First of all, anesthesia. There are a couple different options when it comes to the anesthesia. I had the spinal anesthesia. This is different from an epidural. If you are having any surgery and get to choose between these, do the research. They are different from each other. The shot did not hurt. Maybe it did but the contractions I was having were way stronger and distracted me. It went into effect quick. I wouldn't say that I was completely numb. I swear I could feel by legs but not feel them, confusing huh? It was that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep, you know like ants are crawling all over it? It was that times a million. It was a very odd sensation and I did not like it.
I have always heard that it feels like pressure and tugging when they are doing the procedure and taking the baby out. I did not feel anything at all. Literally nothing. I only knew they started surgery because the anesthesiologist told me. I am grateful for not being able to feel anything. There came a point where I started gagging like I needed to throw up. This too was a sensation I hated. It felt like I needed to throw up from the neck up, but the normal muscles you would use to do so were numb so I couldn't feel it. I am pretty sure I was gagging right at the moment they were pulling The Kid (this is his blog alias) out because as soon as they held him up over the sheet thing I stopped gagging. I think it was how my body reacted to the exact moment of him being pulled out.
Once he was out they stitched me up and what not. This was uneventful and quick. The Dr and the rest of the surgical team were actually laughing. They said I had no blood in there. I guess this was a good thing because they said it was easy clean up. Near the end of surgery I started to shake a little. Once again completely normal. Next came the weirdest feeling ever.
I was laying there when all of the sudden I saw my leg fly up in the air. Literally I could see my leg over the little curtain thing. Only it felt like my leg was still laying flat. They were cleaning up stuff under me and moved my leg but I never felt it go in the air. That was beyond weird, I really really did not like that feeling. Its like what my brain saw and my body felt didn't match up and it was not a good combo.
So onto recovery I went. I was in there about 35 minutes. They just checked my vitals a couple times and once I started getting sensation back I was able to go back to L&D to be with The Kid and The Mr. Right before I left the recovery room the pain started to kick in. The nurse put some pain meds into my IV. No idea what they were but they went in FAST.
Now the real recovery began once we were back in our room. The pain meds wore off quick. The anesthesia wore off quick. Another odd feeling, I could feel one leg but not the other. So here in Germany you dont get good drugs like in the states, it was tylenol or ibuprofen. UGH!!! Not what I needed the first 2 days.
So I had The Kid at 8:31am and had to stay in bed all day. Not that I wanted to move around. I wanted the catheter out though. This meant one thing, I had to get up and out of bed to be able to walk to the restroom in order to have it taken out. UGH!!! So that afternoon the nurse came and told me I had to try to get out of bed. HOLY PAIN!! I can't even describe in words how painful it was trying to stand up. I would rather feel contractions that feel that pain ever again. I literally wanted to punch the nurse. As soon as I was on my feet the pain took my breath away and I couldn't even speak when she asked how I was. I just stood there staring at the blood pooling on the floor (another pretty side effect of birth). I had to take two steps to the left and two to the right then I could get back in bed. I really don't think I took a breath for that whole minute or two the process lasted. Pain is an understatement. She said I did good....whatever, I didn't care I just wanted drugs. The nurse told me that it would get easier every time. I seriously felt like she was crazy and that I was going to be in pain the rest of my life.
She was right though, each day the pain was a little less. The hardest part was the motion of getting in and out of bed. You really have no idea how much you use those muscles until they have been sliced through.
By day 3 the pain was bearable enough that an Ibuprofen every 4 hrs kept the pain under control.
So now I am home 3, weeks post-op. My incision is still sore. I can't wear jeans yet because they will hit the incision and that will be so uncomfortable. The incision itself is pretty long. Longer and higher up than I thought it would be. The sutures are all internal so I am hoping the scar will not be too ugly. The incision/scar has already started to shrink. Some days at the end of the day my incision is pretty sore, telling me I overdid it. I still can't sleep on my stomach.
Im not sure what the side effects if any are from the spinal yet. I am praying to not have any but we shall see.
Im not sure why anyone would want a c-section. Recovery was not, has not been fun. I would much rather deal with contractions pain for a few hours than deal with this recovery for weeks. It has not been easy at all. I am pretty sure I won't even be willing to have any elective cosmetic surgery that cuts through the muscle. The recovery just isn't worth it in my eyes.
Maybe in a few weeks when my scar is looking better I will put up pics of what it looked like the day after surgery to compare. MAYBE! LOL! For now I will just put a pic of the end result, The Kid :)
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