My baby boy Adam Gordon was born via a scheduled c-section. He was breech and I feel like I tried everything to flip him, including yoga, handstands in the lake, accupuncture, and chiropractic. I went in for an ECV around 36 weeks and it was unsafe to try as his bum was very low in my pelvis. My amniotic fluid was on the lower end of normal, and the placenta was in the way to flip him, so the doctor recommended against trying it as the risks outweighed the benefits.

We discussed options of a scheduled c-section or attempting a vaginal breech delivery. As much as I had planned, hoped, and prepared for a vaginal birth with no epidural, we ultimately decided a scheduled c-section would be the safest and less possible traumatic option for both of us, as this is my first baby.

I grieved for a few days and felt sad that I possibly wouldn’t be able to go into labour, and the procedures included in the c-section had me feeling nervous, and I was unsure about the recovery and upset I wouldn’t be able to do things with my baby right away.

I made a birth plan for my csection so I could feel as in control as I could and make the experience positive. I had my music on my phone, had the clear drape so I could see him emerge and we did skin to skin in the recovery room and attempted breastfeeding as soon as we could. The hardest part was getting through the spinal (not the needle itself!) but the numbing feeling starting and my blood pressure dropped so I had a pounding headache. Shortly after I felt completely numb and my headache disappeared, I felt a sense of calmness and cried with excitement that I would get to meet my baby soon! My husband got to cut the cord and hold him in the recovery room while I was being stitched up, and I was grateful I had such amazing nurses who always stayed by my side and helped me feel calm!

My doctor reassured me a VBAC would very much be a possibility in the future, so I look forward to my next baby and hopefully being able to experience the natural birth I looked forward to.

Father in theatre scrubs and hat holding his newborn baby Courtney with theatre gown and cap, ECG pads, and a blood pressure cuff holding her newborn baby Adam Gordon  Baby Adam Gordon image shows his face and he is wearing a hat New mother in hospital bed with new baby lying in a clear sided hospital cot next to the bed Father leaving the hospital carrying his new baby in a car seat

Words and images courtesy of Courtney Siemens.