I'd like to know if there are any other mum's out there that had a prolonged labour (mine was 211hours) and had to deal with not being able to bond well, as after the emergency c-section I didn't get to hold baby or breastfeed before she was flown to wellington's FANTASTIC NeoNatal unit without me. There were a number of complications with her lungs - infantile respitory distress syndrome and a massive infection from all the inhaled meconium as her bowels had been functioning during labour. the paediatrician said she was about 2 weeks overdue, i had asked for ultrasonds and told i didnt need them, i said i was in labour and was told that as she hadn't descended it was only pre-labour (she couldnt descend as my pelvis was too small to allow her head through at the angle she had got herself in to). I feel that what should have been a beautiful experiance left me feeling like i was a terrible woman as i should have been fighting harder for what my body was telling me, i should have been able to hold the child i gave birth to in the delivery room.
it was 2days before i got to hold my daughter (IV, tummy tube, monitors and all), and a week before i was able to demand BF. She's beautiful and healthy now, i'm succesfully BFing 4months later, but will NEVER have another child as my first birth experiance has left me feeling very ripped off and a bit of a failure on the whole "natural" birth front.
Edited by Flutterby