HEALTH & WELLNESS

What is it like to have a C-

section? Patient shares
delivery, recovery experience
Here's how to prepare and what to expect when facing a C-section
delivery.
Sept. 13, 2018, 4:04 AM CST / Source: TODAY
By Meghan Holohan

Fanchon Turnbull Stults was a first-time mom, excitedly planning for her baby
boy, when halfway through her pregnancy she learned he was in a breech
position.

Breech babies, babies who are angled butt or feet first instead of head first,
account for about 3 to 4 percent of full-term births, according to the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). They're just one reason a
woman and her health care provider may opt for a cesarean section delivery.
Both vaginal births and C-section births carry risks when a fetus is breech, but
complications are higher with a vaginal delivery.

Turnbull Stults hadn't thought about having a C-section at that point in her
pregnancy.

“My doctor offered me the option of trying to turn the baby while he was still
in the womb and that can be painful and not successful,” Turnbull Stults, 40,
of Springfield, Illinois, told TODAY. “I am kind of small and a vaginal birth
scared me.”
 While Fanchon Turnbull Stults was surprised she had to deliver her son via C-
section, she was happy with the experience. Courtesy Fanchon Turnbull Stults

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 32 percent

of all deliveries in the U.S. are by C-section. Breech babies are just one reason
why women have C-sections; according to ACOG, these are additional reasons
for delivery by C-section:

 Contractions that don't progress to move the baby

 A baby in distress
 Multiple babies (the more babies a woman is carrying, the more likely she will have a
C-section)
 Problems with the placenta
 A large baby
 Maternal infections, such as herpes or HIV
 Maternal risk factors, such as gestational diabetes or high blood pressure

After Turnbull Stults’ doctor explained the options, she felt comfortable with a
C-section.

“I had a good situation,” she said. “I probably did have a dream experience.”

New Baby Basics: Prepping for Delivery Day

AUG. 3, 201602:41
Preparing for a C-section

Turnbull Stults could not eat or drink 12 hours prior to the C-section so when
she woke that day, she skipped breakfast. She and her husband, Jeff, arrived
two hours prior to the procedure for her prep, where a nurse inserted a
catheter and an IV for fluids and medications.

Then an anesthesiologist arrived to give her an epidural block (referred to as

"an epidural"), where medicine is injected through a tube placed in the lower
back to numb the lower half of the body.

“I was a little nervous,” she said. “The epidural burned when it went in. I never
felt anything like that.”
New study shows inducing labor may help
some women avoid C-sections
AUG. 9, 201801:27

Women giving vaginal birth can also receive epidural blocks. This allows mom
to be awake during the birth, while also experiencing less pain.

According to ACOG, in emergency situations during childbirth, women may

receive general anesthesia during a C-section, which means they would be
unconscious during the procedure. Others can receive a spinal block, which
works just like an epidural block, but the anesthesia goes directly into the
spinal fluid.

After receiving the epidural and being moved to an operating room, nurses
placed a drape on Turnbull Stults from the waist down. She remembers the
room was freezing. Minutes after the doctor said, “OK, here we go,” she heard
her son, Merrick Owen, who was 7 pounds, 2 ounces, squawking like a bird.

“It was weird. They cut me open and I couldn’t feel it,” she said.

She briefly held Merrick then the doctor stitched her up, which felt like it took
longer than the delivery.
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“There weren’t any complications,” she said. In total, she thinks the C-section
lasted only 45 minutes and is lucky that it went so smoothly.

C-sections sometimes have complications, such as infection, blood loss, blood

clots in the legs, lungs or pelvic organs, and injury to the bowel or bladder. A
woman could also have a reaction to a medication that was used during the
procedure.

"Cesarean section has a higher risk than a vaginal delivery. It introduces new
opportunities for infections related to the surgery," Dr. Richard Beigi, chief
medical officer of UPMC Magee Womens-Hospital, told TODAY. He did not
treat Turnbull Stults.

Cost

The price tag for C-sections varies state-by-state and what people pay out-of-
pocket depends on their insurance. Guroo.com, a website from the Health
Care Cost Institute (HCCI), estimates that the average national cost for a C-
section is $16,038, while the average national cost for vaginal childbirth is
$12,560. These prices include the cost of prenatal care, delivery and postnatal
care.

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Recovering from surgery

Turnbull Stults had what’s known as a "bikini incision," which is a horizontal

incision across the lower abdomen, through which the doctors delivered the
baby and placenta. Following the surgery, she was sore near the incision area
and struggled to get up and down. But she was able to walk. It helped that
during her two-day hospital stay, she received pain medication that kept her
comfortable.

When she returned home her midsection still felt tender.

“The whole area was sore,” she said.

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She struggled getting in and out of bed while her abdominal muscles healed.
She often rolled onto her side to get up. She had to keep her incision clean and
pat it dry as the dissolvable stitches healed. For a week after, she could only
hold the baby and things that weighed less than 10 pounds to prevent
straining against her stitches and abdominal muscles.

ACOG noted that women can expect to feel mild cramping, following a C-
section, in addition to bleeding or discharge for four to six weeks.

"Heavy bleeding is more likely when you undergo caesarean section than a
vaginal delivery," Beigi explained. "It is statistically more likely for you to have
a pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis. It is a longer recovery and
potentially a more painful recovery because you had surgery."

Turnbull Stults developed a red raised bump on one of her stitches but it never
popped open and it eventually faded.

“I just had to keep the area clean and try and make sure the incision didn’t
come open,” she said.

Six years after having a C-section, Turnbull Stults sees little evidence that she
even had one.

“I can barely see the scar,” she said.