Carly's story
Carly had her little boy Billy in November 2007 by an elective Caesarian. Here she tells her story.
The scan
At 36 weeks, a routine scan revealed my baby was around 9lb 4oz and I was advised that I should have a Caesarean, as the baby was likely to weigh a whopping 11lb at birth! I completed the necessary consent forms and was given a date of 27 November 2007 – five days before my due date. After that I was sent home with some tablets and a leaflet on what to do on the day.
The night before
At 10pm the night before the day of the birth, I took one of the tablets – this was to control the acid in my stomach. I wasn’t supposed to eat or drink anything after this point, and take the second tablet at 6am. Amazingly, I managed to get a full night’s sleep and woke up early in the morning to have a nice relaxing bath.
The hospital
My parents arrived at 6:30am to collect my husband Dan and I, as we were told to arrive at the hospital at 7am. It all felt very surreal, it was early morning and I was being collected in a car with my bag – I just felt as though I was going on holiday! We arrived at the hospital and were shown into the waiting lounge, although I was told only Dan could wait with me. After two hours a team of consultants and surgeons arrived and I was given a quick run-through of the procedure and asked to put on a hospital gown and some support socks.
One by one, all the other couples in the waiting lounge were called in and by 11:30am Dan and I were alone. I was feeling very anxious. I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink since the previous day and was starting to feel very tired. I don’t think I have ever had so many trips to the loo in one morning and my insides were doing somersaults!
We were left waiting and not knowing what was happening. I kept insisting that Dan had some breakfast, but he refused as he said that if I couldn’t eat or drink then he wasn’t going to either. At midday, a surgeon came by and explained that they would expect to meet with me after lunch.
Finally
At 2pm a nurse came to collect me at and I was taken to the recovery ward, where I was asked to leave my bag and clothes and Dan was given a gown and hair net. We were taken the theatre and greeted by a friendly team, which was very reassuring for both of us. I was hooked up to a drip and then I was sat upright on the edge of the bed to have the epidural administered. I was told that a needle would be pushed into my back and I was to push against it while sitting as still as possible – the most important thing was not to jump! A nurse stood in front of me and held my hands and tried to keep me calm, but I still felt very tense and nervous.
When the needle went in I jumped! I felt a shock in the side of my thigh and a trickle of tears ran down my check and my bottom lip began trembling. I was full of nerves, anxiety and emotion. I couldn’t believe the past 39 weeks had built up to this one moment. After about 20 minutes or so, the epidural was in and Dan came to my side. The surgeon put a cold spray on my hand and then explained that he was going to spray it on my feet and continue up my body. When I could feel the same level of coldness I’d have to say: “stop” as this would mean everything below was numb. The team got to work.
Baby time
Having the caesarean was a very weird sensation. Even though I couldn’t feel any pain, I could feel movement. It felt like someone was doing the washing-up in my belly! The next thing I saw was this head being held above the screen, screaming! I burst into tears and was completely overwhelmed. Dan announced, “It’s a boy!” A few moments later a nurse showed me our son all bundled up in a blanket and I lent over and kissed him on the forehead. We agreed to call him Billy, after his granddad. At exactly 2:59pm we began our new life as parents to an 8lb 7oz baby.
Daddy and Billy were sent off to the recovery room while I was stitched up. I joined them and was hooked up to a blood pressure monitor and cleaned up by the nurses. I was asked if I was going to breastfeed and was then given some assistance to help Billy latch on, although both of us struggled getting the hang of it.
Meet the family
I sent Dan off to break the news to our waiting family. Eventually at 6pm we were taken onto a high dependency ward and bombarded by Billy’s new fan club. The nurse came and ushered everyone out and reminded everyone it was only two visitors per bed. Dan asked both our Mums to stay so they could have the first cuddles. As soon as my mum held him, she cried and then I cried again for the second time that day. Over the next two hours, all the visitors came to meet our new arrival. At 7:50pm, I asked everyone to leave so the new Daddy could have his last bit of time that evening with his new son. At 8pm, Dan kissed us goodbye and told me that I would be fine and to get some sleep. There I was, alone with my baby and a whole new life ahead of me.
I have no regrets having a caesarean even though it probably wasn’t necessary as Billy wasn’t 11lb. I thought that the care I received by the hospital was everything that I could have asked for. I still think the epidural hurt more than the operation itself but I think I will have another caesarean next time round!
