A positive elective c section: Eliza’s birth story
My pregnancy was low risk and was plain sailing, up until 37 weeks, when I had some blood pressure issues, which led to having a growth scan where we found out that Eliza was breech! After the initial shock and upset, as a C-section was far from my planned hypnobirthing water birth, I referred back to all the information given to us on the HPHB course about caesarean sections to really help me prepare for my birth. I then used this to help me prepare for the positive birth I wanted!
After eagerly arriving at Brighton hospital on Tuesday 6th May at 8am, we were prepped and ready to go into theatre from 9:30am, however due to emergency c-sections and deliveries we were pushed back further into the day. Finally, at around 5pm, it was our turn!
We were excited and nervous all at once. The theatre had views of Brighton beach and the South Downs which was just beautiful as the sun was setting. I used my breathing techniques as the doctors prepped. HPHB helped us to understand how many people would be in theatre with us and their roles - if we hadn’t known this, we may have been daunted as it’s more than you think! It also really helped that everyone referred to us by our first names, making us feel at ease straight away.
We got to play our playlist (which everyone loved!) and before we knew it Eliza was raised above the drapes to greet us! The birth was slow and calm, which included delayed cord clamping, my birth partner cutting the cord and lots of skin to skin while the surgeons finished the procedure. Eliza was so calm the whole time.
The first moment I saw Eliza I was elated! Nothing can describe the instant love for such a tiny human!
We referred to the baby care part of the course to help us through the first few days. Eliza latched really well so breastfeeding has been really successful so far! We also used the information about baby’s skin and rashes when we noticed a rash - and thanks to HPHB we were instantly put at ease as we knew this was completely normal.
We would recommend the HPHB course, because it is run by different professionals who are experts in their field. The course gives a full breadth of information from pregnancy, labour, hospital information to baby care – it is all so useful! I also find their social media account hugely useful for up to date information.
Top Tips:
The baby tracker which was recommended by HPHB has been so useful to track baby’s wees, poos and my timings for feeding! This has really put us at ease knowing she was feeding and toileting well!
Mamas look after yourself and use the first few weeks to get to know your baby and lap up the squishy cuddles!
