A couple of months ago, I opened up to you guys about my birth experience. If you didn’t catch that post, I will round things up very quickly for you guys.
After speaking to my midwife and an obstetrician, it was decided that a planned c-section would be the best route for me to birth my baby. It was for a number of reasons, mainly because of my need for order and planning due to my OCD. My husband and I discussed it enormously at the time and we both decided that it would be the least stressful for the baby as we approached my due date.
With that said, I fully acknowledge that a c-section is a major surgery. I spent months throughout the early stages of my pregnancy researching as much as I could and gearing myself up as much as possible for the road to recovery. However, I think that it is easy to say that even though my birth experience and the actual c-section itself was relatively straightforward, the recovery was much harder than I could have thought.
The day of my c-section, I think I was still fuelled on adrenaline and anaesthetic and the pain never really fully hit me. However, as my husband left the hospital that evening and headed for home, the pain hit me for the first time.
My baby became grizzly in the night, and I slowly manoeuvred myself to the edge of my bed to stand up and move over to where they were positioned. Needless to say, the pain of getting up from the bed was beyond a doubt, the most painful thing that I have ever encountered. I didn’t want to admit defeat and I wanted to be the one to care solely for my new baby, but I did have to press the buzzer for help and the midwife had to come and help me.
The next day I was allowed home from hospital with nothing more than paracetamol and ibuprofen and as you would probably imagine after major abdominal surgery, they didn’t touch a thing. Simple things like getting in and out of the car, going to the bathroom, standing from the sofa and even just sitting with my stiches folded was incredibly painful. And on top of that, I had a very excited Golden Retriever and a newborn baby to try and settle into a new home routine with.
I will admit that the pain did subdue slightly each day from that point on, however my first week of parenthood was fuelled with pain. Don’t get me wrong, you are still very much on a high from your new bundle of joy. But there is an underlaying pain that followed me throughout. I would say that it really took its toll around things like the night feeds when I was tired, having to try and pull myself up from my bed to get the baby and then sitting back down to do the feed. That was where I truly felt on the brink of tears because my body hurt and I was incredibly tired.
By the time that two weeks had passed after my c-section, I was beginning to feel much more normal. I was still bleeding and having to wear heavy pads, but it didn’t bother my day-to-day routine. I was getting cramping, but it was no more than standard period pains and the paracetamol actually did help. At this stage, my biggest bug bear was my stitches. They were itching me like crazy and I was overly paranoid about getting an infection in the wound.
Needless to say, I got through it.
Throughout my pregnancy when people were learning that I was having an elective c-section for whatever reason, they often commented that I was cheating giving birth and taking the easy way out. Not one for confrontation, I didn’t say anything at the time. Now I will fight somebody to the grave if they try to tell me that a c-section is the easy way out.
It is worth noting that there are many different pros and cons to vaginal birth and c-sections. I obviously can’t describe that of a vaginal birth because I have never had one, but I implore people to speak to those around you and get their opinions and views.
I still stand by the fact that an elective c-section was the right decision for me. It allowed me to go into birth as calmly as possible and I know that is what I needed for my baby. Even though a vaginal birth can have a smoother recovery after birth, there are many hurdles that you may overcome if you do opt for a vaginal birth, e.g. tearing, planned cutting, piles, prolapses, stitches, infections, etc.
Before you make any decision regarding your birth, do your research. I also haven’t written this post to frighten anybody or to steer anybody in a specific direction. We are all different and it is worth considering all options that you have available.
