I had a c-section, I was in labour for 18 hours after being induced and ended up with an emergency section because Rubes got distressed. It was a real ER scenario and I won’t go into the detail for fear of scaring anyone but suffice to say I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
Having said all that when I was pregnant if you had told me it would have ended with me on an operating table I would have thought it was the worst thing in the world – it wasn’t in the end, it was necessary and saved my baby, I would have gone through anything for that. It was also not nearly as horrible as I was expecting so I wanted to give you some tips and tell you what it was really like;
1. I had never even stayed in hospital so for me having an operation was the scariest prospect but in reality it was all over very quickly, I was on so much medication I didn’t really get a chance to be nervous etc.
2. You’ll probably shake a lot when the anesthetic goes in, mine was an epidural and my teeth chattered I shook so much.
3. Make sure you have a good bikini wax before you go in to have your baby, when I saw the razor coming towards me boy was I glad I had.
4. When they paint on the antiseptic on your belly before they cut, you do feel it, at this stage I panicked that the epidural hadn’t kicked in fully even though they had checked me, it’s a weird feeling but it’s normal.
5. When they are operating you feel intense pressure and lots of tugging and pulling, I winced a lot even though it wasn’t painful, it just felt weird and the pressure was not nice.
6. I wish I had asked for skin to skin when they took Ruby out and placed her on me – do ask for this.
7. When they wheel you into recovery expect to be there for a while with pressure socks on, get used to those pressure socks.
8. You won’t be able to do very much for a good few hours but surprisingly (for me) the following day you will be able to get out of bed and shower and walk around – slowly – you also won’t be able to bend down to dry yourself after your shower or put on underwear so make sure you have some help available.
9. Keep on top of your pain relief, don’t think you feel fine and skip a difene etc – you will feel it quickly enough when it wears off, you really need the pain relief. Have some lined up for when you go home too because paracetamol just won’t cut it and that’s all you get leaving the hospital.
10. By day three you will be way more able to get around and shower and do stuff, genuinely you’ll feel on top of things very quickly, I was terrified it would be weeks before I could do anything.
11. Have the prune juice lined up as well – I won’t go into any more detail…
12. Your feet and legs might swell afterwards, mine were like balloons. Get up and walk about if you can, it helps to get blood circulating and back to normal.
13. Expect the wound to be numb, even 16 months later mine is still numb mostly – have the biggest knickers you can find ready in your bag just in case, you don’t want anything touching the wound.
14. Be really careful, don’t lift anything heavy, don’t take any chances, you need to heal slowly.
15. Arnica and Bellis Perennis are excellent to help you heal.
Overall it genuinely wasn’t as bad as I was expecting and the recovery was much much better than I expected so try not to worry.x
