Caesarean section is associated with moderate-to-severe postoperative pain, which can influence postoperative recovery and patient satisfaction as well as breastfeeding success and mother-child bonding
Our study wants to examine the factors that may contribute to post-operative pain, in particular uterine exteriorization compared with in situ repair in women undergoing caesarean section. Exteriorization of the uterus involves temporarily delivering it onto the anterior abdominal wall for better surgical access before repositioning it inside the abdominal cavity. A previous study found that post operative pain scores were higher on day 1 but there was no difference on day 2. Other factors include emergency versus elective surgery, antenatal class attendance, previous caesarean section, general versus spinal anaesthesia, contra-indications to non-steroidal analgesia, complications during the caesarean section, blood loss during section.
We also aim to capture the demographics of the mothers who deliver, and include their place of birth, parity, BMI at booking and general health during the pregnancy.
We will follow up our patients at 6 weeks post-partum to ask their satisfaction with the obstetric service, their analgesic requirements at that time and whether they are breast or bottle feeding.