Hi Ree,

I had a c/s 23rd July and was completely and utterly terrified of the whole process! But it turned out SO much better than I expected - thankfully! My DD was also breech and my DP and I researched and tried almost every method to turn bubs - to no avail.

Being a nurse, I was aware of all that could go wrong and was sure it would all go terribly wrong for me. I ended up having a fantastic anesthetist who picked up on my fear early on and was so reassuring. He used a spinal anesthetic (in and out needle) instead on an epidural -which is like a tube that sits in the fluid space around the spine and gives a continuous dose of medication to numb you up. Epidurals can drop your blood pressure and make you feel pretty nauseous. I would opt for the spinal any day and would have hated to have a general and miss out on that first precious hour with my new bubba. My DH was with me the whole time and never let go of my hand. The weirdest part was when I thought I could still feel my legs and then one appeared above me while the nurses inserted the catheter (no discomfort with the catheter going in) and I thought, what is that great white leg doing up there? I then realised it looked kind of familiar!

I fully expected the spinal to fail and was waiting to feel a cut - the next thing I knew, there was a baby being dangled over my head, she had arrived safe and sound. Almost before I was over the initial amazement we were all OK, I was all stitched up and the OB was walking out the door. I entered the operating room at 7am and baby was born at 7.35! We all stayed together in recovery and then returned to the ward about an hour later. My baby was never out of my sight and we had early skin to skin time. She was BF in recovery. I was out of bed the next morning, had the catheter out and was showered by 9am.

My advice, take all the pain meds they give you (do take regular panadol- it really helps), get up and about as soon as they let you and try not to bend over too much - stand tall, it makes it heaps easier to walk.

I am hoping that our second baby will not be breech and will definitely be trying for a VBAC. But if a c/s can't be helped, try and make it as positive as you can.

Wishing you all the very best, I hope your c/s story is as happy as mine x