ELCS at Kings

[monniemae]

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

[jollybaby]

1-2 nights depending on what time in the day you have your section and how you're recovering. I was unwell post emergency section (due to an infection that had developed during my induction)and was still discharged after 2 nights. Good luck.

[monniemae]

Thank you! Sorry to hear you had a tough time but good you were still home quickly.

[HOMum]

I had mine in 2010 I was told a minimum of 48 hours, had her 11am Monday was out 2pm Wednesday!

[RenF]

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.

[RenF]

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!

[hellosailor]

I believe they have changed it from minimum 2 night stay to 1 night if no complications after c-section at Kings.

[Goonerjules]

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!

[monniemae]

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.

[jollybaby]

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!

[familyof4]

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!

[lstickler]

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

[theratprincess]

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!

[Kes]

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

[monniemae]

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.