Dr Sherene Kalloo

The month of April is In­ter­na­tion­al Cae­sare­an Aware­ness Month, which places fo­cus on C-sec­tions and the im­pact they have on the health of women well af­ter a ba­by is de­liv­ered.

A Cae­sare­an sec­tion (C-sec­tion) is a safe and com­mon sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure used to de­liv­er a ba­by through an in­ci­sion made in the ab­domen and uterus. Un­der­stand­ing what to ex­pect can make the ex­pe­ri­ence far less in­tim­i­dat­ing.

Be­fore the surgery

Prepa­ra­tion of­ten be­gins be­fore the day of de­liv­ery, es­pe­cial­ly for planned C-sec­tions. Your doc­tor will ex­plain the rea­son for the pro­ce­dure, the risks, re­view your med­ical his­to­ry, and an­swer any ques­tions you may have. You may be ad­vised not to eat or drink for sev­er­al hours be­fore surgery. Blood tests and rou­tine checks will be done, and you will be asked to sign a con­sent form.

On the day of the pro­ce­dure, you will change in­to a hos­pi­tal gown, and an in­tra­venous (IV) line will be placed to ad­min­is­ter flu­ids and med­ica­tion. It is ad­vised to shave the area be­fore­hand. A mem­ber of the med­ical team will guide you through each step, help­ing you feel in­formed and sup­port­ed.

Dur­ing the pro­ce­dure

In the op­er­at­ing room, you will re­ceive re­gion­al anaes­the­sia—usu­al­ly a spinal—which numbs the low­er half of your body while keep­ing you awake. This al­lows you to ex­pe­ri­ence the mo­ment your ba­by is born.

A screen will be placed so you do not see the sur­gi­cal area, but your part­ner or sup­port per­son is of­ten al­lowed to sit near your head for re­as­sur­ance. You may feel some pres­sure or pulling sen­sa­tions, but you should not feel pain.

The de­liv­ery it­self is typ­i­cal­ly quick. Once your ba­by is born, you will hear that first cry—a pow­er­ful and emo­tion­al mo­ment. The ba­by is as­sessed im­me­di­ate­ly, and in most cas­es, you can have skin-to-skin con­tact soon af­ter.

Af­ter the surgery

Fol­low­ing the pro­ce­dure, you will be tak­en to a re­cov­ery area where nurs­es will mon­i­tor your vi­tal signs, pain lev­els, and bleed­ing. Then you will be tak­en back to your room. Pain man­age­ment is a pri­or­i­ty, and med­ica­tion will be pro­vid­ed to keep you com­fort­able. This may not be need­ed for up to three hours post spinal anaes­thet­ic.

Re­cov­ery from a C-sec­tion takes time. You may stay in the hos­pi­tal for two to three days. Dur­ing this pe­ri­od, you will be en­cour­aged to move gen­tly, as ear­ly move­ment helps pre­vent com­pli­ca­tions and sup­ports heal­ing. Breast­feed­ing can be­gin as soon as you feel ready, and staff will as­sist you in find­ing com­fort­able po­si­tions.

At home, it is im­por­tant to rest, avoid heavy lift­ing, and fol­low your doc­tor’s in­struc­tions re­gard­ing wound care. Emo­tion­al re­cov­ery is just as im­por­tant—be pa­tient with your­self as your body heals.

What to pack and ex­pect

in the hos­pi­tal

Pack­ing ahead of time can ease anx­i­ety. Es­sen­tials in­clude com­fort­able, loose cloth­ing, ma­ter­ni­ty pads, toi­letries, ba­by clothes, and im­por­tant doc­u­ments. Con­sid­er bring­ing items that pro­vide com­fort, such as a favourite pil­low or mu­sic. Usu­al­ly, you can ob­tain a list from the hos­pi­tal.

Ex­pect a struc­tured en­vi­ron­ment fo­cused on safe­ty and care. Nurs­es and doc­tors will check on you reg­u­lar­ly, as­sist with feed­ing, and guide you through re­cov­ery. Do not hes­i­tate to ask ques­tions—sup­port is al­ways avail­able.

The role of your part­ner

or sup­port per­son

Your part­ner or cho­sen sup­port per­son plays a vi­tal role. Their pres­ence can pro­vide emo­tion­al re­as­sur­ance be­fore, dur­ing, and af­ter the pro­ce­dure. They can ad­vo­cate for your needs, help care for the ba­by, and sup­port you phys­i­cal­ly as you re­cov­er.

En­cour­age your sup­port per­son to be in­formed about the process so they can feel con­fi­dent as well. A calm and pre­pared part­ner can make a sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ence in your over­all ex­pe­ri­ence.

Men­tal prepa­ra­tion and

re­duc­ing anx­i­ety

Men­tal prepa­ra­tion can sig­nif­i­cant­ly re­duce anx­i­ety, which of­ten stems from fear of the un­known. Ed­u­ca­tion is one of the most pow­er­ful tools for re­duc­ing fear. Speak open­ly with your ob­ste­tri­cian, at­tend an­te­na­tal class­es if avail­able, and avoid mis­in­for­ma­tion.

Sim­ple tech­niques such as deep breath­ing, vi­su­al­i­sa­tion, and pos­i­tive af­fir­ma­tions can help calm your mind. Re­mind your­self that this pro­ce­dure is be­ing done with your safe­ty and your ba­by’s well-be­ing as the pri­or­i­ty.

Part III next week.

Dr Sherene Kalloo

MDW, MBBS, DGO, DM, FACOG

Spe­cial­ist Ob­ste­tri­cian & Gy­nae­col­o­gist