Things to take for an Elective C Section

Hi ladies.
I just found out baby is breach so booked in for an Elective C Section next week. I have enjoyed reading this thread as prep.

I was wondering what sort of things i should pack in my hosp bag for the whole process, theatre, recovery and the postnatal ward after. Can you guys give me some advice on things you had with you or wish you had that made the whole thing more comfortable or easy. A comprehensive list would be good as i am really not sure at all.

For example what is most comfortable to wear when in postnatal wards after. I was planning on PJ bottoms/sweat pants and breast feeding singlets. But now that i am having a C Section i am not sure if these will rub on the wound?? I could just wear baggy Ts but they'll be a pain for Breast Feeding. ?

Is it true that your DP and MW get to dress baby while we are in recovery?? In that case should we have the baby clothes packed seperately??

Any ideas of things to wear and other bits and pieces to pack would be great thanks?

Edited by BayGirl

I just wore the hospital nightgown for the first couple of days and then wore my preggie clothes and breastfeeding tops.

I'm pretty sure DS came straight out with me into recovery and we tried to breastfeed straight away and did skin to skin etc... so he wasn't dressed.

Make sure you take heaps of 'nana' knickers. Big knickers that will come up over your c-section wound. I wore loose trackie pants and maternity jeans as I can't bear for people to see me in my pj's and I found these perfectly comfy. Baby was brought to me asap to establish feeding, no clothes necessary for baby. I don't remember anything else being that necessary but the best piece of advice I got from a lady that I was sharing a room with and who just had her third c-section is to make sure you take the pain relief! Control the pain, don't wait for it to be painful and then try to take relief. I can be a bit 'tough' with pain relief, as in I don't normally take it unless I really need it, but I found by keeping the pain under control I recovered really really well and was back driving and doing all normal tasks 11 days after giving birth.

Camera and charger/spare batteries!! The hospital midwives might take photos for you (if you want to see them) if the theatre staff allow, we got lots of photos, and even a short video of DD and I meeting for the first time.

Plenty of books/magazines as baby does a lot of sleeping, so as someone already said, can get very boring, esp since staff are usually VERY strict about visiting hours!

DD was on me for the first couple of hours while in recovery (skin to skin within the first hour is still easily achieved, and is often reccomended), and was just wrapped in a towel til I was in my own room and I dressed her in her first clothes.

As for clothes, I had a pair of loose leggings (maternity ones that i had strecthed to full capacity in later pregancy, so once bubs was out, it was very loose around the tummy area) and just wore my BFing singlet as they keep it very warm up there! Also allowed easy access to the leur and multiple blood tests! I had a warm dressing gown for once i was up and about just to throw over what I was already wearing, and slippers that could be slipped on without needing to bend down to put them on.

I also got those little cartons of juice concentrate and some nibbles like muesli bars and mixed nuts, you need to keep your fluids up to help establish BFing and I found adding some concentrate to make it taste nicer made me drink more water, I would also suggest expressing by hand in the shower between now and bubs arrival to get some colostrum production started, as the usual hormones dont come into play as soon as theyt would with a vaginal delivery, I had some there from the moment they put her on, rather than her sucking and getting nothing to start with in order to stimluate supply. Came in very handy as she went on a nursing strike on day 2, which would have compromised my milk coming in had I not established a small supply already. Alternatively you could get a product called milk Flo from most health food stores to help speed up the process.

Best of luck!!

Thanks for all the advice ladies! C Section is tomorrow morn and i am off to pack hosp bag now!

I had my own pillow, a tri pillow and it was so nice to have it, I had taken it in for BFing..but I wouldn't bother with my own sheets coz they are likely to get messy. Own blanket would be nice tho, didn't think of that!

Just bumping this up to see if anyone else has anything to add.

I have a breech baby so might be needing a c section if he doesnt turn before 39 weeks. So any info would be good

Just wanted to say that having a tri pillow or similar BFing pillow is an awesome idea, I wish I had had one in hospital - very hard lifting bubs with a luer in one hand and no abdominal strength at all!!

Otherwise dont take too much, it's a nightmare trying to cary it all out when you leave! (Especially since you wont be able to cary much at all).

I had close friends waiting for us in our room when we came back from recovery the past two times. It was nice to have them there though the nurses had to keep coming in and checking bleeding, my temp, bp etc. I was comfortable having them in the room for that, but there are other people who I wouldn't have felt comfortable with during that.

The last time surgery was quite late. Afterwards DF was making noises about picking up the two older kids and taking them home then bringing them to meet their baby sister the next day. I insisted he bring them to the hospital that night even though it was past Sebastians bedtime at least. They only stayed about 20 minutes, but at least they had a chance to meet her. Sebastian was really weird, he wouldn't come anywhere near me.

With DS he was an emerg CS after 48 hour labour at 1.03am and I had visitors at 2pm I was shattered but SO happy to see my family and friends.

With DD, she was an elective, had her at 1.03(haha uncanny huh)pm and I had visitors about 3 or 4pm I think, again I was happy to see them and to show off my girl and I wanted to see DS!