Hugs Charlotte

I had a CS 3 weeks ago, and I struggled with it on a number of aspects, one being my baby not chosing her birthdate, it wasn't a decision I could make myself, I had a thread on it and it got lost when BB went down

But I will go through my experience...

We had to have a CS because Miss A had stopped growing, I had no amniotic fluid left, my BP was rising quickly even though I was on a high dose of Meds that lower BP, she was breech and had been having contractions for over 8 weeks and had been medicated for 13 weeks, and was at the point where we could no longer stop things progressing. I was 35 weeks when the decision was made and the CS booked for two days time. I was at peace with it because it was a necessity, we couldn't drop the meds because my BP would have likely sky rocketed and highly likely ended up with an emergency CS, she was already not coping as well as we would like so would would have just put her into distress.

I have a thread on how Caesarean ~ how did you make it an empowering experience? and the suggestions in it gave me a lot of information oh things I could do/ask for.

Prior to my Section i spoke with my OB, MW and Paed, and went through what I would like to achieve..

First touch after delivery ~ achieved
Skin to Skin as soon as possible ~ didn't achieve it in theatre or for a couple of hours as DD2 had breathing problems and had to go to SCN
Family Photo ~ we got beautiful photos of the delivery and the birth itself before she wa taken away
Breastfeeding ~ as soon as she was well enough and I was we had our first breast feed, she was still on monitors and on O2, but we brought her out of the humidicrib and her saturations improved witht he skint ot skina nd when the MW left she started to suckle
No unecessary intervention ~ no NGT, IV etc unless she really needed it, when DD1 was born as soon as they hit the nursery an NGT goes in within a short time and IV and it isn't always necessary and we wanted to avoid anything that would hinder breastfeeding.
A gorgeous friend and fellow BB'er was able to have full skin to skin in theatres It is possible.

Be prepared that bubs may have to go to the SCN and if he/she doesn't then it is a bonus, because I had been there before a VB with DD1 @ 33 weeks she was taken very quickly, I knew what to expect so it didn't stress me out or worry me and I was able to cope with it all a lot better.

Write a plan and disucss it with everyone, even reiterating things in Theatre, walk into theatre if you are allowed to, I found that by taking those steps made me feel as though I was strong enough to go in and deliver my own baby. Ask questions, don't be afraid to stand up for yours and your baby's rights.

There is a link to my CS Story in my Sig - Anastasia's Birth

Take care hun