Birth by Cesarean - three times over (long)
I was 23 when my partner and I decided to try for a baby. I had been told I had PCOS and would have trouble concieving, and so we thought well if its going to be a hard road lets get started right away. We fell pregnant sometime within the next 7 days! LOL what do doctors know...
At 6 weeks I went to the loo at work and found out I was bleeding, bright red which I thought was bad, and burst in to tears and went home. A visit to the GP came next and all he could say was your probably miscarrying but theres nothing we can do so go home, we'll book a scan for 2 weeks from now to see. That was the worst 2 weeks ever, I was convinced I has lost my baby and was shattered.
We finally went for the scan and low and behold there was a perfectly healthy little blob on screen! Found out it was due mid august 2003, and it was clear sailing from then on in until I was 36 weeks pregnant, my Obstetrician told me my baby was breech and had been for several weeks, and wanted to book a cesarean for week 38. I didnt want that at all, I had my heart set on the natural birth process and thought I would be missing out if it didnt happen that way, I wanted to experience the whole process! But we set the date in the hope bub would turn in the meantime. She didnt.
The big day came, and I was petrified of the cesarean, I hate needles and the idea of a spinal block terrified me. Went into hospital at 6am, my partner was freaking out worse than me by then, we just sat there saying "oh its real now isnt it...". They prepped me for surgery which is when I found out about having to have an enema and a cathetar, which I was not prepared for! Not really part of the beautiful birth image I was dreaming of...
Went into theatre where they started trying to do the spinal block, but the doc kept hitting nerves and I had white hot pain shooting down my back and my left leg, which was jumping around everytime he tried to put the needle in, but 15 mins later he finally got there. Not a good experience. Then they let my partner in and started. I didnt feel any pain at all which suprised me, just felt like a ball point pen going across my belly then a bit of rummaging around and then my daughter was born! She was screaming right from the first second, apgars of 10 and 10 (so proud!) and she and partner went off to get cleaned up. I fell asleep on the operating table listening to the docs discuss the best place to get pizza around town (!) and woke up in recovery. I didnt see my daughter for almost 2 hours, but they finally wheeled me to my room to find out my partner and gone scarily primal and was refusing to let the nurses take our daughter to the nursery, he wanted to keep his eyes on her and no one could prise her out of his arms LOL.
She was 6 pounds and had jaundice, had trouble feeding for the first 2 weeks and had to be tube fed for a little while until we got the hang of breastfeeding and was under lights for 4 days. After all this was sorted out we took our beautiful Lillian Kathleen home.
A couple of years later I decided it was time to go again, and my now hubby and I started trying again. Pregnant within 7 days again! This time round no trouble at all with pregnancy, and baby was due on new years eve 2005. We were initially going to try VBAC but by week 37 we found out bub was breech and a cesar was booked again.
The big day arrived and we went in to hospital, a lot more confident and calm this time around. Prep done and wheeled into surgery, spinal block took all of 2 mins and the doc administering it said my notes from last time said they had a lot of trouble, until then I had just assumed 15 mins and pain was normal, so 2 mins pain free made my day! Hubby came in and they got started and thats when it all went pearshaped. I felt them cutting me, not really the pain of it but the sensation of my skin tearing and being pulled open, and I hadnt felt a thing the first time so I knew this wasnt right and it terrified me. I told the doctors to stop and they messed around with an ice cube trying to figure out if I was right or not. Eventually the agreed with me (duh) that the spinal had only taken on one side and they put me under general. I missed the birth completely, and woke up in recovery crying. Someone said "does she know she had a boy?" And I started crying again. Eventually got taken to my room and about 2 hours after his birth I met my son. 7 pounds and healthy in every way, and hubby was a lot more relaxed this time to the relief of the nurses who remembered him from the first time lol. I was told he had apgars of 9 and 10. Hubby and I could not agree on a name, but when he went for a cigerette I had a drug enduced moment and picked a name and told everyone what it was before hubby came back. He arrived back to be informed his son was named Alexander Christopher by one of the nurses, and still hasnt forgiven me to this day haha!
Well a couple of years later and I was ready to go again. Hubby needed a little convincing this time, but he came around and once again 7 days of trying did the trick. We are blessed that way, and I am so thankful for that. Once again had a trouble free pregnancy, and were told this time we had to have a cesar as my obstetrician wont do vaginal births after 2 cesareans. I was fine with that, I knew what to expect with a cesar and I got to know exactly when bub was coming so Ok. Date was booked for 28th July 2008, and as the day grew closer I began to toy with the idea of being under general right from the start; the experience with my last cesar had affected me quite a bit, and I was terrified of the needle not working again and feeling things I didnt want to feel. My Obstetrician said I could choose to do that if I wished, but he would book me for just a spinal and I could discuss it on the day with the anaesthetist (sp?). The day came and we went in to hospital, and I still hadnt decided what to do. They prepped me and wheeled me in to a room waiting to go to surgery and the anaesthetist came to see me. It turned out to be the same one from the last time, and after reading my notes he remembered me and apologised for the last time, he felt so bad it was cute, but I was terrified and by this time had a death grip on hubbys hand and was having spontaneous tears and shakes. The anaesthetist discussed it with me, and gave me the option of going in with a spinal and getting a general if it didnt work or getting a general straight off. He promised he would use extra and do his best to make it as painless and normal as possible, and I suprised my hubby ( and myself a bit) by choosing to try doing it awake under spinal even though I was more scared at that point than I have ever been before.
The anaesthetist was true to his word, he used a couple of tiny local needles to numb my back first, then did the spinal, and I knew it had worked as I was almost instantly heavy and that didnt happen last time. It was surreal, I was lying there thinking its starting to work, my legs felt tingly, and then I realised one of my legs was up in the air while a nurse adjusted something and I didnt register it as my leg, it looked and felt like someone elses and I felt like both mine were lying flat on the table. Very odd.
Hubby arrived in the room and it got started, and this time I didnt feel anything at all, not even the ball point pen feeling like my first cesar. I was sooo happy by this time that I was smiling from ear to ear with relief. Then they said here it comes and my hubby stood up in time to see two men with their arms inside my belly (got up a bit too soon lol) then out came my baby, another boy!
He was whisked away and I lay there preparing to wait 2 hours to see him, when they brought him back in all wrapped up and lay him on my chest! I got to look into his beautiful eyes while they stitched me up, he wasn't crying and his eyes were wide open, all the nurses kept saying how alert he was, and he stayed with me into recovery and into our room. I was so happy, I hadnt had that experience with either of my other two, and I am so grateful for it. That was a policy change at my hospital, and the way the do it with all babies there now, and I am so glad. Its so much better than waiting 2 hours wondering what they look like and if everythings ok. This little one had apgars of 8 and 9, and was perfect in every way. I let my hubby name him this time to make up for last time, and so Seth Benjamin made us a family of 5.
I recovered faster this time than with either of my last, and in all had a really positive experience. Seth is now almost three weeks old, and we have adjusted to our new routines really well. Lillian and Alex adore him, and all is well.
Hubby says this is it, we are complete now, but I'm not so sure. Ask me when Seth is about 2, hmmm maybe another girl...
