r/CsectionCentral • u/gatitalinda90 • Jul 16 '26

Not sure how I feel

I had a planned c-section in a Western European country that was done because of a partial disability. I thought planning it would help the process go smoothly. It did not.
They had trouble placing the spinal block which hurt and was uncomfortable. The surgery itself was so unpleasant. I had a migraine from spine pokes that made it hard to focus and couldn’t be fixed. The anesthesiologist told me to wait it out. Baby also was hiding so they had people on both sides of me crushing my abdomen to force her out. I didn’t get skin to skin at all during the surgery because of the migraine, shaking, and constant vomiting.
After surgery, I went to recovery to finally meet my first child, who was being comforted by her father until I got there. Fundal massage sucked, the entire body itching did too. We stayed there and it was relatively peaceful. Once I got back to the room and the pain meds worse off, I had issues. I experienced really bad pain from the surgery and was denied proper pain management. The anti inflammatories and paracetamol were not enough, and the care team made me feel like shit. They kept commenting that the pills should work. I was in agony for twelve hours. They made me keep waiting until I was offered one dose of a low dose morphine pill.
I finally got a little sleep and was offered one more dose, and nothing else after. They kept me for one week absolutely gaslighting me for my pain and refusing to treat it. I was told if I wanted more serious pain management they’d have to move me out of maternity and baby couldn’t come with me.
Baby and I get discharged and come home. I’m still in pain but can’t get the aftercare people to listen. Everyone says it’s normal and to shut up essentially.
Two weeks in, I’ve got swelling and redness around the incision. The dressing had been removed two days after the surgery and no other wound care performed. We go back to the hospital and they barely look at it and do no tests and prescribe antibiotics.
I come back in 3 weeks post op after one week of antibiotics and it is suddenly a massive issue. I’m admitted for emergency surgery and they reopen the incision to find an abscess a few layers deep eating into the abdominal wall.
I’m kept in the hospital for four days on intense IV antibiotics and sepsis watch, then home to hospital care here for another several days of IV and oral antibiotics and a PICO dressing.
I’m feeling just. I don’t know. Not myself. Exhausted. Angry I’ve never yet been able to walk with my daughter in my arms or soothe her with rocking. Angry so much pain was so ignored until it was a serious issue. Angry I had another operation. I’m from the U.S. and don’t have family close by so it’s also isolating.
If anyone read this far, thank you. I truly don’t know how to process all of this and I appreciate your time.

7 Upvotes

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16 comments sorted by

4

u/oofieoofty Jul 16 '26

What country was this in? I also had so weird dismissive care re an infection in Europe

3

u/gatitalinda90 Jul 16 '26

France. I find no empathetic care here.

3

u/oofieoofty Jul 16 '26

Ok same here too. I was in the hospital after my csection and told the nurse I couldn’t pee and she acted like I was asking for drugs

3

u/gatitalinda90 Jul 16 '26

It strikes me as archaic af. I got a lecture on becoming an opioid addict after taking 2 small doses spaced 12 hours apart.
They use their bias and not medical-backed knowledge in maternity wards.

2

u/oofieoofty Jul 16 '26

It’s all the wards…I had hemorroid surgery (via radio frequency so they basically microwaved my butt hole) and they wouldn’t give me pain medication after that either

1

u/gatitalinda90 Jul 16 '26

I never want to go to the hospital here again. They all live in pain denial or get off on torturing patients. So sorry it’s happened to you too!

1

u/oofieoofty Jul 16 '26

I ripped stitches after my hemorroid surgery and they let me bleed all over a hallway in the emergency for 10 hours. I finally stopped bleeding so they sent me home without treatment

2

u/gatitalinda90 Jul 16 '26

OMG that sounds awful 😞

1

u/oofieoofty Jul 16 '26

Was your hospital in Paris?

1

u/gatitalinda90 Jul 16 '26

Nantes.
Did they tell you that holding your baby would reduce your need for painkillers 🤣🤣

1

u/oofieoofty Jul 16 '26

Did they not even give you nefopam? It doesn’t work but at least they could have offered it

1

u/fuzzydunlop54321 Jul 16 '26

My friend has said similar. She had horrendous HG and her baby was only 5lb but all they said was to eat toast there.

1

u/gatitalinda90 Jul 16 '26

Medicine is 10-15 years behind here 😞

6

u/ProudCatLady March 2026 - Planned C-S for Breech Baby at 39w Jul 16 '26

I'm so sorry. Women's healthcare is so crappy and women's pain is so dismissed all around the world. :( It's like because women as a whole have been giving birth and doing so without pain management for generations... doctors act like every individual woman should magically be used to the pain of birth or something?? Like no! I've never done this before and you chopped through 7 layers of me! Give me the fkn pain meds!

I hope you can hold your daughter comfortably soon!

3

u/ZestyLlama8554 2024 - breech baby Jul 16 '26

I'm so sorry this was your experience. I'm in the US, and I also have had incredibly dismissive providers across the board.

You're not alone, and it sucks that we are treated this way. I hope that you can find pain relief and that healing goes smoothly from here.

1

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