I had my beautiful baby boy 1st April 08 by c-section. I had 91/2hrs labour but he was stuck his heart rate was getting low and i wasnt too great either. Anyways I cant remeber very much about the 91/2hrs or the section its self i did have pethidine but i didnt think it knocked you out that much!
What i do remeber is the nest morning when i was allowed to get up with help from staff, i thought my whole insides had fell out with the amount of blood that came away i did say to the midwife is that normal she said it was ok. So any how i got up and gradually by that night i was able to walk around etc. I spent the next few days walking around and generally taking care of lewis while feeling dizzy, sick, painful to breath andvery pale. At the time i didnt think anything of it as i thought well everyone and their mother has told me ive had major surgery so it must be how iam meant to feel. It cameto the day they said i could go home everything all great they took some blood samples and within half an hr midwife came flying into my room and said you cant go home you cant go home, i was taken aback as to what was wrong, well it turned out i was very anemic very close to needing a blood transfusion, my doctor then turned up and gave me a right telling off when he discovered how id been feeling and that i hadnt said all i could say was i didnt know how i was meant to feel and thought it was normal. Everything turned out ok i had to be put onto a drip of stuff and now iam on high dose iron tabs but id just like to say dont be afraid to tell the midwives every little thing you feel as i was told i could have ended up vry ill just because i didnt say, but also i think i should have been told roughly how your meant to feel and whats normal then i would have known to say something.
I hope anyone reading this does take my advice and tell all!
It's so strange i have a similar story. I had a planned C-Section cause baby was breech. During the op they whisked Jessica away and I felt quite alot of pulling about but was told I would, so thought nothing of it. I was the first of 4 sections due that morning and didn't see any doc's that day or the day after.
The following morning they got me up for a shower and I felt dreadful, really dizzy and unsteady. Like you...felt my insides where dissapearing! I lost my balance several times in the shower but carried on regardless. I seem to be given alot of pills to take at each of the medication times. At some time during day 2 one of the nurses asked why I was on 2 lots of antibiotics. I hadn't a clue! She checked my notes and there was nothing on there to explain it either. She asked me what thhe doctor said and I said I hadn't seen one. She said she would carry on giving them to me until she found out why.
The following morning....day 3!!! A surgeaon appeared...she explained that they had had to be more invasive during the op than they would like and had to remove the placanta by hand. I had lost a significant amount of blood (over a litre, might explain the dizzyness) therefore was on iron (3 months worth!)and antibiotics. I hadn't any idea and most importantly the nursing staff didn't have any notes to that effect either, so they didn't have a clue and wouldn't have known what was wrong with me.
Seems that either way communication isn't what it could be and I dont think the medical profession always believe/or listen to you when you tell them something is bad or doesn't feel right.
Iam glad someone else understands, I felt really mixed at having had the section i still have days where i feel abit of a failure as i cudnt do it 'right' i know that it was best for Lewis and me but cant help feeling like that and i quess well my doc has said that if i have any other children i would need a section so i'll not get to give birth as such. I actually had Lewis in for his second injections yesterday and i mentioned to nurse that no one had told me how long it would take to recover and i was still getting dizzy spells etc so she took blood again so i'll see tomorrow if iam still low, i kinda know iam but its just nice to be told yeah thats whats wrong. Iam not saying it's any better but at least someone could explain to you why you where the way you where. My doc appeared and kept saying you didnt have a big bleed or anything insurgery so cant really undertand why i was so low? I felt like saying well maybe it was to do with my insides falling out when i got up! I really do remebember thinking the next day why on earth would anyone put themselves through this. Of course thats all changed now i completly understand why! In hospital i also wasnt told that if you have a section it can take longer for your milk to come through so results of that where i tried brest feeding (by myself- no help from staff) and thought oh well theres another thing i cant do so got some formula fo him and by the time someone bothered to tell me it can take longer after section lewis was into a wee routine of feeding with formula. Iam not so cross about it now but thefirst few wks at home i kept getting so angry. I also remember waking up the next morning and asking could i get up they said someone will be with you shortly of course they took ages i also asked could they hand me Lewis they said sure wait until they got me sorted which i didnt like Lewis was just beond arms length from my bed i struggled and twisted to pull him over to me and really struggled to lift him out of the cot i was stupid because at the time in the hospital i didnt say very much but came home started thinking about it all and i thought all in all my experience wasnt as it should have been and it could have been different. I did however voice my concerns to my ob at 6 wks check so he said he'd bring it up with sister of the ward.
Oh goodness i have went on abit just havent really written my thoughts down I just think midwives etc do do a good job but theres always a few who if your unlucky to get make it a bad experience .
I totally understand how you feel. When I look back at the section and the after care with a clearer mind I am shocked at what I excepted and how awful the experience was. I felt the after care was nothing short of neglectful, I was shouted at and insulted in hospital and not given the right start with my baby. After speaking to my sister not long ago about her sections it bacame clear that not all hospitals getting so wrong, but I also know now what sort of care is possible for next time.
My milk didn't come either, they ended up putting me on a brest pump, told me to do 25 mins on each boob with hind sight I know that is terrible advice!! Nothing came out!! After that and trying to get JT latched on later through the day my nipples started bleeding and I felt it was totally wrong to put a bleeding nipple in to a new borns mouth. So I stopped for 24 hour to heal and by then she had had some fomular and I was told she was getting jaundice so had to be fed every 2 hrs, that was that.
I'm seeing my MW today to write my birth plan/plans for this next baby (I'm 30 weeks) I have asked her if I could write 2. One for a VBAC and one if it ends up in a section. That way I'll get to say what I want. I have no idea how they approach a VBAC and what they will let me do, but this time I'm definatly going to have my say!
I know it's really hard not to angry, but use your experience to talk to other Mum's expecting and you've done the right thing speaking up at your 6 week check. Keep talking it through and if you might consider doing again one day use this to write your next birth plan as I am.
