Back in April I wrote a post about my hopes for my elective c-section and I would love to share with you how it went…
At 7.30am on the 1st June I walked into the maternity unit of my local hospital feeling calm but excited that I would soon be meeting my second child. My pre op the day before was very positive and the anaesthetist and obstetrician I spoke to were both very supportive of me having a gentle birth despite it being in theatre.
Once we arrived my husband and I were whisked down to a room where we met the midwife who would be looking after us. Her name was Pippa and she was lovely and cheerful and again reassured us that it would be a relaxed birth. She gave us our gowns and did a couple of routine checks with me then the anaesthetist and obstetrician both popped in to check I was well and check the consent forms. I was told I was first on the operating list and very soon afterwards I was walking down to theatre. I found walking to theatre to have my baby very empowering.
Once in there the mood was relaxed, my music was playing softly in the background and all the theatre staff were making me feel at ease. They were also very clear about what would be happening and what I might feel etc to prepare me.
At 9.39am my beautiful son was born, they lifted him up so my husband and I could discover if we had a boy or a girl and I had delayed cord clamping. The spinal block did make my blood pressure drop a couple of times which made me feel a bit sick and dizzy so my husband held our baby to my chest whilst I was stitched up. By the time I was in the recovery room we were enjoying skin to skin and we had started breastfeeding.
The whole experience was calm and my baby was delivered safe and well, only two hours after I arrived at the hospital. I was discharged from hospital the following day, which meant a lot to me as I really wanted to be at home with both my children together.