I hear women say they’re scared of labor and delivery all the time. Not me. I was calm, I had a plan, I took all the classes, I was ready. What I wasn’t ready for was a C-section. I didn’t read one thing about how to be prepared for a C-section. I never even occurred to me that I might need one. Looking back, I’m not sure why but it just wasn’t on my radar. Below you’ll find the things I wish I had known so I could have been prepared for a C-section.
Do At Least a Little Research
I took classes on labor and delivery, newborn care and hypo-birth. My bathrooms were all stocked with the must have postpartum essentials. I was determined to have as little medical intervention as necessary. My body had other plans. I was induced, my water was manually broken, I was manually dilated (I had ZERO idea that was a thing) and after 30 hours, I was prepped for a C-section.
I was told that it would get very loud and busy pretty quick and they weren’t lying. All of a sudden my room was full of people. Each one had a role that the quickly executed. It was lonely and overwhelming being the only one in this busy room completely in the dark. I didn’t know what was coming or what questions to ask.
I remember being given a medicine of some sort, I was so overwhelmed I didn’t even ask what I was. Then I was told that it often makes people feel nauseous. Again, they weren’t lying. I was vomiting while being prepped. Everyone warned me about going number two during labor, no one mentioned vomiting. By the way, this was the first of two times I’d get sick. The other was while laying on my back during the procedure. I’m thankful for how prepared the team was for it, because again, it’s apparently quite common. But I was scared. I’m not exactly sure what I was scared of, maybe just the unknown.
People are Mean
I am mortified as to how often I heard/read people saying that a C-section is the “easy way out”. There isn’t anything easy about being the last one in the room to meet your baby. Also not easy, allowing someone to cut through seven layers of your body while you’re awake.
One time I asked a question in a C-section Facebook group and got blasted by a few women for it. I was newly postpartum and my scar was still very dark and prominent. I asked if anyone recommended anything for fading the scar. My son is four now so at this point I can say that if it hadn’t faded on it’s own, I wouldn’t have cared. But at the time, it was this big scary scar and I was all kinds of hormonal so it bothered me. I got so many comments about how I shouldn’t want to hide the “proof” of how I brought my son into the world. One woman even said that my question was offensive. This was a “support” group by the way.
Join the Groups
Okay I know what I just said about people shaming me for my scar question happened in a Facebook group but I still recommend joining them. I joined a C-section recovery group when I was four months postpartum. Looking back, I wish so badly that I would have while I was pregnant. I know that seems weird because you may not need one but hear me out. There were so many things that happened that I had never heard anyone talk about before so I felt so alone. One I joined the group, I started seeing women ask about the very things I experienced and hundreds of women reply with advice because they had been down that road too! I wasn’t alone! But I spent months thinking I was, I don’t wish that on anyone.
The Essentials
Dresses, compression leggings and adult diapers. The trifecta of postpartum healing in my book. I actually don’t see why these wouldn’t be great even if you didn’t have a C-section. If I was home or sleeping, I was in a dress/nightgown and it was fantastic. It’s so important to drink a ton of water but with that comes frequent trips to the bathroom. No need to mess with pants. I also didn’t have to worry about a waistband touching my scar.
For the times I did leave the house, compression leggings held everything in and made me feel more confident. If I was feeling particularly sassy I went for a pair of faux leather spanx.
Adult diapers took a minute to get used to but they became my best friend. I bled for six weeks following my C-section and fussing with pads was not fun. Not to mention, these were much more comfortable to sleep in. You’ll never feel less sexy in your life but it’s just a one short season mama.
I don’t believe that most people can go into labor completely prepared for every single scenario. But knowing what I know now, I wish I didn’t go in completely blind. Hopefully you’ll have the labor and delivery you’ve planned for but just in case, I hope this helps shed a little light on a topic I wish more of us knew more about. I’m proud of you.
If you want to read more about what I’ve learned along my motherhood journey, click here. I’d be happy to share my story with you.
