My elective caesar - day by day account

So basically that was my experience. As you can see I struggled far more with the breastfeeding than the after effects of the caesar - i suspect i just wasn't prepared for the fact that in the beginnng (i.e. first 2 days) they need to feed ALOT and that it's ok if it isn't easy at first because it gets better and now 10 weeks down the line I am really enjoying breastfeeding.

Try not to rely too much on your baby books - this is what caught me i think as the "newborn" in your book is NOT the 2 days day old in your arms. It's the 2 week old that happens to confirm exactly to whatever reference you are using!

Day 3: am

Much better today. Had a shower and they changed the dressing. Still on pain meds every 8 hours and you get a suppostiry (sp) anti inflammatory in the am. Every evening at 6pm i've had a shot in alternating legs to prevent dvt. It's not sore though. I had two blood tests on day 1 and 2 as well that I'd forgotten about. But yah otherwise much better today. Pain meds due in an hour but I'm not suffering. They in fact woke me this morning to give me my pills as I was asleep.

The biggest thing to get your head around is the lack of inhibitions. You're at best half naked and multiple people walk in and out of your room with barely a knock. So everyone has seen you boobs (and if you're not showing them will sometimes ask to see them and then start pulling) and a fair amount of people have seen your lower half (checking of pads, wound etc). And it's doctors, nurses, physio, catering staff, cleaners etc. They're all girls (but dunno if that's true in every hospital) but yah. Leave all modesty at the door. The sooner you accept that and go with it the better!

Day 3: pm

Right so day 3 update (I.e yesterday)

Pain is really quite manageable now with my tablets every 8 hours. I can walk around, sit up and down etc alone and managed a lovely shower plus hair wash at around 10am (felt sooo much more human after this.) they took off the bandages etc and replaced with a special spray on bandage which is also nice as there's not a ton of bandaging going on now. The cut is small - roughly the length of my iPod - and very low down. I don't think they make bikini bottoms low enough that would show the scar. I look about 5-6m pregnant still but am more comfy than I was then because my tummy is now soft and flabby as opposed to a hard watermelon when I was preggers (yay??) In the interests of full disclosure - I'd been told that the first time you do a nr2 after birth (natural or Caesar) it's supposed to be quite painful and nerve wracking but it wasn't for me (sorry tmi).

Breastfeeding is ok. I think I said it is sore the first few seconds of each latch but then it gets better to not sore but just a firm pulling sensation. It's a really nice time to bond with baby though as he's usually awake and will look up at you. Apparently the distance from boob to your head is his perfect vision distance for now so he starts to know what you look like and stuff. At that point you don't think that the birth etc wasn't painful but you do kind of want to say to him "oh alright it wasn't to bad, mommy loves you just don't do it again." I suspect that's the start of the birth amnesia most mothers seem to have

Now the bad stuff. Yesterday was flipping hard. You go thru day 1 and 2 with this lovely snoozy baby that never cries and eats for 5-15 mins every 3-4 hrs and on day 3-4 he turns into a bloody fog horn and screams blue murder, legs flailing, frothing at the mouth the whole deal. Basically he is ready for your milk but you are still only producing colostrum so the only thing to do is put him on the boob or bottle or whatever and wait it out. Seriously I would feed for 45 mins then he'd sleep for 15 then back to feeding. I wish a nurse had told me about that. DH and I couldn't work out how to appease the monkey resulting in even more screaming and more panic from us. Plus you get baby blues on day 3 ( hormonal change from the placenta detaching) so you are very emotional. Literally Sun morning I was a happy chappy and Sun eveing I was in tears with a headache and high blood pressure and a continuously screaming infant. Not fun. We are now MUCH better because I haven't been depriving the poor thing of food!

But home time today - hooray! Baby sleeping so off to get a shower

Day 2: pm

Well I'm now half way between pain med times I.e next pills in 4 hrs and feeling much more positive. Am by no means lying here in pain. And I'm now mobile and in charge of my own ablutions etc which is MUCH better. No one likes an early morning sponge bath! Going to have a shower later today.

The spinal truly wasn't sore. I was freaked out about it too. You get a local first which stings - little more sore than a blood test less sore than my Hep Vaccine I was given a few years ago. Then you don't feel the spinal (or epi if natural) at all as pain. Pulling out the cathetar was more sore I thought. The worst part is the stress and stuff before you go in. Hospitals generally make me feel a bit ill and knowing I was to be operated on made it worse but the actual Caesar was an absolute breeze (once they angled the table.) I was chatting to the docs and dh the whole time.

The recovery is the suck part about a Caesar. Plus it's hard the first few nights. There's burping and feeding and nappies and cuddles and you're often exhausted and not too mobile and generally a bit overwhelmed. It is so awesome that dh is able to stay over and help. Without him here I would def not be able to keep James with me 24/7 and would need to rely on the nursery and nurses much more.

Um what else. Breastfeeding is going ok. I had colostrum from like 32 weeks which most preggers do so was able to feed him almost immediately. He's a lazy lil bugger though so we expressed a few feeds and did them by spoon. Then the nurses helped me to get him latched on properly and finally this afternoon he seems to have worked it out and it's going swimmingly. Except ow I'm sore. The books all say if it hurts you're doing it wrong but we've tried multiple positions and latches and basically - Jame is a tough lil sucker (pun intended) and my boobs are not the same texture as a pot scourer. So the first few seconds of each feed stings. He feeds 10 to 20 mins total every 3-4 hours. You get creams for your boobs etc which I'm using and are helping and taken a friend's advice to book for laser on them either tomorrow or Monday. I suspect it'll be easier when my milk comes in on Mon/Tues as he shouldn't have to suck so hard. The nurse said fair haired first time moms usually struggle with feeding in the beginning

But he's so very cute. He was lying on my chest sucking his thumb and nuzzling into my neck while I was writing most of this email. He's now under the duvet on dh's chest - both fast asleep.

Must get some sleep before the next feed at 4.30/5

Day 2: am

Day 2 - less pleasant. Ongoing medium to high achy pain (feels like really really REALLY bad period pains.) But it's an awesome relief to be rid of the cathetar, drip and spinal. Bit of bruising muscle pain at the drip and spinal spot which is unnoticeable unless you use your left hand or are lying on your back. Since you are only able to lie on your back the second is a bit annoying. Feels like I've just spent a week sleeping on a pep stores mattress.

But baby is much more fun today and has his eyes open and responds to people and stuff. Those big blue eyes looking up to you during a feed are pretty cool.

However, I have just said to dh I'm not convinced we should try this again.

I am due for a next dose of meds in 10 mins though so not feeling particularly pleased ATM. Day 2 is supposed to be the worst day so it's all better from here on out - hope so!

Oh and just to add, a large part of the pain is due to the fact that your uterus is contracting so that you expel excess blood etc and your womb shrinks down. This happens whether you do natural or Caesar apparently. So either way prepare yourself for this part. Noone mentioned them to me and they hurt.

For those interested - i wrote up an email for friends of mine on my elective caesar each day I was in the hospital. I was on a few drugs at the time so excuse the spelling! I delivered at Kingsbury in Cape Town.

End Day 1:

Hello, will write up properly later but just to say so far Brazilian wax the most painful thing.

You get onto the operating table and they put in a drip. Then you hunch over and get a local anaesthetic in your back. Bit sore but not terrible and it's quick. Then the spinal - not sore but feels unpleasant. Bit like a earthworm is crawling up your back. 2 mins later and you get pins and needles and have to lie down. They then put in the cathetar which you can't feel as your spinal has worked. I started to feel very faint and sick (lying on you back when heavily pregnant does that though because baby pushed on a major artery.) They swiveled the bed a couple of times until I was at an angle not on the artery and suddenly I felt fine.

You feel them doing stuff in your tummy but no idea what and it's not sore. They pull out baby and it's like a sumo wrestler just stopped standing in your tummy. An awesome feeling actually. You feel suddenly anorexic in comparison! Baby is weighed, inspected etc then they lie him in his nappy on your bare chest. James had some fluid on his lungs so DH and the paed took him up to the nursery. They started stitching me up and added a medicine to my drip to make my uterus contract. The medicine made me gag and almost throw up a bit so they added an anti nausea to my drip and I felt much better after a few minutes but my blood pressure was quite low so I spent about 20 mins in recovery mainly sleeping as the anti nausea does that. They then wheeled me up and DH came to me. Baby stayed in the nursery for another 20 minutes with DH while I slept. Then DH brought baby to me and he has either been on my chest or in dad's or grandpa's arms since then.

You stay in a general recovery room for 6 hours and they check your blood pressure every 30 mins. After about 45 mins I could wiggle my hoes again so I pushed the painkiller button on my spinal. Not that I was sore but just in case. At about 1 one of the nurses came and washed my legs and nether regions. The moving around was quite ow. On par with a really bad stomach ache. But afterwards you meds kick in and you're fine again. And now we're in our pvt room and honestly I'm not sore at all. I click the painkiller occasionaly just in case but I don't really need to. Will see how it goes tomorrow though without the spinal!