C-sections are Less Painful Than a Vaginal Delivery? || Mom Life

Let’s talk about how painful really are the c-sections. Today yesterday marked the final day of The International Week for Respecting Childbirth, I didn’t know about this until I read @damarysvibra’s post and then was reminded of it by @elizabeths14 post as well, I looked it up and according to UNICEF

The term "respected childbirth" or "humanized childbirth" refers to respect for the rights of mothers, children and their families at the time of birth. It promotes respect for the particularities of each family - ethnic group, religion, nationality -, accompanying them through safe and informed decision-making. - Unicef.

Also,

When we talk about respected childbirth, we mean that the woman follows her own labor pulse avoiding all kinds of unnecessary interventions, as well as deciding how to control pain during childbirth. - Unicef.

So, this celebration doesn't quite applies to C-sections but! That doesn't mean there isn’t a HUMANIZED CESAREAN DELIVERY procedure.

The humanized caesarean section focused on the woman is performed considering not only the physical and physiological needs but also the emotional ones. This practice gives the opportunity to perform procedures such as the delayed cord clumping and the skin to skin contact during the first hour that has been demonstrated as procedures with a lot of benefits for both, mother and baby. - Cesárea Humanizada

Now c-sections are often look at like the easy way out of what is view a very painful thing to go through, and people use this to discredit the moms who choose this instead of the vaginal delivery.

Back when I was pregnant, I had this dream of how my perfect delivery was going to be, I was going to be having a natural vaginal delivery and even tho I knew this was supposed to be painful i also knew after the baby is out you immediately feel fine, I mean I know of a old classmate of mine who had her kid the night before we had a final test of Roman Law back in Law School and she went to take the test the next morning like nothing new had happen.
But see when I plan ahead things tend to blow in my face pretty often (I should have learn by now) I have talked about this in the past, but to summarize My doctor told me I needed to have a c-section cause of several issues with my pregnancy (Kid had the cord around his neck, an arm on the way and I had a high count of uric acid). So, yeah I ended up having a c-section, it was medically recommended and not by choice but! I still get the look from other people, women specially, of judgement, I can’t imagine what a woman who chooses this procedure goes through.

Is it less painful?

Here is the thing, different people have different levels of pain tolerance, I knew this but I guess I didn’t understand it until I saw it first hand with my sister, she had her second baby just 2 weeks ago, and I was on guard to take care of her right after she came out of the OR from her c-section.

Now I remember when I had my c-section done I felt so much pain while the doctors were cutting me and taking the kid out, but then when I though well all is over I can finally breath easy, that is when the pain started it.

What the doctors don't tell you

You see when you have a vaginal delivery you feel contractions, this is because your whole body is preparing it self to evict the little person who has been living rent free in you. During labor your uterus contracts itself enough that by the end when the baby is out, the uterus is back into its natural and rightful place.

When you have a c-section your body doesn't goes through this naturally, so after the kid is out, the doctors have to give you OXYTOCIN (also known by me as the devils hormone)

Oxytocin: Hormone secreted by the pituitary gland that has the property of causing uterine contractions and stimulating the rise of milk; It is also pharmacologically prepared to be administered by intramuscular or intravenous injection to induce labor, increase the force of labor contractions, control postpartum hemorrhage, and stimulate milk let-down. - [oxford dictionary[(https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-es).

So, yeah after they have pull you through the uncomfortable pain of getting the epidural, they have cut you naked body open in the OR table, move your organs around to give way for you kid, and they finally move you to your recovery room when you think you will enjoy your new born and start to feel human again, that is when you start to get this contractions, also keep in mind you cant talk after the surgery for 6 hours and cant actually move much cause well you were cut open and got your organs moved so yeah you need to stay still for at least 6 hours.

The different tolerance to pain & the use of analgesia

Now you may had heard some women say that this procedure wasn't painful at all and all went well for them, that can be because of 2 things.

1. Drugs,

For the pain you have the option to pay for an analgesia pump, this should help with any pain easily cause you can control how the analgesia is administer to you, but this a very expensive option and some moms who can afford it use not to use it to avoid passing along any drugs to their kids through breastfeeding.

In my case i actually learned about this after cause I wasn't even informed this was an option, not like i could have afforded but hello it would have been nice to know my options, I feel this is one of the many ways my doctor fail me that day.

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1. Pain tolerance,
   Now I remember the pain I felt from this contractions was enough to make me realize I made the right decision when I choose to get sterilize, the pain was so much that I knew right then I didn’t wanted to go through this again, my boyfriend went to buy me some more pain killers and I just stood there silently crying while trying to see the good in all this that was being finally able to carry my new born son in my arms.

My sister didn’t take it like I did, she obviously didn’t have the same tolerance and was crying out loud that it hurt, she even asked the doctors to give her more pain medicine, she had put 3 suppositories, and 3 different pain killers on her IV and she still continue to cry the whole day, by that night she got the more vital painkiller call Tramal, and this was able to calm her a bit.

Being call dramatic doesn't help

I know you as a doctor or a nurse have experience, but the fact that you have the audacity to call a woman who had her body cut open and is now going through the painful contractions a dramatic patience cause she is complaining from the pain? OMG this enrage me so much! She may be a bit dramatic yes, but this may be her only way to deal with the pain, if nothing else, she may just need to complain to let it all out, besides is her body you are not the one feeling what she is feeling so you don't know if something that to you is maybe a little pain to her is a unbearable pain so shut up!

Don't let anyone diminish your feelings

You have a right to express how are you feeling, you don't need to act tough, feeling pain doesn't make you a weak woman and having your baby through a c-section doesn't make you less of a woman or anything than those who have them through a vaginal delivery.

Your body your choice

My personal opinion is a c-section should be done only for a medical reason of if you have enough money to pay for the analgesia pump to avoid the pain, but nobody should shame you for choosing this procedure over the vaginal one cause is YOUR BODY and only you should have a say in it, is not like other people will be volunteering in your place to get it done or to push the baby in your place so, I just recommend to do proper research, find yourself a doctor who is willing to talk to you openly about the pros and cons and ways to deal with the pain, and who above all respects you enough not to have him gaslight you as it happen to me when I tol my doctor I felt pain and she said I was only feeling pressure or how my sister had tu endure being call dramatic for people who she was paying to (We both had our babies on private clinics so, we paid for this treatment I cant imagine what women who had to go to a public hospital goes through).

is Vaginal delivery more painful?

I cant speak from personal experience in this matter since I only had have one kid and he was born through a c-section like I said but I would say the big difference between one and the other is in the vaginal one you get your most private and pretty small whole in your body expand wide enough to pass through a human baby head. So, yeah, I would call that a pain only one who has to go through it can understand, but that doesn't make any less painful the c-section, specially since the pain you experience after the c-section can actually last longer, the recovery time from a c-section is for over a week, a vaginal delivery can heal so much faster but again this depends on the woman the physical form she is in and a lot of other factors like I said before pain tolerance is also a big thing when measuring this.

As always, thank you for reading me, would love to read about your own experience on this, so please leave a comment or better yet, make a post in The Motherhood Community.

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