Terrified of C Section

I'm sorry you have to have a c/s, but if it's best for you and baby!

I had relatively easy c/s ... delivery and recovery ... and although I had easy recoveries and no horror stories or bad experiences ... I was nervous before all my repeats (3 were repeats and 1 was an emergency c/s). It's normal to be nervous prior to any surgery as there are always risks involved with surgery! I just tried to keep my "eye on the prices" so to speak, which in each case was a beautiful baby!! Just thinking of the end result (a baby) helped me relax the most and calmed my nerves ... that and a really good support system (DH, SO, Dr's, Nurses etc) and a will to recover fast so I could see my baby relatively quickly after birth.

[quote="JenC"]I'm sorry you have to have a c/s, but if it's best for you and baby!

I agree with you too , having a C-section puts less stress on the baby.

I didn't want c-sections either, I wanted natural labor and delivery. But it's just not always in the cards, you have to do what's best for the baby. I think you have one major thing on your side, a scheduled c-section. I think the worst case scenario are those women who labor for hours and hours, push for hours and hours, and then have a c-section - they have to recover from a vaginal delivery and a c-section. Bad, bad, bad.

A scheduled c-section is pretty easy. You know when the baby's coming, you can get everything prepared, arrange child care, arrange DH's time off work, etc. You wake up early in the morning, calmly drive to the hospital. They check you in and get you ready, when they take you back to the operating room, you have your baby in less than 30 minutes! And they're healthy and safe! Then you have all day to play with the baby and see visitors. Yes you're sore but has anyone ever told you about the fact that you have much less bleeding after a c-section? After the first couple days you basically just spot after that - it's awesome! I don't think the recovery is that bad either, just stay in bed and feed baby, let others take care of everything else. You'll be up and around before you know it!

Thanks for this post and the replies. I have to have a c section Tuesday and it was not a part of my original plans either. I'm pretty scared. But reading positive stories helps me feel more at ease.

I've had four c-sections and it's really not that bad. The first two kids I labored for 24 hrs prior to the c-sections and those recoveries were far worse than the last 2 where I just showed up and had it done. Remember you are not the first and won't be the last so don't waste your energy on things that you can't control.

Go with the flow and be excited about meeting your baby. A plus is that their faces are beautiful right away since they haven't be forced through the birth canal.

I had placenta previa with my little guy and had to have a c-section. I had a friend who had one a month earlier than me and told me it was no big deal. I wouldn't say it was no big deal. The first few weeks were rough so if you can, I would plan to have some extra hands to help out around the house. My husband was only around for a week and I survived. After about two weeks I was taking walks and around two months I felt back to normal. One thing I liked about having previa was that I knew ahead of time and had time to prepare mentally. I can't imagine how scary it would have been to have an emergency c-section.