What I Wish I Knew Before My Scheduled Cesarean

The words cesarean section (c-section for short) can be quite scary. Even for a veteran mom like myself who has had two emergency and one scheduled cesarean. Even after having two emergency cesareans going into my scheduled cesarean I felt completely unprepared. This was a new ball park for me and I had no idea what to expect.

Well, as you can see, I came, I went, I conquered (or however the saying goes) and I am here to tell you all about it. Well, not exactly all about it, just what I wish I knew before my scheduled cesarean. If you’ve come over from Instagram, hi! Nice to see you!

If not, make sure you check out my Instagram (linked at the bottom of this page) for my top five things I wish I knew before my scheduled cesarean. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, lol.

Let’s get into it. First, walking into the hospital just felt weird. I don’t know if it was because every other time before I had been in active labor, like 8.5 centimeters dilated active labor, or what. But just casually walking in, going through registration and being walked upstairs was weird for me. There was no excitement behind it. No sense of urgency and that really killed the mood for me. Now, I might be being extra, ( I am known for being extra) but hey thought I’d mention it.

After being taken up to labor and delivery I got a room and basically waited. My doctor had been called to assist on an emergency cesarean himself so I had to wait. Having had three children prior, any time I was in labor my doctor was basically right there. Now of course, I always waited quite some time before I got to the hospital so that may of been why, but still something to note. When you go in for a scheduled cesarean you may end up waiting a few.

While I was waiting, the nurse shaved down there. Not exactly sure what that spot is right above your vagina but below your actual stomach, but it got shaved. This was new for me too. I mean, I had shaved a few days prior so it wasn’t like it was bushy or anything, but she shaved it. Which was a little uncomfortable for me. Not that she did anything wrong, guess I didn’t think I would need to be shaved for a cesarean.

After being shaved and waiting for a few hours (literally) it was time. My nerves were through the roof too. I had no idea what to expect and no idea if I’d make it out alive. Remember my other two experiences with c-sections involved me being put to sleep and waking up to a baby, so um yeah, this was a whole new playing field for me.

First thing to know, you get a spinal tap or a epidural, shoot I don’t know what its called. The doctor puts a needle in your back so he can then place a catheter in your back. This was newer for me since each time prior a mask had just been put over my face and I counted backwards from twenty and drifted off to sleep. This experience actually wasn’t bad. I had heard other moms say things like “don’t move or you an get paralyzed” or, “It hurts like hell and you’ll be sore for weeks after.” I didn’t have this experience. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t horrible. Holding a pillow between your legs while you are hunched over isn’t the most comfortable part of your day, but it doesn’t last long.

Now, this is where things got scary for me. First off, you can vomit. Like throw up. You’re probably like, of course you can, your stomach isn’t detached from your body. Which I know, it makes sense, but I didn’t think of that. I was like, omg, I am going to choke and die. I didn’t realize my body still works like regular cut open or not, lol. I just thought I’d vomit and it would’t come all the way up, I mean you are literally strapped down to a table and your entire body is numb, so you can’t move. How in the heck are you going to turn over so the vomit doesn’t go back down your throat? I have no idea how but I didn’t choke or die for that matter. You may vomit and if you do, the nurses will clean you up and then you’ll be good to go, no biggie really.

Although you are numb you can still feel stuff. Not like a pain but more like a pressure. It’s like having someone push down on your stomach hard but not hard enough to hurt, if that makes sense. You feel it and you know something is going on but you don’t know what.

Once the pressure starts it takes forever for them to get the baby. Or at least I felt like it did. Probably because I spent the entirety of the cesarean procedure praying I didn’t bleed out and my anxiety was at an all time high, who knows for sure. Which may be way I was also counting the seconds until I heard my baby cry.

I think with a cesarean, scheduled or not, there’s so much out of your control. You are basically helpless. You can’t see, neither can your partner really. All you can do is sit and wait. Those seconds from when Desmond told me they had pulled Koehn out until I heard him cry were excruciating for me. I wasn’t sure what was going on and that made me even more nervous. But my nurse was pretty awesome. She walked me through as much as she could, which helped some.

After baby is born, they put him to your face, you take a few pictures and that’s it. This part sucked for me. I wanted to hold him and kiss him or something. And I couldn’t do either. Instead I had to wait while my doctor and nurses counted the number of sponges they had used to ensure they hadn’t left any inside me. Which was also a little nerve wrecking. I mean, its nice to know they do these things to ensure I don’t die later of some crazy infection after the cesarean, but still. I was like omg, what if they did leave one and just don’t say anything. I know dramatic.

Something I didn’t expect, Desmond left me. Like, left the room left me. Koehn was being taking to the nursery while my doctor finished putting me back together, which again felt like it took forever, so someone had to go with. For someone who was already afraid of dying this only worsened the experience for me. What if I died and Des wasn’t there. He wouldn’t know, I thought. I tell you having a scheduled cesarean is not for the faint of heart. Or maybe just my heart, lol.

One thing, I forgot to mention, having your stomach burned back together stinks. Like seriously smells so bad. I can’t even describe it but be prepared.

All in all, having a scheduled cesarean was one of the scariest moments in motherhood for me. I wasn’t sure at any point if I was going to make it out alive or not. This had nothing to do with my doctors, nurses, or Desmond. It had everything to do with me not knowing what to expect. So I hope this helps you out a little if you’re expecting to have a scheduled cesarean.

If you’ve already had one, let me know in the comments below how yours went? Were you as scared as me?

Love Always,

Jazmyne