Birth Story Series Kick Off - She felt the Cesarean!

I'm so excited to start posting birth stories I've received from mamas from around the world who were lovely enough to share some of their most personal moments with us! I had a wonderful (but looooooooooong and painful) natural unmedicated vaginal birth (you can read my shortened birth story here, longer one here) and love to hear the good the bad and ugly of all the different births out there!

Just a warning about the birth stories in this series - some will be wonderful and inspirational, others will be all of your birthing fears wrapped up into one horrific account... If you are currently pregnant, you should consider whether or not reading these stories will benefit you. For me, I liked to know all of the possibilities - you know, prepare for the worst, hope for the best! Others find it makes them have irrational worries and anxiety. If the latter is you, I will put a little warning on the "negative" stories and you should consider bookmarking these and come back after your little one has arrived safe and sound ^_^

Without further ado, let's kick off the series!

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Here is our first birth story guest post from Aussie mom of 2, Gaye in Gifu, Japan.

**Forewarning - this could be an anxiety triggering story for currently pregnant women. Consider bookmarking for after your delivery!

Well, when I was pregnant with Emily I was told by the doc, that I was "big" yeah well, surprise, surprise. I am not anorexic-size like most women in Japan! I must admit that I am big. And a lot heavier that people think I am, thanks to muscle...

Anyways, getting to when I was in labour with Emily, I was taken to the General Hospital, where i was due to give birth. I was in labour for 36 hours, and in Japan they dont believe in any pain killers! I was having contractions less than 2 mins apart, and after being induced twice, there was still no luck. I had remembered that my SIL (my brother's wife) had a still birth when she had been in labour for 36 hours. Unfortunately for her the blood clotted in the umbilical chord, and the baby didnt make it... I could not see myself going through that, so I demanded my doc give me a C-section. He wanted me to have a natural birth, and I asked if I did, how much longer would it take... "Oh, 2 more days or so!" WITH NO PAIN KILLERS??? NO FKUCING WAY!!!!" Anyways, we finally all decided it was better to have C-Section. So, they took me into surgery and got me prepped with an Epidural. Actually 3 of them!! It was so strong, that I couldnt even get a big enough breath to say that I couldnt breathe!
Emily was born with no probs what so ever!!

Then it came to number 2!

When I found out I was pregnant with number 2, I also got in biiig trouble from the doc and was given a very serious warning about my blood pressure, which was over 210 at the time! This pregnancy became a very high risk and I was on medication and had to visit my doc on a weekly basis. Usually when you see a doc when finding out that you are expecting, they usually say "Congratulations!" etc. I was told "If you don't consider terminating this pregnancy, it could cost you and your and baby's lives."

I guess I can say thank you to my extremely stubborn husband for not wanting to give up the pregnancy, and wanting to fight for us. One night I had been feeling really sick from an ongoing headache I had for a few days, and I asked hubby to take me to the hospital. (I had grown up having migraines, but this was different to usual.) We went to the hospital where they checked me out, checked my BP, and told me that they have to send me to another hospital to give birth straight away, if not we could both lose our lives in a matter of hours. It turned out that my BP rose to 250/160!! (I eventually found out that high BP was in my DNA, and that was the cause of it!)

I was rushed to another hospital via ambulance, that deals with high risk pregnancies and also has an NICU.
They prepped me for an emergency C-section and I was given about 7 or so epidurals? None of them worked, and I could feel about everything!! They didn't use the old time scalpel, they used a laser scalpel, and I could feel it all!! It burnt like hell!!!! Apparently, the doc who stitched me up when Emily was born did a crappy job, and the scar tissue was really bad, and it took them over 45 mins to get Natalie out!! That 45 mins I was going through the agony of the laser scalpel. Man, that is hotter than getting a tattoo!!!

During this time, my hubby was snapping away, taking pics on my mobile phone! I had no idea he was doing that until I saw the "detailed" pics on my phone lol.

So my tiny little girl was born at 30 weeks, weighing 1127g (2.5 lbs)  and 35cm (13.8 in) long. She has 2 tiny holes in her heart, and was in the NICU from Sep-Dec. At almost "9" months, she is still as tiny as ever, at 60.5cm (23.8 in) and just over 5kg (11 lb). But I am so very proud of her and what she has overcome!

Little Natalie, proof that great things come in small packages!

Mama and baby doing Kangaroo Care in the NICU. Skin to skin is SO important!!

Natalie's home in the NICU for 3 months.

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