Hi Emma,
It is so great that you are asking these questions now as it will enable you to have more control over your birth and to be more likely to have things go a way that you want. I agree with the other ladies who have posted and my experience was similar. I didn't get to see my baby for about 2-3 hrs after birth as I had not asked for contact during recovery. They kept me in there for longer than I imagined and if I had my time again I would have changed that. I really missed having skin to skin contact straight after birth. See if you can negotiate it.

Still, as Sarah said, it is not too late to get your baby to turn ! I have a book about optimal fetal positioning and it recommends a few really important things to get a baby moving.
  • Avoid sitting in a couch or chair that allows you to sink into it. You really need your knees lower than your pelvis when sitting to open up your pelvis so your baby can move into the correct position.
  • Sit on a dining room chair, kneel on the floor, lean on a bean bag or some cushions or sit on a sofa with some cushions under your bum to sit more upright. This is all to get your pelvis tilted forward
  • Sleep or rest on your side with pillows behind your back and with your top leg resting forwards so the knee touches the mattress. Thus your abdomen is forward making room for babies movement
  • Swim
  • Practice yoga
  • alternative medicine such as acupunture, acupressure and homeoathics can help
  • Scrub the floors! Getting down on all fours regularly allows room for the baby to move.

Then there are things to avoid
  • Relaxing in semi-reclined positions
  • sitting with knees higher than hips
  • long trips in cars with bucket seats
  • sitting cross legged
  • squatting


With regard to the C/s I had mine at the Mercy too. I am not sure about a lot of what choices you have as mine was not planned so I don't know what I could have changed if I had the choice. I have just finished reading "The thinking woman's guide to childbirth" by Henci Goer which has a great section on C/s. If you can get your hands on it I think it would be very helpful. There is some contention surrounding the type of incision you are given and its ability to heal/allow you to have a VBAC should you get pg again. You may wish to speak to your ob about that and look into what options you have.

With regards to recovery, pelvic floor exercises are essential (boring I know!) getting up and moving as soon as you can is said to aid recovery, it certainly seemed to help with me. Arranging help for when you get home is really important. You can't lift anything and you should avoid lots of bending and picking up etc so ask your friends/family to sign up for a roster to come over and deliver groceries or fold laundry. It is amazing how the nesting instinct makes you just want to do things which can lead you to doing damage to your poor uterus as it tries to heal! Just focus on picking up your baby!

And finally, be aware that all of that fiddling around inside your abdomen really stuffs with your digestion. I had severely chronic wind trapped in my gut after my C/s which was soooo painful! Take something like peppermint tea in with you to have after the birth. Anything that will help get digestion moving and ask the nursing staff for any suggestions. If I had known earlier and done something I may have avoided a bit of pain!

Good luck with whatever eventuates!