes known re: holding baby, bfing immediately, time spent in recovery, etc) and in long-term effects (PTSD, PPD, etc).
For me, it's very hard to say whether or not I was "pleased" with my anesthesia since I was/am VERY displeased about the entire situation.
I can say this: I have a spot on my back that's numb, which I attribute to the epidural. I am have also had back pain since about 4 mos pp, which *could* be a result of the anesthesia (hard to say, since a doc's not very likely to agree with that).
I can't remember much about the walking. DS was born at 10:02 PM and I know that at midnight I got myself from my bed to a wheelchair to be wheeled down the hall to the NICU (
don't get me started on that). I *could* have walked it, but wanted to get there quick. After that, I walked down and back every three hours. So clearly, the anesthesia was worn off at least partially two hours after the birth, and completely gone by five hours pp.
I did not have any pain relief carried over from the c/s (I think I remember someone saying her epi was still in place 12 hours later? Or something like that - sorry if I got it wrong). I was given an IV of morphine, with the self-dispensing clicker-thing. I used it ONCE, right before the nurse was going to take it out. TBH, the pain wasn't THAT bad, and I was so busy running around that I just didn't think to use the morphine.
I remember feeling like I was going to throw up during the c/s, but talked myself out of it. I also got REALLY hot during the operation, then got chills. Hard to say what's b/c of the spinal, what's b/c of the epidural, and what's b/c of my long labor w/NO FOOD!
( I ALWAYS throw up when I get very hungry, and I wasn't "allowed" to eat during labor, so VERY hungry by the time we went for the c/s).
Kinsey