The birth of Sarah Ashlee
Okay, finally some time to write my birth story! :D
We knew we were having our baby girl by c-section as she was breech and in a really awkward position. We were finally given a date and it felt so strange to know when our baby would be arriving, after having had two natural births previously. Sarah was to be born 10 days before her due date.
We arrived at the hospital as planned on Tuesday morning and I was shaved and given a gown and some of those sexy stockings to put on. The anaesthetist came and explained that he was going to be giving me a spinal block but he also would be putting an epidural in place for top ups and pain relief. I didn’t realise you could have both but figured it sounded like a good idea.
There were only two of us booked in for c-sections that day so we didn’t have to wait long. I was wheeled down to theatre at 10am and DH got his shower cap on!
We went in to the operating room and I was amazed by how many people were in there. I assume they all had a purpose but it looked to me like they were all chatting about the weather.
Then came the bit I was dreading. I HATE having drips put in. I find it extremely painful but I figured it was probably going to be the worst part so I just wanted it over with. The anaesthetist assistant did the drip and I was right, it was horrible. Then they sat me up to put the spinal block/epidural in. I was freaking out at how much I could feel the needle going in to my back, even after the local anaesthetic. I didn’t have to worry about that for long though as my hand suddenly started hurting like hell where the drip was put in. I asked the nurse if it was okay and everyone started to panic. The drip had come out of my vein and my hand had been filling up with fluid. Not pretty! :fuming: The anaesthetist stopped what he was doing and they pulled out the drip.
It was at this point that my DH needed a lie down! :roll: The nurses recognised that he was about to pass out and made him lie on the floor for a few minutes while the drip was reinserted into my wrist. There were more people attending to him than to me at that point!!
Anyway, he got up and made it back to me in time for the spinal going in for the second time. It did hurt but the strange feelings (like electricity) down my legs as it started to work distracted me from what was happening in my back.
After a minute or two I was numb so the screen went up and they started work.
It is such a weird feeling as there is no pain but I could definitely feel what was going on. After a lot of pulling and tugging I heard a little cry. It took me a few seconds to realise that it was my baby. Sarah was out and they were holding her up for us to see. :girl:
I couldn’t believe that that was what had been in my belly, she looked so perfect and she was crying her little heart out!
After the doc checked her out and did her scores (9 both times) we got our first cuddle and it was such a wonderful moment. I couldn’t believe she had made it here safe and sound. She looked at us so intently for a few minutes and then went to sleep.
It took about half an hour to stitch me up, during which time my BP dropped too low a couple of times and I felt sick. They gave me something through the epidural to fix that.
We went off to recovery, DH and Sarah stayed with me the whole time. The lactation consultant met us in recovery and tried to get Sarah to latch on for a feed. She wasn’t really interested in feeding though and I was having trouble as I got the shakes really badly for about an hour. My BP was still too low and the spinal block had worked so well that I was numb from the armpits down. Because of all of this I was in recovery for a lot longer than is normal. I spent the whole time trying to stop shaking long enough to have a good look at my baby!
The nurses were getting worried about Sarah’s breathing during this time as she was grunting and wheezing so once we were back on the ward she was taken to the special care nursery for treatment for fluid on the lungs and possible infection. :(
It was very hard not having my baby with me, and not being able to get up to go and see her for 24 hours (DH was rushing back and forwards from me to Sarah and he was taking tons of photos of her so I could see where she was and how she looked etc Thank god for the digital camera), but it was good incentive for me to get out of bed the next morning.
The pain was not as bad as I expected and the epidural was wonderful as they were giving me morphine whenever I needed it. By the time they took the catheter, epidural and drip out the next morning I wasn’t feeling much pain. I was scared of getting up for the first time but I wanted to hold my baby so badly that I got up without being told. Once I had done it once I was fine.
I have to say the recovery hasn’t been anywhere as bad as I expected. Walking down to the special care nursery every couple of hours for the first three days probably helped a lot, it was the only good thing about Sarah not being with me, it forced me to walk around!
My wound is amazing, even the day after surgery it just looked like a crease in my skin, I’m very impressed with the doctor!
Sarah is now fine, we’ll probably never know what was wrong with her but she got better quickly so that’s all that counts.
She still like to stick her legs up in the air, she’s not quite sure where they’re meant to go, and she was a little slow to regain her birth weight but I think that was because it took her a while to get the hang of feeding.
I still sit and stare at Sarah and can’t believe how beautiful she is, it all seems like a dream.
All in all it was a real mix of emotions, it was a positive birth experience on the whole but with some bloody hard bits thrown in too.
Oh, and I won’t be doing it again! ;)
