Elective Turned Emergency - Positive Birth Story
Sarah hoped for a calm, elective C-Section birth, but her biggest fear of going into labour ahead of the scheduled date came true. Thankfully, the now-emergency C-Section went smoothly and was just as wonderful as planned.
I always knew I wanted a C-Section. My mom had a traumatic vaginal birth back when epidurals weren't a thing and I had my own personal reasons for wanting one. My C-Section was booked for 14th September at 08:30am (exactly 39 weeks gestation). One of my biggest fears was going into labour before my scheduled date. Well, I must have manifested this, because my elective C-Section turned into an emergency one when bubs decided to arrive 8.5 hours earlier than planned.
On Friday 13th September, I woke up at 4am with cramps, which my OB said were normal late in pregnancy, but to keep monitoring as we may need to move the surgery up a day. I should add, we were not keen on having a Friday the 13th baby. The cramps felt like period cramps and were coming and going like once an hour. I went about my day as normal, had my hair cut, I even went to the gym.
By 7pm, the pain started to intensify and got progressively worse. By 9pm, I told my husband we needed to go to the hospital as the pain was becoming more severe, starting in my back, moving to my lower abdomen and more frequently. My husband prepped me with Emla cream in all the places I would get needled (hand and spine), hubby and I had a shower, we took my final 39 week progress photo, and called my OB to tell her I was on the way to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 10pm. By that time, I was having contractions about 5-10 minutes apart (not what I signed up for when I elected for a C-Section). With each contraction, my husband helped me with C-breathing, but some were so bad I couldn't help but cry through the pain. The anaesthetist was impressed with my veins. I told him I had been hydrating and carbo loading in prep for my surgery, which was meant to be 10 hours away. He asked, "Where did you learn that?" I said, "c-sectionUK." One of the things that was important to me was that my husband be with me during my epidural. Hubby helped me into position as per the course and helped me through C-breathing as the spinal was given to me during a contraction (really painful).
Our baby came out of my tummy at 11:58pm, and her cord was cut exactly at midnight, marking her birth on Saturday 14th September (8.5 hours ahead of schedule). We put together our own spotify playlist, which the surgical team was loving. Baby girl arrived, perfectly timed by chance, to the song "Miss Independent" by Ne-Yo.
Post-birth, whilst in the hospital, I made sure to drink peppermint tea, and while having the Aussie version of toast and tea. The nurses were so impressed that I'd been to the toilet 30hrs after surgery, and I'd been getting in and out of bed just fine. My scar is healing well and I am now using the silicone strips. Thank you for the amazing c-sectionUK Courses! I hope you enjoy the photos of her arrival and one of my scar 14 days post surgery.