Dr Renee White: [00:00:00] Knowledge is power, and we are all about empowering the mamas of the world. In each episode, we will unravel and interpret the latest research and evidence-based practices for pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood. As mums and researchers ourselves, we have experienced firsthand the overwhelming complexity of information myths and those classic old wives tales.

I'm Dr. Renee White, and this is the Science of Motherhood. Hello and welcome to episode 169 of The Science of Motherhood. My name is Dr. Renee White. I am your host. Uh, thank you so much for tuning in. We have got a bit of a personal episode for me. I'm pretty vocal about, uh, my birth. Um, if you wanted to listen along, uh, jump back into episode three where I talk about, um, my birth experience and I thought in view [00:01:00] of International Cesarean Awareness Month.

I was gonna talk about the fact that I have had a C-section before. It was an elective C-section, and I wanted to talk about, here are all the things that I wouldn't do if I was having a C-section. So, before we jump into today's episode, I just wanted to reiterate that we have got an amazing resource on our website called the Gentle Cesarean Checklist.

I put this together in collaboration with the beautiful, Emma Watson, so, no, not Emma Watson from Harry Potter, Emma Watson, who is a gorgeous midwife here in Tasmania. We did a couple of episodes on the podcast, which, uh, for all those playing home, episode 84 and 86, Emma and I spoke about all things cesarean birth, but we kind of.[00:02:00]

As it was really funny, as we were doing the episode, we were like, oh man, we should really put this into like a neat, concise checklist. Um, and so this kind of, you know, very small ebook that we've got on our website, um, you can download and it's got things about, you know, how to prepare during pregnancy.

It's got, you know, birthing your baby and then preparing for postpartum. So if you wanted to download that, just head over to ifillyourcup.com, and then in the Freebies and Guides section, you can download it there, which is really, really cool. All the things that we kind of spoke about in a nutshell.

But in today's episode, what I wanted to talk about was kind of like. How many points have I got? 1, 2, 3, 4, five-ish, five things that I wouldn't do if I was having a cesarean. So number one, I would not go in blind and by [00:03:00] that what I mean is that whether you think that you are, you know, heading down the vaginal birth route or you know, you're having an elective cesarean or, or whatever that looks like.

I wouldn't go in blind, I would really talk about what to expect, whichever way you're going, because I feel like knowledge is power, and so it's always good to have that information with you. I would talk to your midwife or obstetrician and I would talk to them about what is to be expected, and I would talk to them about my wants and wishes, you know there's this misconception, for example, that you can't have skin to skin when you have a cesarean. Not true. You can absolutely do that. So I would talk about those wants and wishes. Things that I missed out on that I didn't really have knowledge or a voice for was, I never got to see my placenta. I [00:04:00] really, really would've loved to have seen my placenta.

I never, never got to see it, so that's something that I would probably voice, um, up about if you are having an elective cesarean. I would highly encourage, and they typically do this, I think your anesthetist will give you a buzz, um, a couple days in advance, if not the, the night before. See how you're going.

Check in with how you're going. Mine was absolutely amazing. He walked me through, I think it was like twice as well 'cause obviously nerves exactly what to expect. Exactly what was going to happen, you know, to the point where it's like you're going to be wheeled into the room and you know you're gonna sit on the side of the bed.

And I highly encourage you to like, maybe put a pillow around your tummy so you can lean forward when they do the needle in your back. Um. I had a gorgeous midwife with me and, um, you know, she stood in front of me and held my hand [00:05:00] and was that real beautiful support person because my husband couldn't be in the theater while they were doing that.

I'm not sure if that's a standard thing or not but it was beautiful to have someone to ground you and he walked me through the whole thing. He was like, okay, so there's gonna be a first small needle. It's gonna be a, a slight sting, almost like a vaccination kind of needle kind of sting. Um, you know, that's to numb the area and then we are gonna do the bigger needle to like, you know, make the bottom half of you really numb.

The other thing that I didn't realise was that. You still feel things on the table, right? In the sense that like they kind of have to wiggle your baby out a little bit, and so you'll feel the jostling. It's just you don't feel the sensation of pain, obviously. So yes, that would be my first thing. Don't go in blind.

Absolutely don't go in blind talk about what's about to unfold and I would also [00:06:00] be armed with the information of like, if I had to have an emergency C-section, what does that look like versus an elective C-section. What are the parameters around all of that? So first thing, don't go in blind. The second thing that I would recommend is don't wear tight fitted clothing, and in particular around your C-section wound.

I would have super high wasted undies. I would be making sure that you have like a nighty versus, you know, pajama pants and things like that. Anything that kind of sits on that line. Um, your bikini line type of thing. Also, speaking of like clothing and, and, and you know, I think preparing for that one thing that my obstetrician said is wax don't shave because when the hair grows through [00:07:00] again around that area, you want it, it, it's, it's a much, what did she say? It was kind of like, it's a much kind of better experience with the hair kind of regrowing. So wax don't shave that would be the other thing. But yes, with clothing, just make sure it's really soft material.

Nothing's kind of like pulling on that area because. You know, you are kind of in a bit of pain and you're feeling a bit vulnerable and and things like that. So high wasted undies and nighties are totally the go. Number three, don't chase the pain. Okay, do not chase pain. You are not a superhero. You're not gonna get a medal or extra like, I don't know, financial bonus at the end of it.

Do not chase pain. It is so incredibly difficult to chase pain rather than be on top of pain. And this is the number one thing that [00:08:00] my girlfriend, um, mentioned to me. When she knew that I was going in for elective cesarean, she is a nurse. She's had two babies previous to me, both, uh, both Caesars, and she said.

Just ensure that you're on top of the pain and one of the things that I did was I had like a little whiteboard in the hospital and my gorgeous midwives, they wrote down every single time point that I was going to have my medication. So it was like kind of in the beginning I was tossing around between Endone and Tramadol and Endone and Tramadol, and there was probably, you know, some paracetamol and Neurofen in there and all the rest of it.

But as soon as I knew that that time stamp was kind of coming up, I would get on the buzzer at least 20, 15 minutes in advance. It's busy. They've got lots of things to do at the hospital, and so that gives them a really, uh, big window to get your pain medication organised, [00:09:00] bring it to your room, and things like that.

So do not chase the pain. Okay. No heroes. We are not superheroes. Just don't do it. Number four, the offset of not chasing the pain is that you obviously have opioids in your system and so you are prone to becoming constipated, and so food choices and hydration are just key. So the other thing that I will suggest is, you know, opt for the really hydrating, soupy, brothy type of foods, because sometimes things take a while to move at the station, if you know what I mean.

And so in hindsight, I wouldn't be eating like you know, complex dry type of things like, you know, biscuits and bread and, and stuff like that. I would be opting for [00:10:00] things like ramen noodle soup, I remember having a ramen noodle soup, and this was at the point where I was like, I still hadn't passed my poos.

Uh, and it was like day three and I was thinking, oh my God, this is gonna be awful. What am I gonna do? And so I was, I was kind of. I was eating like steak and bread and biscuits and things like that and so as soon as I switched over to more brothy things like ramen soup and dahls and, and uh, you know, lentil type things, easily digestible things, that's when things got moving as well. So in hindsight, I would probably like bring my own food, at least, um, a couple of meals to the hospital, because I don't know, like hospital food, is it, it, it's give and take, right? Like sometimes it's great, sometimes it's not great. [00:11:00] So yeah, I wouldn't be opting for, you know.

Harder digestible things. Head over to the broths and soups and stuff like that and keep hydrated. Drink lots and lots and lots of water as much as you can. If water's not your jam, then maybe think about like a hydrolite or the Mini+Me Hydramama's, they are delicious. They are so, so delicious. I drink those and I'm not even pregnant or postpartum, you know, early newborn days.

So keep hydrated is another another huge key. And I think that leads into number five, your recovery, so that's like a multi-pronged approach, right? So you wanna be thinking about the mental recovery, the physical recovery, the emotional recovery of it all. You are going to feel like a little bit dazed and confused.

You might have lost some time, I certainly did. So, you know, have that debrief with your partner. But I [00:12:00] wouldn't be thinking, I'm going to be jumping straight back into life, meeting my girlfriends at the local cafe, you know, in a week's time and all like everything's back to normal, it absolutely isn't. I would be prioritising being horizontal as often as possible.

I did not do that. I was kind of sitting up the entire time. Lie down, just get lying down as much as you possibly can. I would be prioritising certain types of food, so things that are high in collagen, which are gonna help with elasticity and wound repair. I would be focusing on things that are high in iron and vitamin C, 'cause iron needs vitamin C to get your biggest bang for your buck and that high absorption.

And I would be prioritising sleep and rest, our body just needs that, over and over again. And as they say, don't [00:13:00] pick up anything that is heavier than your baby. Honestly, try and not pick up anything like get someone to help you, bring your baby to you. Learn and educate yourself around side lying feeding as well, which is just dreamboat, um, material.

And just be gentle with yourself. It was an absolute emotional rollercoaster for me. In the sense that like you feel so vulnerable having this wound and you think, oh my goodness. Like, you know, they've pieced you back together essentially. So just take it easy, like honestly, take it easy. If you had a knee reconstruction, you would be in physio, you would have people helping you out. You would be taking it easy. You'd be sitting on the couch watching Netflix the whole time. Just take it easy. All right? There's, as I said in the beginning, there's no extra financial bonuses, there's no gold medal, there's no [00:14:00] superhero status, nothing like that.

Just be gentle with yourself. Okay, so these are my top five tips. The first one, I would not go in blind. The second one, I wouldn't be wearing tight fit clothing or anything that sits on my C-section wound. Number three, I would not be chasing the pain. Do not do that. You're gonna suffer poorly from it.

Number four, I wouldn't be eating, hard, digestible food. I would be opting for more brothy, soupy, and hydrating food. And number five, I would not be a superhero. I would be prioritising my rest and recovery because you invest now and the dividends are gonna be paying exponentially in the absolute future.

Alright, team, as I said, feel free to download our gentle cesarean checklist over on our [00:15:00] website ifillyourcup.com. We have also got our beautiful quickie guide, which has some amazing recipes in there. So if you are looking for some postpartums specific food like I said, things that are rich in iron and vitamin C and collagen.

We've got a whole bunch of recipes in our quickie guide as well that you can download. Alright, everyone, until next week, keep filling your cup. Bye. If you loved this episode, please hit the subscribe button and leave a review. If you know someone out there who would also love to listen to this episode, please hit the share button so they can benefit from it as well.

You've just listened to another episode of The Science of Motherhood proudly presented by Fill Your Cup, Australia's first doula village. Head to our website ifillyourcup.com to learn more about our birth and postpartum doula offerings where every mother we pledge to [00:16:00] be the steady hand that guides you back to yourself.

Ensuring you feel nurtured, informed, and empowered so you can fully embrace the joy of motherhood with confidence. Until next time, bye.