my elective section story - pics

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   I have posted this in the birth stories thread, but I thought it might be good to post it here too. Just wanted to share because mine was a very positive experience after initially being so disappointed that I wasn't going to have a vaginal birth.

**Caution-there are a couple of pics mid surgery, you cant see anything, but DS is halfway out of the incision. ***

Heres my birth story, an elective section with DS IN february

My section was scheduled for 2 days past my EDD. The OB recommended I have a section after multiple scans estimated Quinn's weight at over 9lb at 38 weeks.  The morning of the section I woke up at 4am with cramps and a bloody show. The cramping got worse and more regular so we went to the hospital a little bit early, I called my mum who was meeting DH and me there to tell her we were going in. 

We arrived at Auckland Hospital at 8am and got checked in and then we just had to wait. At 10am they got me and DH changed for theatre and the anesthetist came and placed an IV luer in my hand.  I was still having cramping at this point, I guess they were contractions really, lasting a minute and five minutes apart and they were pretty uncomfortable! Once I was ready to go I started to get all scared and felt really hot all of a sudden.  Mum came to my rescue with a magazine and fanned up my gown while we waited  

Then the nurse came to take us to theatre, on the way we ran into to charge nurse who both DH and I have worked with before. She asked if she could be in the theatre and we said yes because she's absolutely lovely. When we to theatre they did the spinal epidural, which was probably the worst part. No problems getting it in, it was just uncomfortable and painful. 

Once that was done they lay me down which was really weird because I had already started to loose all the feeling and movement in my legs. My OB checked I couldn't feel anything and they started. 

The surgery was quite odd, you can feel everything just not the pain, crazy. Then all of a sudden Dr Phil leaned over the drapes and said that my baby would be here in about a minute. The team dropped the drapes so that I could see Quinn come out. He was so big they had to use forceps and the tugging was pretty hard, poor bub. Quinn was half way out when I saw him properly, I was very overwhelmed and emotional and then my OB grabbed his little arm and waved it at me saying hi mum. Made me laugh but it kind of snapped me out of my oh my gosh thats my baby trance! You can see his arm being held up in the second photo.

They took Quinn to be weighed and checked by the pediatrician and he cried the whole time. Very loud, was incredibly reassuring but I just wanted to hold him. 

Once he was all wrapped DH bought him over to me and placed him on my chest. From memory he stopped crying but let out these indignant little yells every few seconds.

The charge nurse came over and asked if I wanted to try latching Quinn on, I did so much, one of the things I was worried about the most with the cesarean was the delayed skin to skin. So she helped DH get Quinn latched (both my arms were occupied with IV lines and BP cuffs) which was amazing (and then painful!) and Quinn had his first little feed.

Once I was all closed they took us round to recovery and popped Quinn back on my chest and I got to have my first really good cuddle. I remember his eyes were a really dark blue just after he was born and he was really staring back at me.  

I just wanted to share because I had a really positive birth after being really upset that I wasn't going to even try giving birth naturally. In the end Quinn weighed 10lb 9oz and my OB told me the next day that I had been in early labour but I was not dilating, Quinn was not engaged and there was meconium in the waters. He said I almost certainly would have ended up having an emergency cesarean anyway. I am still disappointed that I didn't experience a more traditional labour and birth but I know we made the right choice and I have a beautiful healthy boy (plus an intact pelvic floor!)