Stitches and abdomen after cesarean section – personal experience

Now I have a smile on my stomach. My little girl was born in a not entirely natural way, but this does not make me feel less like a mother than women who have gone through a normal birth. But first things first.

There are not so many indications for caesarean section in medicine. Doctors are trying to translate even the most difficult situations into natural childbirth. Now it is easier to relate to babies who have sat in the mother’s belly on the ass, and even after the first cesarean, you can easily be sent to give birth on your own. But in my case, my vision failed. If in the first trimester the ophthalmologist only complained about a high degree of myopia, then in the third he discovered a retinal detachment.

“I can’t allow you to give birth on your own,” the young doctor frowned. – Only with the exclusion of the persistent period.

That is to say, the Caesarean was shining for me.

At the first moment I was even delighted: contractions, attempts – all this was much more frightening than abdominal surgery.

– You, too, did a caesarean, – I reassured my mother, and in my heart I was even happy. – And nothing: I’m normal, you felt good.

A reminder of me for my mother for life was a not very beautiful vertical scar. Nowadays, they do this very rarely. With a planned cesarean, the scar will be almost invisible.

Cesarean’s husband was also delighted, they say, a rare success – to choose a specific date of birth for his own child. But the closer the date of hospitalization was, the more terrifying I became. On the Internet, moms discussed possible complications after surgery. What if something goes wrong? And no one could tell how to tune in, how to prepare. And in general, plainly explain what exactly I have to do.

A couple of weeks before the birth, I managed to go to the hospital with contractions, fortunately, training. It was there that I met the doctor. I saw her and immediately understood – only she can I entrust the most important moment in my life. It happens when you feel a person, you believe him as yourself.

“It’s early for you,” the doctor assured me and sent me home.

I went to the hospital a few days before the birth. It was necessary to undergo an additional examination so that the operation would go smoothly, without a hitch. Many expectant mothers try to go to the hospital on the eve of the day of the caesarean section. Not the right decision: it is better if you spend a few days under the supervision of a doctor. You will have a cardiogram, several CTGs, an ultrasound scan, and treatment, if necessary. It looks like my nerves from expectation raised the pressure, which was like an astronaut during my entire pregnancy. This resulted in slight swelling. Drippers with magnesia became my lot for three days. By the way, the pressure did not drop before giving birth, but immediately returned to normal immediately after the operation. I proudly lay in intensive care with a sense of accomplishment and 120 by 60 on the monitor.

I wanted to write elastic, but I realized that even in the process of childbirth there is a certain eroticism. Women heading out for caesarean work could be easily distinguished by their flirty stockings on their legs. Basically, white stockings were worn: someone somewhere told someone that they needed just such, and no others were suitable for the operation. What’s funny, I learned about the stockings just the day before.

– Mom, urgently find me stockings! – I begged on the phone.

In general, it is better to attend to this issue in advance in order to choose the correct size. In my case, time was lost, I had to be content with anti-varicose stockings with a high degree of compression. Although, what can we be content with, the anesthesiologist liked my version of the outfit for the legs much more than the standard snow-white ones, they say, we will tighten it better, there are fewer complications.

Then preparations began for the operation itself. I decided that two days before the date I would not eat anything, just drink – just in case.

– And where will you, you fool, take the strength to recover if you start starving? – the doctor chided me.

So, the day before you will be recommended a light dinner no later than six in the evening. You can drink water until 23:00. No more meals and liquids. The next day we get up at six in the morning. But not for the sake of doing the surgery so early. At six in the morning (maybe in other maternity hospitals it is a little different) a nurse or midwife will come to you and help you put on stockings. The second option is to tighten your legs with elastic bandages. Then you have an enema. CTG. And half an hour before the operation – an injection of an antibiotic. He felt sick and dizzy.

“It’s because you didn’t eat anything,” the midwife reassured me.

I change into a hospital gown – and go. For the baby.

The antenatal department in my case was located on the third floor, and the generic department was on the fifth. Elevators run briskly between floors, but the ceremonial does not change from this. I could easily get to fifth on my own two feet. But you can’t. The midwife called the elevator, a huge, rumbling, Soviet-style, and ordered me to lie down on the gurney. A few meters from the corridor to the elevator, I took it. Everything inside shrank. Lamps flashed before my eyes, my head started spinning again, it tickled unpleasantly somewhere in my stomach. The daughter also became quiet: either she suspected that there were only a few minutes left before her birth, or she was worried with me.

On the fifth floor, I was also taken on a gurney only a few meters.

“Get off and wait for the nurse,” the midwife withdrew.

The nurse still did not go, my arms and legs alternately got cold. I already wanted to run home, but no one left the maternity hospital for pregnant women. Finally she came.

– Sveta, – a slightly overweight beautiful blonde modestly introduced herself. “I’m the only one here who will hurt you. Let’s go.

Together with Sveta, we entered the operating room, she laid me down on a heated table. I had to spread my arms.

– Do you know what holiday is today? – asked Sveta.

– So, yesterday, it seems, was the Day of Cinema, and today … – I thought, I should know what a holiday it is today. I frantically went over the options in my head.

– Fool, today is the most important day in your life, your daughter will be born, – Sveta laughed.

And I almost roared. Here I am writing this, and again tears of happiness are rolling down.

A nurse inserted a catheter into a vein. Then the anesthesiologist came to the operating room. I was asked to sit down gently, pull my legs up and lower my head. Spinal anesthesia was coming. Considering that I have been afraid of injections since childhood, I tolerated the needle in my back, which hit the right place only the third time, quite easily. Immediately warmth began to spread down my legs. At the same time, a urinary catheter was installed.

“Let’s go to bed,” they ordered me.

After a few seconds, I did not feel my lower part at all. Hands were fixed with straps. A blue hospital sheet was pulled in front of my face, a doctor came into the operating room, also, by the way, Svetlana Vladimirovna Sveta. The operation has begun.

During the operation, you do not feel anything, something is happening, but you don’t know what exactly. From the first incision to the cry of my baby, it took, according to my calculations, five to seven minutes. She screamed, I was all hearing. Neonatologists dictated weight-height-indicators. And I was waiting for when I would see my baby.

– Kiss your daughter, – brought the baby to me.

She was so warm and totally unhappy. You would be deprived of a warm, comfortable home. The child was carried away.

– We sew the skin, – ordered my doctor.

After that, they put me on a gurney. I saw my legs, but absolutely did not feel them, like someone else’s body. It’s even surprising if you don’t feel – you don’t recognize them. I recognized my own limbs only by my mother’s stockings.

– And now to the intensive care unit, – they took me along the corridors.

Resuscitation is not such a scary place as it is called. Newly made mothers are lying, talking on the phone with relatives, writing SMS, accepting congratulations, but only with a pause every fifteen minutes. Because each has a blood pressure monitor attached to its right hand. On his left arm is an oxytocin drip and the same catheter that was placed before the operation. In it, if anything, they will inject the necessary medicine – an anesthetic, lowering blood pressure.

An hour later, the anesthesia began to recede.

– Let’s move, girls, – Natasha commanded fervently. – It will move away faster, you will see your children faster. And we drink plenty of water to wash out all the chemistry.

By the way, prepare in advance – you will need about two liters of clean, still water.

We drank and waited for the anesthesia to go away and we could get up. The mother of the twins, who was lying nearby, was trying all the time to go to the children. But the legs did not obey.

The most painful thing is to roll over. It seemed to me that one half-turn took forever. I had to surrender and request an additional dose of pain reliever. But I got up quite cheerfully. I also wanted to see my daughter as soon as possible. All catheters were removed from me and taken to the ward.

At that moment, when the couvez with my daughter rolled in, my husband was already next to me. He picked up the baby in his arms, and I sat in confusion in my half-pulled stockings. It was possible for strangers to be in the ward only during visiting hours, and I had a whole night alone with my daughter. But my legs have not yet completely moved away … There was even an idea to ask to take the baby away and let me come to my senses. But I decided that this was betrayal and weakness.

I confess honestly, in the first minutes I was more guided by a sense of duty to the child, that same all-consuming love came a little later.

Early in the morning my husband and mother helped me to cope with the baby and my postoperative pains. The seam did not hurt – the stomach ached from the contracting uterus. You will be injected with oxytocin every day. Another entertainment for young mothers is stitching and one pain reliever per day, if desired.

You go to the toilet in a small way, probably on the first day. Scary, but not painful. More serious business is coming the day after the operation. The doctor will clarify several times that this is a very desirable process. Like, try.

With food – everything is individual. Someone was allowed only broth the next day. In my case, the doctor decided that you can start eating more substantial things, just exclude dairy products.

A little more than a week has passed since the operation. No pain. The seam, they say, turned out to be beautiful. I myself, however, did not see him. But those who did it admire the surgeon’s work. And I admire my daughter. Well, a surgeon.

Pros of cesarean

– You won’t have pain before. No contractions, struggles and proper breathing.

– You will be under the supervision of doctors a few days before day X. No surprises, everything is strictly according to plan.

– If you agree with the doctor, you can choose a specific date of birth for your baby.

– You will spend literally a minute on the processing of seams, which cannot be said about mothers who have experienced natural childbirth and episiotomy.

– By the way, you will be discharged at the same time as natural women. And sometimes even earlier!

– You will be prescribed rest for two weeks. And not to lift anything heavier than a child. An excellent reason to ask for help from loved ones and to relax after childbirth, to be alone with your baby.

Cons of cesarean

– The pain will come to you immediately after the anesthesia begins to recede.

– Waiting for the operation is worse than the operation itself. Painful days and the last, the most terrible night not for impressionable persons. No amount of valerian will save you from excitement.

– The kid does not decide when to be born. The date will be set a few days before the PDR.

– You will have a seam in the lower abdomen. And for a while, the so-called apron, when the belly hangs over the scar. And this seam can also become inflamed.

– On the first day, it will be difficult for you to manage your child on your own. After discharge, do your usual homework. But what is there work – without the help of loved ones you will not be able to go for a walk, the stroller is heavy.

– Get ready for anemia, because of the loss of blood, your hemoglobin will decrease. And aristocratic pallor will become your companion for several weeks in advance.