Jolinar
Mummy to Nic
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- Aug 30, 2008
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Here's my birth story, hope it makes sense , it is long as we had some problems afterwards. As I has a elective Casarean Ill write down as much as I can in case it helps someone else facing the same thing.
We were scheduled for an elective C/section due to bubs being breech on 30th November and duly turned up at the hospital at the appointed hour, saw all the people we needed to who explained what was going to happen etc and then we waited...and waited and then waited some more until they told us that we had to go home as there had been a few emergency sections and that they would do mine the following day. I was out of there faster than a ferret up a trouser leg, it was like an 11th hour reprieve from death row
So we went through another sleepless night and turned up bleary eyed and fretful the following morning. Virtually got my clothes ripped off me as I walked into the place and shoved into a hospital gown and was told this was it, theatre were ready and waiting! So off we went with no time to spare. DH was made to wait outside whilst I got taken in and given the spinal block.
This was the part I was not looking forward to one bit. They made me sit on the operating table and lean right over a cushion whilst the anesthetist had a good look at my spine and gave me a local to numb the site, on the first attempt I was in agony when the spinal needle went in, they stopped it then I went all hot and clammy (I dont do medical stuff well!).
The theatre staff were lovely and very understanding with me at this point, got me calmed down and we were ready to try again. This time the spinal went in no problems I just felt a little pressure then all of a sudden I was laying down and not feeling a thing. This was to me the oddest sensation ever.
DH was ushered in and everything was ready for the delivery of our son. I didnt even know theyd started already everything was very calm then all of a sudden my blood pressure plummeted and I felt so sick, they gave me something to bring my BP back and I felt ok again briefly, then it happened again on and off until the whole procedure was done, apparently I lost 2 pints of blood in the end, no wonder I didnt feel great! Anyway with much pushing shoving and muttering my son Nicholas was born weighing in at a respectable 8lb 8oz and measuring 54cm long and making a lot of noise  He was so wedged in there was no way he could have turned and trying to deliver him vaginally would have been distressing and dangerous for us both.
Then we went off to recovery where he latched on and breast fed the whole time. We were in hospital for 2 days and I dont know why but I had misgivings and concerns from the outset and this is where my opinion of the NHS declines drastically.
Firstly my son kept vomiting blood and mucus all the time, I raised this with the staff and got told its all perfectly normal etc after a section. Secondly I got badgered by the breast feeding people and raised concerns with them about his feeding, he seemed to latch on then get really frustrated and angry and would feed on and off for hours on end. The whole thing was a real tussle from start to finish as far as feeding him was concerned. I was feeding non stop virtually all the time until the last day when they tried to help me express nothing came out, no one thought this odd either. On the last day I had a very sleepy baby, again raised as a concern, all normal! At this point I was feeling like a neurotic basket case as everyone was looking at me like I was just a jittery first time mother.
In the evening we went home and the next day the community midwife came out to do the day 3 check, by now my baby was lethargic and barely feeding at all. When he got weighed they found that he had lost 14% of is birth weight! So we got referred back to hospital, pediatrics this time! He got seen right away and it broke my heart seeing him laying there whilst they stuck a load of needles and a drip into him and he barely stirred, I was sobbing my heart out in the corner and a lovely staff nurse came over and hugged me. His Sodium levels were sky high and his blood sugar was dangerously low. Nicholas although latching on and apparently feeding was not getting enough milk from me. My milk supply had not come in and the poor thing was starving. They had to put him on formula at this point, my heart broke a little more and I could not bear to feed him this way or even see him being fed from a bottle right then, totally irrational but there you go. But it was that or he would die. DH has been an angel and he fed our baby.
Later on I discovered Id lost a lot of blood during the section and this can cause a delay in milk supply. Also my baby has a tongue tie and is unable to properly stimulate my breast tissue with his tongue. Neither of these things were picked up on the Maternity Unit and acted on and I am upset and angry as lot of what we went through could have been avoided.
Im grieving because not only was I denied a natural birth but I cannot fed my baby the way nature intended not yet anyway. However, I am not giving up Im working with some lactation specialists and Nicholas is having his tongue tie operated on next week. So hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to mostly feed my baby from the breast. Its hard work and it would be so easy just to say screw it and stuff a bottle in his mouth at each feed but I cant let this one thing be taken from me.
Sorry it turned out to be long, I needed to get it off my chest.
We were scheduled for an elective C/section due to bubs being breech on 30th November and duly turned up at the hospital at the appointed hour, saw all the people we needed to who explained what was going to happen etc and then we waited...and waited and then waited some more until they told us that we had to go home as there had been a few emergency sections and that they would do mine the following day. I was out of there faster than a ferret up a trouser leg, it was like an 11th hour reprieve from death row
So we went through another sleepless night and turned up bleary eyed and fretful the following morning. Virtually got my clothes ripped off me as I walked into the place and shoved into a hospital gown and was told this was it, theatre were ready and waiting! So off we went with no time to spare. DH was made to wait outside whilst I got taken in and given the spinal block.
This was the part I was not looking forward to one bit. They made me sit on the operating table and lean right over a cushion whilst the anesthetist had a good look at my spine and gave me a local to numb the site, on the first attempt I was in agony when the spinal needle went in, they stopped it then I went all hot and clammy (I dont do medical stuff well!).
The theatre staff were lovely and very understanding with me at this point, got me calmed down and we were ready to try again. This time the spinal went in no problems I just felt a little pressure then all of a sudden I was laying down and not feeling a thing. This was to me the oddest sensation ever.
DH was ushered in and everything was ready for the delivery of our son. I didnt even know theyd started already everything was very calm then all of a sudden my blood pressure plummeted and I felt so sick, they gave me something to bring my BP back and I felt ok again briefly, then it happened again on and off until the whole procedure was done, apparently I lost 2 pints of blood in the end, no wonder I didnt feel great!
Anyway with much pushing shoving and muttering my son Nicholas was born weighing in at a respectable 8lb 8oz and measuring 54cm long and making a lot of noise  He was so wedged in there was no way he could have turned and trying to deliver him vaginally would have been distressing and dangerous for us both. Then we went off to recovery where he latched on and breast fed the whole time. We were in hospital for 2 days and I dont know why but I had misgivings and concerns from the outset and this is where my opinion of the NHS declines drastically.
Firstly my son kept vomiting blood and mucus all the time, I raised this with the staff and got told its all perfectly normal etc after a section. Secondly I got badgered by the breast feeding people and raised concerns with them about his feeding, he seemed to latch on then get really frustrated and angry and would feed on and off for hours on end. The whole thing was a real tussle from start to finish as far as feeding him was concerned. I was feeding non stop virtually all the time until the last day when they tried to help me express nothing came out, no one thought this odd either. On the last day I had a very sleepy baby, again raised as a concern, all normal! At this point I was feeling like a neurotic basket case as everyone was looking at me like I was just a jittery first time mother.
In the evening we went home and the next day the community midwife came out to do the day 3 check, by now my baby was lethargic and barely feeding at all. When he got weighed they found that he had lost 14% of is birth weight! So we got referred back to hospital, pediatrics this time! He got seen right away and it broke my heart seeing him laying there whilst they stuck a load of needles and a drip into him and he barely stirred, I was sobbing my heart out in the corner and a lovely staff nurse came over and hugged me. His Sodium levels were sky high and his blood sugar was dangerously low. Nicholas although latching on and apparently feeding was not getting enough milk from me. My milk supply had not come in and the poor thing was starving. They had to put him on formula at this point, my heart broke a little more and I could not bear to feed him this way or even see him being fed from a bottle right then, totally irrational but there you go. But it was that or he would die. DH has been an angel and he fed our baby.
Later on I discovered Id lost a lot of blood during the section and this can cause a delay in milk supply. Also my baby has a tongue tie and is unable to properly stimulate my breast tissue with his tongue. Neither of these things were picked up on the Maternity Unit and acted on and I am upset and angry as lot of what we went through could have been avoided.
Im grieving because not only was I denied a natural birth but I cannot fed my baby the way nature intended not yet anyway. However, I am not giving up Im working with some lactation specialists and Nicholas is having his tongue tie operated on next week. So hopefully in a few weeks I will be able to mostly feed my baby from the breast. Its hard work and it would be so easy just to say screw it and stuff a bottle in his mouth at each feed but I cant let this one thing be taken from me.
Sorry it turned out to be long, I needed to get it off my chest.
But your son is just adorable, congratulations
my little boy was back in hospital at 4 days old for the same reasons and was in for 5 days he was so poorly they didnt think he would make it, thankfully he did but its sad to hear that yet another mum was 'ignored' when she expressed her concerns about feeding! I wish you all the best with breast feeding 
