Have you ever had abdominal surgery of any kind before? If you have, then you can have a good idea of what to expect. Your husband's help will be invaluable to you, since lifting the baby will be hard at first. If you are going to breastfeed, it will be less painful to position the baby on pillows off to each side, rather than lay him across your abdomen...at least until the incision quits hurting. It will be interesting to find out how big he is, since those late scans aren't any guarantee, as we've discussed before. I've seen women come in, thinking they were going to have a 9-10 pounder because of their last ultrasound, and end up with one between 7-8#. And I've seen babies turn out way bigger than what mama had been led to expect. Could go either way, but at least you don't have long to wait to find out!

Good luck to you all.

tl

T & L, no, I’ve never had any type of abdominal surgery so I don’t have any idea what to expect. According to the latest ultrasound the baby isn’t very big at this stage (approximately 7 pounds on 38 weeks), but the size of the head in comparison to my pelvis appears to be the problem according to the GO. I’m interested too to see what his actual size and weight will be! I’m a woman with a small bone structure, but since I’ve heard of many small sized ladies who gave birth to relatively big babies, I never thought it would be a potential problem in my situation. Oh well…

It’s very important for me to breastfeed, so I hope I will not have any problems in that area… I will be at home with the baby for 5 and a half months and I want to try and breastfeed as long as possible even after I start working again. Do you know if a C-section might have an influence on a mother’s initial attempt to breastfeed since it is not a “natural” delivery? In the hospital where I will have my delivery the baby is not brought to the mother straight away after birth to start breastfeeding. The baby is first put in an incubator until he/she reaches the right temperature (which can take up to 6 hours) and is brought to the mother afterwards. I have read bringing the baby to the mother for breastfeeding as soon as possible after birth is a major factor to establish success in this area, so I’m not totally content with the procedure that will be followed in the hospital directly after birth.

T & L, I have another question for you about breastfeeding. What is the most important food to avoid while breastfeeding? I’ve read that garlic, onions, beans and obviously drinks containing alcohol and caffeine must be avoided (and obviously food/drinks containing too much sugar and “empty” snacks like chocolate etc), but I have heard from some ladies that foods containing “sour” like tomatoes, oranges, bananas and pineapple must also be avoided. Is that true? I love all those fruits/vegetables and would not like to exclude any healthy food from my diet that’s not necessary.

I've got an appt. 30+ miles away in about an hr. so I need to get ready. I'll get back to you.

tl

Suzette - My friend just had a C-section for twins on Saturday and I spent the day at the hospital with her. One had her head up and the other had the head down. So they planned a C-section once the babies were 5 pounds. She was 36 weeks pregnant.

Turned out the babies weighed 6 pounds 3 ounces, and 7 pounds 1 ounce.

Anyway, she couldn't eat or drink anything the night before and went in at 7:30AM. They had do do a sonogram and were completely full, so it seemed like it took forever. She had the babies at 11:30.

Her husband was able to go with her and they gave her a shot that numbed everything, and had a sheet up, so neither of them looked. She had been frightened, but said it was fine and she didn't feel anything.

She briefly saw one baby, but not the 2nd - I don't know why. I was able to watch the nurses do their thing in the nursery. Dad was with the babies, and mom in the recovery room for about 2 hours. I got to visit with her there and she had no pain, and was still numb. I think they gave her morphine - at any rate, she only had crushed ice the rest of the day.

She nursed in the recovery room, and had no problem.

I think that different women/babies have different foods that disagree with them.

I really wanted to breastfeed my first child but it did not go well. We were totally miserable for the first week - until her doctor and I decided a happy bottlefed baby was better than a starving nursing one....it was a nipple issue, apparently. With the second child, I knew I was going to have to have surgery when he was 3 months old and I knew that I was back on antibiotics before he was 24 hours old - due to a respiratory infection - so he never got a shot at breastfeeding.

Go for it, though. Ask the doctor to make arrangements for you to nurse immediately, if you wish. Your doctor can advocate for you.

Suzet,

I had c-sections with both of my DD's. I stunk at birthing but we were breastfeeding champs. With the OD, I was able to nurse shortly after the delivery. With YD, it was at least 12 hours (due to my blood loss) and the nursery had given her a bottle.

They both were exclusively breast fed, no formula.

I do remember it being painful/awkward trying to get positioned due to the surgery. Just stay in bed with the wee one for a few days.

The only thing I had to avoid eating was the spicy mustard sauce you put on egg rolls. That was the only thing that seemed to bother either baby.

Good Luck on your delivery!

Suzet, thanks for the update. Just to share, I had a natural (ouch) delivery with my firstborn. After she was born and placed on my tummy, she turned and searched out my breast immediately. She made breastfeeding a very easy and natural choice.

My twins were a c-section at 37 wks. (I insisted on a general against the hospital's advice - me=big chicken). Possibly because of the anaesthetic, they were much sleepier and not really interested in feeding. In fact one of the babies ended up with a feeding tube because she had no sucking reflex at all for days. It was very hard work to breastfeed them and I only succeeded because I'd done it before. Had they been my first babies, I'm sure I'd have given up.

One thing that nobody seems to tell you is that, at the beginning, breastfeeding can be toe-curlingly painful when the baby latches on but it soon eases. Breastfeeding has to be done in a resting position so it is nature's way of telling you to sit back and relax. It can also take ages to complete a successful feed cos some babies get so cozy (who wouldn't) they just keep dropping off to sleep!

Suzet, the very best of luck for Monday. Take care. TT

If it's important to you, I encourage you to ask questions, make sure you understand and agree with the decision to do a C-section. A nurse friend had hinted to me that she'd heard of doctors scheduling unnecessary C-sections because it's more convenient for them (plus they get paid more). I don't mean to worry you, I'm sure everything will be fine, just don't be afraid to ask questions and stick to what you think is best.

In general (I've heard) C-sections are supposed to be safest for the baby, and vag. delivery is usually safest for the mom (which is also good for baby) so it's a toss-up.

Hi Suzet,

There is no evidence to prove that onions, garlic, spicy foods or anything are secreted into breastmilk or cause problems.

The only food that has been scientifically shown to have any impact on nursing babies is cows milk and only in cases of milk protein allergy in the baby.

That said, some mothers feel their babies are unsettled after they eat certain foods but its incredibly individual. You do not need to start out by avoiding anything, even the foods you couldn't eat when pregnant are now ok (although obviously anything like shellfish where you run a risk of getting food poisoning yourself wouldn't be much fun when caring for a tiny baby so sensible caution is advised.)

Its only alcohol and certain drugs really that you need to be careful of.

Do you have a LLL group in your area? They are usually a fantastic source of information and support for breastfeeding mothers. I'm a peer supporter in England (although now living in France confusingly) which means I've done basic training in supporting women in the normal course of breastfeeding. I can point you in the direction of the most recent information and support on the web if you need it.

As far as getting breastfeeding off to a good start it is true that those first hours can make a real difference. I wouldn't be happy to be seperated from the baby for up to 6 hours either.

Best of luck for the coming birth and meeting your darling baby for the first time. I have two little girls and thats the most special moment and makes me want to do it all again (my youngest is only 9 months old though lol).

Clare
xxx

Thanks for the responses and words of “good luck”, I know everything will go well on Monday! Hubby and I are very excited by now and can’t wait to finally meet our long awaited baby. God has been so good to us and we are so blessed… It’s now only 3 days before our baby will be born. It’s going to be a wonderful experience to see our own child…our flesh and blood united in this child…for the first time. We never though this dream would become real to us after more than 12 years of marriage. So many people has also prayed for this pregnancy to be healthy and I must say, other than the problems I experienced with the severe insomnia for many months, the pregnancy was otherwise without any problems or complications. Thanks to the people on this board who has also prayed for us.

Clare, we are living in South-Africa and I’m not aware of any LLL group in my area. I will therefore appreciate if you can send me the information. Thanks!

You're welcome. I have a friend who is south african who went to a LLL group in Cape Town I don't know if they have them in other areas but I will try to find out.

http://www.kellymom.com/ is written by a lactation consultant (a high qualification in the world of breastfeeding support) and contains a lot of information that you can be sure is accurate and up to date (unfortunately there is a lot of bad information scattered around the web like any subject).

http://www.llli.org/SouthAfrica.html contains information about LLL in south africa and has telephone numbers of Leaders (breastfeeding counsellors, who have more specific breastfeeding training than is usual for doctors or midwives but not as much as a certified lactation consultant). Leaders will run support groups but will also provide telephone help for a voluntary donation (LLL is a registered charity).

God blessed us with a boy at 7:27 am on Monday morning! His birth weight was 3.3 kg (7.425 pounds) and 48 cm (18.9 inches) long. The C-section went very well and I was released from hospital yesterday. He was shown to me immediately after birth. He was put in the incubator for 6 hours to stabilize his temperature (standard procedure in the hospital for all new born babies). During those 6 hours he was brought to me for breast feeding 3 times (also standard procedure in hospital I didn’t know of beforehand.) The first breast feeding session took place immediately after I’ve came out of the theatre (approximately 30 minutes after birth). So far I experience no problems with the breast feeding like latching problems etc. and I’m so thankful for that!

So far he is a very relaxed and “easy” baby. No colic or crying unless he is hungry or need a nappy change or when we bath him. There is just one word to describe the whole experience of seeing him for the first time and bonding with him during the past few days: AMAZING and far beyond what we’ve ever imagined… We are totally in love with him!

Congratulations, Suzet!!

Thank you Mel!

So happy the hear the news! Hope you are feeling okay.

Congratulations, Suzet!!!!

Emotionally I’m feeling wonderful, happy, calm and very relaxed believer! The first 2 days in hospital I didn’t feel very well physically because of the operation and strong pain killers, but it’s much better now and with every day that passes by I know it will get better.

Thank you!

Congratulations to mom, dad and baby boy!