My Elective C-Section Birth Story

Reading other women's birth stories is a great way to familiarise yourself with the mechanics and processes of birth. No two births are the same but read lots of stories and you will be better prepared. This is a personal account of my elective c-section.

I don't think that I have ever written up a birth story before so it's probably about time that I documented the last one! If you follow me on here or on social media you'll know that we recently welcomed the last member of our not so little family this month! A gorgeous little boy, we feel so blessed and totally over the moon with him!

Due to having had two elective c-section surgeries previously, this time we knew we would be having an elective c-section. Weirdly, I was very very nervous about it this time. I think if I could have opted for a natural labour at home I would have gone for that. I just felt that this being my third c-section, I was really pushing my luck and I was in quite a lot of pain after my last one so I was kind of dreading this one being worse!

I headed into the hospital for 8am while the hubby dropped off the other children to kids club for the day. They could only go in at 8 so I had to take a taxi in and arrive on my own which was nerve wracking! Hubby got there about 9 o'clock and amazingly we were the first on the list so we were taken down to theatre pretty much straight away!

Beforehand the midwives prepped me for theatre and the surgeons and anaesthetist came to have a quick chat. I have scoliosis which means that I can't have an epidural and placing a spinal block has proven tricky in the past so I was assured that this time they would use an ultrasound to guide them. Only of course my anaesthetist on the morning boldly declared that he wasn't trained in using the ultrasound so was just going to wing it! Cue me feeling very nervous indeed and crying! There was a first time mum in the bed diagonally across from me who was so excited waiting for her elective c-section and here I was crying as I was walking to theatre, she must have thought that I was mad!

I was so nervous and scared I was shaking in the theatre and I just couldn't relax but I needn't have worried, they placed the spinal block perfectly and as soon as that was done I calmed down a lot! I did feel really sick as the spinal kicked in but luckily I wasn't actually sick. I was told this was a really good sign that the block had worked!

The staff in the hospital were absolutely amazing with me, especially considering that I was so scared and nervous, they really helped to reassure me and were so so kind. It really takes a special kind of person to work with people when they are at their most vulnerable and I am so grateful to them all.

So, after a lot of pulling and tugging (with a spinal block you can't feel pain but you can feel movements) our little baby was born! They lowered the screen so that we could see the gender but the cord was huge and in the way so I couldn't see straight away, and then we saw that it was a boy! I was so shocked, I was convinced that I was having a girl! Of course, being a boy he then proceeded to wee all over me!

He was taken over to be cleaned up and weighed and hubby got to cut the long section of cord which was a first as he has never got to do that before. He weighed in at a chunky 8lb 10oz!

The surgery went really well and there was not too much scar tissue to deal with or blood loss so I was stitched up and taken back to our bed on the recovery ward. I felt so much better after this surgery than I had on my last, I was in a lot less pain afterwards and I didn't feel as sick which was great. I also knew what to expect so I made sure that I was up and moving about as soon as I could (12 hours post surgery) and I managed to get out of the hospital the next day which I was pleased about!

So all in all, it literally couldn't have been more perfect and we are still absolutely delighted with our gorgeous Baby N!

Hubby did really well and managed to film the birth so if you aren't squeamish do have a watch, there's even a little peek at the end of the children's reactions to him being a boy!

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