Unsuccessful Inductions Led to Unplanned C-Section - Positive Birth Story
After a balloon catheter and two unsuccessful pessaries, Nat made the decision that a C-Section was in the best interests of herself and her baby. Although it was unplanned, Nat had a very positive birth and regrets nothing about the whole experience.
My husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for around 3 years. After this time I decided to speak to my GP about our options as we just weren't conceiving naturally. But the week we had an appointment to discuss this… we were pregnant!
We married in August 2023 and went straight on our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic… 5 weeks later I realised I was pregnant! We had ourselves a honeymoon baby.
I can honestly say I am so grateful for my pregnancy as I wasn’t unwell with sickness, but I did develop gestational diabetes and oedema in my feet and lower legs in the later stages. But again, I didn’t feel unwell with any of these. Then I was told I had a low-lying placenta and a C-Section was highly likely unless it moved. Because of this, I had extra scans, which were more opportunities for us to see our baby.
At the last scan, the placenta had moved a reasonable amount for the option of a vaginal birth to be considered, so I asked for a natural labour.
At 40 weeks I was asked to come in for induction. Again, these options were discussed, and they advised me that they didn’t want me going past 40 weeks due to the placenta, diabetes and I suppose being a geriatric mum (I’m 38!)
I therefore went in and had the balloon catheter inserted, which remained in for 12 hours with no success in inducing labour. I then had the first pessary, which also didn’t do anything, so a second pessary was done. I’d had multiple examinations by this time and was feeling extremely uncomfortable. I was then advised that if the third pessary was unsuccessful then I would need to have a C-Section. However, between these pessaries, my baby’s heart rate increased and they were concerned that my baby was distressed. I then began to worry. It had been 24 hours of examinations and monitoring, and we both were exhausted.
A very lovely midwife and consultant came on shift the following morning and could see I was tired, worried and I’d expressed that I didn’t want any more examinations! They then asked me what I’d like to do. A C-Section was pending but they said if I wanted to go ahead with this then I could go straight in within the next hour or so. I’d have to sign a waiver to say it was my request but by this point I was more than ready! They were very supportive of my decision and from this point I began to relax and feel in control of my labour. Every step was explained to me - and I’d already read up on C-Sections, the risks and the recovery etc. after having the low lying placenta. Within 2 hours of this decision, my beautiful baby girl was here and I haven’t looked back since!
For any worried mums - the recovery is not as bad as you may think. I found the first 48 hours difficult - you will be sore, but from this point you do start to feel better. Just take things slow and let others help. There was no point during my recovery where I couldn’t hold my baby. I slept for a while after the delivery purely due to the medication, but 8 hours later, I was sat up holding my daughter.
I appreciate not everyone has the same experience but my main aim writing this is not to be put off by the bad experiences you may hear of - everyone is different.
The biggest thing I learned was to not be afraid to make decisions about YOUR birth plan. It’s ok that plans may change and the midwives and consultants are excellent at what they do! But it’s your body and your experience so don’t be afraid to say what you want to do! I must add though that it helps when you feel supported by your decision.