Birthing story of our first born (emergency C section)

Precursor: bubby and I are completely safe and well, but we had an difficult birth.

The following is a recap of the birth of our first born. We had hoped for a relatively standard birth, and it turned out to be anything but. However, at the end of it we got a beautiful baby, which is the main thing!

I wrote this post the morning after, while still groggy on painkillers. I think I did alright! *grin*

Arriving at the hospital

Came in at 3.30am Monday morning after losing the mucus plug with blood in it. I didn’t realise there would be a fair bit more blood afterwards, so came in to check it out. I was having mild contractions every 5mins and a dull ache in the meantime. Baby’s heart rate was good though, so we decided to hang around until Dr James did his rounds in the morning to see if I was dilated or not.

When he checked I was already dilated by 2cm, and since I was booked in to be induced Thursday we figured we may as well start things now. He broke my waters, and we discovered some meconium in the water. He said not to worry, but we would keep the monitoring on for the labour then to check that baby was OK and not stressed.

Contractions increase in levels – pain relief administered

My contractions were every 5 minutes growing in intensity. By lunch time they got so full on that I started asking for some pain relief. At 1pm we saw Dr James again and made the call to head to the birthing suites and get an epidural put in. That was done, but didn’t have any effect – I was in agony! I had also only dilated to 5cm at this point, and baby hadn’t moved down far enough into the birthing canal for Dr James’ liking. We decided to go for the drip and add the stuff to help further bring the contractions on starting to push from top down to try and get a move on with bub.

The contractions were now insane. They gave me the gas as well, and the epidural still hadn’t kicked in. They increased the dose but I still had full feeling over my body. I was exhausted, and after only 2 hours of sleep the night before (4 hours the night before that) my body wasn’t coping. I could barely open my eyes.

Bub heart rate drops – time for surgery

Bub’s heart rate now started dipping. He was bouncing from a healthy 120-160 to periods of under 100. Finally it got down to the 60s and it was called for an emergency c section. He was stressed and we needed to get him out of there.

Got into the surgery and they tried again with the pain relief. I could feel all the pinches they were making on my skin, even after increasing the dose on the epidural again. My legs were now starting to go numb. One nurse also gave me a direct injection into my leg to try and take the edge off the contractions. They were now roughly every minute, and it was at the point that if I was in the middle of a contraction I couldn’t be moved (or touched, it made me nauseous). Rolling on either side to transfer me to beds would bring one on and I was groaning in pure agony. I had already thrown up three times by this point as well, the last right as they prepared me to go to theatre.

We made the call to knock me out completely for the c section. Gas mask went on, soon enough I was out. You can imagine hubby was beside himself at this point freaking out over the health and safety for both wife and baby. He felt completely helpless and could only watch on (he had been given scrubs and was present for all of it even in theatre).

Post-surgery

When I woke up, I was in the recovery room. I was told bub was healthy and with his dad. Thanks to the amount of colostrum we had collected he had been given feeds already, so it was a major THANK GOD we had gone to the effort we had in collecting the colostrum pre-birth (the nurse also used some for a feed overnight so I could rest). Knowing that Mario was with him was a great relief.

When hubby came in he told me that bub had also had his cord wrapped around him (chest I think?). There were initial concerns about oxygen deprivation but after tests bub was given the all clear. Blood sugar was a bit off as well likely from the stress. They were keeping him in the intensive care for monitoring.

He was a small bub, which was good (but long). His head was majorly cone shaped because of the sheer strength of my contractions and where he was stuck. By the time I saw him his head had reverted back a lot, but he’s still got some more to go.

I was brought into intensive care so I could meet baby and give him his first breast feed. He was a little champion! He latched on easily and was able to get some good solid feeds in, although he has complained a little bit as well with some refusal in subsequent feeds. Hopefully as we learn some more positioning it will get better as we go on.

As for me, I was beyond exhausted even after I woke up (I was only out for about 45mins). After the feeds with bub I was pale and weak, and managed to eat half a sandwich and drink some Powerade. I was falling asleep while trying to eat, and it was difficult to swallow. I had a catheter in as I had no feeling from the waist down, although that started returning towards the end of the night.

I’m on three sets of pain killers; panadol, endone and OxyContin I think (still through the drip for the last one). This morning I’m back to full movement in my legs, and we’ll be removing the catheter today. I’ll be helped to have a shower, and should be mobile enough to visit the nursery now instead of bub being brought here.

Thank you to the amazing staff and my husband

I’m SO grateful to the staff here and Dr James – they kept us all safe and looked after hubby when he really needed it. Everyone was fantastic, from the midwives, the anaesthesiologist, staff in theatre and Dr James. Looks like I’ll be here a little longer than expected now just for the recovery but I don’t mind. I certainly hadn’t expected a C section, but I’m also glad I didn’t have my heart set on a specific plan. I’d already told Dr James that if the call was made for a C section then I was all for it.

As for the hubby, he was reaching out to family on the phone keeping them updated, which understandably they were all stressed out too. We managed to phone people last night before I passed out again, just to let them know I was safe.

He was extremely wiped out himself from an emotional day. I can’t even begin to imagine what he had gone through seeing how much pain I was in and not being able to do anything. He was so wonderful throughout, anything I asked for and needed he was there for me. When they had asked me about things they wanted to do I got them to run it past him because I was not able to focus. If he gave he all clear or said it was my call I knew it was OK. He was wonderful throughout and I’m so grateful he was there for me.

Now, time to get into a routine of feeding and sleeping for the next few days. Not to mention wrapping my head around the fact that we have a child, and I’m a mother!