I spent the first 30 odd weeks of my pregnancy with the girls in turmoil. I was just over 3 years post JJ and I was still completely traumatised. My dream of the natural, calm waterbirth had been blown out the window and I had even doubted I gave birth to him as I had been under a general. I felt determined that this time I would have the birth that I wanted and that I would not agree to being induced at all!At 6 weeks pregnant I had early bleeding and the doctor referred me for a scan. I was told that I either had one area of bleeding and a baby sac or there might be twins. As yet there was no heartbeat as it was so early. I needed to wait 10 days to be scanned again. Instantly I knew I was pregnant with twins and happily told dh this. For some strange reason I was not phased at all, I recalled a dream I had the year earlier where I knew I had 2 pregnancies but 3 children - it did not click what it meant at the time! doh Mich.
So at that next scan twins were confirmed and I was still adamant that I would be having a vaginal waterbirth with minimal intervention. I did lots of research and found that a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) was completely possible. Yay, decision made. Then after about 20 weeks I had to meet with the consultant or one of his team as well as the midwife on a regular basis. So on the one hand the midwives were very supportive and told me it was my birth and I could have it any way I saw fit and then on the other were the consultants team. They made a decision as soon as they met me, past history of section and pre-eclampsia equals a planned section.So off I went to think about it all and on the next consultant appointment I informed them that it was my choice and I knew it could be done and I wished for a vaginal birth. Of course they had to listen to me but then started to dictate that I would have to have an epidural in place 'just in case', that the babes would need to be monitored internally constantly while I was in labour and that I would not be able to labour in water because of this.
I remember crying that night after the conversation, yet again my dream had been taken away from me. The things that I dearly wanted - no monitoring, to labour in water and no epidural were not options for me and thus I made what for me was a sensible decision. I decided to have the C-section. I figured I might as well be able to plan for when my babes would arrive and this would certainly help with care for JJ. I had recovered from a C-section before so I knew what to expect.
So that is what happened. As you know if you read my earlier post, I ended up in hospital for a couple of weeks before the birth, so things never go quite to plan for me but as for the actual C-section, yes it was perfect. I was taken to theatre at the time planned, I had a one on one consultation with the top anesthetist a few days before to ensure I was relaxed, thus my epidural worked the first time, I was awake and saw my babes lifted from my tummy, dh was there holding my hand and chatting to me. We all went into the recovery room together and got to spend a few lovely quiet hours together before any visitors came in.Once back on the ward, I automatically got a side room as I had twins and yes things went well. My over ridding memory is that of a really positive birth experience. I would say to anyone that a planned section is worlds apart from an emergency or crash section and that as long as your expectations are realistic you should not be disappointed.
What about you, what is your overriding memory of your birth experience/s?
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| Look how they used to snuggle up. Miss M was always nestled into Miss E. |