loopy82
Mummy to Matilda
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2010
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So my original plan was to give birth as naturally as possible, I wanted to go to my local birth centre, which has a really lovely calm atmosphere, and hopefully have only gas and air for pain relief. I was also thinking of maybe going for a water birth as well and was kind of looking forward to it all.
As it turns out LO had other ideas, she'd been breech from about 28 weeks and despite me doing all sorts of silly things, including handstands in a swimming pool, refused to turn. I opted for an ECV, which was painful and unsuccessful, but I’m glad I tried it. Obviously, the consultants then started talking about c-section, which I really, really didn't want. The midwife looking after me that day had been talking to me about vaginal breech birth and was really positive about it so I decided to do some research on it. I spent hours reading midwifery and obstetric websites as well as some medical articles and felt that it was definitely the way I wanted to go and my community midwife also supported my decision. It still meant that the birth centre was off the cards but at least we might still get a natural delivery. My OH and I went to my consultant appointment fully armed and it was a good job as we spent nearly three hours there being told how risky it was. Not once during that appointment did they ever mention the risks of a c-section and I am still a bit angry about that.
Eventually they offered me a growth scan to check that there wasn’t anything obvious to prevent a vaginal delivery so we came back a couple of days later for that. LO was absolutely fine but they estimated her to be 8lbs 6oz at that time and she was obviously only going to get bigger. All the research I had done put the safe limit for breech birth at 8lbs 3oz and although I know the scans can be 1lb out I wasn’t willing to take that risk so I booked in for an elective c-section on the 12th. I felt so emotionally drained and that I had failed because I wouldn’t be going through the trial of labour. Add to that my phobia of needles and the fact that I’d never undergone any kind of surgery and you get a really fun weekend of mixed emotions!
I went to the hospital on the Monday for a pre-op assessment, which was mainly about talking through what was going to happen. The midwife and anesthetist were both really great and answered all my questions. Got myself all worked up again when they told me that I couldn’t eat or drink from midnight, I needed to be at the hospital at 7.30am and that I was third in line so wouldn’t be going into theatre until lunchtime. Think I was probably just looking for a reason to get upset but really? Twelve hours of no food or drink at 39 weeks pregnant?!
Got to the hospital for 7.30am and was put in a room with the two other women scheduled for that day and at the time didn’t really like it all. I’d thought we’d be put in our own rooms to prepare but I suppose there just wasn’t the space. As it was it was nice to hear afterwards how the others were doing. Managed to keep myself quite calm while waiting and watching the others heading off to theatre, did some knitting and listened to a hypnosis track on my ipod! They scanned me again to check she was still breech but I knew her head hadn’t moved.
At around 11 they came to collect me, which was great as I was expecting to be waiting for another hour and I realised I’d barely noticed that I’d not had any food or drink. After going through a load of medical questions they took me through and I had to leave my OH behind, really started to get nervous then. Started shaking and had to try really hard not to burst into tears, was really scared of what could go wrong for both me and baby. I asked them to put a CD on for me to keep me calm (Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós if anyone’s interested) and they were more than happy to. I then had the spinal done, which was probably the part I was dreading the most, and just as I’d been told the local anesthetic injection was far more painful. It was uncomfortable when they did the spinal itself but nothing like I expected, I did get the electric shock feeling in my legs but it was very mild. Had a bit of a panic thinking it wouldn’t work but of course it did. They finally brought my OH in and I was so glad to see him! It all went very quickly after that and a few minutes later at 11.27am Matilda was born weighing 7lbs 11.5oz and 49cm long. She also happened to be born when the end of Starálfur was playing, which is really emotional and full of violins as well as being my favorite track on the CD. Had such an amazing rush of emotions when they quickly showed her to us before taking her off to check her over and for Iain to cut her cord (another thing they do to make the birth a better experience, obviously the surgeons had already cut it but they leave a long length of it so Dad can do it too). After that she was brought to my side and didn’t leave it again, really took my mind off the fact that I was being operated on! I’d been really worried about the pulling and tugging sensation I’d been told about and was imagining it feeling horrible but it really wasn’t. Took about 40 minutes to stitch me up and then we went off to recovery for some skin to skin. When they were happy with how we were doing we were transferred to the postnatal ward where I stayed for 3 more days.
Well done if you’ve made it this far, will try and wrap it up now! Everyone in the theatre (there were quite a few!) was absolutely lovely and did everything in their power to make the experience as enjoyable as possible. Afterwards on the ward I had a few problems with settling and feeding Tilly over the few days I was there and at times got quite emotional and felt that I was doing everything wrong. The midwives couldn’t have been more supportive and I feel like I came away so much more prepared to settle in at home, really couldn’t thank them enough. This was the kind of birth I desperately didn’t want to have but despite the long recovery time I’ve got ahead of me I’ve come away from feeling really positive and happy with how it went, plus it gave me my beautiful daughter.
Edit - Also just want to mention how amazing my OH has been throughout my pregnancy, birth and after. I especially appreciated the lovely flowers he gave me the day after Tilly was born! He's already a wonderful Daddy and I don't know what I'd do without him.
As it turns out LO had other ideas, she'd been breech from about 28 weeks and despite me doing all sorts of silly things, including handstands in a swimming pool, refused to turn. I opted for an ECV, which was painful and unsuccessful, but I’m glad I tried it. Obviously, the consultants then started talking about c-section, which I really, really didn't want. The midwife looking after me that day had been talking to me about vaginal breech birth and was really positive about it so I decided to do some research on it. I spent hours reading midwifery and obstetric websites as well as some medical articles and felt that it was definitely the way I wanted to go and my community midwife also supported my decision. It still meant that the birth centre was off the cards but at least we might still get a natural delivery. My OH and I went to my consultant appointment fully armed and it was a good job as we spent nearly three hours there being told how risky it was. Not once during that appointment did they ever mention the risks of a c-section and I am still a bit angry about that.
Eventually they offered me a growth scan to check that there wasn’t anything obvious to prevent a vaginal delivery so we came back a couple of days later for that. LO was absolutely fine but they estimated her to be 8lbs 6oz at that time and she was obviously only going to get bigger. All the research I had done put the safe limit for breech birth at 8lbs 3oz and although I know the scans can be 1lb out I wasn’t willing to take that risk so I booked in for an elective c-section on the 12th. I felt so emotionally drained and that I had failed because I wouldn’t be going through the trial of labour. Add to that my phobia of needles and the fact that I’d never undergone any kind of surgery and you get a really fun weekend of mixed emotions!
I went to the hospital on the Monday for a pre-op assessment, which was mainly about talking through what was going to happen. The midwife and anesthetist were both really great and answered all my questions. Got myself all worked up again when they told me that I couldn’t eat or drink from midnight, I needed to be at the hospital at 7.30am and that I was third in line so wouldn’t be going into theatre until lunchtime. Think I was probably just looking for a reason to get upset but really? Twelve hours of no food or drink at 39 weeks pregnant?!
Got to the hospital for 7.30am and was put in a room with the two other women scheduled for that day and at the time didn’t really like it all. I’d thought we’d be put in our own rooms to prepare but I suppose there just wasn’t the space. As it was it was nice to hear afterwards how the others were doing. Managed to keep myself quite calm while waiting and watching the others heading off to theatre, did some knitting and listened to a hypnosis track on my ipod! They scanned me again to check she was still breech but I knew her head hadn’t moved.
At around 11 they came to collect me, which was great as I was expecting to be waiting for another hour and I realised I’d barely noticed that I’d not had any food or drink. After going through a load of medical questions they took me through and I had to leave my OH behind, really started to get nervous then. Started shaking and had to try really hard not to burst into tears, was really scared of what could go wrong for both me and baby. I asked them to put a CD on for me to keep me calm (Ágætis Byrjun by Sigur Rós if anyone’s interested) and they were more than happy to. I then had the spinal done, which was probably the part I was dreading the most, and just as I’d been told the local anesthetic injection was far more painful. It was uncomfortable when they did the spinal itself but nothing like I expected, I did get the electric shock feeling in my legs but it was very mild. Had a bit of a panic thinking it wouldn’t work but of course it did. They finally brought my OH in and I was so glad to see him! It all went very quickly after that and a few minutes later at 11.27am Matilda was born weighing 7lbs 11.5oz and 49cm long. She also happened to be born when the end of Starálfur was playing, which is really emotional and full of violins as well as being my favorite track on the CD. Had such an amazing rush of emotions when they quickly showed her to us before taking her off to check her over and for Iain to cut her cord (another thing they do to make the birth a better experience, obviously the surgeons had already cut it but they leave a long length of it so Dad can do it too). After that she was brought to my side and didn’t leave it again, really took my mind off the fact that I was being operated on! I’d been really worried about the pulling and tugging sensation I’d been told about and was imagining it feeling horrible but it really wasn’t. Took about 40 minutes to stitch me up and then we went off to recovery for some skin to skin. When they were happy with how we were doing we were transferred to the postnatal ward where I stayed for 3 more days.
Well done if you’ve made it this far, will try and wrap it up now! Everyone in the theatre (there were quite a few!) was absolutely lovely and did everything in their power to make the experience as enjoyable as possible. Afterwards on the ward I had a few problems with settling and feeding Tilly over the few days I was there and at times got quite emotional and felt that I was doing everything wrong. The midwives couldn’t have been more supportive and I feel like I came away so much more prepared to settle in at home, really couldn’t thank them enough. This was the kind of birth I desperately didn’t want to have but despite the long recovery time I’ve got ahead of me I’ve come away from feeling really positive and happy with how it went, plus it gave me my beautiful daughter.
Edit - Also just want to mention how amazing my OH has been throughout my pregnancy, birth and after. I especially appreciated the lovely flowers he gave me the day after Tilly was born! He's already a wonderful Daddy and I don't know what I'd do without him.
