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I wanted to share my csection experience for all the women who are planning or thinking about one. First of all I will say that I was welcome to the idea of a cesarean birth. I was really not excited about having my va___a stretched/ possibly torn open by a giant baby. (any baby is giant when you are talking about a normal sized va___al opening) I also did not look forward to raging hemorrhoids and sitz baths. Or possibly pooping on the table during labor. I actually asked my Dr. if I could schedule an elective c-section. To my surprise he agreed. He said he would do it but also something about his manor made me feel like he was disappointed in me. Ultimately, he left it up to me to decide but told me I would need to let him know soon so he could schedule it. Everyone I mentioned it to seemed appalled that I would consider it – I kinda ignored them because they weren’t the ones facing the impending labor. After talking with a friend of mine who had recently had a C-section herself I chickened out and decided to let nature take its course. My freind said she couldn’t pick up her baby for a while and that other people had to hand him to her. Also that she was immobile for a couple of weeks. I was still really dreading a va___al delivery but I was not prepared to be out of commission for so long. I work from home and had no intention / was not able to take off time from work for more than a couple of days. I run my own business and have a couple of employees that rely on me for their livelihoods- I can’t shut down the business. With all that said---- I ended up having a c-section anyways At 39 weeks I was induced and after a few hours when the contractions started to feel a little stronger than regular bad cramps I got an epidural. For the next 10 hours I was having pretty heavy contractions but didn’t feel them at all. The only discomfort I had was when my bladder needed to be emptied. It just felt like I had to pee really bad- (which I did)- but needed the nurse to help me by way of a catheter. Eventually they just left the catheter in and that discomfort went away. After over 12 hours with little progression- I only dilated to 5- they decided to do a c-section. I was so happy. The longer I was waiting the more I was afraid of the pushing out part. The anesthesiologist came in and upped my epidural and I was whisked away to the operating room. To be honest I was a little scared during the surgery, the room was very bright and lots of people were milling around and it was a little surreal. However, in a short period of time I heard my son’s first cry and saw him in my husband’s arms and the next thing I knew we were all in the recovery room together. I got to hold him and try to br___tfeed in the recovery room. The pain was not bad the first couple of days with the meds they had me on. I got up very easily the next day. I think the nurse was shocked at how readily I got up. I had heard how horrible it was but for me it wasn’t that bad. Don’t get me wrong it hurt- but not that bad. I was walking the halls by that night. Slowly- but I was walking them. I did have some serious pain for a couple of days when the meds would start to wear off. Coughing was a nightmare. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days and even before I checked out I was picking my baby up myself. I couldn’t reach or stretch too far to get him but I could certainly lean over and pick him up from his crib. The same was true when we got home. My bedroom is on the second floor and I went up and down those stairs- (slowly) with no problem. I picked my son up from his bassinet with no problem. I did have some shooting pains if I leaned wrong but let me tell you I would gladly take that pain than suffer through the hemorrhoids or va___al tearing I had heard about. My neighborhood is very hilly so to keep up my daily walking I went on little shopping trips to walk around on flat surfaces in a climate controlled area. At 4 weeks I was walking the neighborhood with the baby in a baby bjorn front carrier. I probably could have started my ab workouts then too but I waited till 6 weeks more out of laziness than anything else. I am so glad I had a c-section. Me and baby and my va___a are doing great. I have a little scar in my bikini line. No one would ever know even if I was wearing a bikini. I didn’t get a single stretch mark or hemorrhoid during my pregnancy and aside from not being able to sleep more than 4 hours at a time – usually about 2.5 hours at a time – about 15 lbs of weight to lose (its only been 6 wks) and a baby that wants to be held/ fed/ changed all the time my life is pretty much back to normal at 6 weeks postpartum.