Hearing the word “cesarean” can be a mother’s worst thought and frankly, terrifying. I don’t know a single person that loves the idea of being awake during a major surgery like that! As I share my experience, my best advice to you is do NOT be afraid! If you are facing a c-section and want to know about someone else’s experience, let me share mine. As a mother of 5 who has had 4 c-sections, 3 of them scheduled, I hope I can help you ease some discomfort and fear.
I will only be speaking to my experience of my 3 scheduled surgeries, considering that having an emergency c-section can sometimes be a whole experience and beast on it’s own. Birth is incredibly different for everyone, but the desired end result is the same: a healthy baby! There is so much fear surrounding c-sections, but there are so many worse things we could go through surgically, so I try to remain as grateful as possible and focus on the positive to ease my mind.
With a scheduled c-section, you will usually be escorted back to a little pre-op room where you’ll get into your gown. My doctors have always had me arrive 2 hours before surgery to get me fully prepped and feeling confident! Once you’re all set, they will set you up to a baby monitor and an IV to give you some fluids. If you’re feeling especially anxious, they can also give you something to help with that if you desire. All of my nurses have been very great and calm and are always offering me congratulations and happy birthdays! During this pre-op time, you’ll speak to the anesthesiologist and your doctor, and you can ask any questions you want.
During my pre-op time, my anesthesiologist came in and asked me about what medicines I react badly to or don’t like and how my previous experiences or surgeries have been. I let him know that I typically have a bad reaction to opiates and get very nauseous, so he made sure he had medicine on hand to take care of that for me and voila! I didn’t get sick one time because he made sure I had what I needed! He will also ask about blood pressure or any other issues you may have had so they can monitor it closely.
Once it’s time for surgery, they wheel you back into the operating room (which is very cold by the way) and they sit you on the edge of the table and get you prepped for that spinal! The spinal insertion only takes about 5 or so minutes and then it’s over. Getting a spinal it uncomfortable and feels a lot like a really big person putting a lot of awkward pressure on your back. Then, it started to make my toes feel all warm and tingly until it reached my whole body. They lay you down on your back gently and make sure the medicine has time to spread over your whole body from your chest down. The anesthesiologist sits by your head the whole time.
During the surgery, the most you should feel is uncomfortable moving or tugging. I have never felt any sort of pain. To keep me calm, I mostly talked to the anesthesiologist the whole time and stared up at his face which always had a very calm demeanor, so I knew everything was fine. I also kept my eyes on my monitor while I lay there waiting to meet my baby, watching my heart rate so I could clearly see everything is just fine. The beeping started getting pretty annoying after a while, honestly.
Sometimes, the medicine that is in the spinal will make you very tired. I have always been pretty sleepy during the surgery, but still alert to everything that was going on. But overall, it ended up being pretty peaceful and relaxing. They can play music for you, and you can always find a nurse to chat with if you’re still pretty nervous. I always talked with them about what I wanted for dinner and what my holiday plans were. After a little bit of pulling and maneuvering (which again, shouldn’t ever hurt), you get to hear your beautiful baby cry! The entire room yells in praise and a chorus of happy birthdays! You will always keep your baby with you as they stitch you back up.
The nurse will take your baby to get cleaned up, weighed, temperature, and they will always let you see and hold baby as much as you want! I was always really sleepy, so my husband always was handed the baby first and we cuddled up with him/her together by my face. Once you are all done with surgery, they will wheel you back into the little room that you started off in and monitor you for a mandatory 2 hours. During the 2 hours they ask you how you feel, clean everything up for you if there’s any blood, and you get to cuddle with and feed your new family member! After the 2 hours, you’ll go up to your recovery room. Usually by the end of the 2 hours, I can start wiggling my toes again just fine!
C-sections can be a scary time, but you have to remember to have faith through it all. God is with you through whatever you go through. A lot of the mental anguish around having a c-section is really just that; mental. Your mindset about the entire procedure makes a huge difference. Always be glad and thankful and remember what is waiting for you at the end! God had given you this opportunity to praise him and make our faith stronger and has blessed you with hopefully the most amazing medical team anyone could ask for!
You’ve got this mama!!!!!
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