Bridget and Andy — Claire’s Birth Story
Planned Homebirth to Planned C-section - a change in mindset and a new path forward.
This is the story of how our plans changed from the home birth that I had so looked forward to, to a planned c-section. My amazing midwife supported me through all the disappointments, the fears and the emotions. She helped us rebuild our plans and enabled us to have the most empowered belly-birth (c-section) possible. Sometimes I felt nervous - this was a totally new environment to me - but I was grateful to be able to make many of the decisions about the way my belly-birth was carried out and to feel part of the birthing process.
At our 19 week anatomy scan, we found that the placenta was growing low down near the cervix and I would be required to have another scan at 32 weeks to see how it had changed. As this is reasonably common, we didn’t give it too much consideration. We continued our plans for a home birth: we practised hypnobirthing each day/night and we were able to borrow a friend’s birthing pool. We had lots of help with renovations in the house we had recently bought to prepare for baby's arrival.
The 32 week scan revealed that the placenta had grown completely over my cervix and there was no option of a home vaginal birth. The sonographer was surprised I hadn’t experienced any bleeding as this is quite common for placenta praevia. I was disappointed, upset and sad. I had really wanted to experience labour and the power of my own body and mind! I had wanted to birth our baby naturally, at home with only Andy, myself and our midwife Ange and her backup midwife. The idea of abdominal surgery and a full theatre team of 10 strangers was really unappealing, along with the post-recovery healing I knew I would have to go through. I was desperate for this not to be the case, but the Sonographer assured me that it was out of my control. The most important thing was that baby was born safe and I would live to parent her. That was hard to hear, but his message was put into perspective as I was a placenta praevia baby with my Mum. It wasn't picked up until she was already in labour with me and haemorrhaging, and we both almost died. There is no evidence that this situation is genetic or runs in the family (I am also the youngest of four, and all of my siblings were vaginal births).
With Ange’s help, optimism and professionalism, we accepted that this was the way baby was meant to be born. We were able to consciously embrace the change in our birth plans, and choose to make our baby’s arrival the most special experience we could have.
We were still processing and adjusting our mindsets to the change when the following week I had a 3am night bleed. We contacted Ange who directed us to go immediately to hospital. We drove ourselves there not knowing what to expect or what to pack etc. We didn’t realise that theatre was being prepared for an emergency C-section should it be required. As baby would be born premature, we discussed the use of steroids and anti-bleeding drugs if I kept bleeding heavily. With the support and advice from Ange, we declined both, and waited until enough monitoring had been done before making any major decisions. Thankfully, we were discharged from hospital the next morning. The bleeding had mostly stopped and monitoring of baby showed no distress or any other concerns. I was told to try and ‘keep baby in there’ for at least another four weeks, and all going well, I would be booked for an elective C-section (belly birth) at 37 weeks.
We are so grateful for that experience as we gained many valuable insights into how my future stay would be. We familiarised ourselves with the hospital environment and procedures that exist there. (I had not previously had any hospital stays.) We were hopeful to get the surgeon that was our consultant on that night for my belly birth, and we did!
I had no further bleeds or complications and we were given the date 30th January for our belly birth. It was another adjustment to knowing baby’s birth date as we were prepared for not knowing this. Baby would be 37 weeks and 6 days.
I hadn’t had any breast leaking up until this point, and we were keen to try to get colostrum in case baby needed it after she was born. We ‘milked’ me the night before the operation and it was the weirdest experience. I cried with so much emotion built up over the previous few weeks with appointments to meet the surgeon, anaesthetist, blood test and scan. Ange assured us that even .04 mg would be plenty for baby, and after half an hour of squeezing we got this tiny amount of orange gold, I had had enough. Sleep didn’t come easy, but our hypnobirthing preparation really helped to remain calm, positive and empowered for the upcoming day.
In our birthing preferences for the belly birth we tried to incorporate as much as we had originally wanted for our home birth to create the experience we wanted to have. These included:
our own music playlist to play in theatre during surgery,
seeding so bubbs would get as much of my microme/bacteria post-birth to help her immune system,
delayed cord clamping and cutting so that she would get as much nourishment as possible from my placenta,
the drape screen lowered as baby was being lifted out of me so I could see her being born,
baby placed straight onto my chest unwiped/cleaned (if no complications occurred) so she got the most goodness from her vermix and being connected to me.
We also opted for antibiotics to be administered after she was born not before,
We consented to Vitamin K for her.
The process was very surreal for me. To walk into the hospital feeling healthy and to become a patient straight away was odd. The nurse and training doctor both had issues inserting a cannula but Ange and the anaesthetist came to the rescue. They removed the existing one which had bruised me (that was the only painful thing about the whole day!), and inserted one that was perfect. I was nervous but fascinated as I was wheeled through the hospital into the theatre waiting space. All the staff were caring, kind, and empathetic. We had a short wait and by 1.30pm everything was underway! It all happened very fast and efficiently. I introduced myself to all the staff present and said thanks in advance, blessing the process and this part of our journey with everyone involved. My spinal block was administered without issue, as was the catheter. I made the mistake of turning to look at the needle, and a few tears were shed. The nurse was so supportive and helped keep me focussed. Before I knew it, I couldn’t move my legs by myself to lie down and everything was being done for me. The screen between my head and belly went up and I thought they were going to start without Andy. He was brought in just in time! I held his and Ange’s hands throughout, singing along to our songs and being in awe of what was taking place. Of course I couldn’t feel a thing, but I was told there would be a gushing sound once my amniotic fluid was reached (waters breaking), and I heard this, knowing Claire was about to be lifted out. I looked up and there was this huge baby with curly black hair who made a little bleating sound. Wow, what an experience! She was placed onto my chest within a couple of minutes and Ange got her suckling on my breast straight away. This is where she stayed while we were wheeled into the recovery room, with a little woollen hat on her head. Because of the operation she was placed up around my shoulders. She was so tiny she fitted there perfectly!
The remainder of our time in hospital had its challenges, but we learnt so much about caring for baby, and felt completely supported. It really set me up for optimal recovery back at home, with an understanding of the need for adequate pain management, how to look after myself, and move around without reinjuring myself whilst learning to be a parent. We have so much appreciation for how everything unfolded to bring us to this point in our lives, and to have a blessed birthing experience that we reflect on with gratitude and joy.
