On the 16th of November 2019, I went into Gloucestershire Royal Hospital to be induced. I was carrying twins and had reached 37 weeks. I was lucky that twin 1 was head down so was able to try for a natural birth. My husband is disabled and I was very concerned about how we would manage with the twins if I was recovering from a caesarean section. My husband and I had decided from the beginning however that, if a caesarean was advised at any time, we would do it.
Around 3am on the 17th of November, I was transferred to delivery suite as I was 7cm dilated. Once there, we were monitored and twins 2’s heart rate was dropping with each contraction. The consultant was concerned and recommended that we had a caesarean. The choice was still ours to make, and we could have continued to labour for longer had we chosen to. Although it’s all a bit of a blur for me, my husband changed into his scrubs and one of the midwives even took a very lovely picture of him modelling them! Everything felt very calm, although thinking back, there obviously must have been a time pressure.
We got into theatre at 5:50am and both twins were born at 6:07am. I didn’t even know they’d made the incision so was incredibly shocked when the next thing I knew, it was announced that I had a baby boy and a baby girl. The experience in theatre was, although pretty surreal, very relaxed and quite enjoyable with lots of laughter and jokes.
Our little girl was only 1oz above the automatic weight limit for admission to NICU and because of this, an emergency call was placed over the tannoy for the neonatal team to attend theatre (we only know this because my mum was waiting outside, the staff were so calm and relaxed that my husband and I had no idea). My husband went to meet the twins straight away and was able to trim their cords before they were bought to us for skin to skin. One of my favourite pictures is shown below, when I had no idea that whilst we were smiling away for the camera, I was being sewn up behind the curtain!
I’d been told so many stories of people who had a hard time recovering from a caesarean but my recovery couldn’t have been better. I took the pain killers when needed, took my time and didn’t push myself too hard and everything healed perfectly. The scar is barely visible now and it’s only 18 months later.
Since the caesarean, I’ve spoken to so many people who have had really positive experiences that I wish I’d heard before mine, but, as with everything, the only stories you hear or that seem to stick in your mind are the bad ones so hopefully this one can change that.
