On Friday I had a baby! This was a pretty big deal so I'd like to get down my impressions before they're overwhelmed by other Big Feels. Or, y'know, distractions generally
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This is fascinating, thanks for sharing. I definitely think that having a C-section must be better if you've avoided the drawn-out labour beforehand cos you're less worn out & so maybe recuperate afterwards quicker. As with you, my feeling was also YAY SCIENCE; what a relief to have the option.
Do you mind if I ask what your recovery period was like? How long were you inhospitable afterwards? I hope it wasn't too miserable.
I'm finding the breast-feeding business MUCH more stressful & disappointing than anything birth-related :-/
Well, My operation had finished by 10pm on the Saturday, and then I had overnight to sleep in the recovery room before I was moved to a ward. The next day, I was lucky in the sense that although it was painful, I could actually walk around, unlike the other two women next to and across from me on the ward. The downside of that was that I was unofficially considered walking wounded, which meant that I was expected to get by without much help. Also, male partners were not permitted to stay on the ward overnight, and I was under strict instructions to feed my newborn every three hours. So I had to do it all myself. The advice was to try to sleep when your baby does, and while that might be good advice for being at home, in hospital it was impossible because the other babies rooming in with their mothers were usually screaming (or at least one of them was - of course, it only takes one) while mine was asleep. By the Tuesday morning I was in bad shape, therefore. I broke down in tears in bed with Stef by my side, and four of the nurses
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The caesarean scar healed quickly - by the time I got out of hospital I was pretty much all recovered. About a month later I had a slight scare when the scar opened up again a bit for a few days. It got to about a centimetre and a half along the line, and I made an appointment with my GP. I called on the Friday and got an appointment for the Tuesday, but I kept putting sheets of cotton wool on the area (the large flat sheets rather than the balls) to keep the area dry, and changing them a few times daily. Which meant that by the time I went to see the doc on the Tuesday, it had completely healed up. Not had any problems with it since. The only lasting effect has been that I still don't have any feeling on a big patch of skin on the swell on my tummy. But in the scheme of things, I think that's pretty minor. I occasionally show the scar to younger female friends who are curious, and to a woman they are astonished by how small it is. So don't worry on that score. And remember the cotton wool trick for if the scar opening thing happens
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Christ, that sounds both familiar & terrible. I was actually quite scared of ending up in that situation, so I told my midwife straight out that my anxiety & Aspergers meant to I wouldn't be able to cope with either a) a mixed ward or b) being alone at night, so she arranged with the ward manager for me to get my own room & A stayed there on a fold-out mattress. It was still so dreadful I was crying by day 3, and I really really really don't cry much - maybe twice a year, if that? A did loads of the fetching & carrying & feeding & child-soothing. I have literally no idea how I'd have coped alone
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Do you mind if I ask what your recovery period was like? How long were you inhospitable afterwards? I hope it wasn't too miserable.
I'm finding the breast-feeding business MUCH more stressful & disappointing than anything birth-related :-/
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