How to Have a Gentle C-Section and What to Expect
Whether or not you are planning to give birth by cesarean, it can be helpful to have a sense of what to expect and how to prepare. Of course every mother will have a different experience, as every body is different, every pregnancy and birth is different, every recovery, and people’s tolerance for pain; but this is what I have experienced and how I have taken care of myself during and after surgery.
In the pre-op room, they will have you fill out some paperwork and will place an IV (for my fourth C-section. They placed two IVs as a precaution). I recommend wearing flip flops so if you have to pee, it makes it easier to slip on and off (and if you are like me, you are so hot that slippers won’t be comfortable). I also brought this fan which helped a ton both before the surgery and afterwards.
During prep for surgery, you may feel hot for a minute as the anesthesiologist performs the epidural. You may get shivers, feel like your teeth are chattering and temporarily feel like pinpoint needles around your stomach and leg areas. You may also get rather emotional too, as in addition to all of the understandable nerves and excitement, there are a lot of hormones coursing through you! You may also feel a deep heaviness on your chest, so requesting an oxygen mask for additional O2 may be helpful. Taking slow deep breaths and reminding yourself that soon your baby will be here will help your mindset. Be aware that the OR is cold and has bright lights overhead. You can ask for heated blankets too.
In a gentle c-section, which is what I request, you are able to create an environment in the hospital room that feels more personal. The surgery itself is the same as a traditional cesarean, but the difference is what you and your partner can see, hear and touch - and when. You may ask your doctor to have your playlist of music played. You may ask for a clear drape or for the drape to be pulled down so you can see baby coming out of you. Unless there are complications, you can request for the baby to go directly onto your chest (for immediate skin to skin contact) instead of being cleaned up and weighed right away. You might also want to request delayed cord clamping, unless you are collecting stem cells in which case they can only do it for 30-45 seconds in order to properly collect a sample. When baby is on your chest, you may feel a little woozy, so your partner can take over and hold baby.
Afterwards, in the recovery room, take advantage of what’s called the golden hour in which the baby is on your chest for an hour and begins to nurse. You may feel very hot and feel itchy from the anesthesia. Do not take Benadryl as this dries up your milk supply. You also may feel nauseated for the first 24 hours (mine went away about 10 hours after). I also recommend asking to use your own swaddles in the recovery room (you cannot use them in OR due to them not being sterile). Just bring a small zippered bag with 2 swaddles and a beanie hat for baby. When I’m the recovery room, I also ask the nurse for an abdominal binder as it helps with pain. Make sure it’s placed properly and over your scar. I wear this 24/7 for two weeks. During this golden hour, continue with skin to skin contact and continue to try to nurse which is providing baby with colostrum. I also recommend bringing the haakaa colostrum syringe collectors to the hospital so you can save some colostrum and freeze for later use (when baby is sick, before travel, or after a vaccine). I use these in the post-op room.
Once your milk comes in (which can take anywhere from 2-5 days typically), you may experience night sweats. For my first child, it took 5 days for my milk to come in and be prepared as it can be uncomfortable. Loved having my Lavie heated massager to use on my breast before latching baby. I also brought my silverette nursing cups and placed those on my nipples whenever baby was not nursing. I recommend using the breast-friend nursing pillow when learning how to nurse- try it in a chair in the hospital room or in the bed- I find the football and cradle holds to be the easiest for a c-section.
One important thing is to make sure you have a bowel movement before leaving the hospital. Staying hydrated and walking around the room and hallway is helpful to get things moving. If needed, you may request a suppository and have nurse insert. In my experience, it helps within 20 minutes. As I mentioned above, everyone’s recovery and tolerance for pain will be different. Listen to your body and trust yourself. I personally did not take any narcotics with my 2nd, 3rd and 4th child except day one and then stuck to prescription Motrin (which I took every 6 hours per my doctor’s recommendation) and I felt so much better as the narcotics really made me feel so loopy. I spread out the Motrin on day 5 to take less and then by day 7 I was off and didn’t need it anymore. But again, listen to your body. When you feel pain, it makes nursing so much harder. The supplements I had on hand to help with my recovery included: arnica, leefy organics, and bromelain. Of course, check with your doctor.
In the hospital, I also recommend wearing compression socks or compression boots that they may provide to ease swelling and support circulation. When out of the hospital, I got acupuncture a week postpartum which really helped with pain and swelling. I brought a case of mountain valley water with me to keep in the post-op room so I could stay hydrated (and yes my hubby thought it was overkill but it made me feel better). You can also bring a reusable glass water bottle to have nurse refill.
At home, I keep a case of glass water bottles so I don’t have to keep calling to have someone bring me more water. I also keep elemental superfood bars (in fridge), skout bars and nuts in my postpartum basket so I can have easy access to give me an extra boost in calories and nutrients. I set up a changing station on my bed so I can change diapers right there which makes it much easier. I also have the haakaa milk catcher (bought several of them) by my bed to put on one breast while she nurses on the other breast. I save the caught milk and mix with pumped milk (as caught milk is typically foremilk and not the fatty hindmilk).
The following are tests, vaccines/shots etc done in the hospital.
PKU test
Hearing test
Vitamin k shot- I asked to have the golden hour first and then gave.
Erythromycin on the eyes- I asked to have the golden hour first and then gave.
Hep B- I personally declined and gave later
Bath- I personally declined. I don’t bathe the baby for at least 4 weeks. I just wipe with a wet cloth in creases and bum.