Testimonials
Christina - My Pregnancy and Birth Story
For the most part, I had a relatively easy, low risk pregnancy. I barely had any nausea, I never got sick and once I reached the second trimester, I was feeling radiant and full of energy. The only problem had been that at my 20 weeks scan my placenta was low, but I was told it was not dangerously low and it would almost certainly move up. So at around 24 weeks, after reading a magazine article, I decided I would very much want to try and have a home birth.
I was not comfortable with not knowing who would be the midwife who would attend my birth, and so I decided to find an independent midwife. At 28 weeks, my placenta had moved up a bit but it was still low. After I was reassured that this was still quite common, I went ahead and arranged for a home birth with Odette as my principal midwife. We also agreed that she would take on my antenatal care from then on, and would assist me for the first six postnatal weeks.
It was brilliant to have Odette come at home and check on me once every two weeks and later on every week and I felt really cared for. What I was really looking forward to though was having a home birth. At 36 weeks, I had another scan to check the placenta and it had indeed moved up. However, I was really thrown when I was told my baby had turned breech. I had a real feeling this might have been the case as I had sensed his position had shifted. On top of that, I had reduced amniotic fluid and I was sent for some monitoring of the baby's condition. I had asked Odette to attend my scan without anticipating all this, and I can't describe how useful her presence was. She explained to me what was going on, and helped me put what was happening in a perspective. I was really very upset and even though my baby was not in distress, I was very disappointed that I would probably need a caesarean and would have to be monitored again. Odette discussed my options with me and the possibility of attempting to manually turn the baby into the right position (ECV) at 37 weeks. I was booked for the procedure, but I had doubts that it was going to work. When the appointment came, there was even less amniotic fluid and the baby had moved down into my pelvis and was now an 'engaged breech'. At that point, I decided not to go ahead with ECV and I was booked to have a caesarean at 39 weeks. Even though I had found Odette's help invaluable, I was still disappointed for not being able to go ahead with the home birth. Also, I felt really sad that my baby would not choose to come to the world when he felt like it, but his birth would be through a medical arrangement. Odette was slightly worried about waiting for that long to have the C section, given that I had reduced amniotic fluid and she advised me to have a second medical opinion.
The day before my consultant appointment and at exactly 38 weeks, I started having some vague period pains. As I was relaxed and in a good mood nobody believed I might be in labour and so we went ahead with the day's plans. After a large Sunday lunch though, the pains became regular and I then had a strong feeling that I was indeed in labour. I went back home and when I passed water, I saw a piece of blood and mucus coming out that matched exactly the description of 'the show' I had read. I called the hospital and I was told that I was definitely not in labour, as what I had did not sound like proper contractions. After I insisted a lot, they agreed for me to go in and be examined. I called Odette and my second midwife on the way there, and they both arrived promptly even though they also said that I was probably not in labour. When I was examined, I was 4 cm dilated, which meant that I was indeed in established labour. From then on, everything happened really quickly. I gave my consent for an 'emergency caesarean', even though it was not an emergency in the real sense of the word. Odette and her work partner explained all the procedure to me and let me know about all the options I had. They were very gentle and let me decide for myself. They were also very supportive to my husband and my mother who were rather shaky at the time. I was dreading the C section as I had never had any kind of operation before. However, being surrounded by people who cared for me and treated me with respect made a real difference. Odette requested to be present during the operation along with my partner. Her presence was very reassuring. The actual procedure lasted only twenty minutes. Marcus was born screaming and weighing 7lb. Despite all the fears about his wellbeing at the end of my pregnancy, he got a very healthy 9 Apgar score. Odette put him at my breast immediately after he was examined. My mother was really stunned to walk in and see me breastfeeding minutes after the operation. I was really surprised and moved myself, as I had always thought I would find breastfeeding difficult. It felt like having a healthy beautiful baby at my breast immediately after, was a real reward for what I had been through.
The next few weeks were not easy as I was in a lot of pain following the C section. I was getting very little sleep and it felt like Marcus was breastfeeding for most of the time. Again, what made a real difference was having Odette visit every day, and reassuring me about any fears and anxiety I had (and there was a lot of that!). It is really funny that I did not get the one thing I really wanted, i.e., a home birth, but I got so much more than I could have ever imagined, i.e., a lot of proper care and the right conditions for me to bond with my baby. After going through what I went through with Odette, it feels like she is now a bit of family to the three of us. I couldn't have done it without her.