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[Melmumto1]

Has anyone been fearful of how they will handle the c section?
ive had an emergency c section under GA...which had a few complications...my son almost died due to a long labour with him in the wrong position, then i went into anaphylaxis due to the antibiotic they used...i will be having an elective c section with my next one. I sometimes get panic attacks due to past traumas and i know this is the sort of situation that would trigger one...im not sure how i will cope lying there during the procedure..i would prefer GA but i know thats not good for the baby...
how have you mums handled it while very nervous?

[cabbage88]

Tell them! They can give you meds to keep you calm in your IV. You're one of many to go in to a c sect with that difficulty- it's not uncommon.

[c.sanders]

My emergency one was super traumatic and took me ages to get over it. but the 2 planned ones were beautiful! It might feel scary beforehand but the scariest part was getting the IV canula in my hand. Make sure you are on top of all your pain relief meds.  I even got to have skin to skin and breastfeed bub in recovery.

I don't like needles so they gave me a local anaesthetic where they planned to out the canula in.  They do this as routine for your spinal block as well.

[Lily-bee]

Gosh that sounds like a really tough birth.

I had an emergency with my first and suffered some birth ptsd afterwards as a result of a number of things that night.

I had a second c-section, planned, with my daughter and have to say the planned one was really great. I was really nervous and anxious leading up to it but what helped is to just keep breathing calmly, not think about what's going on and once she came out I didn't even care what they did down there I was so focused on her.

My biggest fear was knowing what's coming next as I had been through it with the first. It really helped just not concentrating on that part and getting people to distract me. The midwives were great at that part.

I think its important to talk to your care providers about your concerns and would encourage maybe some counselling. Also talking with your support person your fears so at least they know what they need to do to help calm you down if you need it.

[Lallalla]

Tell them, but also, elective is so different to emergency. I had an emergency c-section with a spinal block and an elective one with a general (it actually became an emergency one half an hour before the elective one would have happened as my HELLP preeclampsia went off the charts that morning, as I was being prepped).

The emergency one was so much worse to recover from, even though I had way more complications myself the second time, nearly having a stroke and all. I think it was because I had been in labour for 20 hours and not slept. But the “elective” one under GA was way more scary than the one with a spinal block because my DH wasn’t there.

Which ever way you go, general or spinal/epidural, the elective will be easier from just about every angle

[Wonderstruck]

I had a traumatic birth (long posterior labour, stalled, needed induction, emergency caesar as she didnt fit. 2.5l blood loss and in and out of consciousness).

As we plan for no.2 my doctors have assured me that theyll be prepared for it this time so extra drugs and blood at the ready and I have made the call that future babies will be planned Caesars. Less stress, I'll be less tired and it's all planned.

It will be different and the planned nature and info from last time should make things run more smoothly and hopefully put your mind at ease.

Good luck

[**Xena**]

I suffer from anxiety too and was a bit stressed going in for my elective c-section after an emergency one for my eldest. It was so different! I had such a lovely experience and it was a lot more relaxed and cruisy than I expected. I have now had 5 c-sections. In the last ones I also got to take bub to recovery and breastfeed.

Definitely talk it over with your caregiver. I was convinced I'd rather be put under but now I'm so glad I wasn't.

[Pink Flamingo]

I would recommend getting some counseling to help process what happened last time. I spoke to a midwife at length about the procedure and went into hospital knowing exactly what was going to happen. This helped ease a lot of anxiety for me.
I had a traumatic emergency c section with my first and an elective with my second. The elective was a really lovely experience.

[JBH]

Like others, I had a traumatic emergency c-section followed by a calm and positive elective. I was upfront with my team, and they responded beautifully. None of what I was scared of came to pass second time around.

[Charli73]

Like others my first birth was an emergency’s ceaser and I had a long recovery.
Only 15 months later I had a planned CS and it was amazing, so calm and quiet and organized it was very different and amazing.
Recovery second time around was actually a lot quicker as my pelvis hadn’t been traumatized like the first time around and I felt great.

[Rummonkey]

Same as others. Horrific first c section. Told the medical team. My anesthetist was amazing. Had a meeting in advance of the c section. He stayed with me for a good chunk of the morning. Had a plan B if anything went ‘wrong’ (or I started to panic). It didn’t. I had an amazing birth. Public system as well.

[Hummingbird82]

I had two planned C sections and they were awesome. Almost a celebration in the operating theatre. I had been told you can ask the anaesthetist to make you feel like you've had a glass of wine during it, and I did ask for that, and he did. It did feel like I had drunk a glass of wine. Poor DH could have gone the same same as he nearly passed out during it, and had to sit down and wasn't able to hold our DD.

Good luck with it all :-)