Claire Alice born at SCUH, 25 Dec 2019

Hi Carrie

Claire Alice decided that she would not wait until a scheduled c-section and made a very quick entrance into the world at 11.13 pm on Christmas Day. She remained breech, but we were able to have a c-section that suited us. The hypnobirthing classes and techniques were invaluable throughout the whole process and we have a beautiful, content and peaceful little girl. Here is our birth story:

My waters released at 7:05 pm Christmas Day which was a bit of a shock and I freaked out a little. I felt a little pop that mum described and thought I might have imagined it so went back to bed. About 10 minutes later I had some back pain and once it went I felt a bit of liquid come out and told Jay I thought they had released. He didn’t believe me at first so I rang mum and she said it could be. I put a pad on, stood up while on the phone to her and the flood gates actually opened 🤣

We got to the hospital about 8:30 pm and my surges came on pretty quickly and strongly. I was 4 cms dilated with a very thin cervix by 9:30 pm. Claire had not turned from breech and after careful research and a lot of thought, Jay and I decided that a breech birth was not in the best interest for Claire and I. The hospital said that had I gone natural it would have been quite a speedy birth. I (mostly) enjoyed being able to experience labour before she arrived. I wasn’t able to relax properly so the surges hurt more than what I think they would have if I wasn’t so panicked about her going too far into the birth canal. Plus they had to monitor her and kept me in an uncomfortable position on the bed. We were taken in pretty quickly to the theatre. I was hoping we could get to Boxing Day before meeting our little one. She had other ideas.

It was a beautiful experience in the theatre room. They were incredible. We joked and they were so caring the whole time  The epidural was simple but I have no idea how anyone has one and can breathe the baby down. They had Claire out in about 15 minutes after the epidural. It was so quick!

She spent some time on the CPAP machine for her breathing and the doctors thought they would need to take her away for 36-48 hours for monitoring. I requested skin to skin first and she settled right down and hasn’t had an issue since so they didn’t take her. It is amazing what our connection can do. We were also able to do delayed cord clamping. She is a pro at breastfeeding, crawling and latching straight away on her own.

I hope you have a wonderful end to 2019. 

Lisa

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