Pregnancy Forums

Posted: 31 March 2007 at 11:23pm | IP Logged

Hi Juju, I had a spinal but I know several people that had generals for various reasons.  It's much the same as going for any operation you will be taken into a room and put to sleep.  They place a needle in the back of your hand and then give you a nice Gin and Tonic into it, you will probably be given oxygen at this point too.  Unfortunately no one can come into theatre with you so hubby would have to wait outside.  The baby will be delivered and given to your husband whilst you come around in recovery.  Then it is important that you can hold baby as soon as possible, it can be difficult at first as you will be sleepy still.  The recovery time after a general csection is much the same as after a spinal in terms of the length of time it will take for your scar to heal.  The first 24-48hrs are probably the bit that is most different as you will be tired after a general.

They may still have a go at putting in a spinal if you are happy for them to try.  I have scoliosis and there was a high chance that they wouldn't be able to put the needle in the correct place, it took them 2 attempts but they did manage it for me or I would have had to have a general.

Ask the dr's all the questions you want to before making a decision about what to do and don't be bullied into anything make sure you are 100% happy with your decision.  Good luck.

Posted: 01 April 2007 at 1:07pm | IP Logged

hi ju,

I had a general with Ellie but it was all very quick so I actually can't remember very much about it at all - I don't know anything about the actual procedure but I think they must have put something down my throat because that was sore for a few days..

My first recollection of seeing Ellie was that my husband was sat by my bed holding her - I'll be honest, I don't remember holding her for the first time or feeding her (I breastfed her in the recovery room) - I only know I did this as DH took a photo!   I didn't pick her up or hold her again until 6am the next morning - (I woke from the general at 10pm the night before) - and that was only because the midwife asked me when she had last fed and told me I should try and feed her - Ellie must have been zonked out by the drugs too as I didn't hear a peep from her all that night! - we were both totally knackered but I had also had pethadine about 10 mins before I was put to sleep so not sure if that made me feel more tired..

I was very spaced out the whole next day but then I was fine..my recovery went really well..

I think the weird thing to get your head around is the fact that you don't see your baby being born - you just go to sleep and when you wake, you have a baby - that's all neatly dressed in a babygro and bonnet!  I do know somebody that had quite bad PND after having a c-section under general - she was not prepared for it and wasn't able to cope with the fact she didn't get the birth she wanted...I honestly don't feel like that, I wanted the pain to stop and that was all I cared about - maybe it depends on the type of person you are as to how you deal with it afterwards..the main thing for me was that me and baby were safe and pain-free...

Hope that helps a bit, PM if you want to know more altho I won't be around for a few days now lol

Posted: 01 April 2007 at 5:57pm | IP Logged

I had a general with both my sections!  Being the wimp that I am I didn't want a needle on my back, or to hear what they were doing as I would have been out cold either way! lol If you are worried about the bonding, I found I actually bonded better with child 2 and 5 because of the way they were delivered.  I didn't do too well with dd as I had her naturally and there had been a thing on the news about mix ups at birth from the next hospital over, and because I wanted a daughter soo much by then I thought they had mixed up my baby with someone else's!  Weird but then when your pg alot goes through your mind.  I would still recommend the full 6 weeks afterwards to recover properly, but definitely give yourself a couple of days to get over the anaesthetic in your system a chance to get out. 

The one thing I did notice with both babies I don't know whether it's just a coincidence, but it takes babies a bit longer to get the anasthetc to get out of their system.  I would make sure if you are breast feeding, that if baby slows down or doesn't drink too well or stays asleep too long that you express the fore milk and give more hind milk.  I kow they say you produce what your baby needs, but if baby is too tired to drink, then you need them to get the stuff thats gonna give them the most benefit, and if I knew then what I knew after I switched him to the bottle I would have persevered alot more than I did.  I also found the baby slept loads better until I got him home.  Yes it may be hard to deal with psychologically but if it's best for baby and you for the baby to be delivered this way, it gives you ca chance to get used to the idea first rather than like some people having it thrust on you.  I had no option with ds2 as that was major emergency!  With little Winston, they offered me an epidural even though they would have preferred a general (because they have to these days.) I opted out of the conscious one as I said I'm not good on blood at all since ds2!

Posted: 01 April 2007 at 6:44pm | IP Logged

hi ,ive had 4 generals and 1 spinal block .....ive had an epidural as was having a normal delivery but had emergency section after heart beat stopped ,,,i had 4 generals but for my last baby born july 31st 2006 i wanted to stay awake so i had a spinal block ,,,,it was the worst thing ive ever done ,,,im in coonstant agony now with my back ,,,when they were inserting it i screamed with the agonising pain and i said ur doing it wrong ,,i got told to relax as was my fault ,,,ive had a epidural and i know the spinal block was totally diffrent ,,,after 5 c sections id say the last was the worst with having the spinal block ,,,general thumbs up and epidural thumbs up but deffo not the spinal block..good luck and im sorry if i have scared you ,,

xx tonia