How did you feel about having a c/s?

[jackrose]

As far as I was concerned that could have been any baby they handed to me, how to hell did I know?

Ha! That is exactly the joke I made to myself when I underwent a C/S!!!
With that curtain in the way and them telling my DH to sit down and not look - they were not too keen on him checking out my intestine apparently !!! I just kept imagining the docs and nurses behind the curtain trying to look busy with my abdomen while they pretended to do the c/s then someone secretly rushing in from another room with a baby and then presenting her over the curtain - "here's one we prepared earlier"

NB: I hadn't slept for 3 nights and was quite delirious with exhaustion after labouring for 48 hours go to whoa by then!!!

But to answer your question, I certainly did not want a c/s when I was going through pregnancy and had researched thoroughly what to expect in labour. I felt very prepared and positive about my labour and it all went really well.... just for a really long time! In the end I had to have a c/s even though it was something I really really wanted to avoid. However, I feel really fine about it. Mostly this is because I was allowed to labour for a really long time at the hospital with great support (30 hours from 6pm on monday evening until 11.58pm tuesday evening!) So I felt as if my labour was a large part of my 'giving birth' experience and I just look at the c/s as the final part of that.

I think that if I didn't feel so positive about my labour or if I was rushed into a emergency c/s very quickly without any control of the situation or before I had really had a chance to try on my own, I may have had a different attitude to my c/s and would have been less likely to be positive about it. As it stands for me, I absolutely feel that I gave birth to my DD.

[mrscricket]

[quote=jackrose;1690511]With that curtain in the way and them telling my DH to sit down and not look - they were not too keen on him checking out my intestine apparently

I had an overhead light thing above me that wasn't turned on and it was very clearly reflected what was going on behind the curtain. Double . I kept turning my head away, not wanting to see it and DH thought something was wrong. I didn't tell him what I could see because he would of been "Cool. Let me see!"

Sorry to get off track from the OP.

[Deevine]

I've had similar feelings as Selina and Leasha. I had an emergency c/s under general anesthetic at 36+4, and so it was totally unexpected and I really didn't have time to think about it when it all happened. The fact it was under general anesthetic made it a lot harder to come to terms with after... One minute i'm being put to sleep, the next minute i'm awake and handed a baby and all I could think was 'is this my baby, it could be anyones'.

Such a hard thing to come to terms with. And I definitely felt disconnected, and only now, almost 8 weeks later can i look at her and think 'this is my daughter' and feel absolute complete love for her.

I look at the photos DP took just after she was born and feel a lot of sadness that I didn't get to share that experience with him, that first look at our child. I still find it hard to think about the birth, because it feels like my body failed me, although in the end, if I had had a normal birth, she probably wouldn't be here, and that it much harder to think about.

I too have made peace with the fact that I had c/s. I'm still disappointed, but in the end i'm ok and my daughter is ok and that is the most important thing.