Wednesday 28 December 2011

Birth Notes - second time

My due date was Xmas Day - 25th Dec 2011.From the very beginning of my second pregnancy i was not sure whether i wanted to have a natural birth due to my traumatic first pregnancy.However i knew that having a C-Sec does not mean that things are going to be straightforward as it is a major abdominal surgery and there can be various complications in having get that done. I was assigned a Consultant ( S Chakarvarti) and i saw her after every few weeks. When i met her for the first time she referred me to a Counsellor as she felt that i am carrying a lot of excess baggage from my first experience and i need to get that out from my system.
I saw my Counsellor ( June Mitchell) throughout my pregnancy and that did made things a bit calmer for me. I was getting prepared mentally for a natural birth as my Consultant also believed that having a C-Sec will be more unsafe as i will have high chances of blood loss.

However as time approched i realised that i do want to go for C-sec as i felt that i will be in more control of things as compared to last time.

So on 8th Dec 2011 i met my consultant and requested for a C-sec and she referred me to a Senior Consultant - Dr Richard Howard. I was not sure whether i will be granted one as NHS does not support elective C-sec. But Dr Howard was quite understanding and he mentioned that it is quite natural for me to feel scared because of my last experience and he is happy to perform the surgery himself. So the date was decided and i was told i will have my surgery done on 19th Dec 2011.

On 19th morning i reached the Postnatal ward in the Green Zone of Queens Hospital.I was seen around 8 and was asked to change to Hospital clothes and get ready for surgery at 9 am.But after some time we were told that there are few emergencies and there is no bed left at the Recovery Room therefore either my surgery will be delayed or postponed to another day.

We were sent to a Postnatal room and we stayed there till 12:30 pm.All this time i was quite sure that my surgery will be postponed and we might have to come next day.

Then one of the doctors came at 12:15 pm and told me that they are ready to perform the operation and i should be heading towards the Ops Theatre. My process started at 12:30. There were approximately 10 people in the room and each one of them were doing their assigned jobs. I was given spinal block and also Anti Infection Antibiotic.The atmosphere was quite overwhelming for me in the beginning and within seconds of injecting the spinal block i could not feel any sensation from the waist down below.

After few minutes Ashish was allowed into the theatre and that helped me to calm my nerves but i was feeling very dizzy and disoriented. I mentioned this to the doctor and he did something on the machine and suddenly i was not feeling dizzy anymore. Me and Ashish decided about the name right there on the operating table. At 12:59 pm our daughter was brought into this world. She was handed over to Ashish while my rest of the process was finished. At exactly 1:30 pm i was out of the Ops Theater and shifted to Recovery room.

Introducing Nishka