I came across this post and it broke my heart. The author is an L&D nurse who opted for a repeat cesarean and is now regretting the decision.
She says: “I get several hits from people looking into VBAC and I guess my point is this: Go for the VBAC! Especially if you have delivered vaginally before. Deal with another week or 2 of being uncomfortable pregnant to avoid weeks of being uncomfortable afterward while you recover from surgery. It’s easier to recover from a natural process than surgery (I know there are some exceptions). I guess I’m telling myself ‘I told you so.’”
I had a really rough recovery from my cesarean, so I can definitely identify with how she is physically feeling. The final ‘symptom’ of my cesarean took about 18 months to rectify. My scar was oddly numb yet hypersensitive at the same time. This was a minor thing, but it was a testament to how long it takes the body to fully heal even though from the outside I appeared ‘back to normal.’
It’s hard in American society because it seems that the overwhelming attitude is to encourage women to have a repeat cesarean. As if that is somehow the ‘easy’ way. As if it’s the painless, or less painful, option. People forget, or purposefully downplay I’m not sure which, how difficult recovery from a cesarean can be while simultaneously acting as if vaginal birth, particularly unmedicated, is an unattainable, and even stupid, goal. Try recovering from major surgery while caring for a newborn, or even several children. It’s rough. You don’t get to “take it easy” and relax for weeks while your body is recovering. When you have kids, you are on the move.
I had a wonderful home VBAC (HBAC) in November 2007 and it was far less painful than my cesarean recovery… and I had a very painful birth. While I was uncomfortable with stitches and hemorroids after my HBAC, it was nothing in comparison to my cesarean recovery where my daughter got the ‘benefit’ of Vicodin through my breastmilk for the first two weeks. With my HBAC, I took my first Aleve the second night and took one each night for the next three nights.
For your child to begin life without having a mommy in brutal pain is… priceless. It starts off your life together in such a positive way and lays the groundwork for less depression, easier breastfeeding, better sleep, and a happier mommy whose mind and body can focus on the baby and other children rather than pain and recovery. It’s one thing to be woken up by your baby to nurse, it’s another to be unable to sleep period because your pain meds don’t relieve your pain. And this can set up a brutal cycle of sleep deprivation resulting in depression which is exactly what I experienced with my daughter who was born via cesarean.
I applaud the author for being honest about her recovery. So many women seem to be happy with their “easy” cesareans and I think it’s important for women to read experiences like hers. Unfortunately, no one knows before the surgery what kind of recovery they are going to have… and to be enduring recovery from major surgery while caring for three kids… my heads off to her.
If you have a difficult recovery from your cesarean, or regret your decision to have a repeat cesarean, and would like to share your story here, please email it to me at info@vbacfacts.com.
Jumping in a bit late here. I also read that post and was both sad and glad to read it. I can imagine that having to say “I told myself so” after the fact is tough.
Just this morning I was reading a post on a forum where someone claimed that cesarean surgery is a “neutral” procedure. There is nothing “neutral” about something that has side effects both during and afterwards. Cesarean birth is major abdominal surgery. It is not a mere procedure.
Where do people come up with these distortions?