Placentas Behaving Badly (Planned C-Section) - Positive C-Section Birth Story
How it started:
Originally, I really did not want a c-section! This was mostly due to the fact it takes longer to recover from than a natural birth for most, and as an athlete I wanted to return to training as soon as possible! At my 20-week scan, I was informed I had placenta previa - this is where your placenta has implanted too low, either covering or too close to the cervix (i.e. blocking babies exit!).
I was told that for most women this resolves itself as your womb grows and that I would be rescanned at 32 weeks to see if it had moved. If it doesn’t move (you would be rescanned again at 36 weeks) you would have to have a caesarean delivery. At this point though I just thought mine would move and I would have a natural delivery!
The reality:
Unfortunately, I didn’t even make it to the 32 week rescan before having adverse effects of placenta previa. At 30 weeks I had a severe bleed, and my little girl was nearly delivered by emergency c section that night. I was given steroid injections to help her lungs and a magnesium infusion but luckily my bleeding stabilised and I got to keep my little lady where she was supposed to be!
The next 5 weeks were a pattern of bleeding and being taken to the labour ward (I was an inpatient for the remainder of my pregnancy) and so I had a lot of time to find out more about caesarean sections. I also came across Midwife Vic’s TikTok which led to me discovering the @csectionuk team on Instagram who were so informative! It was by far the most information I’d been able to find on c-section recovery which was super important to me. Even just having the c-sectionuk page to scroll through made me feel much more at ease.
Arrival of my little lady:
I managed to keep her growing until 35+4 (the goal was to keep her in as long as possible, normal placenta previa delivery is around 36-37 weeks). She was delivered then as my bleeds had become more frequent, so they had to weigh up gestation with maternal health. This also meant that I could have a planned c-section rather than emergency if the bleeding became too severe again, which meant I had a much calmer environment!
Recovery was made a lot easier with the help of the c-sectionuk C-Section Recovery Course. Baby girl and I are both doing well and now 8 postpartum/weeks old, respectively! I have even started my return to exercise. I’m very thankful that both me and Maya are healthy and happy, and a caesarean section was definitely the safest option to achieve this.
Have you had a positive c-section birth that you’d like to submit to our Positive Birth Stories page to help other parents feel more confident? We’d absolutely love to hear from you!
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