C-Section Birth After Traumatic First Birth - Positive Birth Story
After a traumatic birth with her first-born, Alice knew than a planned C-Section birth was best for her second time round. Despite some difficult memories triggered in hospital, her experience was positive and recovery has gone very well thanks to c-sectionuk Courses.
I found c-sectionuk through someone on instagram stories. I had been looking for more information about C-Sections as I knew this was the route I wanted to go down for my second birth. Unfortunately, I found there really wasn’t any information about C-Sections out there until I found c-sectionuk!
I decided to have an elective C-Section with my second baby after having an extremely traumatic birth with my first baby. With my first, I had a third degree tear, a bad haemorrhage and unfortunately no skin-to-skin because of all of this. I found it incredibly difficult to bond with my first baby and had severe postnatal depression. Because of this experience, I had severe anxiety about birth. The c-sectionuk Courses explained everything in so much detail that I felt like I knew exactly what would happen on the day.
When the day came, I was so excited and hardly anxious at all! However when I went into theatre, it was the same theatre I was operated in after my first birth. I started to become very anxious but I remembered the C Breathing from the Course which is definitely the most valuable thing I learnt. I sat on the edge of the bed and used the C Breathing during my spinal and managed to calm myself down. As I was on the operating table I started to feel sick, which I knew could happen because of the Course. I also knew that it wouldn’t just pass so I asked for some anti-sickness and instantly felt better. I also got the shakes, but again, knew this was completely normal and used the C Breathing to calm them, which worked.
I had my playlist playing on their speaker and will always remember my baby boy being born to Shania Twain. He was born within 10 minutes and we did delayed cord clamping and skin-to-skin straight away. I had the magical moment and cried with happiness when my baby boy was born which I didn’t get with my first baby. I held him while the procedure was finished and then into recovery.
The bond I have with my baby and my postpartum mental health have been amazing and I really think that it is all thanks to the knowledge I had by completing all of the c-sectionuk Courses. My recovery has been smooth and quick because I knew how to look after my C-Section scar and had tips on how to brace my scar when coughing and sneezing.
Thank you so much csectionuk for making this such a magical experience for me and spreading awareness on C-Sections.