A positive planned c section: Alessandra’s birth story
This was our first pregnancy and it was great to go on the HPHB course and discuss many of the questions and worries that we had. Labour has always been a fear for me and the course was brilliant – we were taken through the process for both vaginal and caesarean births and we decided to go for an elective C-section. Another big question mark for us was whether or not to breastfeed and the information we were given by the lactation specialist helped us a lot in making that decision.
Our elective caesarean was scheduled 10 weeks in advance of our baby’s due date, with the specification stipulated that they needed specific blood on standby as I have Anti-M antibodies in my blood. We pumped ourselves up for the birth - friends and family all wished us well on this very special day. We went to the hospital, met with the obstetrician, anaesthetist and midwife and were ready in surgical scrubs when we got the news that they didn't have my blood and we were sent home! To say we were disappointed is an understatement but we had to remind ourselves that one day didn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things. In the course we talked a lot about being flexible and how a birth never goes exactly how you plan it and the importance of staying calm and going with the flow, which was great advice. The next day we went back to the hospital and we finally went into theatre at noon. The hours leading up to the caesarean felt intense however the procedure was a very positive experience; the people in theatre were all very friendly and made us feel at ease. Once in theatre things moved quickly and before we knew it our baby was born.
The course helped us understand the different options available to us, from cord clamping by my partner, skin to skin, what we wanted during the caesarean and how much we wanted to see. We decided not to lower the curtain and asked to see our daughter after she was cleaned up. It was incredibly strange to not feel any pain but feel the weight of the baby coming off my spine and as soon as she was out, she started crying, which was such an overwhelming relief that both me and my partner teared up. When they brought her over covered in a towel my partner straight away fell in love where as I felt concern first, checking she was OK and worrying about her before really feeling the love when I was out of surgery and on the ward with just the two of us.
I had a lot of worry the first days mostly because of feeding, in hindsight I wished that I had harvested some of my colostrum. Alessandra didn't take to the breast well and I had no idea of knowing if she got any food. Due to my anti bodies, our daughter was jaundice and the health visitor who came to our house the day after we came home sent us back to the hospital to get the jaundice tested. This is when I took the opportunity to ask for feeding assistance, luckily there was a midwife who took time to help us and gave us a feeding diary to complete and advised us to top up with formula. She also gave us feeding cups and advice on how to go about it. The diary really helped put our minds at ease as we knew how much Alessandra was eating and how many nappies we were changing.
I would recommend the HPHB course as we learned a lot and it gave us the confidence to make decisions that were right for us.
Top Tips:
Harvest colostrum before the birth, it will help you in the early days.
My partner spent a day cooking and freezing meals before the birth, which has been great as we do not need to worry about what to eat or shopping
