Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Anyone had an elective c section at Kings recently? Or Lewisham / St Thomas?


It's looking likely though not definite I will need one, I was ok about this as despite hating hospitals I was told by one midwife you can get discharged after 24 hours if everything is ok but another midwife has contradicted this and said it's a minimum 3 night stay.


I'm sure contradictions are par for the course but would love to hear any recent experiences. It's a first baby in case that makes a difference

Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/33922-elcs-at-kings/
Share on other sites

I had an emergency c section, post induction at St Thomas and was in for two nights (I lost a fair bit of blood though). First baby.

I was actually glad of the first night and day as the staff were lovely, picking my daughter up when I needed to feed her, changing nappies etc. By the second night I was a bit fed up of the noise and other people (although my little ward sounds positively peaceful to some I have heard of!).

They get you up and about fairly quickly which is good.

Oh, I would add, when they tell you they are discharging you this is the bit that seems to take the longest and in my experience was the most frustrating thing. My advice is once they say you can go, get packed up and ready and be prepared to hassle them a bit (obviously they're hugely busy but you do sometimes just get overlooked if you're sitting there quietly) and tell everyone you see that you're ready to go!


Good luck!

I had an emergency c-section last year at Kings. I had my daughter 6am on Friday morning and was out by 6pm the next day(Saturday). I really wanted to get home and had no complications but I did have to keep reminding them i was keen to leave. I think it probably helped me that there were no beds on labour ward so I was put in the ward below where everyone around me was in early labour. I'm not sure what would have been worse in terms of noise, lots of babies crying all night or women groaning in pain but after one night of the groaning I wanted to get home to my own bed to get some sleep.


Good luck!

Thanks everyone! Yes I've heard the same about discharge taking ages - and was with a friend who was kept waiting ten hours despite hassling - might take a leaf out of another friend's book and discharge myself (after they've said they're going to discharge me) if nothing happens.*


*I'll probably end up begging to stay in all week after all this but thank you.

My discharge was a bit of a surprise to be honest. Because I had spent the first night in the labour ward high dependency section on IV antibiotics etc I thought I'd be staying an extra night. Midwife came round about 5pm and said 'Your blood test is fine - you're going home'. I'd barely left my bed til then. My top tip would be to get up and about as soon as possible.


Due my second section 2 weeks today. definitely got to stay in for 2 nights this time due to a drug I'm on . Hopefully won't be too much of an ordeal as hospital only has single rooms - yippee!

Kings allow you to leave after 24 hrs *if you want to*


I had an ELCS at kings in December - totally straight forward


However I chose to stay an extra night to avoid my toddler who jumped on me during his visit after the op!


Agree - get up asap. You feel terrible for 24 hrs but it goes, and after 3x days I felt normal and even hosted a party - did all cooking etc.


After a tricky first natural birth, I found my ELCS a doddle. I would go far as saying I enjoyed it.


Good luck!

I was supposed to be having an ELCS at kings a couple of weeks ago and I was told min 3 night stay. However we ended up being transferred to a different hospital as there was no room at Kings and we stayed in for 2 nights. I guess the length of time you stay in is totally dependant upon your and your baby's situation. If you're up and about soon and no probs with baby then you'll probably be home sooner.


I was really surprised at how long its taking me to recover compared to a natural birth. Although I only had it a week and a half ago so perhaps I'm bein impatient. I definitely couldn't have held a party on day 3 (wow-I'm super impressed familyoffour).


Good luck and hope it all goes well

I had an elective at Kings nearly 8 months ago. If you have a choice, avoid Mondays as apparently there tends to be a back log from the weekend. I was scheduled for Monday but got bumped to Wednesday. It was handled spectacularly badly by Kings (nil by mouth for hours in the outside waiting room with no information or updates). After I made a complaint, the Wednesday went very smoothly. I was first on and baby was born by 9am!


I was put on the accelerated discharge programme and was discharged within 24 hours. So you could ask to be put on this programme?


Echoing others, the surgery and recovery was a doddle compared to complicated natural birth I had first time around. It definitely helps to pluck up the courage to get up and about as quickly as possible.


Good luck!

I had an elective at kings in November. They said they were testing a new protocol for straight forward cases in healthy mums, which would enable you to go home after 24 hours. I was desperate for as little time in hospital as possible so signed up. In the end I had some issues relating to my previous emergency cs and was in 2 nights but was glad of it as I found all movement very difficult so needed the hospital bed to help me sit up.


All in all the whole process was fine. It did take quite a while to recover but nothing like the long labour and emergency cs last time


Blog post about it here if you're interested:

Http://www.southwarkbelle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/introducing-m.html

Thanks for all this info everyone. Interesting that some people are being told 3 nights still - the KCH website has an info leaflet which says 1 night but the antenatal class midwives are saying a minimum 3 nights still... So a real mix of info from people working there! I shall hope for the best ie 1 night


And thanks theratprincess for advice to avoid Mondays - I'm 39 weeks on a Friday and thought I should ask for the monday instead to avoid the weekend as others have said the care / discharge is slower - but perhaps I'll stick with a friday after all.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • I think it has to be acknowledged that in some streets, rubbish is inadvertently tipped into the street after bin collection. That's what happens where I live. I can't blame the foxes unless they only visit on a Tuesday. No-one sweeps any of the fallen litter up. Neither do we get anyone sweeping the streets. I never like to blame front line workers as ususlly the problem lies furthet up the food chain. Trouble is this uncollected rubbish is a magnet for passers by to add to the mess by littering. Never mind potholes. My next vote goes to the Councillor who campaigns on a keep Southwark tidy ticket.
    • By ‘adopting’ you would still have to pay for the dog.  Do you have children?  Have you ever had a dog before?  Looked after anyone’s dog?  Work away from home?  Are there any breeds you are particularly interested in?    I would suggest going to Discover Dogs which is part of Crufts but that won’t be until next year now. That way you can meet many different breeds and their owners.  They used to have a standalone DD at the Excel Centre in November but I don’t think it exists anymore. You could also go to different dog shows to see different breeds. They are held throughout the year.  if you get certain breeds like a shitzu or poodle then you’d have to factor in grooming costs if you can’t do it yourself.  You can always keep them in a very short clip.  Many dogs shed a lot including short haired dogs like pugs.  Golden retrievers are also notorious for shedding.  I personally would never get a brachy dog like a pug, French bulldog or English bulldog ever.    If you get a well bred dog from a breeder and can meet the parents then you would get an idea of what the dog will turn out like.  Sometimes breeders have dogs returned to them for various reasons including illness of the owner.  You could look for such a dog.  It’s important that all dogs are socialised correctly during their first year as well as being exposed to outside influences. If this doesn’t take place then the dog has been done a disservice.  But, there’s no substitute to good breeding in my opinion or if you are getting an older dog perhaps you could foster first to get to know them.  You could end up with a dog who’d been badly treated in a previous home and that would take a lot of fixing.   If you are interested in sight hounds, @galgosdelsol are a rescue in Spain run by an English woman (they are on Instagram and have a website) who rehomes Galgos, Spanish dogs similar to greyhounds.  They are often dumped by Spanish hunters if they won’t hunt and retrieve.  They are thoroughly assessed and trained before being rehomed. A breeder of my favourite breed in York works with a Romanian rescue and she fosters a few dogs a year in order to rehome them in the UK.  She’s even kept a few herself.      
    • Agree.  They also send emails out saying when they’ve received it and on day of delivery say what time in a three hour gap to expect it.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...