C Section Breathing Techniques Visualising
Empowered Informed Decision
So far we have shared natural births here at MammyPoppins... For birth story number three we have a little treat for you!
C Sections are generally portrayed as big, scary emergencies, so when we heard Becs & Ash's positive birth story, and the informed decision making in the process, we just had to share it with you! Needless to say, this is another empowered journey...
Welcome Ash...
From finding out we were having our 'honeymoon' baby, I knew I wanted to take the natural route - I loved the idea of a water birth, and decided on this in my birth plan. Due to having Joint Hypermobility Syndrome, a condition which causes my joints to dislocate easily, a caesarean was discussed at an early stage with the consultant but I was determined that I would need to be in control and that I wanted to give birth to my baby naturally. I was really enjoying pregnancy, reading up on it, doing yoga and visualising an active, natural labour. However this was not be...
At a 30 week scan it became apparent our baby boy was breech, and measuring rather large! This resulted in weekly growth scans at the end, at all of which he was measuring way above the 97th centile! Despite weekly yoga classes, and daily practise to include inversions, baby Peters was quite comfortable thank you very much and was not moving! I can't recommend the pregnancy yoga sessions enough, I loved the weekly de-stress and learning about the power of breathing and using breath to focus my mind and energy.
We were offered an ECV where a consultant would try to move the baby manually but after much reading and discussion we decided not to interfere with baby and let nature take it's course, along with continued daily sessions of inversions, much to Gary's amusement! However, This was to no avail and so it was decided at 38 weeks that I was to be booked for an elective caesarean for the following Fri. There was a funny moment when we overheard the midwife who had been reassuring us that the fact baby was measuring big wasn't anything to worry about, on the phone to the consultant...
'Dr, this baby is still breech and it's a large baby..... Yes, large, very large, Huuuge! .... Yes you need to get it out as soon as possible!'
We went home feeling really excited to know our (big) baby would be here so soon and I set about mentally preparing myself for a caesarean, to include watching videos of breech cesarean procedures on YouTube! Gary at this point had been overcome by some serious nesting and the house was scrubbed from top to bottom and he also decided that as I was having a caesarean I no longer needed a birthing ball and deflated it, much to my horror!!
For an elective caesarean it is procedure to go in the day before for a 'pre op' appointment. During this I was scanned, baby was still breech and big so cesarean was a definite. It turned out that I needed a steroid injection to protect baby's lungs if born before 39 weeks, we asked if this was really necessary as we were going to be 39 weeks a few hours later. The midwife agreed with us but the registrar wanted me to have it or suggested rescheduling for the following week but then decided we had to go ahead because of the size of our baby. This was midday on the Thursday and I was given the first steroid injection and had to return 12 hours later at midnight for the second, and I stayed in from then. I was very excited and didn't get much sleep, eventually using the 12 breaths technique to relax and drift off. The Friday morning seemed to go on forever, but very calm - I had a shower, straightened my hair and read my book, using deep breathing to calm any nerves and anxiety.
At 3pm we were off to theatre.
In the first room I had a cannula put in my hand and this was surprisingly painful and I was using straw breath with my eyes closed to focus (thinking if this hurt the spinal must be awful!!) There were so many people in the room and lots of questions.
I just wanted to keep calm and connect with my baby.
The spinal took a long time and I ended up having the local anaesthetic twice before it was successful. I was using straw breath again during this, not because of any pain but just so I could focus and relax.
The caesarean itself is a very surreal experience
I could feel everything but no pain at all.
Baby Ash James Peters was born at 4.32pm weighing 9lbs 7.5.
There was some difficulty getting him out and he was a little shocked so was taken immediately by the midwife, while emergency doctors and paediatric team were called. He was taken out of the room. This felt like a life time not being able to see or hear my baby and I was getting upset. After six minutes (I was told this later) but what felt like forever, we heard our gorgeous boy cry and Gary went through to see him, took a photo on his phone and came in to show me. Ash was then brought in and given to us to cuddle.
Gary went with the midwife who took Ash back to the recovery ward while they stitched me up and as soon as I was back in recovery a few minutes later I was able to have skin to skin.
This was an incredible and beautiful moment as Ash knew exactly what to do and set about breastfeeding for the next hour! This was to be the beginning of a wonderful breastfeeding journey lasting nearly 14 months!
The registrar who performed my caesarean came to see me and explained that baby's head was stuck (they hadn't cut a big enough hole) and that the cord had been wrapped around his neck so this was why he wasn't breathing initially. We stayed in for two nights then got to go home Sunday afternoon. The staff in Glangwili were all wonderful, and we cannot thank them enough.
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