Charlotte is a second-time mum who had planned a homebirth but welcomed her baby via a positive unplanned caesarean birth.
I was eating cake (standard!), bouncing on my yoga ball watching the Full Monty with my husband, Paul on a Sunday evening. My waters broke and I teddy-bear rolled straight off the cream rug on to the wood floor so I didn’t have to scrub the carpet 🤣. Paul grabbed a towel which was drying itself over the bannister luckily. I then whacked it between my legs and pegged it to the loo. When I got to the toilet, I was shocked to see my waters were green and full of meconium which means baby had done a poo and it was now in the waters. I knew, at that moment, I had to get to the hospital as it was now classed as ‘unsafe’ to birth at home in the birthing pool which I’d planned my whole pregnancy as baby required monitoring, due to risk of infection. So I called triage and Paul called his mum, as it was 20.45 and we were at home with Nieva. It was also the one day it snowed, not much in Launceston but all on the road from here to Treliske 🙈. When Paul’s mum arrived, we set off for Treliske and by the time we got to Bodmin the contractions started. By the time we were entering Truro I was having quite a lot of contractions lasting a minute or more and they were getting closer together.
When I got to hospital, everything had stopped typically! I went upstairs to the delivery suite and was put on a monitor straight away. Baby wasn’t distressed and all looked fairly normal. The midwife then examined me and said my cervix was still hard, right back, baby was up high and I was only 1cm. I had 2 choices now. I could either be placed on an induction hormone drip, turned up high as we really had to deliver sooner rather than later. This came with the risk of my body going into shock and also baby (which happened in my 1st pregnancy) or a category 3 caesarean section. Category 3 is a caesarean that is needed but not urgently in the sense that mum nor baby were immediately or seriously at harm.
I opted for a section straight away and signed the form at midnight. I was due to go to theatre between 1am and 2am but there were category 1 and category 2 emergencies. At 4am I was called. I walked down to theatre with Paul and my midwife. I walked in and was sat on the bed and greeted by the anaesthetist who explained what was about to happen etc. I can’t lie, I then got really emotional and anxious. Just because I was overwhelmed in the sense we were about to meet baby but in shock it had ended in a section. But she put me at rest and did the spinal block and laid me down. My midwife then put the catheter in. The surgeon introduced all of the team. There were approximately 10 of us in there. From surgeons, anaesthetist, paediatric doctor (ready for baby in case she needed immediate treatment because the meconium). One of the team asked us what music we’d like and if we wanted the drapes lowered when baby arrived. It was then about 25 minutes until she arrived. She screamed the place down. I then cried like an absolute baby. I was so emotional. It was beyond incredible. Marcie was absolutely fine too. She was totally unaffected and was beyond perfect. It then took about 45 mins to stitch me up. We went to recovery and had skin to skin straight away. She got straight on the boob and took to feeding like a pro and Paul fed me toast and I had about 3 cups of tea! The best tea and toast I’ve ever had may I add.
I couldn’t have done any if this without my husband by my side. He is my rock and always will be. Chi Kernow Midwives. My allocated midwife Jo was an absolute dream of a midwife, so kind and compassionate and an absolute fountain of knowledge and was there for me with all of my pregnancy hurdles. I miss her dearly. Also a big thank you to Jessie who saw a lot of too and was also fabulous. I also need to pay special thanks to Demelza Sayers at Tranquil Baby Hypnobirthing. If it wasn’t for this lady I wouldn’t have learnt all the tips and tricks in order to keep my calm and cool and stay positive every step of my labour and birthing journey. For anyone who may be in the least bit curious or anxious about anything regarding pregnancy I can totally recommend hypnobirthing and the courses that Demelza offers.
Also big thank you to all the team at Treliske. Every single person I met or came in contact with was incredible. It was bursting at the seams busy, but they all made us feel like we were the most important. All services 10/10 the full duration of our stay from arrival to departure and all other admissions I had in my pregnancy.
