In the seven months since I first wrote this, I have received a lot of comments from readers. I have received even more private e-mails; the majority from women who just wanted to say thanks for sharing my experience with my C-section, and they too, had a similar experience.
Not all comments have been positive, and I didn’t expect them to be. It seems the biggest “complaints” from the comments about this post, is that C-sections are not really like what I wrote about, and I am trying to scare women. Since there are a lot of comments, and I am sure not everyone reads all the comments and my replies before leaving a comment of their own, I wanted to clarify my viewpoint about this post, hopefully BEFORE the post is read.
This is a realistic account of MY C-section. There are certain aspects to a C-section that EVERY woman will experience, such as scaring, and increased chances of uterine rupture with future pregnancies. There are other aspects to this account which I experienced. These may or may not be experienced by every woman who has a C-section. Just like no two vaginal births are the same, no two C-sections are the same.
I agree and support emergency C-sections 100%, and they do save lives. However, as you will read, I believe that the medical community is over-using C-sections in non-medical emergency situations (such as breech births). I feel I need to clarify this point as well, because when I originally wrote the post, my goal was to inform women who may be facing a planned or elective C-section (not an emergency one), and to offer my viewpoint from my perspective, on what a C-section is like, since my experience with my C-section was not a emergency C-section.
I wrote this post to inform women who suspect there might be more to a C-section than what she is being told, like I was. That is the spirit of the post-to inform. Like the famous quote, “knowledge is power.” The more you know, the more informed decision you can make.
To the readers who feel I am scaring women, I am sorry my account of my C-section is scary. Honestly, it was pretty scary. There are countless TV shows, websites, books, magazines, Hollywood celebrities, and doctors who will tell you C-sections are not scary, are not painful, and they are nothing to worry about. That was not the reality I found at all. I do not want to sugar coat, or tone down my experience. If I were to do that, there wouldn’t be much point it writing about it.
So having said this, before you read the post, please be forewarned that this post could be scary. I am attempting to share what a real C-section was like. If that has the potential to scare you, then please think twice before reading it. If you are searching for information on what happens during a C-section, possible complications that could arise, pictures of the procedure, the recovery period, possible impact on the family, and general information on C-sections, and how the medical community using them, and feel this information would not scare you, than this may be something you would be interested in reading.
If you have a comment after the post, please feel free to comment. I read every comment, and try to respond when appropriate. Please know I will delete any overly disrespectful comment. You don’t have to agree with me, but please keep it civil.
Thank you.
Heather- A Mama’s Blog
This post has been several months in the making. I have been thinking about what I wanted to convey in writing a post about Cesarean sections, better known as C-sections, or even as a “C.”
As I thought about it, there were so many different angles to take. I thought about writing a very detailed researched post, but you can find a lot of those by doing a Google search on C-sections. I decided in the end, I was going to write what comes naturally from my personal research and experience of having a C-section.
My intent for writing this post is to convey the reality, which is not often mentioned, of women, their new babies, and families, endure from C-sections. It is not meant to judge or make any mother feel bad who has had a C-section. I write a lot of the things that I wished I had known before hand about C-sections, which I was not told. This post is only meant to inform, and bring to light, issues involved with C-sections, that as a woman, and a mother I seldom hear anyone (doctors included) talk about in our society.
- My C-Section
I had a C-section with my first birth, with Ryan, only because he was a breech baby, and refused to turn. I wasn’t very informed on other alternatives for turning breech babies at the time, other than the external version, and accepted having a C-section was the only way to give birth to my baby.
- Lack of Options
Unfortunately, it pretty much WAS my only alternative. I did not feel comfortable having a home birth being a first time mother, with a breech baby. Not to mention, there were zero doctors in my area who would attend the birth of a breech baby. This is despite living in a college area, with a number of top rated medical facilities. So we agreed to the C-section, but really what choice did we have?
It has always bothered me more alternatives are not available for birthing breech babies. I did not want a C-section, but it was my only option. Even a home birth isn’t always an option- in several states (mine included), it is actually against the law for a midwife to attend a breech birth! This isn’t to say it isn’t done, but if you know ahead of time your baby is breech, this could be problematic in finding a midwife who is comfortable attending a breech birth, and possibly be in violation of the law, and thus be putting her certifications and her practice in jeopardy.
Finding an OB these days, who will deliver a breech baby, is a joke at best- even though as I found out later, delivering breech babies vaginally is very safe, in the majority of situations. In my opinion, this is a HUGE failure in the medical community to have only one option for a mother facing a breech birth- an automatic C-section.
- Major Surgery
C-sections are MAJOR abdominal surgery. The pain is agonizing. I never experienced greater pain in my life, than after my surgical C-section. Even going through natural labor and contractions with a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) birth of my second child for eleven hours, the pain was not as bad as it had been with the C-section.
The best way I can describe it is imagine your most painful, intense, contraction, and multiply it by at least 50 to 100%, depending on your pain tolerance. Now, realize the pain does not go away, after 30 seconds or a minute like the pain during contractions does. It is constant and never-ending. That level of pain is with you for DAYS (not seconds or minutes). Imagine your insides feeling like they are going to split open for several weeks, after the surgery, every time you laugh, cry, sneeze, get out of bed, stand up, or move too fast.
- Media Portrayal of C-Sections
It is also very disturbing to me how some avenues of the media, and celebrities portray C-sections. I have seen on numerous TV shows- including a prime time, number one show, (named Grey’s Anatomy, to be specific), where women who refuse a C-section, because they desire to have a NORMAL, vaginal birth, are portrayed as fanatic, and ridiculous. There is another show, The Baby Story, which shows many elective C-section births.
As a new mother-to-be, and even before I was pregnant, I watched The Baby Story. In my case, seeing so many C-section births, almost made it seem like it was a normal, healthy, alternative to giving actual birth. I NEVER saw the downside: pain, infections, and inability to get back to regular life after a C-section, shown on The Baby Story.
It is almost glamorized by the media when a famous celebrity has a C-section. “Too posh to push,” is how they sum it up. Whether that is the case or not, it is misleading to millions of women, who are faced with the same decision. What is NEVER mentioned is even if a celebrity chooses to have an elective C-section; she has resources available to her, which a normal woman does not. The celebrity can hire nurses, nannies, chefs, and cleaning services to take over for her while she recovers from surgery, when an average woman cannot. The strain and time it takes to recover from a C-section puts the average family under enormous stress.
Yet, the media continues to glorify and glamorize C-sections. It even seems like they make a special point to say, “Actress A had her baby (or gave birth), born by Cesarean section.” I have yet to see, hear, or read, “Actress A had her baby, born by normal, vaginal birth.”
I certainly never gave much thought to what really was involved with a C-section. I honestly thought, since I had seen so many women on The Baby Story, give birth by C-section, and they seemed fine, and never mentioned any drawbacks, certainly I could handle it.
- What A C-Section Is Really Like
Naive? Absolutely. C-sections are NOT as they are portrayed on “reality” TV shows, prime time TV shows, or by the media when reporting a famous woman had a C-section. Maybe if I hadn’t been bombarded by all these positive messages about C-sections, I would have thought twice about it. Maybe if I had, had someone actually tell me what a C-section really was like, I could have prepared better. Maybe if I could have found in a mainstream pregnancy book, the truth about C-sections, I would have known what I was getting into. But I didn’t, and at the time, all the information I had, said C-sections were no big deal.
C-sections ARE a big deal. So big, your life will never be the same. Here are some of the REAL outcomes from C-sections:
You may lose precious time with your newborn baby. Time that you will NEVER get back, because you are doped up on strong narcotic pain medications for at least 24 hours- usually longer- after the birth. Your baby might be groggy after birth in most cases, because the epidural and or spinal tap medication used to numb you, is in their system too.
Instead of spending the first few moments after birth holding, nursing, and bonding, with your baby, your hands may be tied down. Because of this, you probably won’t be able to hold your baby during this time, while you are being stitched back up.
Your baby may be taken out the operating room from you, while your uterus and incision site are being stitched. In my case, my hands were still restrained. You will probably have to wait at least 30 minutes after the birth (usually longer), before you can really hold your baby for the first time.
If you are lucky, your baby will want to breastfeed, even though he/she could still be groggy from the birth. If not, then starting breastfeeding becomes a much bigger challenge. As any new mother will tell you, breastfeeding a brand new baby can be hard at first. Now imagine trying to position your baby to nurse, but you can’t have your new baby’s feet, or body anywhere near your incision because you can’t risk having them push, or kick you in that area. You can use a pillow to block the site, but it becomes another aspect to figure out.
By having a C-section, your chances for hemorrhage, post-partum infection, internal injuries, post-partum depression, breastfeeding problems, reproductive problems, and maternal death, are increased than if you gave birth vaginally.
By having an elective C-section your baby’s chances for neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), physician caused prematurity (since they can only guess, what the correct due date is), persistent pulmonary hypertension (PPH), are cut by the surgeon’s scalpel two to six percent of the time, and are less likely to be breastfed, are increased than babies who are born vaginally.
In most cases, you will have metal staples in your incision for several days after the surgery. I thought my tummy looked liked Frankenstein’s forehead. It was so awful I couldn’t even look at it.
Your uterus will have permanent scar tissue, which is at a higher risk for rupture with future pregnancies.
You will have an scar just above your pubic bone for the rest of your life. Your stomach will more than likely hang over your scar, known as “belly flap,” for the rest of your life. Your incision / scar area will probably be numb for several months, several years, or even for the rest of your life.
Your birthing options with future pregnancies are SEVERELY limited, after you have a C-section. There is a saying, “once a C-section, always a C-section.” VBAC is a very safe choice for the majority of women, but VBAC’sare discouraged and you will be lucky to find a doctor and a hospital that supports this choice. In some states, it is against the law for midwives to attend VBAC births. In all actuality, you will be pressured to have a repeat C-section with future pregnancies, even though with every subsequent C-section, the uterine rupture rate increases, especially during pregnancy as the uterus expands. Usually another C-section is the only choice offered to you, even if that isn’t the best choice for you, and your baby.
You will probably have a longer recovery, after a C-section than if you had given birth vaginally. You can’t drive for usually 10 days. You are sore, and it can be a struggle to just get up and move, let alone walk, sit-up, sit, and lie down. It is recommended that you don’t climb any stairs for two weeks-too bad if your house has stairs- it can be very painful, every time you have to go up or down your stairs. You don’t dare laugh or cough for several days, because it just hurts too much. You may only have a limited amount of pain medication, because most doctors want to “wean” you off the strong pain narcotics a few days after the C-section. Keep in mind, this is all while you have a brand new baby to take care of as well.
(Many of these facts in the above blue boxes can be found on Childbirth Connection’s page on C-sections.)
- Recovery Time and Complications
Being a new mother is one of the most challenging life experiences. We rise to the task, but when you are trying to recover from a MAJOR surgery, YOU need to rest, and be taken care of. That does not happen after a C-section, for the majority of women. Maternal instincts take over, and we need to be with our babies. We push our pain, and discomforts to the background, in order to take care of our baby, and family.
This only adds to the recovery time, and often results in women “overdoing it,” which leads to ruptured scars, which leads to infected scars, which leads to another hospital stay, which leads back to square one, all over again. It can be a vicious cycle.
The general thought is it usually takes about 3 weeks, to recover from vaginal birth, and 6 weeks to recover from a C-section, IF everything goes well.
That was not true for me at all. It took me about 12 weeks to feel almost 100% again- meaning I didn’t have pain that kept me from doing daily activities. That is 3 months! If I were to count the time that it took for my scar to heal, and to not feel any pain whatsoever- I would say NEVER. Even now, four years later, if I move at an odd angle, I will get a weird pain in my abdomen, that I never had before having a C-section.
After the VBAC birth I had with my second baby, I felt back to normal, after about a month. Yes, there was pain, discomfort, and stitches involved with a vaginal birth, but it was SO, SO, SO much more manageable and less painful than a C-section. Having given birth both by a C-section and vaginally, I would pick a vaginal birth every time- without hesitation. As one of my friends who also had a C-section, and a vaginal birth said, “The worse vaginal birth, beats the best C-section anytime.” No wonder we were made to give birth vaginally, not surgically!
- Risks Outweigh The Benefits
C-sections are a medical tool, and should only be performed when absolutely necessary. C-sections DO have a place in obstetrics, and I have a friend who would have died, if she had not gotten an emergency C-section.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says anytime a country’s C-section rate rises above 15%, then the risks outweigh the benefits the surgery could provide. In the US, the C-section rate is 30.2% of all births. Just 100 years ago in the US, almost every baby born, was born at home! What has happened? Clearly, something is very wrong, and thousands of women are receiving unnecessary surgical C-sections, where the risks are outweighing the benefits.
- The “Hidden” High Costs of C-Sections
Another aspect that is hardly ever mentioned is the financial aspect and costs to a family. Obviously a C-section is more expensive than a vaginal birth. My C-section in 2004 cost 50% more than my vaginal hospital birth in 2006. That was with no complications- just a “by-the-book C-section”. Even with insurance, a family pays substantially more for a C-section, and that is just for the procedure! Most women have to stay in the hospital for a minimum of three days after a C-section, compared to anywhere from 12-48 hours with a vaginal birth. I had to stay for five days. Not only do you get charged for your care, but you get charged for the care your baby gets too.
If you factor in the extra long recovery time, the costs of hiring some household help, extra doctor and or hospital visits due to infection, pain medication, extra time the father may take off of work, to name a few- it is astounding how expensive a C-section is, and how fast it all adds up.
For a woman who has to return to work, 6, 8, or 12 weeks after giving birth, she may not even be fully recovered from surgery, before she has to take on the demands from a job as well.
- Ignorance Is Not Bliss
I believe that every woman who is faced with the possibility of having a C-section (emergency situation aside) should be given ALL of the information on the surgical procedure including the emotional and financial aspects beforehand. Ignorance is NOT bliss- it just keeps you from having to face the reality of this surgical procedure until you are in the thick of it, with nothing left to do, but see it and its consequences through.
During my recovery, I was in so much pain, and realized that I didn’t even know why, until my husband (who had watched the surgery) said, “If you had seen what they did, you would know why you are in pain.”
Then it hit me that I had no idea, what they even did during the C-section. They never show that on The Baby Story either. I have decided to include several REAL pictures from actual C-sections that I found by doing Google and Yahoo searches. Believe it or not, pictures like this were very hard to find. There just aren’t that many pictures of actual C-sections out there. I spent a lot of time trying to find pictures with the goal of showing what really happens during a C-section.
The pictures are graphic in nature- that is the reality of a C-section. I have provided the link to the site where you can view the pictures as well. There will be descriptions of what the picture is of.
Since some will prefer not to look at the pictures, I will include my closing comments now, instead of at the end of the pictures.
- Conclusion
Despite what we are told in the media, C-sections are NOT glamorous, or posh. If you choose to view the pictures below, you will see what it really is.
The emotional and financial toll it can take on you and your family is massive. Ironically, a lot of women choose C-sections, because they think it is a lot less painful than vaginal birth. You will have no pain during the C-section itself, because you are numb from usually the chest down. But, a surgical C-section birth is not a way to avoid pain during birth. Ironically, in most cases, it will cause you substantial amounts of more pain in the long run.
The end result of a C-section is beautiful- a new, hopefully healthy baby and mother. For me, that was my goal. But I never realized beforehand, as I wrote, you lose a lot of time with your newborn when recovering from the surgery. Time that you only get one chance at. If you have to return to work, as you know, your time is not endless with your baby, and that time goes by in a blink of an eye.
No mother I know, would willingly give up her precious time with her new baby, to attend to surgical dressings, be “out of it” due to pain medication, maybe miss out on breastfeeding, if they choose to do so, raise their risk of post-partum infection, and depression, and pain. Yet, that is what happens to one degree or another, with EVERY C-section.
If you prefer not to look at the pictures, I hope some of this post will help you, a friend, a sister, a daughter, a cousin, or anyone, who needed more information and truth on what is involved in a C-section.
I know first hand that sometimes a C-section is your only option. In these cases, I hope some of what I wrote may help in giving you more information on what to expect, so you can prepare better than I did. If you are considering a C-section that is not medically necessary, or you have other options, I hope if you have read this far, that maybe you are reconsidering having a c-section.
While writingthis post, I decided to write another post in the near future with ideas for mothers who are preparing for a C-section. I plan to include information on things she can do to prepare for it before hand. I also will include ideas and tips she can do post-partrum, to help with the healing process, pain, and the overall transition back to family life. E-mail me if you have any tips or suggestions, you would like to share.
Every woman deserves to know ALL of the facts, before facing a major surgery, especially one with the goal of bringing a new life into the world. Doctors should take into account ALL the factors, pre-AND post-surgery, on how C-sections can affect their patients and their families. The entire medical community (doctors, hospitals, etc.), should start offering vaginal breech baby birth options. Finally, C-sections should stop being glamorized by the media as a healthy alternative to vaginal birth. It is very dishonest and misleading.
I sincerely hope by sharing my experience, and facts that usually aren’t disclosed about C-sections, it can help women who are facing C-sections, to make an informed decision.
I would love to hear your comments and feedback.
- Additional Information
I urge anyone facing a C-section to read the article, “Cesearean Birth in a Culture of Fear.” It is written by Wendy Ponte, and it appeared in the September/October 2007 issue of Mothering magazine, and is the best article I have read on the subject to date. If you can get the actual magazine, there were some very good illustrations, showing the C-section procedure. I tried to find these illustrations on-line, but was unsuccessful. I was able to find something along the same lines, in a slide show presentation, with ten drawings from The New York Times, showing the C-section procedure. (These drawings are not graphic- they are what you would see in a newspaper.)
************************WARNING!!!!! ********************************
************DO NOT READ OR SCROLL ANY FARTHER IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO VIEW C-SECTION PICTURES- GRAPHIC IN NATURE************
Removing the staples from a C-section incision.
There is also a picture of a new C-section scar held together with staples, and more post-partum C-section scars, including verticle ones, in this gallery at About.com .
Mother 1: C-section scar 2 days after the surgery, 20 year-old mother
Mother 1: (The same mother as in picutre above), her C-section scar, 11 weeks after the surgery
Mother 2: The C-section overhang (“belly flap”)- this is after the first c-section (third pregnancy), this 28-year old mother had, one year after the surgery
Picture from Terra, (a mother who read this post and sent me some of her C-section pictures) of her C-section incision
Picture 1 of Terra’s Infection at Incision Site
Picture 2 of Terra’s Infection at Incision Site
Mother 2: (picture 2) Same mother as the above picture; side view
Mother 3: Picture of scar, more than 3 years after C-section (it is the second line, towards the bottom-not the thin red line)
Mother 4: Pictures of infected C-section scar, 3 to 4 months after the surgery, during this 38 year-old mother’s
fifth round of antibiotic treatments for the infection
Above pictures from https://www.caesarean.org.uk/ScarPictures.html#group1. There are several more pictures of C-section scars at this site, in various stages of healing.
My scar- 4 years after C-section.
Another picture of my scar. On the right end of the scar, you can see how it looks indented. A few of my staples became loose, while I was in the hospital, so the skin there was open, while healing. It left a lot larger scar on that end of the incision, and tends to “cave in.” I doubt this will ever go away. The marks higher up on my stomach, are the marks from my pants. 🙂
(All of these photos, the ones of myself included, are unedited. They have been reduced in size, however so they could fit on the site. )
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362 replies on “The Reality of C-Sections”
I think personally the is spot on. I am a mother of three I had to vaginal birts and my last a section. I’m in as much pain now as I was the day after surgery. I have an infection and an open wound. I need To go to docs again as antibiotics have not worked. Ihad no knowledge. Of how hard it would be, if I did I could of prepared y self some what. Forgot to mention baby is five weeks old.
Its interesting to read the different experiences moms have had with c-sections. I’ve had 3. Not necessarily by choice. My first was emergency because my water had broke about 9pm the night before and after monitoring and inducing labor I never went into natural labor nor did I dilate. When I became pregnant with my 2nd, I was told that I’d probably have another section. I insisted on a VBAC, but was told if he was a week past the due date they’d do a section. I was upset because I wanted to experience natural birth plus my recovery from the first section was horrible. I had pain for weeks. And left me with an overhang of fat above the scar. My second recovery was a bit better but still disappointing. For my third, the doctors didn’t even want to wait. They scheduled me a week early. I was told it wouldn’t be smart for me to get pregnant again and recommended I have my tubes tied. I’m now depressed that there’s no chance for me to have another baby and I have 3 scars under my belly. I wish that i would have insisted then, that I have regular birth.
My c section 4 months ago was followed by horrible complications, trapped wind, weeping wound and pyrexia etc but it saved my life and my beautiful son’s life. I am grateful to God that there was a method of ensuring that baby and I survived . Medical interventions whilst not always ideal are a good thing. I choose to focus on the good.
csection make me scared ro even gave a 2nd child ..Dec 19 2012i had an emergancy csection. If I hadnt me an my duaghter wich is 12 weeks pemature would not be here today so im grateful for that but my experience I had wad horrible . First off the dr try to do the spinal tap but after four attemp they desided that I was too swollen to do (let me tell yu that was painful) so they then put me under wen I woke up a few hour later I was in so much pain I was crying . It hurt to even blinky eye. 28hour after the csection I finaly go to hold and see my bany for the first time. but I was still i on so mu,h pain . Its been a month later and I was fortunjate to not get alot of complacation but it stillo hurt to move some time . I still cant drive or lift anything heavier then a 10lbd sack of potaoes …..
Hi! Thanks so much for sharing. I had a vaginal birth with my first child who is now 5, it was a fairly long birth and it messed my private up pretty good but I would do it all over again vs. my c section I had with my youngest who is now 2. I went in wanting a nice calm completely natural water birth. Of course I know birth is full of suprises and anything can happen, and I accepted this. I was fine with anything but it would be nice to have what I wanted, I had the VERY opposite. It was a very quick and INSANELY intense labor that took only 5 hours total including the section. Everything was going good until I hit 8 and a half cm, then the little machine that measures the baby’s heart began to beep loudly. At first I wasnt worried, I just thought that she moved and it lost her heart beat but unfortunatly there was a problem. The cord became restricted and her oxygen level got dangerously low as well as her heart rate. I was terrified, paniked, devistated bc I knew that this would most likely end in the big C for me. They did some very disturbing tests to check her levels and comfired that she was in serious danger. They then stretched me to a 10 bc they wanted to give me every chance to deliver naturally, a lady even got on top of me and wraped a cloth around my stomach and pushed down with every contraction. I tried so very hard, I tried so hard I thought I might pass out but I wasnt giving up I was strong I could do this. Then that sound rang through the room again and a chill ran up my spin, it was time to surrender and save my baby. The nurses gathered around me and said we did everything we could but if dont take her now then she will not make it, so I switched to another bed and they litterally ran me down the hall. I was so scared I was shaking very hard. I looked at my husband with heartbreak in my eyes. It was an emergency c section so they didnt allow anyone in with me and they put me completely to sleep. I was terrified of this since I had never been put to sleep. I found the anesthesia and tried to hit the guy putting the oxygen mask on me bc I was in such a panic. I woke up about 2 hours later in recovery and grabbed my stomach (at that point due to shock I forgot everything that had happened) I shouted my baby where the hell is she??? The nurse came over and calmed me down and tald me about the height and weight and time of birth. She then took me to see my husband and baby. She was beautiful sitting there sleeping in my husband’s arms. At that moment I felt so happy and so thankful that she was perfectly ok but I also felt a nagging sadness behind the possitive. My thoughts where why couldnt I push her out? What is wrong with me and I should have tried harder! I delt with guilt and sadness for a very long time and to top it 5 days after giving birth, only my second day home, I began to smell something. My husband said he didnt want to hurt my feelings but he thought it was me, which was very logical since I couldnt shower normally even though I wiped myself off very often. He agreed to help me clean up and when I stood up my panties were wet, I thought maybe it was sweat. I got up stairs to the bathroom and he knelt to wipe the incision and when he did it burst open and began to spill a red smelly liquid. And by spill I do me spill. It went everywhere and I filled a towel in seconds. It was so scary I thought I was going to die. My husband rushed me to the er along with our two daughters, they didnt want to see me at first when we called bc they thought I was being dramtic but after one look they said they were sorry and this was very serious. I was taken to one of the small rooms and the they started snipping me open, this was a very strange feeling and while the area was still pretty numb from surgery it still hurt a bit. They snipped me open and began to push which was beyond any pain I could have ever imagined without going trhough it! The doctor came in around 8 am ( I went in around 2 or 3 am) He looked worried and said I needed surgery asap. He was so worried they prepared my husband for me not returning from surgery, they took samples of blood for a tranfusion, and prepared me for what I might experience when I woke up. I woke up five hours later with a temp of 106. My body was deprately trying to fight the infection which began to go into my blood. They had to detach my intestines from my stomach and take out alot of tissue, I also needed not one but two tranfusions and I coded one time. I had to stay for 2 weeks undergoing a surgery every day for a week and a half. My baby was allowed to stay with me and the nursing staff did awesome taking care of her while I was having surgery. Since my husband is military and we were stationed overseas in Germany I did not have any family to help me and my husband had to care for our 5 year old who was 3 at the time. I was scared I was lonely and I was still very depressed from having to have the section.Finally the infection started to fade after the powerful atibiotics and many many surgeries worked their magic. I am still not 100 % and I can no loner have children. All in all I am thankful for c sections bc my daughter is alive and I have no doubt without them she wouldnt be, however, I strongly advice anyone having a baby to educate yourself on c sections and the risk bc anything could go wrong and you might need one. I didnt know the warning signs and they were there. Of course you will feel bad after a big surgery but I felt just down right sick like I had the flu this is not usually normal. Im not writing this to scare anyone or convince anyone that they are bad I just want everyone to know that those slight risks occure more than you think. It can happen no matter how clean you are no matter how careful you are these things just happen. I hope this helps someone and I hope it doesnt offend anyone bc that was not my intention.
Hey, thanks for sharing your story about your experience with c-sections. I’m a twenty two year old mother with a daughter who will be three this coming March. During the delivery of my daughter I had a c-section and thought I would share my story with you and others who may read my comment.
It was one day before my expected due date, March 10th, that I went into mild labor while I was tossing and turning in bed to go to sleep for the night. I’m not sure if it was because I have a weak pain tolerance or that something was seriously wrong but I was in serious pain despite it being mild labor. By this time I lived with my Mom and went upstairs to talk to her about it considering she had three children.
Do keep in mind that I am a young Mom being only nineteen at the time of my pregnancy and delivery. I had read all the books and watched multiple shows about child delivery. Even took a family course in high school that showed me graphic details of both forms of delivery. However, nothing prepared me for this and I’m sure many other women find themselves in the same situation. Lacking knowledge of the side effects after having surgery or a c-section.
Anyways, my Mom rushed me to the nearest hospital were I was briefly examined and analyzed. They told me I was in mild labor and a centimeter dilated and were going to send me home without explaining to me why I felt the immense amount of pain that I did. Perhaps it was back I was having back labor which is known to be more painful then regular labor. Either way my Mom and I felt that they did not do everything they could and proceeded to rush me to the next hospital which was about an hour away.
Needless to say, I was lucky to have made that decision because when I arrived to the hospital. I again was quickly examined and analyzed. Giving me a medication that resulted in stopping my labor.
So for a hour while they were contemplating sending me home because it was only in mild labor, my Mom walked me through the halls of the hospital to help induce labor again. Which was successful because it returned quickly and I was returned to my room. That is when they entered to tell me that they were going to send me home but the doctor wanted feel my stomach for the baby first unlike what the other hospital did, a very common procedure I would expect every doctor to form while examining a pregnant patient. Immediately he requested for a ultra sound instead of sending me home.
I’ll admit, by that time I was terrified. I was fearful for my child wondering if there was something seriously wrong. I was rushed into the ultra sound room where they proceeded to check my baby for what felt like an hour, not allowing me to see anything. Causing my anxiety to grow.
When they returned me to my room, it took about a hour before the Doctor walked in with a cup of medication in hand and proceeded to tell me that I would have to go into a emergency c-section. The last thing I wanted because I was so strongly set on delivering naturally. I was put instantly into tears at the mere thought of having surgery and reminded of the scars in the images that I saw knowing that I would be left with one very similar after this procedure. However, it wasn’t the scar I should have worried about but the time it would take to recover from a c-section. Something I was not acknowledged about.
The reason I had to have a emergency c-section was because my daughter was a big baby and would not be able to be delivered natural without a high risk of getting stuck in my pelvis which result in either breaking or shattering my pelvis during delivery because I am a very small framed girl. Standing about 5’3″ and weighing nothing more then 103 lbs before I was pregnant. Which was a relief to know that she was over-all healthy and happy.
Anyways, I was quickly prepped for surgery and decided to have my Mom come in with me during the delivery since the biological father was not willing but she couldn’t come in until I had received my spinal tab. Which I’m relieved to note went smooth. I got to lean over and hug a pillow. A felt only a prick before a warm rush came over me which resulted in my lower body becoming completely numb. I was so memorized by the feeling that I didn’t even acknowledge they were strapping my arms down to the table. Even when my Mom entered I felt the need to express to her that I couldn’t feel my toes. She thought they had given me a different drug.
During the c-section I couldn’t see anything behind the blue cover they put over your face. However, I did see the few splatters of blood as they proceeded to cut me open. I couldn’t feel much besides some pressure and tugging about. It took only a matter of seconds for them to pull my daughter out from my womb. Weighing a massive nine pounds and eight-an-a-half ounces.
Of course I wasn’t allowed to hold her during the time that they had to stitch me up and had my daughter removed from the operation room where my friends were able to see and hold her before I could. Which I’ll admit was a heart wrenching experience because there is nothing more a mother wants then to be able to hold their baby first before everyone else.
After I was stitched up, I was moved to the recovery room where I finally got to hold and see my daughter for the first time. Learning instantly how to breast feed and lucky for me had a easy time getting her to latch on. However, that is when my problems began.
As the hours progressed on and the medication began to wear off I became really sore. I couldn’t sit up, lay down, walk, or anything after the procedure because any sort of movement that pulled or put pressure onto the incision left me in a great deal of pain. Eventually the medication they provided made it bearable but was not something I was prepared to face.
The incision was ugly and I could barely stand to look at it. Even the sight of the excess skin hanging off my stomach was revolting and made me want to cry. I wasn’t allowed to shower and going to the bathroom was a challenge in itself. Not to mention the constant having to get up and down to get my daughter and feed her and lay her back down to sleep because I had very little to no help. Considering her biological father did nothing but sleep and argue with my family and friends. Resulting in him being removed from the picture and deemed a threat to me and the baby.
Then there was the problem with breast feeding. I had a baby that latched very well but due to the stress I was facing from the biological father and recovery from the incision, I wasn’t able to produce enough milk. Resulting in my daughter dropping from nine pounds to a shocking six pounds. I begged for help but all the nurses would provide was sugar water because they were so highly opinionated on breast feeding. Resulting in me enduring more stress, overwhelmed with pressure to breast feed, fighting with the biological father, dealing with social workers, dealing with a starving baby crying for food, and having little to no help which resulted in me being highly sleep deprived.
At this point I didn’t think there was anything that could make my experience worse, I was wrong. One of the nights during my stay in the hospital I had drank something that ended up going down the wrong tube. Sending me into a coughing fit despite my hard efforts not to. It was extremely painful and felt a warm gush inside my incision. Crying in agony, my best friend called for a nurse because I knew something was not right only to be neglected by the nurse as she angrily told me to go back to sleep. She was fired the day after.
I was then released from the hospital on my fifth day there and was relieved to go home knowing I would be in the comforts of my own bed and would have the help of my Mom since she took a week off work to help get me settled in. However, my stresses did not end there because social services still began to harass me in regards to the biological father and threatening to take my daughter away from me. Which I can not explain in words just how terrifying that was knowing that it did not take much for them to deem you unfit and remove your child from your arms. Needless to say, if felt like I was fighting for my life…which my daughter was my life at that point in time and remains to be my life.
It wasn’t long after my return home that I had to go and get my staples removed. However, during my appointment with my family Doctor I was disappointed to discover that we could not remove all the staples because the incision was not healing properly and ran the risk of re-opening. So he decided to leave half the stitches and wait another five days or so.
While during those five days of waiting for the staples to be removed. I went to have a shower one of those days. While getting out of the shower, I was alarmed by a familiar warm gush feeling and looked down to find the floor covered with blood that bright red, dark red, green, and yellow. I was scared! I thought I was going to die as my hands held the incision, screaming for my Mom. I was rushed to my family doctor that same day where he told me that I had a very serious infection and pools of blood underneath the incision which explained why it was not healing properly. He quickly ran tests because he was pretty sure I had “gang green”. Lucky for me the results came out clear but what resulted in my serious infection and pools of blood was the neglect from that one nurse who should have taken the procedures to check and make sure my stitches hadn’t torn.
It took me two months before I could have all the stitches removed and even then the incision still re-opened a bit. It took me a total of six months to fully recover from the surgery and was the most painful experience I have ever endured in my life. I almost wonder if having my pelvis broken or shattered would be less painful then what I was forced to face.
I know for sure that when I have my next child I am going to do all that I can to prevent ever having to have another c-section again. It’s not worth going through this again and even though my daughter was a very good baby, I was unable to get the motherly instinct of waking up to her every time she cried because of my long recovery. I couldn’t even distinguish her cry from other babies until she was about eight months old unlike other mothers who were able to distinguish it right away. Even our first moments of bonding were sabotaged which is probably one of the most depressing feelings you could ever dwell on.
All of this lead to me having a severe case of postpartum depression which I still haven’t entirely over come after almost three years.
So to any women out there who is planning to have a c-section I highly advise that you reconsider…there are so many things that can go wrong with a c-section that will render you completely helpless and that will affect your bonding moments with your newborn child….
I wish I had the option of reconsidering…
Thank you for reading.
Jessica
I HAVE A 19 YEAR OLD AND A 24 YEAR OLD I AM 44 YEARS OLD I HAD A C SECTION AS WELL WITH BOTH OF MY KIDS MY QUESTION IS THIS WHAT WOULD CAUSE A C-SECTION TO LEAK AFTER LAST KID BEING BORN 19 YEARS AGO I WAS BLESSED I HAD NO PROBLEMS AS FAR AS INFECTIONS OR ANYTHING MEDICAL BUT NOW THIS IS TMI I KNOW BUT CANT ASK WITH OUT EXPLAINING THERES A WEIRD SMELL THE OCCURS WITH A WHITE CREAMY SUBSTANCE THAT COMES FROM THE SCAR IT DOESNT HAPPEN ALL THE TIME IT IS ALSO SEEMS VERY SLIPPERY LIKE KY JELLY IF THAT MAKES SINCE THE SMELL IS VERY WEIRD TO DESCRIBE IT IN WORDS
I had an emergency c secretion 3 weeks ago do to my baby been breech and had the cord around her neck 3 times . And it was really easy and pain free, I haven’t have any pain since I had my baby I did not take any medicine at all my cut close the same day and I was ready to go home the next day I only stay for two days I was walking perfectly and doing everything I was so pain free that I started to do things around the house the 3 day after having my baby without any medicine but my husband did not like that, so he took care of everything around the house so I can rest but its kind of hard, I’m a bet of a control freak. I think its sad to scare mom’s away from having a c section if its the best think for her and the baby. I hate having a big scar and I really wish I had a vagina delivery and I have high blood pressure so things got a bet complicated during the delivery but if I have to have another c section to save my baby and me I would do it in a heart beat. And for all this girls who have c section don’t be depress or sad you will get better and if the scare bothers you, you can always get it remove.
I am on the outside looking in but in loving fear and angry confusion. My precious daughter-in-law had our first grandchild 4 years ago by c section and had horrible complications from it. The first thing that threw me for a loop was when she knew something was wrong, just a few days after the baby came, she went to her doctor office as advised by her doctor. Right there I mean right there in the office they cut her back open. Then put in a wound vac and told her how to look after it and come back in a week. And this went on for five weeks. Now just 2 days shy of our second grandchild being 3 weeks old she finally quit ignoring the signs and came to the emergency room. After blood work and dye scan they found that she again has developed an infection again. We have been put in a room waiting to see a partner of her OBGYN. And what’s even stranger is the first time she used this doctor it was in a different hospital and not long after the first baby see moved to a different hospital. Also, my daughter-in-law was told that she had to have a c-section with her second child and really wasn’t given any other option. Now after all that tell me something, same doctor different hospital what’s the common denominator? I have advised them in getting a surgeon to look at her chart and get a second opinion before letting the OBGYN DO anything. I know I shouldn’t be butting in but they are still young and small bit of advice is all I can do for them. I ask for any advice both medical and legal that someone might give that may have had a similar situation. Isn’t it somewhat strange that she has had an infection with both c- sections?
This blog seems very scare mongering. Sorry but you do NOT have your hands tied down during a section. You are not a mental in patient you are having a baby! Granted it does hurt a lot and i would have chosen a natural birth second time if it weren’t for the risk of having another severe tear from my first. I also only had very little pain relief as the NHS refuse to give more than paracetamol. I was with my baby from only a minute or two and i was very happy. You don’t lose anything.
Re the pouch. It hangs. Its horrid but i am not that shallow that it affects my daily life. I would rather be healthy with a scar and a tummy with gorgeous kids than worrying about something like how i look. People with cancer etc have a right to worry not me with my section scar.
I find a lot of what you say true. This is my third child and had major complications. I was warned of everything and had a good team of doctors. When I was in the OR for emergency c section my arms were tied down but when i had to scratch my nose i would tell them and they let my arm go. I was also under many anxiety attacks and half in and out of it so I don’t remember much.
Hi I had our first child c section they wouldn’t let me push him out because his head got stuck because the medicine they used to induce me made me thin wrong. Well about a week after he was born I was having severe pain and went into the doctors office. He checked me and said nothing was wrong but to wear a belly support band. I put this on the next day and it busted my incision open because I had a fluid build up in it. They ripped my incision open in office with out any type of pain medication. I had to get my incision packed for 3 months before it finally closed. My son was born in August of 2012 and it didn’t close until after thanksgiving. I’m hoping to have a vbac if I can ever get the nerve to have another child.
I am actually at the other end of the spectrum. I had an emergency c-section, I had preeclampsia. They tried to get my little nugget to come on her own but she wouldn’t. The surgery it’s self was terrifying they broke my water there was blood in it. The nurse gave me ipecac as I was barfing she was shaving me. I had to yell at her to back off and let me barf. 2 min later I was rushed in for surgery. They wouldn’t let her father come in, they were putting me out completely. Before I was out I could hear the doctor saying oh shit. I said you all are freaking me out. Like I’m gonna die or something. Next thing I woke up in pain. My hubby showed pic of my little girl and all I could do was yell at him because I didn’t want her alone. I spent 6 days in the hospital had a 2 unit blood transfusion. I have celiac disease so I just couldn’t absorb iron and my levels were low. We left hospital at 9:30 at night. I truly believe due to insurance. After leaving the hospital my pain was well tolerated with pain meds. If you make sure and have a pillow around stomach the bumpy worked great. My little one rested on it happily, and I never had pain. Breast feeding was not an option. We had to feed are little one every three hours and she just wouldn’t latch. But I pumped as much as I could to get the colostrum. VERY important! My pain was minimal even though I was on meds I remember a great deal. I was terrified to have staples out, there was no problem. So really I would prefer the c section. I want my vagina just as it is. 🙂 my major problems were the hospital. My scar looks great. Sorry for those whom had a bad experience but even though mine was terrifying I would do it all over again. No changes. The thought of my anus tearing no thanx. Plus I have a fantastic birth story. I always say I have more love for my daughter than her father because I almost died bringing her into this world, he has no retort. 🙂 lol. No matter your expirence everyone is different. Try to have an outlook of my baby and I are alive and rejoice in that… Not everyone should have a c-section and not everyone should have a vaginal birth! Good luck.
My arms were definitely strapped down.
Wow, I’ve never had a vaginal birth, but my c-section was pretty easy to deal with. I felt pretty normal after the second week and I don’t have flabby skin that hangs over my scar (I didn’t know that was something that was specific to c-section moms, I thought your stomach being stretched out from pregnancy would do that to anyone, I guess I got lucky). I had to have a classical on my uterus due to complications with my baby (low transverse on the outside thank goodness) so no VBACs for me because of the classical on my uterus. But seriously this post makes me feel like a terrible person for being ok with the fact that I had to have a c-section. I didn’t care how I had my son, whatever was best for him. He had surgery right after he was born so I wasn’t going to get to hold him anyway. Also, I was a c-section baby and guess what, I don’t even remember it..
I have had four c-sections over the course of fifteen years.. Yep, I was tied down for each and every one of them. I compared it to Jesus nailed on the Cross because that is how your arms are. No disrespect intended. Thankfully, I did not develop any infections. Some of my friends had their scars removed with the next csection being performed. I did not. I have four scar lines there, but they are just barely visible.
I had my emergency C-section only 7 weeks ago today. I am only 16 and I live in the UK. By the sounds of it, the surgery is conducted very differently in the USA. However I do agree that it was the most horrible thing I have ever gone through. I was not anticipating a C-section as my pregnancy was perfectly normal and I am also own a very fit, young body, so when I was rushed into surgery after 6 days of slow labour and 2 hours of active labour it was unexpected and very intense. Luckily I was able to recover very well and very quickly and only received 2 doses of oral morphine pain relief at the hospital and was sent on my way 2 days after the surgery. After reading the post about the effects a C-section has to your uterus and the rest of your body I am quite worried about going in for another baby in a few years time. I was drugged, out of my mind, terrified and lying on the surgery table as the surgeon was informing me very BRIEFLY about the whole experience of a C-section and the risks. I was then asked to sign the paperwork to which I left no more then a scribble of what my signature should have been. I felt this was very unfair!
i too felt like there was no choice but to have a c-section with my first baby, he was small so they really pushed me to op for it. naieve isnt the word.. i felt clueless,unprepared,uneducated and ripped off and yes no idea what was ahead. the pain was also as you describe. my second pregnancy again they pushed for a csection i fought it every step of the way. labour was induced with balloons and a drip but they pushed for another csection. knowing what i was in for it took alot of coaxing for me to sign again but i did it for fear of my babys life.. during the c-section the epidural failed, i felt them digging inside of me and next thing i was out cold on general anesthetic. the first week of pain was as hellish as the first time round but i must say this time has been alot less painful surprisingly because i also grew a very large haematoma on the right side of my incision, i would have to get it lanced and push on a fresh scar to release fluid build up. it has been 11 weeks scince the birth and im still spotting and very out of wack hormonally,im now going for an ultrasound to see it there is any birth product still inside..hmm what next
I wad.induced left.in hard labor for 48 hours and than given a VERTICAL.classic c section. Belly button.all the way down! Spent five days in the hospital. Got infected. Stapled fir almost 3 weeks 40 staples!!!! My scar.2 years later is horrid and always will be lol. But I wear it proudly! My. Battle scar. And from it came my 10 pound soldier lol my baby girl.
Csections are very scary just like any other surgery. I have had to obe in 2005 and the other in 2006. My first exp was horrible because the doctor stapled me, in which i know now there are stiches. Anywho, i am on my 4th pregnancy amd i am facing another csection. I am not to happy about it so i am praying that i will push her out and nothing goes wrong. Csections are scary and i applaid you for sharing ypur story. Some people loves to be ignorant becaise that is their excise to act crazy in certain situations.
I am really sorry you had a bad experience with your c section, however this was your experience. Other women such as myself have had c sections with no complications. Again I am sorry for your experience but to generalize it is a bit is eliciting fear and a bit irresponsible. A pregnant woman could be reading your blog and may become very anxious about the procedure. This could be problematic if a c section is her only option, for instance she could refuse to have the surgery and cause harm to herself and the baby. No I do not believe c sections should be elective. However I will not be judged for doing what was best for my child and that was to have a c section so he could safely come I to this world.
I have to say this is definetly a tricky subject . I feel everyone needs to make the decision that’s best for them and their pregnancy . You will always hear a zillion “my pregnancy experience ” stories during your pregnancy . Everyone will have their own experience . Some good some bad . I’ve had 2 c-sections and just 2 children. My first was a breech pregnancy and they just recommend a c because its not easy going in to try and turn baby . Back in the day most women died with breech pregnancies. Luckily you can have a c section now days that saves many lives including child and mother . It wasn’t an easy recovery I felt burning sensation where incision was wich was pretty painful . It’s from the skin fusing back together. I had stitches though from the inside . over time my scar was practically invisible . Absolutely no skin flap either . My second child was a scheduled c section. I decided it was best for me . The thought of pushing it out of my vagina was worse then the thought of another c section. The entire procedure was about 40 min with a spinal my hands were not tied down this time. The recovery was a little worse at first then my first one . But I got through it . I was back at the gym 5 weeks after . No skin flap at all the second time either . I do a lot of yoga and I think that’s why my stomach wasn’t to bad . The moral of the story is having a baby is definetly not easy . Whatever happens happens . Everyone has a different story to tell and that’s just the way it is 🙂 either way it’s going to suck . You have to get that baby out some how ! 😉
I had an emergency C-section with my first. After being induced, having my water broken manually, and enduring several hours of labor pain, the doctors told me I had to have one because my baby’s heart rate would drop with each contraction. I was very upset because I had planned on having a natural birth, but I was very ready to see my baby and wanted to do what was best for her. was not strapped down but I was also not the first one to see and hold my baby. Her father held her while all I could do was look while they stitched me up. The pain afterwards was as you described, the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, and undoubtally the worst pain I ever will feel. I could not get up by myself (or at all for the first 12 hours). The first time I got up it was because a nurse made me and helped me up. I promptly started bleeding all over the floor and had to go back down. I’m not much of a pill taker, only aspirin for bad headaches, but HAD to take the Lortabs they gave or be in intense, undeniable pain. If I did not take the medication on time, the pain became so bad it was hard to even speak. I had a little trouble getting around for the next 9 weeks or so. We put the baby’s bassinet in the living room and I slept on our couch because I didn’t want to use the stairs. Thank God my mom and my sister were there to help out; my baby’s dad had to go back to work after 3 days. With my second child, I was told to have a VBAC I would have to go to a different hospital and was told that having a VBAC increased the risk of uterine rupture, maternal death, and fetal death. Of course, I opted for a second c section for my second and third pregnancy. I know now all those risks were caused by the first one. I didn’t have any problems whatsoever with my second except I had to take it slow for a while. The pain was slight and I didn’t need any pain medication at home. My third was easier than my first, but harder than my second. It took several hours for the spinal to wear off, with my first two it took maybe an hour. I also could not reach the call button for the nurse while I was feeding my baby in the hospital bed. I could not move while holding her because of the incision and all I wanted was a diaper from the cart so I could change her. So I had to lay there for almost an hour with my baby, call button out of reach, everything out of reach, not being able to move until a nurse finally came in. When I asked if she could change her, she said she couldn’t because she was my nurse and not the baby’s. I told her, “Well can you at least give me a diaper so I can?” After consulting with another nurse about my ability to change her, she finally did. I had had two other children, one of which was still in diapers when my third was born-I know how to change a diaper while in bed and pretty much every other situation imaginable. The pain was greater than my second, mostly because I developed a severe cough during my stay, and anyone who’s had a c knows how painful that can be. I do not plan on having a fourth child, and if I did, I’d probably be pushed into another c. There is only one hospital about 50 miles away from where I live that will perform VBACs that I know of. My first was an emergency, but knowing what I know I would NEVER recommend a voluntary c section for anyone.
I also have weird looking scar because with my third, one of the staple broke in half while they were removing it and they couldn’t get the other half. They told me it would probably push itself out after a while, I think they were just trying to get me out quickly because it was 2 days before Christmas. They didn’t seem to try real hard to get the other part. It did push itself out but it hurt and I was worried about infection. Now I have a big dent on one side of the scar (only one scar though because they used the same site for all 3). I never knew the belly flap was a c section thing; I just thought I got the bad genes. 🙂 My mom had 3 kids, all natural, no flap, just a few marks. I have marks that are almost invisible, but the most disgusting flap. I used to love my belly, now I hate it.
I’ve had two c-sections because of positioning and complete lack if labour. The first nearly killed me (twins, major blood loss etc, didn’t see babies for 16 hours), the second was WONDERFUL! Held DD immediately, was breast feeding within 15 minutes, minimal pain, invisible scar etc. Do not be afraid. P
Very different experience here in australia I was 12 days overdue and after 33 hours of being induced and not dialating at all my onlu option was to have a c section. My LO was stuck to high in pelvis…I never wanted any meds I wanted natural birth all the way however circumstances can change and you really need to do what is safe for baby. I had prepared mentally for the pain I was going to experience from childbirth and then all my energy shifted to get prepared for surgery. I didnt want people looking after my child , this gave me the motivation to get on with it I was walking as soon as I got feeling back in my legs. I wasnt dancing! But I took small steps, keeping my baby in kind as my reason to recover. I didnt take any meds after leaving hospital . Its amazing what you can achieve your mind is in control. It felt like id done 200 sit ups the day before..my wisdom teeth recovery hurt way more then this and its all because I didnt have time to concentrate on me it was now bout my little girl. My hospital experience was great I had a spinal tap not epidural and I had my baby placed on my chest in less then 2 mins after docs had checked her out. I was also breast feeding her after 20 minutes and letting her bond with her father was the best thing for us as he finally felt the same joy I had experienced for the past nine months. Dont be scared of a c section, if u have pain or infection seek medical advice but YOU can do it you just need to believe. I dont have a great pain threshold I cry when I wax my legs!! Goodluck and remeber its a true miracle that you have created.
2 years after my c-section I discovered Mutu System:
https://mutusystem.com/
It has really helped to lift the ‘overhang’ and to strengthen my core.
I had my son is september 2010. we tried to have him natural and the doctors started noticing that every time i would have a contraction that my blood pressure would drop very low and his heart rate would also go way down. after being in labor for almost 12 hours and pushing for about two hours they told me that i needed to be rushed back for am emergency c-section. i wasnt told anything about the procedure only that if i didnt get it my son could die. the medicine that they gave me made me horribly sick. i was literally throwing up all the way from the delivery room to the operating room. my husband was not allowed to come in with us. once they got me on the operating table and got ready to start the incision and the doctor said here we go, i felt a really sharp pain in my lower abdomen. i told the doctor that whatever it was he was doing was really hurting he tried to tell me that he was just pressing on my stomach to see where my son was at. but i told him no he wasnt because i could feel him cutting my stomach. he looked at the other doctor and told him that he didnt think the numbing medicine was working the way it was supposed to. come to find out it wasnt. i felt just about everything they did to me. the cutting and the pulling out of my son. it was horrible. i dont remember anything after seeing my son when they got him out because i pretty much passed out from the pain. i was knocked out for almost 36 hours after delivering him because of the pain meds they gave me. i like another lady that posted was given meds to take home for the pain and sent home three days after having my son. which i think was because of insurance as well. about a week later i got my staples taken out of my incision. three days after that i started noticing yellow stuff coming out of it. i went back to my doctor and he said that it was normal there was nothing to worry about. my incision took almost three months to heal all the way. and still to this day you can tell that it didnt heal right. the left side of my scar is a lot wider than the right. and like you if i move the wrong way i still get a weird pain in my stomach that i never had before. i have the “mommy apron” as some women call it. it is the most difficult thing in this world for me to get rid of. after almost three years of trying to get it to go away you still cant tell that much of a difference. didnt have that problem when i had my daughter back in march 2009 naturally. i think women and girls who are thinking about a c-section should really do their homework and look up everything about it. because it is the utmost painful thing i have ever dealt with. i wouldnt wish that pain on my worse enemy. natural birth hurts but at least that pain stops after about two weeks and you can still feel your who-ha i still have no feeling in my stomach at all around my scar. ladies i know that it may be “trendy” and you may not want your stuff to “get out of whack” but to me there really is nothing like having a baby naturally and being able to look at that precious little miracle and knowing that you brought it into the world. you worked your @$$ off to have that beautiful little creature in your arms. 🙂
No choice here but to have a C section due to the birth canal being blocked by one of the larger beasts from the old fibroid farm. Things didn’t go so smoothly – I didn’t enjoy hearing everything while awake like the trouble they were having getting the baby out and knowing how extra long the op took due to complications as I could see the clock from the cross as well as the heart monitor so I could check out some strange Afib my heart was doing. My husband had to wait a very long time for me and didn’t know what to do with the baby. I’ll always remember my scar opening on the way home in the car as I thought I had wet my pants and but the positives are you get something so wonderful out of an operation rather than normal. I consider it a miracle to be able to have a baby – ours was such a surprise after giving up a long time ago.
I hated my c section! I am only 19 but had to have a c section at 28 weeks 5 days pregnant. My twins decided to come and when fully dialated bottom twin was sideways and top twin was breech. I think a c sections recovery time is much longer due to after a miscarriage vaginally at 20 weeks gestation was much easier to recover from. It also took me almost 2 weeks until I was able to be fully independent again. I would reccomend a vaginal birth any day!
I’m in the uk and had a very different experience. I’d been in labour for nearly 4 days and lost my waters 50 hours before my section. I wanted a natural birth but we got to the stage where every contraction was causing our baby’s heartrate to dip dangerously low. I’d had an epidural so wasn’t in a great deal of pain. Also in the 4 days I’d only dilated to 6cms.
They basically told us the situation wasn’t good and they had to get baby out, I remember having to sign a consent form which I found a bit odd as for emergency purposes I felt I had no choice. I was taken to theatre and given a spinal which numbed me from just under my breasts down to my knees, not sure why anyone would be restrained during this procedure?? Is this something that only happens in the US? They told me they were making the incision and I remember feeling very scared, I was just rambling to my partner, what about I have no idea! The strangest thing was when they’re rummaging around inside to get the baby out, once they’d got baby out they held her over the screen for us to see (we didn’t know what we were having) I remember the room being so bright and this pink wriggly thing crying at me, they took her off to be checked over which took about ten minutes, my partner went over to be with her whole they started ago big me up, they brought baby over and placed her in my arms but I could barely see her as couldn’t move, the next half hour was a blur as they stitched me up and moved me to another bed, coming out of theatre I felt I was on another planet but this was due to sheer exhaustion, luckily my baby fed straight away.
I was in hospital for nearly a week and honestly can’t say my pain was ago agonising at all, they were very quick to supply pain relief and morphine as soon as I woke up that first morning. The worst part for me was the hormones, I had never cried so much in my life and felt I was going mad, the midwives were quite concerned. I took care of our baby and my partner visited everyday but looking back I was just ‘going through the motions’ it took me about a month before I felt I’d bonded with my daughter, I felt I’d been robbed of a natural birth even though I I knew it was the best option at the time. For 9 months I’d had a mental image of making that last push and our baby being place on my chest straight away. I made sure I took it easy during the recovery period but I could hold and feed our baby no problems at all, looking at some stories I was very lucky however the midwife did say almost everyone thinks its ‘no big deal’ and that its major surgery you’ve just had.
I was on pain killers for nearly 3 months which was fine but I underestimated the long recovery, scar wise I have a neat line just above the pubic bone which is fading nicely, in all honesty the scar doesn’t bother me, only my partner will see it and its a physical reminder of where our daughter came from, I’m losing weight steadily and can’t really see an overhang at the minute but to me when you decided to have a baby you have to accept that your body may never be quite the way it was before. I used to think c section no big deal but habit gone through it I’ve eaten my words, I’m hoping for a vbac if we decide to have another baby, I know some women who’ve had very successful vbacs so hopefully I’ll get lucky next time
I’ve had 5 c-sections with my last one being 8yrs ago. I still can’t cough, sneeze, or turn sharply ect. without feeling sharp pain in the area of the incisions.
Just yesterday I was kicked in the incision area and it split on the right side of the cut. Its a small slit that reopened 8 yrs after the last c-section. After my 3rd c-section I went home with my son and because I had to lift my 6lb 7oz newborn to feed, change, and bathe him, parts of my incision reopened on the right side if the cut, and got infected with the staples still in the incision. 5 days after my 3rd c-section I went back to my Dr to have the staples removed and of course my incision was infected. A nurse had to come out to my house once a day to pour some type of acid fluid in it and pack my openings with gauze to let it heal from the inside out. Currently I still suffer from pain in the incision area when ever I am required to use my abdomen muscles. The worst thing ever to know that once upon a time your stomach use to be normal and now it NEVER will be again.
I had an emergency c section with twins. This was my 4th pregnancy and my first c section. I wasnt aloud to hold my girls for 2 days after they were born. Im on week 6 of recovering and im still miserable. My inision opened up and became infected. Im still going to the wound clinic twice a week. My insides still feel out of place and brused. Had i known THIS would be the outcome of my c section i would have refused it. Im so thankful my girls are ok but quite honestly IM not ok. This has been a horrible experience for me and im so thankful i found this blog bc ive yet to find someone with my experience. I dont care about how my body looks im more concerned with how it feels. Bc if it doesnt feel 100% i just cant do my 100% and thats unacceptable. My doctor(s) really had no idea how to take care of my infection either. It took going to their office 3xs a day to be packed with gauze for a month before they finally gave me a referance to the wound dr. I hope this blog helps all the other mothers with the same experience.
I have a wonderful scar, .. my baby nurses prefect a hour later. and the only downfall was my pain .. i received medical glue that held wonderfully and didn’t not get infected bc the glue was a barrier , I have to have C sections bc of small hips .but it is not as bad as you say it is ,,, okay every time to cut into your body you get a scar , and people forgot to tend to them and that happens ,, the open wound is a bad example , she knew it was oping before she took that picture and obviously didn’t seek help . that was extreme.
I had the exact opposite experience. I had to have an emergency c section when I got to 7 cm dilated due to fetal distress. Let me tell you, I would rather have either c section than ever labor again. Laboring to 7 cm was the most painful experience of my life! I recovered very well and very quickly from my section. My baby was in the nicu so I was back and forth right away without much issue. I didn’t even take the percocet offered. Bottom line, everyone is different and has different experiences. In mine, I will take the c section anyday I’ve labiring. Not everyone gets infections, so I’m not sure why you focused on that so much.
Uh…yeah they DO tie some womens hands down. It happened to me.
What a refreshing article! I have had 2 vaginal births and 1 c-sections. The vaginal births were easy breezy! 24 hours soreness and that’s it. The c-section. Oh, Lord – the csections!!!!! Worst pain EVER in my entire life. No exaggeration. I couldn’t do ANYTHING for myself for about 3 weeks. Couldn’t dress, bathe, or wipe myself. My poor, sweet husband had to do those things, including changing my pads. Every fiber, every nerve, every freaking cell in my body ached and ached. It was misery. The second csection was also painful, but seriously nothing like the first. I could handle my hygiene from the beginning this time. And my arms were definitely strapped down for both. The abdominal binder made all the difference. My tubes are tied and my baby making days are over. But when my daughter has children you can bet I will be there every step to help her achieve a vaginal delivery.
I had an elective c-section for my second baby exactly 4 weeks ago. First baby was a natural birth & ended up with a 34 stitch tear. I could not walk for weeks and going to the bathroom was so painful despite NOT having an infection. It was at least 2months before i could walk my bub in pram around our small neighbourhood street. I did not want to have such a low recovery this time. So far, I have been great. My lady bits are unscathed, no haemorrhoids, I started small walks with pram 2 weeks out & felt quite good. I did not have my hands tied during the procedure. I am sure that if you discuss this with your ob prior to the surgery you will know what to expect. My dh cut dd’s cord, we had lots of great photos taken, and I held my dd 10 mins after the procedure (once apgar scores completed) for about 30 mins (the whole time I was being stitched up). The first night was easy (pain medication was quite strong), 2nd and third nights I was really sore but equal to my v/birth discomfort. There are risks with both vaginal births (evidenced by the large number of emergency cesareans) and cesareans. Do your research and you will make an informed decision, the best decision for you and your baby. I am happy with my c-section so far. The most important thing is that our babies arrive healthy!!!!!!!!
A lot of woman appear disappointed that their hands were tied during their cesareans. I can understand that. This uncertainty can be avoided if discussions are made with doctors prior to the procedure. (I assume emergency cesareans are under a general anaesthetic and such comments relate to elective cesareans). I think this article is worthy if it raises issues that woman are naive about. I don’t believe ANYONE has the right to judge others on how they decide to birth their babies.
I had two c-sections and had almost no pain with either. It’s not as horrible as people make it sound. I went home after 2 nights in the hospital. My natural birth was 100 x’s worse with a 4th degree tear.
I had to rush my sister to the ER for an emergency c-section when she (with placenta previa) hemorrhaged a month and a half before her due date. It was the most horrifying experience of my life! Seeing how they jabbed her multiple times with gigantic needles, strapped her arms down, ripped her open, and plopped her innards on her chest to get to her baby was more than I care to remember. Luckily, she and baby recovered swiftly and without serious complication. Anyone who says c-sections are no biggie and aren’t major surgery has their head in the clouds! It has been nearly 4 years and I still have nightmares about her situation :S
I have had three c sections and everything guy have said it’s true to life. Everytime I see this ugly belly flap and start working out my abs, it burns terribly. I don’t have insurance so I can’t go to dr. I’m sure it’s because I’m working out. I hate it. I love my children and i begged for a vbac , but my dr. Wouldn’t let me, bc she said my body may rupture Down there in the inside. C second are not easy. I have horrible back due to a car accident and i swear those three epidurals which my second time they messed something up when administering it, because my knee was burning like hell. The third time i had the worst anxiety about the shot. My body hurts all the time. My c section itches and smells like shit. My flap having over is numb. Thanks for giving reality to the situation. I wish i could have popped it out all the of them, but like u my first baby had complications with the chic being tied around his neck. Thank u for sharing.
What this post fails to mention is there is a high risk for your breech baby if you attempt to deliver that way, in my case with my first child he was breech and coming out feet first, had my water broken he could of fell out and the cord broke his neck, not only that trying to turn the baby puts an extreme amount of stress on the baby’s heart. Lets be clear all forms of child birth can be dangerous , I speak for myself and I’ve had not one but 3 c sections, the pain can hurt at times but its more of a sting or burn as if you had cut your body anywhere. But I wanted healthy babies rather then worry about my own pain. I was awake and alert during each of my surgeries and knew exactly what was going on, I had the iv drip for the first day and afterwards I took plain ibuprofen for pain , I refused the heavier drugs, when my 3rd child was born also by c section I took care of him along with my 3 and 2 year old children , by myself . Sometimes you just gotta step up to the plate and do what you have to do … Every female is different. My sister who had an all natural birth ended up staying in the hospital for over a week due to complications during her labor and loss of blood while I was only there 3 days each time … C sections really aren’t that bad they are just something your gonna have to work at healing yourself from, of course we’d all like those glorious births you see on tv where you have the baby and two hours later your shopping but in the real world it’s no pain no gain and I’d have several more c sections all over again to ensure the health of my kids
Thank you so much for your perspective. It is good for “information seekers” to know all that can happen and that not all c-section births are all sweetness and light just like not all vaginal births are. I will disagree with the statement that “the worse vaginal birth beats the best C-Section birth anytime”, because I’ve had the worse vaginal birth. I was split open like a Thanksgiving Turkey, just a big hole from vaginal opening to anus. It took them an hour to close me up (didn’t take me to an OR, it was done in my birthing suite) with no suction. I didn’t get to hold my baby till they were done stitching me, which at that point I was very woosey and pale. It hurt like hell to sit, to walk, to lie down, to go to the bathroom. I wasn’t allowed to carry anything other than my baby, I had to do 20 minute sitzbaths 3 times a day (with a newborn), I wasn’t supposed to climb stairs (I live in a town house), my outer stitches popped two days after leaving the hospital and there is nothing they can do about that – they don’t restitch or anything. My open inscision did get infected (hello, it’s my butt and I couldn’t wipe, they give you a
Water bottle to splash at yourself after you go potty)…. all in all I wasn’t given the all clear to drive, carry, walk much, have sex etc for five months! FIVE MONTHS!! And no, three years later things still don’t look or feel the way they used to. And with the added risk that if I have another vaginal delivery I could tear again and this time not regain bowel control and such. And so, if I am ever blessed with another child I will opt to have a c-section because after having heard your horror story and finding it comparable to my own, I would rather have that horror happen to my abdomen instead of my undercarriage. Just sharing another perspective, not attacking your experience in any way.
I had an emergency csection and an elective one.With the emergency one i couldn’t hold or feed mybaby for awhile but I never felt pain I only felt week for weeks, my midwife told me that I was given very strong painkillers. With the elective one i had skin to skin contact as soon as my baby was born and he was returned to me as soon as he was cleaned, I was taken to the recovery room with
I was taken to the recovery room with my baby in my arms and I started breastfeeding with in half an hour, the experience was beautiful but this time the NHS only gave me paracetamol which didn’t help very much and I stopped taking them. I had gallstones just a year before so this pain was easier to handle. But now, 4 months later I have noticed red patches around the scar like the ones un the photo and i was given cream and antibiotics, I have no pain and nothing is leaking but i’m worried because I though that after 4 month I shouldn’t have any problems.
My emergency csection went great. I think everyone’s experience is different. They are not all horrible and I think it really depends on your doctor. I was out running errands and going out to eat 4 days after my csection. (My husband would drive though) The only thing that sucked was when it came to breast feeding bc u couldn’t have the baby in certain positions bc of ur incision. I’m an ultrasound tech and just from scanning ppl and seeing their csection scars, I knew who I would pick for my Obgn just incase I had to get a csection, which I ended up getting. So I think a lot of it has to do with your doctor. My doctor also hates doing csections unless their absolutely necessary. I think the doctors who push for csections don’t care as much about how they staple you up or how perfect they do the incision. So choose the right doctor!
I also forgot to mention that the baby was shown to me immediately after they got him out and was then brought to the nursery to be cleaned up. By the time they were done stitching me up and I got back to my room (which was about 10-15 mins later) he was already in the room with my husband waiting for me.
I also forgot to mention that when I got the spinal tap it made me nauseous. They gave me zofran (sp?) which made it then go away immediately. I then got a really bad headache that lasted for like 3 mins. So overall not bad!
I had a c section as baby was back to back and would not move any further down birth canal even tried a suction cap…. I was given a spinal block with in 10 minuets are baby was born they showed me a quick glance then took him out the room to check over he was gone 25 minutes then they brought him back in and gave him to his dad. They both had to leave the room it took between a hour and half to stitch me up I felt so hot but shaking as if I was frozen… As soon as I was stitched I was moved in to the room next door to theatre to recover that’s when I finally got to hol my baby tried to breast feed but couldn’t as I couldn’t ,ove was num from under the breast down so couldn’t position him proper to breast feed… The first night didn’t feel any pain as it took 15 hours for the spinal block to wear off could finally move my legs… Nurse came in took my catheter bag out looked at my stiches which were dissolvable as I tried to get out off bed to have a shower that’s when the pain kicked in it was the worst pain I ever experienced I thought being in agony for 22 hours was pain full it was nothing compared to the after pain of a c section. I couldn’t urenate so had to have catheter bag put back in had it in for 3 days all a was given for the pain was paracetamol and codeine which was useless after 3 days I was allowed home I found it hard looking after a newborn while be in so much pain I could barley walk it was a task to get up and go to the toilet my little girl from a previous relationship had to stay at her dads for a week as I couldn’t get her to school…. My husband was off for 3 weeks and he did most off the child care don’t know what a would off done without him… I couldn’t get in or out off bed as it hurt to move so I slept on a garden lounge chair and sat in it during the day after the first week a was feeling a little bit better but the midwife was worried and wanted me to go back in to hostpical if I didn’t improve as she said I should feel back to normalise by now … Week and a half off having are baby the midwife discharged me as I was feeling a lot better… 3 days later a found a massive lump aroun my insition area it was red and felt like it was on fire I went doctors the next day and she gave me antibiotics as she thinks it was an infection she drew around the red area so she could tell if it had spread the next day and measured my scaring I went home and felt very cold and hot at the same time couldn’t stop shakin I had a fan on and a light blanket rapped round me. I went back to the doctors the next day and was all sweaty pail and found it hard to breath doctor sent me up to triage with a letter. I waited 3 hours before I was seen by an obetriciann she said I had an infection and it would if there was no improvement over the weekend come back Tuesday so Tuesday came and I was in so much pain felt like my insides were being pulled at and the lump seemed bigger and harder waited again at triage seen by the doctor and sent home sayin worst was over just keep takin the weeks course off antibiotics.. Few days went buy and redness went down on stomach but was still in agony thought I was getting better slowly was I wrong the weekend after I felt a sharp tug in feeling on my incision I was in really bad pain.. As I went to the toilet to change my sentry towel I noticed the rim at the top off my underwear was soaked in yellow like puss I put my hand under my incision an it was all wet I grabbed some tissue and wiped my incision and it was spoken with yellow fluid oozing out I looked in mirro and couldn’t see where it was coming from I was so scared thinking that my insides where gonna fall out when a realised that my insists ion had come open ran triage and the said it normal don’t worry they will send a district nurse out in morning . Nurse came out cleaned it and put a dressing on it but it kept soaking right through the dressings so went to triage and doctor said it was a build up off infection that was coming out and it was a good sight as it was clearing up had another week off antibiotics weeks off nurses coming out and changing the dressing my wedding day came 4 weeks after and the oozing had cleared up just had bit off discharged coming out and nurse said it was healing had to put a waterproof dressing on to make sure that nothing seeped through on to my dress… Went to the clinic to get it redressed a couple off days later and nurse said it was inflamed and looked irratted swabbed it and came back infection again but doctor says I don’t need antibiotics it’s bin 11 weeks today since I had my baby and I still have a hole where my insists ion is hole not as big as it was but sick off hearing o it crud be healed in a week I still get a pulling pain in my abdominal amid pubic area aroun my incision is still numb but very sore carnt even touch it some timed it feels like its burning and the incision cut is very wonkey not a straight cut I had my first by vaginal and I had a bad time with that I had to get placenta manuall removed and get cut all the way done to my rectum area and took 3 months to heal and was in pain and had infections but my vaginal birth was a walk in a park compared to a c section a few off my friends have had c sections and they were up and walking round after a week wouldn’t off thought they just givin birth but then they had bin stitched with fish wire my other friend had dissolvable stitches with my her c section wasn’t quite as bad as mine but she had a few problems and took her longer to recover.. I think it all depends on how the surgeon stitched you back up hope fully I will have fully recovered with in the next few weeks like they bin saying fingers crossed x
Hi. I would like to thank you for your honesty about your c-section. But I would like to also point out that this is not everyone’s experience. I unfortunately had to have an emergency C because my water broke at 24 weeks. When we couldn’t hold on any longer his heart rate dropped to 80 and I had no choice. If I had been given the choice I would have absolutely picked a vaginal birth. To this day I sometimes feel like less of a woman for having a C. My pain experience was quite different than yours. I experienced little pain after the surgery and was able to go on with my life normally in about two weeks. I also had a C with my second son two years later and felt even less pain. I am still numb in the area where my scar is 11 years later and I also have that horrible belly flap. I guess I am just writing this to say that everyone’s e
Experience will be different, but I am glad that this blog is out there so women can make an informed decision. By the way I have my first Csection in video and it is pretty horrible to watch.