You can google Cesarean Birth and find all the scientific and medical information you will ever need, but what is having a baby through a C-Section really like from a first hand perspective?

I have two children both born Cesarean. I gave birth to my first child at the age of sixteen. I prepared myself for a C-Section birth, although my doctor told me I would most likely be able to give birth naturally.
I was very excited at the thought of natural birth. There was no way I wanted to have a huge needle stuck in my back, and no way I wanted to be cut into. However my mother has three children and all were born Cesarean. I also had to take into account the fact that I was (and still am) 5 feet tall, and back then I was only 95 pounds. My hips are fairly small, and I knew the chances of me pushing an almost 10 pound baby out were slim.
I attended Lamaze class, just to be prepared in case my predictions were wrong. Luckily I not only had first hand knowledge about Cesarean births from my mother, but the Lamaze class covered C-Sections slightly.
The night finally came after 10 long months (yes the actual duration of pregnancy is more like 10 months not 9) my daughter was finally ready to be born. My water broke, and we drove to the hospital. My doctor was set on me giving completely natural birth, no medication. We had discussed the possibility of a C-section slightly, but he was confident I wouldn’t need one. He did agree that if I had any complications what-so-ever he would prep me, and take me down, but he definitely wasn’t expecting it.
As the labor pains and contractions increased I questioned my decision to say no to the pain medicine. I never knew it would be as painful as it actually was. The pain is not a natural pain, it’s more like really really severe discomfort and tightening. As I arched my back and let out a moan my doc entered the room. I begged and pleaded for him to just get the freakin baby out already! He checked to see how much I was efaced, I’d been in labor for around 4 hours at this point.
When I came to the hospital I was only at a 3, and 4 hours later I hadn’t dialated any more at all. He finally decided that a Cesarean would be under way. I was extremely happy that the pain was about to be over, but I was scared as well because I did not want the huge needle in my back, nor did I want someone cutting open my stomach even if they did promise the scar would be unnoticeable.
After explaining what I was about to undergo they made me drink this really sour, and totally disgusting liquid. They said it was to keep me from puking, although as soon as I drank it that is all I wanted to do. Then I was forced to put on these very very ugly stockings with no feet. These were supposed to stop the blood in my legs from clotting.
I also had to get an IV so that they could distribute liquid because I was no longer allowed to drink anything.
Once everyone was ready they took me down to the anesthesilogist where they had me bend over and hug a nurse so they could then stick a very long needle into my back to numb me from the waist down. They didn’t stick it in the right place the first time, so I had to endure them sticking me a second time.
I then had to wait a little bit, a very short period of time, until the medicine began working. Once I could no longer feel my legs, don’t worry they test you, they took me to the room where my child would be born. I was laid out and strapped down to a table and a sheet like thing was draped over my stomach so I couldn’t see what they were doing.
I could tell when they started because I could feel the pressure of them pushing, however there was no pain. My mother was in the room with me and held my hand through the entire procedure. Once my daughter was born the doctor weighed and checked her over. They then brought her over for me to look at, and allowed my mother to hold her.
The nurse took her to the nursery while I was stiched up and recovering from the anesthesia. I went to sleep, the medicine makes you very sleepy, and when I awoke I was in my hospital room. Once I realized what had just happened I asked to see my daughter. I wanted her by me the entire time.
The nurses said that I needed to try to get up and walk around because my belly was full of gas that needed to be released, and because my stomach muscles were just cut apart the only way to release that gas would be to walk around. They didn’t expect me to be able to get up and around as fast as I did, nor did they tell me I shouldn’t. I got up and walked the halls for awhile, and after sleeping that night I realized the only reason I was able to do that was because I had pain medicine. Once the medicine wore off I was in extreme pain. I couldn’t get up at all. My stomach hurt, it felt exactly like it would had it just been cut into.
Though it didn’t make much of a difference how much pain I was in, the nurses still made me get out of bed to walk, go to the bathroom, and they even wanted me to shower. I was so worried that my staples would get wet and either fall out or get rusty. I wondered why the nurse never worried about these things.
The worst part was going home, the car ride was horrible. It felt as though we hit every single bump in there was in the road, and I felt it all. After getting home the realization of not having the nurses to help me care for my daughter set in, and I had to make myself get up. Getting up was the hardest part.
After around 3-4 weeks I was able to have my staples removed. This freaked me out, I was worried that I wouldn’t be completely healed and they would have to close me up again. I was also worried that the staple remover would cut me. The remover looks and is exactly like the staple remover you use to remove your staples at home.
However painful and scary the removal of the staples was, it was totally worth it! After they are gone your incision feels much better, not to mention how much easier showering becomes.
The last step to recovering from your c-section is the 6 week check-up where the doctor will look over your scar and make sure everything is healing right. I had some complications, and my incision area was getting a little stinky. (Probably because washing it really freaked me out so I didn’t spend a whole lot of time doing so, just briefly went over it while showering.) He washed it and put some medicine on it, and the smell went away. I healed up fine, and my scar was a little noticeable, but barely.
If you are preparing to give Cesarean birth my advice is don’t sweat it! There are always chances of this and chances of that, however it’s nothing to worry about. Just do what your doctor tells you to and everything will be fine! Good luck on your child bearing experience!