So today I was lucky enough....

[blessedatlast]

Both my c-sect and my VBAC were in the theatre and both times bub was pulled out and placed on my bare chest and warmed blankets put on top of us. After a good 15 mins or so they were taken and checked and weighted and wrapped. So it is possible!

There you go! Thats what I'll be pushing for. Did you have to ask for skin to skin or did they just do it?

Fleur - Yeah I'm hoping a planned c section will take the trauma out of it..

[jax]

I can not agree more that healthy Mum and Bub at the end is most important. I also can understand Bless that it any second away from you will be so hard.

I don't know why I am feeling so stressed about them taking my baby even for a second, maybe I need to talk it out with someone. I KNOW what is important I just can't seem to get my head around the whole thing and I feel all control has been taken from me. This is my baby and my body and nobody wants to listen. Sorry that is my sook over.

[melbel]

Skin on Skin should definitely be on the cards hun...not so sure about delayed cord claping with a c-section though......we asked with ours being a planned c-secion and were told no because they like to leave the uterus open for as short a time as possible becuase of the risk on infection. So they like to get bubs out asap, gt the placenta out give it all a good washout and then stitch up asap, the longer you are open the greater the infection risk. I have heard of one doctor in the US who would do delayed cord clamping in a c section but haven't heard of anyone here.

We were lucky though, even though we knew our bubba needed to go to special care nobody rushed us...he was checked by the paed, wrapped and placed on my chest where he stayed while they stitched me up....he was handed to hubby while they transferred me off the operating table onto the bed and then given back to me straight away in recovery...we got to have a feed in recovery and he travelled up to the ward on the gurney with me....we said bye at the SCN doors and he was taken in and given his bed but until then we hadn't been separated so I think we were very lucky in that respect.

If I had asked specifically for skin on skin Iam sure they would have accomodated that too.

[Kmn]

We knew bub was OK - he was yelling the place down!
But you could also ask that they do the checking where you can see bub - that ought to be doable in most theatres. And if at all possible talk to the paediatrician beforehand so that he/she knows where you are coming from, and can give you a running commentary on what they are doing and why.

[Ahurani]

Okay I need to say this.. this is my opinion.

Just because your baby seems healthy on the inside doesn't mean that they are going to thrive on the outside from the beginning. I think it's quite selfish of the mother to put her baby at risk for her own needs. In the end we want a healthy mother and healthy baby. For the sake of a couple of minutes checking over, no harm is done.

Would you all feel the same way if you demanded the baby be bought to you straight away for it to struggle to breathe or something, get brain damage etc. Its a decision you will have to live with for the rest of your life. And Im sure you would be the first one to sue if something like that did happen. As far as Im concerned the minute you get pregnant is the minute you put your needs last and your babies needs first.

jax: maybe you do need to talk to someone about it

[ellasmummy]

I had an elective cs, bub was pulled out with hands while they dropped the sheet so DH and I could watch, they were hurrying DH over to cut the cord, quick check over and weigh then DH carried her over to me and we had skin to skin with warm blankets over us for 15 mins or so until I asked DH to hold her cos I felt really sick and was shaky. Then as soon as I got to recovery I told DH I wanted her back and she had a 20 minute feed and stayed on my chest for an hour after that til I was being wheeled to the room DH had to push her in the cot as their policy is you're not allowed to walk the halls carrying bub. But then skin to skin as soon as we arrived up until I realised what a baby hog I was being and let DH hold her lol.

I had a crap experience first time round, but this was so beautiful and perfect, not what I thought a c section could ever be like

[blessedatlast]

Ahurani - Tell me how any of us have said we want to risk our babies health. I will be extremely grateful if I get to take my baby home, but I don't think it's too much to ask to want to avoid trauma from the beginning. I actually think having the baby away from it's mother at birth is quite traumatic for both Mum AND BUB.. Just because the baby doesn't remember it doesn't mean it's right.. I also think skin to skin IS best for my baby instead of being held by a rough doctor away from it's mother being poked and prodded. Oh course if the baby had trouble breathing I would agree to intervention, but a lot of babies don't cry immediately and don't need to be suctioned, but it is treated like a medical emergency if the baby doesn't cry straight away... I'm not wanting a bloody miracle, just to have my baby with me after birth like it should be.

And this is coming from someone who DIDN'T let nature take it's course and put my babies through 12 days of medical intervention and all that trauma when they died anyway.. Maybe I should have put their needs 1st then, and not had them resuscitated, but thats a whole other thread!

Ellasmummy - That sounds beautiful

[jax]

Ahurani, I am sorry by I agree with the above. I think what we are really asking for is for our bubs to be treated with the up most respect that they deserve and not just be treated as another c section. My requests are not unreasonable and in fact are carried out in the UK. If for any reason baby needed attention then yes totally different story, what I am saying is that i don't want them to do it just because that is what they do, this is not good enough. I am not making decisions based on nothing and just want 'I want' but rather what I have researched and educated myself about and feel is best for baby if everything goes well.

Ellsmother That is fantastic. It's lovely to hear a nice story.

Have a look at the links especially the youtube clip.



http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5RIcaK98Yg

[PumpkinZulu]

blessed, I just wanted to say again how thrilled I am that you are pregnant again :: Also, lucky you for being able to witness such amazing things. Can you tell us more about the alp? I'll be having one after I'm done BFing, so a while away, but it'd be great to know what I'm in for I agree with you re the skin to skin, I think in a situation where bub needed to be attended to there would be no risk or anything like that, the doctors are very good at picking stuff like that up

Good luck and I'm stalking!

[Purple Penguin]

I had c-sections for both of my DD's births and they were two VERY different experiences. The first was an emergency c-section where DD1 was taken, checked over and then wrapped and brought over to me to say hello, I was quite out of it due to the meds they had me on, I had pre-eclampsia and I woke up in recovery by myself after passing out from my BP going to from high to low.

My experience with DD2 was the total opposite to the first, I was wide awake and having everything explained to me, they pulled her out, DH was able to cut the cord, they lifted her above the blue curtain so I could see her, took her to be cleaned up and checked over and then brought her back to me for skin-to-skin where she stayed while they stitched me up, took me into recovery and finally back down to the ward where we continued our cuddles. I could not have asked for a better experience.