Hi Nic, thankyou for sharing your story. It must have been so hard coming sooo close to birthing your baby yourself. I'm so happy for you that the birth of your son was a much more pleasant experience.

AFM, I really want to avoid another general. My first choice for next time will be VBAC but I know realistically that there are no guarantees of success there. My second choice is a maternal assisted caesarean (which my OB has agreed to). But if I do end up NEEDING another CS under a GA I will have some special requests in place. I will be wanting bubs birth to be filmed so I can watch and hear his/her entrance into the world. I will also want to make sure bub is wrapped in a blanket containing my scent so he/she has something familiar around until they are in my arms. I will want bub placed onto my chest as soon as I wake in recovery and I will also be asking for the placenta to be kept and shown to me afterwards. I just feel that these things will kind of help normalise the birth experience for me.

PS: I know what you mean about freaking out about the spinal. I will never forget that horrible shooting nerve pain I felt every time the anaesthetist hit bone