| What happens during a Caesarean?
If you are having an emergency Caesarean, a lot of things will happen very quickly. If you are having an elective Caesarean, the atmosphere will be rather more calm! The preliminary procedures are as follows:
Nowadays, most hospitals do Caesarean sections (and many other operations) under local rather than general anaesthetic. This means that you will be awake when your baby is born. You will probably lose less blood if you have a local anaesthetic and your recovery will be quicker because you will be able to get up and about much sooner. Local anaesthetic A local anaesthetic means an epidural or a spinal. If you are in labour when the decision is made to deliver your baby by Caesarean, you might already have an epidural in place for pain relief. In this case, it is often possible simply to top up the epidural for the operation. Or you could have a spinal anaesthetic which is a single injection into your back. Spinals take effect quickly, give excellent anaesthesia for the Caesarean and wear off over a period of five to six hours, offering you some pain relief after the operation. General anaestheticYou may feel that you would be absolutely terrified if you had to be awake during a Caesarean and that you would definitely prefer a general anaesthetic. In this case, you will be asked to breathe some oxygen through a mask for a few minutes before the anaesthetic is given into the back of your hand. As you drop off to sleep, the anaesthetist will press on your neck. This is to prevent the contents of your stomach being regurgitated into your lungs. Then you will be aware of nothing until you start to come round about an hour later, after the surgery is over. You will probably feel groggy for quite a while and perhaps not very interested in your baby. If you want to breastfeed, make sure that your midwife knows this before you have the Caesarean so that she can put your baby to the breast while you are regaining consciousness. Breast milk is produced whether or not the mother is awake! The operationIt will only be about 10 minutes from when the surgeon makes the incision to your baby being born. If you are awake during the operation, you will see a large number of people filling the operating theatre (perhaps as many as 10):
These people will be wearing masks and gowns. You will hear:
You will feel:
When your baby is born, you will get a quick glimpse of him as he is held above the screen which has been placed between you and the surgeons. Then he will be taken to another part of the operating theatre where a paediatrician will check him over to make sure that he is breathing properly and is healthy. So long as your baby is well, he will be brought straight back to you so that you and your partner can cuddle him during the rest of the operation. The surgeon will remove the placenta and then it takes about 40 minutes to sew up each of the layers of muscle, fat and skin which have been cut through in order to deliver your baby. The final skin layer may be closed with staples, a long running stitch or individual stitches. Where to next?
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