Birth story - Jody and baby George

*Trigger warning* - C section (positive to me) , blood loss, high dependency, needle phobia, sickness.

--- Pregnancy ---

Classed as a high risk pregnancy due to me having diabetes and Cystic Fibrosis but to everyone surprise I had a relatively smooth pregnancy, with minimal complications and I loves every second of it!

--- Plan ---

Due to my baby being breech more or less the entire pregnancy, they told me I would need a c section, which at first I wanted to avoid but as I got closer I realised baby wasn't moving and I needed to get my positive thoughts about an Elective c section... at 35 weeks baby was still breech so they scheduled me in for a c section at 38 weeks ( early due to Diabetes ). I was offered a procedure when they try to turn baby but I declined due to risk and not knowing of many success stories.

--- Birth ---

At 38 weeks exactly, I headed to MAU for 7.30am, we were checked in and asked to get into gown and those sexy compression stockings. The usual administration was done and then the surgeon and anaesthetist came to me to explain the procedure and sign consent, all in all they were really reassuring and put my mind at ease, although my mindset was pretty positive and just excited to meet our baby.

We were sent up to one of the consultant led wards to wait for our theatre time slot... at 11am they came for us and we walked to theatre.. I was led in the theatre while my fiance was gowned up.. when I got into the theatre they asked me to sit on the edge of the bed and a lovely midwife held my hand and talked to distract me as this was the worst part I was dreading due to my needle phobia. ALL in all, apart from a little discomfort and pressure, it wasn't painful and over within minutes.

Once I started to numb down below, they inserted a Catheter and then continued to reassure me and make sure the numbness was rising, this seemed to take about 20-30 mons until I was numb up to just below my boobs.

At this point my fiance was allowed in and was sat on a stool just behind my head and they started, I didn't feel a thing other than some pulling and tugging...which is just odd more than anything else. The theatre staff were amazing all the way through it and allowed me to play a special playlist to help make our experience as personal as possible.

At 12.11pm our surprise baby boy was born... they announced he was a boy and we heard his little cry I was hysterical crying and was just so relieved our boy was safely in the world. The plan was for my partner to cut the cord but when he came out I was losing a lot of blood so they quickly had to intervene and cut the cord and wrapped baby up and passed him to his daddy. They quickly got the bleeding under control and stiched me back up. At the point I started to feel very sick and began to being sick. Without going into much detail I could not be sick properly as I was lying flat, the staff in theatre were brilliant though and helped as much as they could. I was covered in tubes at this point with oxygen etc and although my partner tried to show me our baby as much as possible, I couldn't see him properly due to me being sick and all the chaos. I was a bit woozy as my blood pressure was high but they were incredible at getting it under control in recovery.

--- Recovery ---

Once we were in recovery, I was abit in and out of it but I finally got to hold my baby... never felt love like it. Although I was shattered and woozy, I was so so greatful that we were altogether at last.

After recovery I still needed some oxygen assist due to My Cystic Fibrosis so we went to a High dependency unit... they were fab on there, but they were also very respectful of letting us soak our new baby in as a new family. We were on HDU until about 11pm and I no longer needed oxygen.

I was in hospital for 2 days after birth due to having problems with feeding baby so I wanted more assistance go get to grips with it. In this time I was on paracetamol and codeine every 6 hours and I made sure they kept on top of this. 6 hours after birth, they removed my catheter and helped me get up and to shower.... I highly recommend getting up as soon as they allow and to just move a bit and get a shower... I felt like a new woman after the shower and was ready to get back in bed and cuddle my new baby boy.

The pain was manageable until day 2, that was the worst time pain wise so they gave me some Oramorph to dull the pain which worked great and then I just carried on with normal painkillers. After day 5 I stopped all painkillers and went out walking a bit and shopping a bit with our new baby, I felt amazing and felt like my recovery went fab!

I hope anyone reading this that has an Elective section coming up, takes comfort in knowing they are manageable and nothing compared to the love you feel Once your baby is in the world. Top tips is to keep on pain meds, ask for stool softeners and get up soon as you can... I loved my experience and would have one again if needed.