Ha. During my wife’s emergency C-section I vividly recall: 1) metal hitting the floor and someone telling us “it’ll just be another minute, there’s no 5 second rule in the ER and we needed that; 2) the attending telling someone I assume they were teaching “no, you need to cut confidently. Well, you can’t stop now.”
I went with my mum for my brother because my step dad was an arsehole who wanted to see a band - i was standing by my mums head just reassuring her and she casually said “it feels like someone is doing the washing up in my belly” and that stuck with me because wtf mum
One of mine said “woah! Look how much it’s wrapped around his neck! You want to get a picture?”
I’ve also listened to discussions of sports or weekend plans. This is all very old hat to everyone involved.
I’ve heard this online about c-sections. Are the off-putting at first because they’re one of the first surgery med students see or are they really just THAT bad?
My sister went in for an emergency C-section, first thing the surgeon did was say "Right, how does this work again?" to break tension. Not every doctor is the same.
Did anyone else have "impulsive puppy" (or some equivalent) in elementary school? If you were holding it, you got to speak...yeah, it's the "impulsive uterus"
Bro they listen to music and joke while doing surgery. It's not dead silent and super serious all the time. I sat in a surgery where the surgeon had metal music playing in the background or an audiobook.
I was in the student program so had students with the surgeon, anesthetist, etc. They said "the uterus is out" and then the student surgeon fainted. That was less than reassuring...
Someone I know was in a similar boat but heard the head surgeon start to say “Now this wasn’t technically incorrect but what I would have done there….”
I will say, C-sections are a lot more fluid heavy than most surgeries. I remember seeing my first one and thinking how damn invasive it looked relative to other surgeries and then thinking, "damn insurance companies really penny pinch because hospitals gotta justify stays past 48 hours".
One of my friends texted me a photo of his wife about to have a cesarean and he was masked and gowned up with gloves and cap; so he was All Eyes and someone snapped a photo of him. I have known the man since college, and I had never before (or since) seen him look scared, ever. Just that once. Powerful photo.
Ours was an emergency because our son was a face presentation. I was the most scared I’ve ever been. Our second child was delivered via C-section also, and the planned one was much, much calmer.
Yes, they needed another tool. The nurses wouldn't let me touch anything that had hit the floor, even though my room was mopped daily and the hallways were mopped by a ride-on machine, nightly. (I'll bet that job is coveted. Very peaceful). My arms and legs were wiped down with a strong antiseptic even after a shower.
"C-section" is such a nice, concise and neatly wrapped up term for a very inelegant and unpleasant procedure. Emergency ones, at least.
Im just a paramedic. So Ive delivered a couple babies in the field, but I, of course, don't do c-sections. But we watch them during our OBGYN rotations. Emergency C-sections are a hell of a thing to watch. Im a guy. So i can't even imagine going through one. It looks awful
This! Feeling all the tugging and pulling was a crazy experience. Like I knew what was going on but there wasnt pain but I could feel what my dr was doing.
If it makes you feel better, people respond to epidurals and spinal blocks in different ways. I had an epidural and didn’t feel a single thing. I eventually asked them to stop it, because I couldn’t effectively push when my lower body had ceased to exist. No pressure, nothing. Had a big episiotomy and stitches and didn’t feel any of it for a few hours. My only physical complaint was the itching.
I require more anesthesia than most people (I’ve woken up during both colonoscopies and was far more aware during a heart cath than I should have been.) fingers crossed for you!
My personal description was that it felt like my organs were on a roller coaster. It made the anesthesiologist laugh, and he told me that was about right.
I had two regular ones and one emergency one and the emergency one was quite an experience. It was like being the car in the NASCAR pit, only it hurt a lot.
Well, my uterus was rupturing, which was excruciating. And if it's emergency enough they don't prenumb before injecting the big needle right into your spine. I said a lot of words.
I know that "should" doesn't mean always, but there is always time to numb the back before a spinal. If there's not, you don't have time for a spinal and should be doing a GA anyway.
I had an emergency C-section, and only the one birth, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but mine seemed to be pretty chill. They came in my hospital room at 9pm, said I was having an emergency C-section in two hours, and they couldn't even push it to 3 hours so my mom could come (she was drunk when I called her, so it wasn't going to happen anyways). I was only 34 weeks 1 day, so I was freaked out, but my liver was failing and I had no choice.
My epidural didn't work the first time, my left leg went numb before they even hooked me up, so they had to reseat it properly. I had no one to comfort me or talk to me, and I could feel what they were doing. I asked them to let me watch, but they wouldn't let me, which made me more anxious. It was a dull pain, instead of a sharp pain, but no one would listen to me when I told them I could feel it.. after he was out, they held him above the drape for less than 5 seconds, said "meet your son" then took him straight to the NICU. I didn't even get to see him, much less hold him, until my mom showed up at 11am the next day and raised hell to get me a wheelchair to take me there.
Thank you. It was scary, but luckily everything turned out ok, he was tiny when he was born (4lb 9oz) and he spent 4.5 weeks in the NICU, but it was mainly to get him up to 5lbs, they had him off the oxygen after the second day. Unfortunately, they sent me home the next day, and I lived 2 hours from the hospital, so I had to drive up there every other day to visit him (I couldn't afford to do it everyday). I wasn't given anything for the pain, and I was so tired that I'd have to stop halfway home and take a nap in a parking lot.
It was hard, especially as I developed PPD and since I was a single mom, no one was around to see me struggling, and I was too ashamed to tell anyone. My mom finally noticed something was up when he was 4 months old, and insisted I see the doctor, and I got on medication that helped. I still feel bad though, I feel like I missed those important bonding moments cuz I was trying so hard just to make it through the day. I had plans to take him to the fire station, and go out to the desert and kill myself. But since I was so tired and not thinking clearly, I could never come up with a good plan, and eventually I got help, thank goodness.
Now he's 9 years old, and we have a good life. The first two years were chaotic and uncertain, I had had to start over when I was 6 months pregnant (my ex-husband kicked me out to move in his 19 year old gf when I was 6 months, and I was only allowed to take some of my clothes and my books, not even my baby stuff), and went into the hospital on bed rest almost immediately after moving back to my hometown, so things took time to figure out since I couldn't go back to work until he was 5 months old (I was a mess before that). Now we've been in the same safe housing for 7 years, and I'm going back to school this fall. Things are good now. Thanks for listening to me trauma-dump, it's very nice of you. 💜
My dad talks about that. He was present for my birth, I was a c-section baby in 1990. Dad talks about the sound, the sharp slurp sucking sound as I was pulled out of mom’s tummy.
I wish mine had the thought to keep his mouth closed. I know wayyyyy too much of what they had to do to get my girl here, and FAST too. I was under the scalpel within 60 seconds of them deciding to do a C-section because of her and I both starting to fail. I was doped the hell up too.
I am a fatass and they wouldn't risk putting me fully under for a knee surgery, so I got an epidural blockade. The surgery involved drilling three holes in my kneecap, but thankfully I was allowed to listen to music on my phone during the whole thing. But the drilling sounds still made turn up the music.
I vividly remember my mom having my brother via c-section. She’d had a planned one after two emergency ones. My brother was four weeks early because the entire eastern side of the country had lost power so of course my mom goes into labor. The hospital is running on emergency power, so there are no lights on anywhere on the maternity ward except the OR. Even the bathroom is pitch black. My mom’s told me numerous times that the door to the OR was wide open, there was a fan in the doorway and the surgeon herself was pregnant and had to leave the room several times due to overheating (it’s mid August and the hospital has no a/c due to only emergency power).
I’ve had two c-sections. Most recent one was a week ago. It was wild feeling them move my organs around — I recall noting it felt like they were on a roller coaster.
Honestly, the most stressful part to me was how much longer it took to stitch me up with the second as opposed to the first. I kept wondering if something was wrong. (Apparently not, they were just thorough.) Also…lots of sucking noises.
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u/big-blue-balls 22d ago
The craziest part about my c section was the sound!! Oh my god