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Baby Bear's Birth Story Part 2 - Planned Cesarean after EMCS

This is the story of the day I had my planned cesarean with my second daughter Baby Bear. There's a part one to read with how we got to this point if you fancy catching up.



I spent the night in hospital and I knew it would be the last night before I had my newborn in my arms. J had gone home to our first Baby Girl and I was in a hospital bed updating my family and friends on WhatsApp and FaceTime about what was going to happen the next day.

I knew I should sleep but my mind was in overdrive so it took a long time before I drifted off and even then I kept waking. It was a particularly windy evening and the swooshing of the wind from outside mixed with the sounds of a labouring woman desperate to be dilated enough the be sent to the delivery room did not make for a peaceful sleeping environment. It was actually really creepy.

One of the midwives woke me at 6am for observations and to give me a special tablet that would reduce my stomach acid. I wasn’t allowed to eat and I was only allowed to have a small sip of water to get that tablet down. She left me with a hospital gown and a pair of tight socks to put on when I was ready. I had to be ready for surgery as early as 10am and J was coming in at 9am after he dropped Baby Girl to nursery.


I needed to bank as much sleep as I could, but the anticipation was too much and was a mixture of excitement and absolute terror. The feeling of going into a planed cesarean rather than an emergency one as I first had is very very different. My mind couldn’t stop to think about anything other than wanting my baby to be safe and to get her out as quickly as possible with the emergency one, but with this (somewhat) planned one, I have to be honest.... my thoughts were intense. How long will it take? Would the room be cold? What will the spinal be like? What if I couldn’t sit still while they were injecting a mammoth needle into my spine and it paralysed me? What if I bled? What if I died? (morbid, but when you’re going through major surgery and your thoughts consume you it happens). What is the recovery going to be like? What if I couldn’t care for both of my children? How will I change nappies? Is she ready to come out? etc etc etc.... no wonder I couldn’t sleep!

So from 6am - 9am I lay awake consumed by my own thoughts until J arrived. It felt like it was getting real then. I put my gown and socks on and I was surprised to see the consultant that had examined me and made the decision that the surgery should happen that day arrive at my bedside. She told me that she would be performing the surgery and assured me that she’d had sleep over night - to this day I still can’t figure that one out! But I felt quite reassured that she would be my surgeon that day as I had a good feeling about her. She had done a thorough scan of me the day before and had taken notes on exactly what my insides were measuring like. She told me there was one other planned section before mine and to expect to come up to the operating theatre in about an hour. 

J begged me to sleep so I could get as much rest as possible but I just couldn’t. We seem to have these moments that happen in hospitals around the birth of our children that are just peaceful and reflective and I feel totally as one with him. After the surgeon left we had one of them. One minute we were talking and the next minute, it was 11.30am and we had the caesarian midwife gently tap my shoulder and let me know it was time for my surgery. Somehow we had both fallen asleep, and when I woke I actually felt well rested, at peace and ready for this surgery. 

It was strange packing up our things, walking into the surgical room and being greeted by a room full of smiley people introducing themselves and what part they would play. All my details went up on a white board and everything was very calculated. J put on his scrubs and this time managed to get a selfie of himself in them as he was disappointed he didn’t get one last time. 

I propped myself up on the bed and the anaesthetist prepped me for the spinal. My pre thoughts were a lot worse than the reality and very quickly I was lying down and couldn’t move my body or feel below my neck. Such a strange sensation. I don’t remember them announcing they were going to start, but I think I asked and they concurred that they had. J had strict instructions to stay by my head and with the huge screen as a barrier he couldn’t see anything.

The time it took to get my princess out this time felt longer than last time - it must have been about 30 minutes, but when they mentioned I would feel a bit of pressure soon and that I did I knew she was coming. Before they even told me she was out I heard her crying. 

It was 1.05pm on the 29th January 2018 and she sure did make herself known from the very minute she took her first breath in this world. 


She cried that perfect little newborn wail and I felt immediate relief. They held her up above the screen and showed her to me like a scene from the Lion King at baby Simba’s introduction. They lay her next to me for a short time so I could give her a cuddle and wish her a Happy Birthday and then took her off to get cleaned up and dressed.

J went across the room to go and see our baby and I watched from afar as they did all the checks on her. She weighed in at 9 pounds and was a healthy baby. Such relief! Once she was dressed the nurse brought her over to me for more cuddles and she just relaxed her body into me and fell asleep, just like my first born I felt an instant bond. She was here and she was safe and now we’re a family of four! 

It was around this time that I noticed there was a lot of chat amongst everyone that I couldn’t understand and I felt as though something may be wrong. I asked if everything was ok and the anaesthetist told me that everything was but things were taking a bit longer to put back together because upon cutting me open they realised I had lots of scar tissue from my previous cesarean and that my uterus had attached to my stomach so they had to be really careful.

Careful they were, but the surgery took such a long time. Nearly two hours in total from start to finish. I started to feel a little strange and couldn’t hold my baby anymore so she stayed in J’s arms for the rest of the surgery where I could see her right next to me. 


I went from feeling ok, to feeling like I was going to pass out, then feeling like I may be sick. I even felt sharp pains in my heart at one point and the anaesthetist explained it wasn’t my heart but a reaction of something they were doing around my uterus which I found very strange. Every time I felt something I mentioned it to the anaesthetist and like magic she would top up the drip with something and I would feel normal again. I also started to feel more and more internal pressure and although I still couldn’t feel pain it was getting very uncomfortable. So much so that I needed gas and air to get though the last of it. 

Over an hour after my Baby Bear was born, I finally heard the ping of the staple gun (cringed as that was the one thing I wanted to avoid), and the team told me they were done. The surgeon came over and explained exactly what she had done and what the care plan would be following my operation. She was also really honest with me and told me I would need to be careful with any future pregnancy and be aware of further issues with scar tissue. In that moment it kind of all went over my head. I was so very grateful to the team for successfully delivering my baby but I also wanted to get out of that operating room and into recovery where I could cover my newest princess in kisses and cuddles and feed her for the first time. 


Being in recovery gave me plenty of time to bond with Baby Bear and it was wonderful but I also couldn’t wait to get out of there in time for visiting hours so my biggest princess could meet my littlest. That happened about 6 hours later. Thanks to my sister in law I have a video of the moment that the two of them met and I will cherish it forever. 



In that moment I was totally and utterly complete. I was, I am, a Mummy of two precious little girls and that makes me feel on top of the world.

The complicated delivery, came with a complicated recovery. It’s not easy trying to look after two children when you can’t even laugh or pull yourself out of bed but luckily I had loads of support. Then comes the baby blues and by day 6 I was convinced I was going to die from an infection - but I didn’t and I am here to tell this story. 

It’s now nearly 6 months on and I’m doing great. Baby Bear is doing great, her big sister has been even more brilliant than I could have ever imagined and their bond is unreal. And as for me and hubby? We just have to pinch ourselves sometimes when we look at the two humans that we created. 

Love made them!


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11 comments

  1. It sounds like a tough birth journey. Glad everything was okay in the end and that you had goo support.

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  2. Ahhh welcome to the world little Baby Bear! I can imagine it must be hard looking after two little ones when your body is trying to heal hope you recovery speedily hun! x

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  3. Sounds like you went through a hard time. It has brought back memories of having my children. It feels amazing after everything, when you have your new baby in your arms :) Hope you have a speedy recovery.

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  4. Wow you went through the mill. It's good that the surgeon explained everything and listened to you at each step when you said something felt wrong.

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  5. Gosh, it sounds like it was quite an ordeal considering the c section was planned. I’m glad it all worked out in the end and that your two girls have developed such a lovely bond.xx

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  6. Great post - worth it in the end though :-)

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  7. I had an elective C section second time around and it was the most bizarre experience knowing exactly when and where baby would be born but it was much more positive than my first time.

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  8. This is so wonderful that you share your experience here, your newborn looks so so sweet.

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