What to Expect During A C-Section Delivery

What to Expect in the Operating Room?

When they took me to the operating room, I remember it being very quite and clean, I felt over-whelmed but knew that I was in good hands.  There were lots of people in the room preparing for my surgery.  They had me sit on the operating table and the anesthesiologist, administered my spinal block.  After he gave me the shot in my back, he quickly laid me down and it started working immediately.  They placed my arms on arm rests and it felt weird laying on the table with my arms stretched out to the side.  The anesthesiologist started poking my tummy with a semi-sharp object to make sure the medicine was numbing me properly before they started performing the surgery.  The nurse inserted a Foley catheter into my bladder.  The curtain went up so that I couldn’t see what they were doing and my husband was able to join me at this point.  However, if you are unable to receive an epidural or spinal block and they have to knock you out, your spouse or coach will be unable to attend the birth.

What to Expect during the Surgery?

As soon as I was fully numb, the doctor came in and was ready to get started on the surgery.  There was a lot of other people in the room that help her with the surgery.  The doctor began cutting on my belly.  I wasn’t able to feel any pain during the surgery.  I don’t remember feeling them tug on my belly but it is possible that you will feel pressure when the doctor cuts into your belly and will push on your tummy to help get the baby out.  My baby was born a few minutes after the doctor began the surgery.  I felt a sigh of relief when I heard my baby cry.  He was immediately handed to the pediatric nurse.  She began cleaning him up and took his vitals.  I remember looking at him in awe and remember how tiny he looked.  While,they began stitching me back up.  My doctor used staples to hold my skin together.

During the surgery they monitored my blood pressure, oxygen statistics, and they gave me oxygen through a cannula.  If you feel nauseous, make sure that you tell your anesthesiologist so that he can give you something in your IV or something in case you need to throw up.  Also, before surgery started they gave me an IV antibiotic injection which helps prevent any possible infections.  My doctor was also very good and told me exactly what she was doing as she was performing my surgery.

The Goal of My Post is To Help Prepare You for Your C-Section

The goal of my post is to help a mom’s prepare mentally for a c-section and know what to expect.  I didn’t read about what to expect during a c-section before mine, but I wish I did so that I would have known what to expect.  After my surgery was done and once I healed, my c-section didn’t seem nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  I hope that you have a great experience with your c-section and that this post was helpful.  I have heard that recovery is harder on mom’s who have labored for hours vs a mom who had a scheduled c-section.

Learn What to Expect During Your Postpartum Stay at the Hospital After a C-Section.

Did you have to have a c-section delivery or have one scheduled?

Comments

2 responses to “What to Expect During A C-Section Delivery”

  1. Elizabeth McGeee Avatar

    Hi Christy,

    Your C-Section was so similar to mine with the exception of the spinal. I had an epidural which they did in my room before going to the OR. Epidural is a continuous flow of anesthesia vs. a spinal that works only so long, so administering it in the OR makes sense.

    Anyway, it’s good for women to hear our stories because the point is to know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect when I had my first C-Section and there’s definitely an element of fear with the unknown, so post like these help a lot.

    Blessings,
    Elizabeth

    1. Christy Avatar

      Thank you for sharing your experience too. I know that I looked for information online about c-sections when I got the devastating news that I was going to have to have one, I was unable to find very much information on what to expect. I wanted to share this information so that women could understand and know what they should expect.

      I was also fearful because I didn’t really know what to expect even though my own mom had several c-sections. My older kids were born vaginally so when my youngest decided to turn breech I knew right away that I would have to have a c-section if he didn’t turn by the time I had to report to the hospital.

      My doctor did offer to try to turn using a special technique with an epidural. At the time, I felt that it was best to go for the c-section because I had an anterior placenta and the risk for rupturing the placenta was much higher. I didn’t want to risk it.

      Thank you for visiting my site.