Pregnancy Info HOME

I had a cesarean and it was great,as for walking up the stairs,I walked up the stairs when I came home from hospital,you are a little sore thats all,as oppossed to being in pain before you have the baby,you get it afterwards.However,with the pain medication you take,the pain is a breeze in comparra__sion to labour.

My, this world has really changed. Once upon a time, labor is what accompanied childbirth. Now I see it seems like a thing of the past. I have never had a c-section, I just happen to look at this forum because my granddaughter is pregnant. I have however had major abdominal surgery to correct a problem and it was not a walk in the park. Anybody who wants to knowingly get a surgery that they do not need goes beyond my thinking capacity. Once upon a time people did not go to the doctor to get cut open if there was nothing wrong with them on the inside. It was just unheard of. Women were having babies just fine and most of us did not feel like we did not have control of our bodies. That was just not an issue. Everybody nowadays wants to "control" their bodies and I just think that people miss the point. Being a mother is an amazing thing. To see your children grow up and have children, and in my case, see your grands have children moves your heart beyond words. My body has not ever been the same since I have been pregnant but I do not think about all of the shoulda, woulda, couldas. I am just happy that my four children and I survived. I know that you young people out there are going to read this and think, oh, she is just old fashioned. But sometimes you young people need to sit still and listen and focus on what is really important in life. I wish everyone well with their choices and enjoy your children because one day they are going to be bigger than you.

THANK YOU ANDREA...exactly what the people who do not advocate unnecessary c-sections have been trying to say! You are not old fashioned, you are WISE...everything isn't just about control. I DO wish I had a wider pelvis and didn't ever HAVE to go under a surgeon's knife.

For those of you who are not aware of the potential consequences of v____al delivery, please listen to my story, and look up "pelvic organ prolapse" online. After a normal delivery of my 8.5 pound son, about a week later, I noticed a bulge coming out of my v____a. It turns out I have a dropped bladder, a dropped rectum, and a dropped uterus, all from pushing. I was healthy as a horse before. I didn't even tear that badly during the birth. I now have incontinence, and face repair surgery at some point, and after the surgery, I will never be able to lift anything more than 15 pounds again. thirty percent of women who undergo repairs have them fail and end up needing multiple surgeries by a urogynacologist. I am now pregnant again and am scheduled for a c-section to avoid further damage, but I might chicken out of it. I feel I am stuck between a rock and a hardplace. There is a support site online called Uprise, for women with prolapse. It's worth a look, and then you can make an educated choice after reading some books on prolapse as well. M

To M...I am so sorry you have such difficulty. I must say, however, that due to pregnancy itself, I have some prolapse and bladder problems too and my babies never got anywhere near my v____al ca___l. My doctor said having a baby sitting on your pelvic organs for many months, and especially doing it again with a second baby can bring on prolapse of those organs. In your case it sounds like it was a combination of pregnancy with a large baby and pushing said baby out. Did you have an epidural? I am beginning to believe while epi's are great for the mother (and should be!) I think in some cases they numb the mother so much she pushes with more force than she should...ie. if she felt the pressure more, she would naturally recoil from injuring herself. Anyhow, sorry for your injuries and to Maggie that is not something one should expect with most v____al births. Good luck to M for her next birth, I hope you have a safe delivery either way.

thank you, djh. i will need the luck! to answer your question, yes i did have an epidural,and no i did not feel anything like you say i should have felt. maybe the irony is the pain is necessary. On top of it all, i was induced, and i had very strange 2 or 3 minute contractions, very strong ones, instead of the normal 1 minute ones. The nurse said she never saw that before, but she coached me to have three pushes per contraction, instead of two, and i pushed will all the might I used to use when I was working out with weights years ago. I am very scared now...how on earth could i bring myself to ever push again? but hearing all these c-section dangers is terrifying, too. i am also afraid of further prolapse, and having my uterus actually hanging outside my body, and having bad incontinence, urinary and a___l (i hear this can happen). i am in a very big dilemma...i might as well flip a coin. m

I do have another question. I have been researching c-section potential disasters, and I came across a website that talked about something terrible. Has anyone ever heard of this: that the doctors can accidentally cut nerves that bring s_xual feeling? I read that many women can no longer get any feeling "down there" and their c___toris can become numb, and they never orgasm again. Can c-section really do this? is it common? This is so terrifying!!!! I am so afraid to give birth by either method! M

To M- I rarely am on record as saying this, but I think in your case a c-section might be the lesser of two evils. I DO believe they are necessary sometimes and you may be one of the people it was designed for. I had 4 sections in 4 years and while I had many problems with them, damage to the nerves leading to "certain vital anatomy" down below was never compromised and I personally have never heard of that. Now, with my hysterectomy, that is another story, I am still glad I had it but feel it was a wicked trade off for scar tissue problems. I don't think I would want to have my bladder and other organs prolapse again, and with a scheduled c-section YOU might benefit. My reasons for regretting c-sections never included the fact that my children are alive and I am able to care for them. Good Luck, M, I think you should just have a scheduled c-section this time and don't worry, just ask your doctor if the c___toral nerve thing is a real risk at all.

I had 3 births,the 1st was an emergency section,the 2nd was a natural,I had the epidural,last a c section on request.The best was the one on request.

Thanks, djh. I do appreciate the pep talk. It's such a tough issue, since no one can give you an answer. wouldn't it be nice to see into the future? I have an appointment with my o/b this week, and i will ask him about the chance of the nerve damage. It sounds so terrible, like something would be sadly missing from my life if that happened. On the other hand, I unfortunately will probably need prolapse repair surgery at some point, and some doctors have wondered why I don't just deliver the baby, if I will end up having surgery one day, anyway. My answer has always been: I know the v____al and pelvic damage I have now. I have a pessary that works, and I cannot fathom having any more stretching and prolapse problems, so that once again, I cannot lift my new baby without something popping out and making me even more depressed. when I had my son, I could not bond with him, i didn't want to lift him because it was a constant reminded. I wish I had a crystal ball!!! M

It has been 6 weeks since my c-section (elective) and I am still not feeling well, I hope you don't choose one without a reason like I did. I still can't believe I CHOSE this mess! So for me personally, I STILL regret my c-section very much.

to M- those 2-3 minute contractions you were having with your induction? Well they are called tetanic contractions, very similar to what I had with spontaneous labor. Your Pitocin was up too high! That is probably what forced your poor insides to prolapse, they were literally squeezing your guts out. I feel so badly for you and without trying to Monday morning quarterback, I would have to say it sounds like your first labor and delivery weren't managed too carefully. Best of luck to you, you have my most positive thoughts!

Hiya! I had an emergency c-section in January after planning a calm water birth...ha! was I in for a shock! I hated having to deliver my baby that way....it was hard being in the OR and seeing him...I wanted to be the first to hold him and smell him and cuddle him, but I was being st_tched up...so I was the last....I cried for months because of the c-section. Aside from the emotional stuff...I recovered ok but took on too much too fast so I bled for four months....I am not good at staying in bed or letting others do for me. I was off the hard meds before the first week and used an a___lgesic for a few days after that....the scar is still purple and it itches...there are spots on my belly where the feeling has not yet returned (cut nerves take a looooong time to heal) so my skin feels strange although that is getting better....otherwise, things are going fine. No problems nursing or holding my baby especially after the first few weeks....he would kick me in the sore spot when we snuggled in bed....not sure I want to do it again but will probobly have to...we are thinking about number two...trying NOT to think about the c-section...ugh!