In labour - need urgent advice!

[Ineedadvicee]

Well.. kinda in labour, kinda not!

Waters broke 27 hours ago, arrived at the hospital shortly after they broke but contractions failed to start. The hospital said that if nothing happens in 24 hours (24 hours after works breaking), they will start the oxytocin drip to get things moving. Apparently they can only allow 24 hours as you are more prone to infection once waters have gone.

Problem is… the 24 hours are up but there are no beds on labour ward so they want to take me in for a c section. I’m gutted because I haven’t even been given the chance to try for a vaginal birth… of course I need to follow their advice but it seems so unfair that the reason for the c section is purely down to lack of beds, not because of anything medical?

I don’t know what to do…

Congratulations on the safe arrival of beautiful baby Theo! 🎉

I wonder if there is a tongue tie issue which is preventing him latch on? Only say that because both of mine had the same issue. Might be worth asking the health visitor, but only if you want to.

Best of luck in the next few weeks. It sounds like you have your work cut out with your husband undergoing knee surgery too.

It sounds as though you've got your hands full @Ineedadvicee!!

You must be thrilled to be safely back at home with baby Theo, and how lovely for you it will be as you get to know each other. Try to rest as much as you can, even though it seems impossible at times.

Best of luck to your DH for a swift recovery after his knee surgery.

Congratulations!

Why do some people automatically assume because a baby prefers the bottle he's tongue tied?! I'm sure the drs and midwives will have checked him thoroughly and Heaven forbid he might just prefer it full stop!

Congratulations OP - beautiful name. I think that feeling of wistfulness over the birth you wanted and envisioned is very common. It gets easier. 💐

If you would like to breastfeed, reach out to a lactation consultant - they are literal angels! My second had a bottle preference they helped me overcome. If I hadn't had one successful feeding journey behind me, I would have been totally discouraged and waited to reach out, but it made such a difference. Or if bottle feeding is suiting you, pass baby and a few oz to your husband and rest up. ❤️

Sorry they don’t check

Not an assumption, just sharing personal experience in case it is useful for the op. It is not easily spotted or diagnosed. Sometimes for your own confidence it's good to know. Or not. We are all different. As long as the baby is fed all is good.

Congratulations. Glad you are both home safe and sound and best of luck to your DH with his knee. ( I think that takes about six weeks?) but just hold on to the fact that in a month or so, everything will look a lot easier. x

I had a C section out of choice and compared to 90% of the births in my NCT group I didn’t regret it. Not negating your experience as gutting not to have the birth you want - just saying as I’m sure others have that an emergency section, brutal vaginal delivery can impact bonding with the baby as the recovery is much tougher - in an ideal world we’d all have a quick labour and out a few hours later but don’t hear that many of those stories.Very unfortunate about the knee surgery - try not to do too much to compensate if sh is out of action as taking it easy means a much quicker recovery….love the name

I have had both, and trust me, if they could have put a zip in my c section scar, I would have had more children!

It took MONTHS to get over a ‘normal’ delivery. C section was easy in comparison, even with a toddler in tow.

Love the name Theo! And never mind breast fed or bottle fed, just ‘fed’ is all that matters.

Obviously most important is that your baby is fed but day 2 is very early - your milk may not even have come in - persistence and support from HV or breastfeeding support groups (or MN!) can make a huge huge difference even if baby does not latch immediately. Biologically our bodies are built for breastfeeding and it is much more rare than people think to not be able to breastfeed at all.

Personally I find it interesting that we are so vocal about pushing women to advocate for a natural birth and have a birth plan and focus on this one moment of birth, even though a lot is out of our control, but when it comes to breastfeeding we just collectively shrug even though it's an area where self-advocacy actually is very meaningful.

It can take days for milk to come in after a C-section. For some women, it makes no difference and it comes in after a couple of days and others can take over a week. If you do want to breast-feed, you could always supplement with a cup or a small syringe and pump in the meantime to help to bring your milk in - and add the colostrum to the milk you’re giving. Drink plenty of water and get rest in the meantime. I believe it’s to do with the trauma the bodies gone through but also if you are retaining fluids from the drips you’ve been on, etc..

If breastfeeding is important to you please seek lactation support and don’t be discouraged just yet. It can take time to establish and a tongue tie can be missed initially when one is very much present. Obviously if you’re content with bottle feeding that’s absolutely fine, but if you’d like to breastfeed it’s very early days and took me a good few days for milk to come in and to feel like my baby was actually latching properly.
That was the only plus side with me having to stay in hospital for several days after my birth - breastfeeding support. I think I’d have really struggled otherwise.

Huge congratulations on baby Theo!

It took four days after my first c section for my milk to come in…if it’s something that’s important to you, that may be worth remembering!

It can take 2-5 days for a vaginal birth.
I am thankful that I was in hosp for 5 days after my firstborn as I got loads of support and could just focus on me and my baby.

Congratulations OP

When you are able, I really think you should complain. Being forced into major unnecessary surgery for their lack of a bed seems barbaric.

Because different